10 Great Things about Driving a Motorcycle in Thailand

1. Stop Lights.  Bikes go to the immediate front of all lines. And you all KNOW it was your favorite day of kindergarten when you got to be the line leader.

2. Cool Factor.  All the cool kids do it! Duh! And you know how I said all the bikes go to the front of the line.... so when I'm up at the front revving my lil engine with like a dozen other bikers it's kind of like I'm in a motorcycle gang!!!  Except the other night, I was up front all by myself and I start to hear this roar of engines behind me, like REAL engines. I thought it was a big truck, nope it was a REAL Harley Davidson motorcycle gang, with Pure Thailand bedazzled on the back of leather vests, before I knew it I was surrounded.  It would've made a great photo for Highlights, "One of these things is not like the others" section.

3.  Lanes do not apply to me - at all! Left lane AND Right lane moving slow, well down the middle I go! No room? No problem! Outside that yellow line was created with me in mind!

4.  Great AC at 50kph and above.

5.  Parking! I fit almost anywhere!

6. Gas mileage or is it kiloage?  It takes $3 bucks to fill up my tank ($4 if I forget a few days past red) and I can go for weeks!

7.  Stop light convos.  Pull up next to your friend at each stoplight and ask how their day is going or if you have bugs in your teeth or high five them for running over that cat back there!

8.  All lights are relatively green. For instance,  the light is red because cars are turning from the intersection, but I'm driving outside the yellow line anyway, therefore the light is relatively green and I need not stop.

9.  The Asia Pacific sun, the beautiful mountains, the wind in your hair, and the adrenaline that comes from knowing death could happen at any moment if the car in front of you stops short or the beer truck beside you loses a case causing you to skid into oncoming traffic, or if you resist the turn and end up under the bike instead of on it! It's all very exhilarating!

10. If you forget you're in a nation that drives on the left instead of the right, bobbing and weaving is much easier on a bike than in car! (A friend told me this!)