I miss a lot of things about our pre-COVID days, and one is the foreign travel. I love heading to exotic cities all over the world, and one at the top of my list is Bangkok. I’ve been there a few times on assorted secret missions. These photos are from a blog I wrote for CSC Motorcycles a few years ago, and I thought I would share them here.
Soi Cowboy (“soi” sort of means street) is a famous Bangkok road that played a role in the movie Hangover II and another movie named, well, Soi Cowboy (a movie I haven’t seen, although I’ll look for it). It’s sort of an entertainment district with a lot of clubs. There were a lot of photo ops centered on two of my interests – food and two-wheeled transportation. With that as an intro, here we go.
These guys in orange vests are motorcycle taxi dudes. They carve paths through traffic as if it wasn’t there. It’s an amazing thing to see.One of the many food carts and clubs on Soi Cowboy.Another food cart. I had my Nikon D3300 (a relatively small but incredibly capable DSLR) on its “auto ISO” setting, which basically means it runs the ISO up as high as it thinks it needs to be to get a good shot. Some of these photos were at ISO 12,800.Scooters and small-displacement motorcycles dominate Bangkok. Here are a few scooters lined up on Soi Cowboy.More Thai street food.A look down Asoke (that’s the street name) from a pedestrian overpass. Soi Cowboy is just off of Asoke.The Bangkok grand prix.Good buddy Kevin and friend. Rain? Not a problem!A Thai SUV.A Thai taxi scooter in action. Scenes like this are common throughout Bangkok.
One more thing, and that’s a video I shot just off Soi Cowboy showing the scooter action in vibrant downtown Bangkok. It sure was fun.
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Good buddy Python Pete wrote to me with a suggestion a few weeks ago. His comment and idea was that I probably had thousands of photos (which I do) and I probably had a few favorites (which I do). His suggestion was to share those here on the ExNotes blog. I thought that was a sterling idea.
I shot the photo you see above on a sultry night in Bangkok’s Arab district (every night is sultry in Bangkok). The street is unofficially called Soi Arab; officially it’s Sukhumvit Soi 3/1. That road (and sidestreets off it) are lined with Middle Eastern restaurants, a cuisine I love.
Bangkok’s Arab district attracts many folks from the Middle East partly due to its proximity to those countries, partly due to a vibrant nightlife, and partly due to a world class hospital that treats people from that part of the world. Me? I was in town to teach a couple of engineering courses and enjoy Bangkok. It’s one of the world’s great cities. Take it from me: Never say no to an opportunity to visit Bangkok.
So as I liked to do, I walked to Soi Arab and sat down at a sidewalk cafe and ordered a plate of hummus and chips. While I was enjoying my dinner a group of several Middle Eastern types entered and sat at a nearby table. All but one were burly guys dressed in dark business suits. The exception was an elegant older gentleman dressed in traditional Arab garb. Distinguished would be an appropriate but not quite adequate adjective. Majestic would be more on the mark.
I kept stealing glances at this fellow, thinking it would be great to grab a picture. I guess I was a little too obvious. I noticed a couple of the dark suiters with him (obvious security types) were looking directly me. One of them stood up and walked over to me.
“Uh oh,” I thought.
“Is there a problem?” the man asked.
“Uh, well, no,” I said with mixed emotions. I wanted to get what I knew would be a great photo, but I also wanted to continue breathing. “It’s like this,” I said, “I’m an amateur photographer and your principal would make for a very dramatic image. I don’t wish to offend or insult, but I’m wondering if there’s any way I could take a picture of your distinguished protectee.” As I said it I realized how stupid that sounded. Anyone who travels with bodyguards doesn’t want to be photographed. But the words were out there. The words “rendition” and “beheading” crossed my mind.
The security guy looked at me. He didn’t know what to think (I’m told I sometimes have that effect on people). He walked back to his table and leaned over to whisper to the man you see above. The flowing headdress turned my way, I saw a smile and he motioned me over to his table. I had my Nikon and I got the photo you see above in a single shot. I have no idea who he is, why he was in town, or exactly where he was from, but that photo is one of my all time favorites.
There’s something about 3-wheeled utility vehicles that interfere with our brainwaves. They’re cool and most of us want one. Let me give you few quick examples.
When Gresh and I rode across China on RX3 250cc motorcycles, we started with a tour of the Zongshen plant in Chongqing. It was just the beginning of what was one of the grandest adventures of my life, and we met a lot of great guys over there, including Sergeant Zuo, a retired Chinese Army NCO who was to be our ride captain. That’s Sergeant Zuo in the video below.
Chongqing is exotic in many ways (think foreign city, 34 million people living in 80-story apartment buildings spread across a rolling and lush green landscape, incredible dining experiences, and one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers on the planet). More exotica? A tour of the Zongshen R&D facilities and a sneak preview of what was in the works (I rode the RX4 while it was still a concept, and we saw the new 400cc twin mocked up in clay). The vehicle that really lit Gresh’s candle, though, was a three-wheel 500cc diesel trike utility truck (it’s the one you see in the large photo above). “I have to get me one of these,” Gresh said, in tones that intimated an impending orgasm (that’s inference on my part, as I’ve never actually heard Gresh in such a situation, at least that I know of, and I’d like to keep it that way).
I mean, that yellow trike was nice, but Gresh’s reaction to it floored me. While I was still at CSC Motorcycles, Gresh was relentless in his full-court press to get me to get CSC to import the things. Go figure.
Next up? That would be a very recent Facebook post by good buddy Jackie showing a new passenger three-wheeler, no doubt intended to meet the pressing demand for tuk tuks (that’s what they’re called in the third world). I immediately asked Jackie what the powerplant would be (it’s an internal combustion engine for now, with an electric one slated for a follow-on version).
I shared the Zongshen post on my Facebook feed, and it drew an immediate response from good buddy Colorado Dan. He wants one. Maybe I could have predicted that…Dan is a guy who has an Enfield Bullet, a Ural, and a couple of Zongs in his garage. And a friendly moose or two in his backyard. Like the cannibals say, there’s no accounting for some people’s tastes, I guess.
I’ve sort of been bit by the bug, too. When Juan, Carlos, and I were assaulting the Andes in Colombia a few years ago, we stayed in a very rustic hotel on the outskirts of beautiful downtown Barichara (it’s pronounced Bah-de-chah-da, with the accent on the first syllable). Juan called a taxi to take us to dinner (it had been a long day on the bikes). I suppose I was expecting some sort of bright yellow sedan to appear, but nope, it was a little tuk tuk. All four of us squeezed in, and we all laughed like madmen on the ride down. It was a downhill ride and that little one-lunger didn’t have to work very hard (gravity is your friend going downhill), but while we were laughing, I was wondering how the thing would do bringing us back up that steep mountain. A couple of hours and an outstanding Italian dinner later, I found out. We could feel every stroke of that little tuk tuk’s motor on the climb up, and we laughed even harder. It was a fun evening.
Then there was Bangkok. Ah, Bangkok. It’s unquestionably one of the most exotic cities in the world. I’d seen these tuk tuks all over Bangkok, but I’d never been in one. It was a character flaw I aimed to correct. The video is a bit long at 16 minutes, but hey, you won’t have to suffer the 17-hour flight in a middle seat to get there (like I did). Just imagine 100-degree temps and humidity that’s off the charts, and you’ll have the compleat Thai tuk tuk travel experience.
I guess we struck a nerve with the blog yesterday featuring Thai moto taxis, and I received a couple of emails asking if I had more photos. Indeed I do, folks…
The orange vest denotes a taxi rider, and I guess Thai law requires that they wear helmets (but their passengers do not have to). So much for ATGATT in Thailand. Another commenter said it was amazing that that female passengers never lost shoes. I thought it was amazing that none ever seemed to fall off (it looks like a precarious perch). I took all of the photos you see here in the space of maybe 5 minutes.
I’ve seen a lot of interesting things in the world, and I’ve seen some really interesting things in Asia. Mind you, all this is filtered through the mind of an East Coast boy who really didn’t get out of Dodge until he finished college, but boy oh boy, I’ve sure covered a lot of ground since then. And I’ve covered a lot of it on two wheels. And because of that, I’ve always been intrigued by how other people in other countries use their motorcycles.
One of the wilder things I’ve seen is how small motorcycles do duty as taxis, and in particular, how they do so in Thailand. One night a few years ago I was wandering around in Bangkok, one of the world’s more sultry and exotic cities, and the action on a typical street corner just off Sukhumvit Road (one of the main roads through Bangkok) was both mind numbing and mesmerizing. I recorded about 10 minutes of it. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee, or Scotch, or whatever floats your boat, and enjoy.
One of my good buddies who lives in Bangkok owns a couple of small bikes and he invited me to tour Thailand. I’m tempted.
