Four Wheels Bad, Two Wheels Good

Posted by Greg

November 8, 2007

To Thailand With Love, 2008

As I inch my mountain bike slowly right, shoehorning my way into the flow of traffic on a busy Bangkok road, it dawns on me that maybe I shouldn’t be matching the speed of the cars that surround me on all sides, their engines howling and exhaust pipes spewing out delicious blue smoke. But then I realize that slowing down would only complicate things; it would turn me into an obstacle rather than an equal, so I continue to pedal madly and disappear around the corner, wary of the bus on my left side, the tuk-tuk on my right side and the dude pushing a bug cart just ahead. As Quentin Tarantino once said, “If you run with the fast crowd, even if you run last, you’ll still run fast.”

To many, riding a bike in Bangkok must seem like taking a leisurely stroll across the Queensboro Bridge during the New York Marathon - the term ‘square peg in a round hole’ comes readily to mind. The furrowed brows of friends and family have become all too familiar, as has the phrase ‘Isn’t that dangerous?’ Well, yes, it is, I will admit that, but I still maintain that Bangkok is a great city to explore on a bike - if you know the rules.

To drive a car in Bangkok, you need Spiderman-style reflexes. If you’re, say, driving down Rama IV behind a bus and it pulls over, you need to check the mirror, whip around it and quite possibly dodge a family on a bike or a guy selling sponges or a homeless guy having a fistfight with a sewer grate. Not to mention the tuk-tuk’s, motorcycles and push carts. My point is - Bangkok drivers are already predisposed to be on the lookout for obstacles; you can’t drive in Bangkok without a near-total awareness of what’s around you. As long as you wear safety equipment, exercise patience and realize that you will lose in a bus-bike collision, you should be okay.

The thing that makes Bangkok such a joy to explore on a bike is the miles and miles of sois (alleys) that stretch back behind any main road. They’re often stuffed with an assortment of interesting shops, curious locals and surprising views. Quite often, what seems like a dead-end will turn out to be an immensely interesting shortcut.

I was once riding down Charoen Krung road and turned into a narrow soi that looked interesting. A brick wall blocked my way after a while, but if I picked up my bike I could walk through a large hole in the wall. Down a few stairs and through a small courtyard saw me emerge on the riverfront, next to the beautiful but decaying customs house, dating from sometime in the late 1800’s. A quick detour down another soi and I was suddenly in front of Haroon Mosque, which has a large, hidden garden in the shadow of the giant CAT Telecom building - completely invisible unless you manage to squeeze down here. A few twists and turns past the Oriental and Sheraton hotels and I was again on the river, this time under the Saphan Taksin bridge.

A camera is a must on any bike ride through the capital. I’ve stumbled across a seemingly abandoned temple overrun by cats, a strange rock garden where you can feed hordes of turtles and ridden through mangrove swamps on 24-inch-wide raised concrete pathways, ducking to avoid the spiky, hanging durians and bananas. I’ve held my bike in midair while standing on the bow of a tiny boat (full of curious Thais) as it crossed a river and ridden into the outskirts of the city to a strange and silent temple that had dozens of people - Thais and foreigners - dressed completely in white and walking painfully slow in an odd mediation ritual. I’ve even used Google Earth to map out a path, where I accidentally discovered a raised walkway that runs from Lumphini Park to Queen Sirikit - the only traffic on that route is kids playing football.

Despite the fact that ‘bike paths’ are often the curbside edge of a crumbling sidewalk, Bangkok can still be a valid place to get out and ride. There aren’t a lot of parks, but they do exist; traffic on major routes can be dangerous, but there are plenty of smaller streets with a minimum of traffic. There are many top-notch shops that carry all manner of pro biking gear as well, so you’ll never run out of padded seats or the all-important water bottles.

It’s a huge city and it’s out there waiting. Only a bike allows you to see the real Bangkok and all its hidden charm amid the chaos, and you might even get some exercise while you’re at it. Just remember to wear your helmet and keep a finger or two on the brake - you never know when you’ll come around the corner into a group of kids selling chickens or a tuk-tuk race or a group of wandering monks.

Commisions