In South Asia your best bet to get around is by renting a scooter.
The streets are often cloaked with cars and with a scooter you can, well actually it is almost your duty, to squeeze by on the left.
You are faster and you find a parking lot pretty easy pretty much anywhere.
The locals usually rent out scooters to anyone who is able to pay for them and some ask for license.
This brings some different problems.
Accidents
Drunks, people who never drove anything before or just pure stupidity are the norm.
People stop in the middle of a curve to chitchat, westeners drive on the right side and wondering why Asia is full of ghost drivers or people like me who annoy there street peers by driving pretty slow.
Here on Bali I still need to get used to the traffic as it is even more of what I was used in Thailand.
Taking a right turn is always a small adventure for me as you have to be a bit aggressive to claim your spot.
Yesterday I wanted to park near a restaurant, I was signaling that I want to go to the right, standing there waiting for the traffic to clear. When it was my turn another tourist driver passed me, which would not be a problem if he would not have done this on the right side.
Lucky for all four of us ( I had my girlfriend on my scooter and so did he), he was able to dodge me and I hit the brakes hard.
There a numerous examples I could give you from Thailand were locals and farangs had accidents. So all I am trying to say is
Watch out
My goodness. it is very dangerous to drive with the scooter. but I still love it. You are much more flexible. But the taxis are not that expensive either. Maybe you can rent a car. I'm also in Bali at the end of the month and I'm really happy to be there soon. Have fun Bro and take care! Full Upvote :)
I prefer scooters because you are so much more flexible than with a car.
Taxis are cheap but I dont want to get one everytime when I go to the supermarket or the gym.
Have you been on Bali already? I am pretty sure you will love it
Never been there before. So it's my first time 😍😍😍
Ran into my fair share of farangs on scooters in Krabi/Phuket. The speeding cars and tourist vans make it a dangerous combo.
I am not driving a lot in Thailand mostly short ways if I need to go somewhere further I usually take a grab
Wow i hadn't realized that Grab was big in Thailand as well. I left BKK in 2013 before that option was available. Flagging a cab and the haggling was a pain.
Yes it is getting quite popular. I hate driving a cab in BKK it was a hustle to get most drivers to put on the taximeter even.
Sorry to hear about your trouble on the southasian street.
What you describe in your post, its our daily situation.
I know :-)
No need to be sry I will get more and more used to it. It was also a bit my fault I guess as I should have looked closer but I was shocked and not used to it anymore that someone would pass me at this point and on the right
I parked our car once in my ife correctly😁
:-)
😁
Great information in asia renting a scotter is an awesome thing.accidents are a common issue.you are also from some part of asia. you have specified all points which are importent for travellers or hippies who want to spent some time in asia.
I am from germany but livin in asia for 10 months now
I once tried to drive in London. That was my first and last time driving on the opposite side of the streets. I almost have several accidents due to the fact that I always looked at the wrong direction. Never more.
On the scooter I used to have a scarf or something tied on the left side so I have a constant reminder.
The same situation in Turkey. There are a lot of hoonigans..
Yep :-) need to keep your eyes open
watch out for that traffic and be safe
I give it my best :-)
Tourists and travelers on scooters are the bane of our Thai existence. Every season we have crowd-funding after benefit concert for people who are injured or dead and their travel insurance won't pay. It gets old. The bicycle thing so much better for you and the environment, and if you need a long trip, rent a local driver and create employment and wealth for someone else. But I LIKE the basic message of Be Vigilant.
I go by taxi or grab quite often but for going to a 7/11 or so a scooter is quite handy.
oh yeah, i know that too good 😄
Ever been to Koh Phangan? And survived it without a "Phangan Tattoo" ?
Not been there yet but I now I want one of those tattoos ;-)
Well, i`ve been there several times and im pretty glad that i still don't have one 😄
"Phangan tattoo" stands for scars from the streets cause of bad scooter driving abilities 😉
I think this picture says it all
https://www.travelblog.org/Photos/2383931
oh fuck no
I dont need that
The problem in phangan is that it has lots of mountains and very steep downhill parts 😉
autsch, gerade nochmal gut gegangen! hatten wir dir von unserem Reifenplatzer bei 60km/h erzählt!
Bali is echt dangerous auf dem Roller.
Ja hattest du erzählt. Ja ist echt anstrengend hier manchmal. Werde wohl zu den Stosszeiten weniger fahren bzw nur zum Training oder Strand da dass einfach nur geradeaus ist :-)
I'm not much for crowds or the hussle but I suppose one learns and acclimates to their environment as needed through experience and time. Thanks for painting the picture it was insightful.
I did not drive a lot back in Germany so being part of this car circus was stressful enough even without all the hustle.
But you get used to it. Myself a little slower than others but still
Whether you got bumped by or you bumped into someone or something while on a scooter or motorcycle the results are not good. So it is better to ride a taxi or a car as I do not myself recommend such single motorcycles, you won't stand a chance in a major accident whether you are careful or not.
Long ways I take a taxi as it is too stressful here.
I really enjoy driving a scooter on smaller islands with much less traffic but here it is just stressful for me
driving is really a important thing... people shouldn't drive in drunk mood & risk his or her life in danger.
true that
stay safe from accidents and enjoy the time
I will. Thank you :-)
I cannot imagine driving in a crowded city or a foreign country! Be safe out there sir!
I try to ;-)
I think the main lesson of the post is that please be careful when driving :) Thank you for sharing your story! I hope all of drivers be careful in traffic.
Yes but I feel especially in Thailand you have to watch out a bit more
It takes so much effort to take a scooter
Great information for tourists.Particularly about the accidents.