Full Moon
Have you seen the movie The Beach or read the book? I saw it a long time ago. It was supposedly filmed near here. I vaguely remember the movie, but I can remember some scenes from Bangkok and the islands and it looks nearly as beautiful as they portrayed it in the film.
I taught myself how to ride a motorcycle. You can't get around on an island independently without knowing how to ride one. It's a 150 cc (or so) scooter type thing, red. You can choose either red or blue, the remaining ten percent of the bikes on the island are black (the black ones cost more to rent. I don't know why, they just do). Several years ago I rode an automatic scooter while my family and I were on vacation at some beach in Washington. This scooter rides similarly except you shift with your left foot. It takes some getting used to.
We used our red bike to go to the full moon party on the other side of the island at a place called Had Rin. It's on a long mountainous peninsula. By day, it's a 360 degree view of the island. By night, especially on the crowded nights of the full moon party, especially for amateur bike riders traveling it following a hard rain, the view is non-existent as one struggles to just stay on the road. People call it the roller coaster road. One lane with two way traffic, hairpin turns, and cliffs you could hang glide off of on both sides.
Our bike wasn't powerful enough to take us up the inclines. Krista and I would end up going backwards as the bike sputtered under our weight. I told her to get off at one point and I ran the bike into a giant pothole at the side of the road. Motorbikes are heavy. While trying to support the bike, I burnt my inner right ankle on the engine. Later, on the same hill, Krista had to be rescued by volunteer police as she stood perilously on an edge with the bike leaning up against her. A volunteer had to ride the bike the rest of the way. We were very thankful for their help.
The bike's gone now. For the three days we had it, it was good, relatively safe, helmetless fun.
Today, we are going sea kayaking...
Have you seen the movie The Beach or read the book? I saw it a long time ago. It was supposedly filmed near here. I vaguely remember the movie, but I can remember some scenes from Bangkok and the islands and it looks nearly as beautiful as they portrayed it in the film.
I taught myself how to ride a motorcycle. You can't get around on an island independently without knowing how to ride one. It's a 150 cc (or so) scooter type thing, red. You can choose either red or blue, the remaining ten percent of the bikes on the island are black (the black ones cost more to rent. I don't know why, they just do). Several years ago I rode an automatic scooter while my family and I were on vacation at some beach in Washington. This scooter rides similarly except you shift with your left foot. It takes some getting used to.
We used our red bike to go to the full moon party on the other side of the island at a place called Had Rin. It's on a long mountainous peninsula. By day, it's a 360 degree view of the island. By night, especially on the crowded nights of the full moon party, especially for amateur bike riders traveling it following a hard rain, the view is non-existent as one struggles to just stay on the road. People call it the roller coaster road. One lane with two way traffic, hairpin turns, and cliffs you could hang glide off of on both sides.
Our bike wasn't powerful enough to take us up the inclines. Krista and I would end up going backwards as the bike sputtered under our weight. I told her to get off at one point and I ran the bike into a giant pothole at the side of the road. Motorbikes are heavy. While trying to support the bike, I burnt my inner right ankle on the engine. Later, on the same hill, Krista had to be rescued by volunteer police as she stood perilously on an edge with the bike leaning up against her. A volunteer had to ride the bike the rest of the way. We were very thankful for their help.
The bike's gone now. For the three days we had it, it was good, relatively safe, helmetless fun.
Today, we are going sea kayaking...
posted by c. @ 7:55 PM
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