The Thai man that almost died....

So let me first and foremost apologize to my mom.  Mom, you're either going to read this or someone is going to read this and tell you about it and you are going to probably just die.  So I'm sorry in advance and I hope that you can resurrect from the dead, like Lazarus.  uhhh Love you! 

So we are still traveling quite a lot and I'm enjoying it for the moment.  I'll probably go into big time culture shock once I go back to my country, but for the moment life is good.  So in this country that I'm traveling/visiting, the vehicles use the left side of the road instead of the right like in America.  So just remember when getting into a taxi in Thailand, if you hop in the front seat on the right hand side of the car, just expect a little taxi driver to drop the luggage he is loading in the back and run after you.  This will all happen in mere seconds and about the time he gets to the door you will realize, through your jet lag, this isn't the seat meant for you.  You don't really want to drive in Thailand and are suddenly happy to oblige this scared Thai man.  But this is not the real story.....

So last week while in Thailand, we had a day off (we being my friends M & K, husband and wife, and our friend N) and we decided to rent motor scooters.  Now, I've never ridden a motor scooter before, but we thought it would be a good experience.  We were traveling through a small town with little traffic and the other three friends already had experience...so this would be a good opportunity to learn.  Now these were not your little electric motor scooters/mopeds, they were the gas powered ones.  So I'm thinking okay, I'll get a few moments in the parking lot to work on my moves and it's like riding a bike, right?!  

Oh, no.  No time to practice for me plus if I would have tried to practice it was a gravel parking lot.  So they stuck me out on the road.....one rider in front of me an one behind just so I wouldn't get left behind.  I started to do better and get more speed as time went on.  We traveled up to a national park and ended up riding for about 3-4 hours.  It was really nice and I had so much fun!!!  I had a hard time a couple of times.  Turns were really hard for me and curves were a bit difficult too.  Now right hand turns and curves were fair, but the left hand ones were a beast.  Plus you have to remember that left hand turns are in the left lane because they drive on that side of the road.  So we ride for about 3 hours and I'm feeling pretty good about my skills by now.  After heading back to the resort, we come to a stop sign, but we don't really stop because it's like a three way stop at a dead end road.  So as I'm turning left, I realize I'm going a bit too fast and as I'm realizing this, I look up only to realize I'm crossing to the right side of the street and there stands a Thai man.  Never fear though, there wasn't any traffic at all on this little road.  So I'm wobbling and getting closer to this Thai man walking on the right side of the street so I slow down and think I'm okay, I'm okay now...I've got this!  Well the blonde in me says, "you're okay"....and I think go ahead speed up!  So I do and now I'm not only crossing over to the right side, I'm on the shoulder of the right side of the road heading dangerously toward this poor Thai man.  

Now ladies and gentlemen at this point I know what the look of death looks like on some one's face because at this moment I see it in the Thai man's eyes.  I basically come to a screeching stop to keep from running over this guy, it was either the man, the palm tree, or stop.  So after a look of death and his life flash before his eyes, he then gets this look of "wow you stupid foreign...you almost killed me, do you know how to drive that thing?"  

So as I'm driving away, I've got like three Thai people standing there yelling at me and I'm sure they are calling me stupid or worse...lol.  

So that's my story of how a Thai man almost died.  Just remember if you rent a motor scooter, don't expect practice, do expect to have to ride through a herd of cattle in the middle of the road (another story) and do slow down on those left hand turns.  

ummmm.....don't expect a helmet either because you won't get one....