Метка: lessons

Checklist: motorbike rental

There is just a little memo for me for tomorrow.

The actions you need to do when you rent a motorbike:

  1. Choose a motorbike by its engine capacity. You don’t need 125 cm2 or more. 50-90  cm2 will be enough.
  2. Ask the staff to show you how to insert the key, how to start the bike, how to open the trunk, how to pull out the stand and so on.
  3. Repeat every action mentioned in the paragraph before by yourself. Ask for help if anything isn’t clear or you didn’t manage to do it by yourself.
  4. Take a few photos of the motorbike, particularly take close-ups of all the cracks and scratches.
  5. Get on the bike and try the brakes gently while you are moving the bike forth and back with your legs.
  6. Start the engine and try to feel the throttle handle. Turn it gently and wait until the engine gains its frequency of rotation. Add a little more, feel the thrust.

Motorbike in Thailand, worth it or not?

Our trip to Thailand is drawing nearer and nearer. We must be prepared for the eventful day in the end of April. We are going to break out of the comfort zone. First of all we didn’t buy a tour from any travel agency. We did everything ourselves. We bought airplane tickets online, booked a hotel. Actually we booked a hotel for the first part of the trip only. Then we are going to move to another hotel for a change.  Don’t now what particular hotel it will be, we must decide as soon as possible. Honestly speaking, I hate to choose things like hotels. Since there is no certain ideal hotel that suits best for us. Every hotel has its advantages and disadvantages. They all good in different ways. More you hang around on the hotel websites, more you know, more your expectations become, more your disappointment will be when your high expectations will not meet the reality. So the right way is that you should feel the right choice by your heart. And don’t forget to use your head alongside your heart…

One more insane thing we are going to do is to rent a motorbike. I have been dreaming of it since I was in Thailand for the first time in 2014. Then we had a chance in Sri-Lanka in the fall of 2016 – yet we had few days thus we preferred to enjoy sun and ocean on the beach. I’m afraid for a number of reasons.

  1. I’ve got neither the A-class driver licence that allows me to ride a motorbike nor the international driver licence. Deal with paying fines…
  2. I’ve got little experience driving cars here as a whole.
  3. They drive on the left side of the road there and we drive on the right side in Russia. No big deal, really. I practiced left-side driving on Cyprus last February.
  4. The traffic is mad there. And almost everyone drives like a blondie. That fears me most. I ought to keep distance forward and at the sides, not to drive so fast. I ought to perform any manoeuvres carefully and extremely predictively.

So, for confidence I made up my make to take a couple of scooter lessons. I found a teacher on the Internet, arranged an appointment. We met under the bridge on the autodrome. It’s such a terrifying place. There are road all around crowded with roaring cars. Very noisy. The kingdom of concrete, metal and asphalt. Anyway my teacher was late so I struck up a conversation with another student while I was waiting. In the end he showed up riding his motorcycle. His name’s Dmitry. Cool man and awesome teacher. Indeed he is aware both driving rules and physics. We discussed lots of theory. It wasn’t just idle talk, I have learned tons of useful pieces of advice and hints. His manner of teaching is built around asking questions. That’s great as it makes you think compared with just listening and yawning. I had a theory exam by the way.

The lesson is supposed to last for exactly 1 hour. So I was afraid to miss a chance to practice on the real scooter. But my anxieties wore off. The lesson’s duration added up to 2 hours. I say you what. It’s not that easy to manage with a scooter. It has nothing to do with a bicycle even with an electrical bicycle. The scooter is much heavier. You sit on it in the absolutely different posture. I have learnt how to control the throttle stick and the brakes. During my first ride I felt unsteady. The scooter was wagging as I was trying to keep the balance.

Finally I realised that I had crucially needed those lessons. I don’t know that I would have done there without that experience and knowledge. Obviously I’ll take 2-3 more lessons as soon as I get back to Moscow.

I have firmly decided that we will rent a motorbike in Thailand as I don’t want that all will pass in vain.

That’s all for now. Good luck!