Friday, March 1, 2013

No Training Wheels

I mastered the art of riding a bike when I was probably about six but ever since coming to Southeast Asia at age 23, I have wanted to ride a very different kind of bike: the motorbike.

Being that cars are unaffordable for most people in this part of the world it's motorbikes that dominate the roads but, as anyone who has traveled here would know, SE Asia is notorious for crazy and hazardous driving. Now I'm not the most confident driver in the world even back home so I was pretty intimidated by the idea of attempting to drive an unfamiliar vehicle in countries where standard rules of the road just don't apply. Although I really wanted to try it out I kept putting it off, and it got to the point where I didn't think I would actually get the courage ride one at all. But I was determined to do it (it was an item on my Wanderlist after all!) and I'm extremely proud to say that today I rented and drove a motorbike around Hoi An (Vietnam) and walked away unscathed!




Driving a motorbike in a foreign country is something I never thought I would be brave enough to do but that's exactly why traveling is so great: it constantly pushes you to try new things and step outside of your comfort zone, and at the end of the day you're almost always glad you did. I know I am.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

How fun! You were actually a pretty good bike rider before the age of 6. Love, Dad

Wondering and Wandering said...

I didn't know how old I was when I learned - good to know! You were a good teacher, thanks for reading Dad!