your point of view
 

hello there,

i would like to hear your point of view for the following situation:
my girlfriend is thinking of riding her own bike in southeast asia (cambodja, laos, thai). she thinks about a small 250cc but has no driverlicence, nor drivingexperience,but thinks it will be okay by learning on the road from me who will be in that case drive a similar bike. So, buying a bike in BKK, drive it into some small village to learn her handle the bike, and then off we go..doesnt it sounds totaly irresponsible or a good adventure?

greetz
niels
thailand-belgium overland on a ttr25-2005

Well I actually envy you for such a cool girlfriend ;-))
No risk, no fun - only hope she won't blame it on you when thing's don't turn out the way she imagined ;-))
Good luck!!
Winne

Edge your bets and put her through a test or at least a course. Adventure's fine until your looking at the ceiling of a third world hospital along way from home; with life threatening injuries. Its preparation that will see you through a trip safely, thats you the bike and your girl friend.

Hi,

So, you buy a bike in Bangkok, start driving without any experiance..... and do you expect your girlfriend to exit Bangkok in a coffin or on the bike?

I don,t want to spoil your fun or your adventure, but be realistic. Trafic in bangkok is hectic.... Difficult for experianced riders... But there is an other factor, much more important: Your life, on a bike, has absolutly NO value here. Car,s or (10 times worse) busses wil NOT stop and wil NOT avoid a colision with "just a bike".

Adventure is fun, cuicide is stupid!

Just take some time to learn to ride a bike in a safe place. Check the statistics in "safty o the road" Thailand is nr 2 on the list of road-deaths!

Sorry to sound a bit pesimistic.

Maarten


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- www.maartensworld.com -

Russian roulette comes to mind.

if we were going to leave BBK with the bikes it would be with the train. stop at some quiet place and learn there...
yep,appreciate your points of view. but i am still not really convinced about what to do...
i drove myself in and around BKK for a month, without not much of experience and without any problems. . same azbout what they said about teheraN...you know, sometimes people really try to exagerate...
any tips and advice welcome....

greetz
Niels

I would feel uneasy. If anything happens and she doesn't have a licence...

Try contacting David Unkovich of http://www.gt-rider.com/ . He lives there.

Niels, ask the same question enough times your going to get the answer your after!

PK

Hi Niels,

I don,t want to "bully" you, understand that... But why do you ask for advice?
After a few "negative awnsers" your "not really convinced" ???

I did ride my bike around the world and now I live 2 hours away from Bangkok.
After 180.000 Km in aprox. 50 country,s, I think I am able to ride a bike properly... But if I have to go into Bangkok with my bike.... I do it on a sunday-morning (and I still hate it).

Maybe that makes me a coward, but it also keeps me alive and healthy. (and my bike in one piece)

I see many, many dead people here... Most of them were riding a (small) motorbike just before they died.

Please think it over.

Maarten

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- www.maartensworld.com -

Have just returned from Cambodia ...Thialand Loas ...and believe me its no fun.... and i have like many others on here been travelling for a number of years now ...its not the place to ''practice''

Hi Niels

If you and your girl friend are aware of the risks and exercise caution, then why not? I say go for it. All of us have started off biking taking risks,(we're still taking risks!) though the risks may be higher where you're going. Yes do it. Tell us how it was...

Niels, the real question here is what does your girlfriend think of this? This should really be HER decision. Has she seen what traffic is like in SE Asia? Does she know the risks? If she has and is still confident, than maybe she could do ok. Some folks take up riding naturally, some don't.

But as others have said, riding in the big Asian cities, especially Bangkok, is very risky even for an experienced rider. It sounds like you are familiar with these conditions too.

I think the decision is ultimately up to your girlfriend...with your guidance of course. Just make sure she knows what she is up against.

BTW, mmaarten, where are you in Thailand, we will be there in a few days with our bike. Email me if you are interested in meeting for a beer or something. We are going to try to avoid Bangkok riding as much as possible too!

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Dave
www.mototrekker.com

hello,

you posted this topic on the HUBB, so you dont know what to do.

In 2002 me and my girlfriend were in the same situation, only in a different continent. We bought a bike (an XR200R) for her in Buenos Aires. She had no licence and never ridden a bike on the road.

I thought her how to ride, around the one-way streets and around the block. But I made her wearing protective gear, mx boots and an european type mc jacket and of course a good crash helmet. She learned fast.

Three days later we left together, she followed me, on a Saturday morning very early with nearly empty roads. We used the highway (ringroad) to leave. On Sunday she had her first fall offs on gravel roads together with a bunch of Argentinean bikers.

We travelled 22.000km in South America, on some of the worst roads, she did very very well, up to Bogota in Colombia.

In 2004 we started riding together in Africa. She had made her license in Switzerland and got a DR 350, Kickstarter only. We rode 35.000km thru Africa together. She loves riding.

Let your girlfriend decide, but help her with your expierence.

Yes, Maarten, Bangkok is very bad for beginners. One of the worst cities, if it comes to riding your bike, maybe together with Cairo and some Indian or Nigerian Cities. But you could put the bikes on a truck and leave town this way.

Dont forget that in Thailand, or India, or Nigeria, everybody makes mistakes in traffic and everybody expects others to make mistakes. So everybody is aware. In the western world you cant make mistakes because nobody expects the others to make them, and that is dangerous for a beginner.

Obvoisly your girlfriend does not enjoy riding as a pillon, which is understandable. She will never be happy if you just tell her, it is too dangerous.

Do it.

And I am sure most others reading this thread envy you for such a girlfriend. Or Maarten ?

Thailand, Laos and Cambodia are fantastic countries for riding a bike, and 250 cc is enough.

Greetings MIKA (www.weltreise-motorrad.de)

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fyi, although rape and murder of female backpackers makes the headlines, the biggest cause of death amongst tourists in Thailand is motorcycle crashes - I would guess mostly inexperienced ones who think a little scooter won't do any harm...

CS

oh yes,

if you would have believed in all the newspapers and statistiks, would you have ever crossed Iran ?

of course there is a risk and of course tourists die, everyday for all kind of reasons.

do Thailand in a tour bus with a tourguide and you will live forever ...

... enjoy live and learn to accept that there is a risk ...

MIKA

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