Friday, February 26, 2010

Motorcycle Diaries

Well, the day has finally arrived. I guess you could say in honor of Tom Finn's birthday (I hope you wished him well), I decided it was time to bite the bullet and do something I had been too afraid to do before: rent a moped.

I was especially nervous this morning as I headed to the front desk of my hotel to inquire about officially renting a moped. The woman who runs the desk and I have had previous encounters which mainly leave us more confused than anything else. So after surrendering my passport and her informing me that there is no insurance but "if you crash, you pay," we headed out to check out my new ride. Luckily, a British man was having breakfast and overheard me asking her for a lesson and getting no response. He offered to show me the ropes so he joined us over to the mopeds.

The British man showed me the brake and the gas and told me "that's all!" So I hopped on, clipped on my helmet, closed my eyes, and thanked the powers that be that I was wearing my St. Christopher medal. I slowly turned the gas and felt myself surprised out how easy it was to drive in a straight line up the driveway! It took me a moment (or maybe two) to turn around and come back, but as I made my way back towards the spectators, I shouted out, "Look! I'm riding a moped!" This was apparently loud enough that Jordan could hear my rejoicing from our bungalow.

So I retrieved a bright pink helmet for Jordan and we planned a little outing to explore Koh Lanta, a small island off the southwestern coast of Thailand. Needless to say, as we rambled slowly down the road on the moped, there were numerous times I couldn't stop laughing. I wish I could have seen the sight of the two of us. Other mopeds whizzed by with babies, moms and dads, teenage boys and women in burkas, but we meandered at a reasonable 20 km per hour speed to make our way around the island.

It ended up being one of my most favorite days as I conquered my fears of riding (and driving!) a moped... not that I will be planning on trying out a motorcycle anytime soon... but if you ever want to purchase me a gift, I would not turn down the gift of a moped. The adventure was quite the success and culminated in sunset beers then dinner overlooking the ocean. It was a lovely ending to our days at Koh Lanta as we head to Krabi (on the mainland) and then back out to a smaller beach.

News update: We have also purchased some plane tickets. March 3rd we fly to Sumatra to begin the Indonesia chapter of this fabulous lifestyle.

Hope everyone is managing to stay warm and toasty in the midst of all the snow I have been hearing about! If it gets too much, you can come meet us in Bali towards the end of March.

1 comment:

  1. Stephanie -- Finally photos!!! You have some great shots and the beach scenes are gorgeous!! Sure would rather be there than in the midst of the snow here!! I also really like all the transportation photos!!

    Love, Mom

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