Wanna ride the moto?

Have you received those pictures by email of families of five riding motorbikes? Well, Lisa and I rode three to a bike this past Saturday in the heaviest traffic I have EVER seen in my life. Lisa is Carla's cousin, who has been living in Bangkok for nearly one year. The plan was to meet Carla for dinner, but once I caught sight of the traffic, I was sure we would be late. Then Lisa says, "Wanna ride the moto?"

Cars, buses and trucks were not moving. It was a stand still for miles. Lisa and I decided to jump on a motorbike, and since there was only one available, we jumped on together. There are motorbikes everywhere in Bangkok. They function just like Taxi's and are super cheap. One ride is about 50 cents. The beauty of motorbike drivers is that they weave into and around traffic like nothing I've ever seen before. On a motorbike, you can get around town faster and traffic isn't really a problem. Our driver sped into small openings between cars and buses sometimes calculating whether or not we would fit after we had zoomed into the small crevice. I had nothing to hold on to except for Lisa's knees and I am sure she felt every squeeze as we whirled between traffic. It wasn't so much of a terrifying experience, but a "I can't believe what this crazy driver is doing" experience.

This was my second motorbike adventure. The first was a solo run where I swear the driver exceeded any logical speeding limits for motorbikes. It was fun. I figured, if I could jump off a plane, I can ride on the highway with a crazy little motorbike man.

The locals seemed to enjoy watching Lisa and me, laughing as we rode astride instead of side saddle, which is the way women ride in Bangkok. I had four motorbike adventures this weekend and funny enough, all four drivers seemed conveniently slam on the breaks in such a way that I would slam into them. For the locals and drivers, it seemed like riding astride wasn't the only novelty.