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Hello, welcome! Take a look inside kaa. Here's what I have for you today:​

The first time I hopped on the back of a motorbike in Bangkok, I was terrified.

Not of the speed. Not of the traffic.

I was terrified because the driver just... went. No safety speech. No "hold on tight." He looked back, gave me a nod, and pulled straight into a wall of cars, trucks, and tuk-tuks that looked completely impossible to navigate.

Thirty seconds later, we were through.

And I was grinning like an idiot.

That's the thing about Bangkok traffic nobody prepares you for. From the outside, it looks like chaos. A total gridlock mess where nothing moves and everyone sweats. But on a motorbike, you're not stuck in it. You're a fish weaving through it. You cut left, you squeeze right, you slide between a bus and a food cart with maybe 8 inches to spare, and you're already gone before the taxi driver behind you even moves his foot off the brake.

I watched tourists sitting in taxis through the windows. Sweating. Staring at their phones. Waiting.

I was already eating noodles three streets over.

Fact: Bangkok is one of the most stunning cities on earth to watch from a motorbike. You see the wats peeking over market rooftops. You smell the lemongrass before you see the cart. You roll through a neighborhood and some old guy is just sitting outside his shop, fanning himself, and he looks at you and laughs like you're both in on the same joke. You give him a thumbs up. He gives you one back.

That doesn't happen in a taxi, a skytrain, or a subway.

And the heat. God, the heat. On the street, you're melting. In a taxi, you're either sweating or freezing. On a bike, the wind hits you at exactly the right temperature. It dries the sweat off your arms. It turns a 34-degree Bangkok afternoon into something almost bearable. You start to understand why Thais ride everywhere.

To be honest: The adrenaline rush of a short motorbike ride along Sukhumvit Road will never be boring. There’s nothing cooler than arriving at your destination like that. And by the way: motorbike taxi drivers are the only Thai men in the transport business who do not try to scam you.

On the islands it gets even worse. Or better. Depends how you look at it.

I was on Koh Samui once, climbing into the mountains on a scooter, and I had to physically stop myself from looking at the view because the road needed my full attention. Jungle on both sides. The occasional waterfall just... sitting there, completely unbothered. And you're on this little machine threading through it all, and you think, nobody who took a taxi today saw this. Nobody.

For my US readers: If you ever took the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to Malibu, than you know how hard it can be to focus on the road… multiply it by 10 – that’s the Thailand feeling.

The hardest part of riding on an island isn't the road. It's keeping your eyes on it.

Three reasons, and they're all legit.

So renting your own bike and riding solo is genuinely risky for most first-time visitors.

But not riding at all means missing one of the best experiences Thailand has.

There are tours that put you on a bike, in the hands of someone who knows every soi, every shortcut, every pothole, where you just hold on and take it all in.

You get all of the experience. None of the liability.

Here are four worth looking at:

One of the newest tours in Thailand! Four hours. You start in Chinatown and the driver takes you through alleys so narrow a car couldn't follow. The route covers the culinary triangle: Chinatown, Talat Noi, Banthat Thong. Five to seven stops. Some of them are Michelin-recognized spots, some are family stalls that have been in the same spot for forty years. Your driver has 15 years of safe driving experience and knows where the food is actually good, not just where tourists get sent. You get to eat, talk to a local, and see a side of Bangkok most people walk past without knowing it exists. Check it out here*

This one's with the same guide, and reading his reviews tells you everything. He contacts you before the tour, asks what you actually want to see, and builds the route around that. Golden Buddha, Yaowarat at night, the street art in Talat Noi, Flower Market, Wat Arun from the river side. You tell him what matters to you and he makes it happen. One reviewer said he was willing to add things on the spot as they went. That's the local advantage. Check it out here*

If Bangkok street riding is the urban version, this is the wild version. Honda CRF 250cc or 300cc dirt bikes. Three hours in the jungle outside Pattaya, through pineapple plantations, rubber tree farms, up rocky hillsides, across streams. You get split into groups by skill level so you're not riding way over your head. Then a meal at the end because you've absolutely earned it. If you've ever wanted to actually ride (not just sit on the back of) a bike in Thailand and do it properly, with gear and guides who know what they're doing, this is the one. Check it out here*

New and underrated. Electric bikes, which means near silence through the jungle. Waterfalls. A Buddha temple at the top of the mountain. Viewpoints where you'll want to sit for an hour. The guide speaks English and French and the reviews are genuinely warm, not just polite. Flexible timing too, so you can go at sunset if you want. One to three hours depending on what you're after. If you're on Samui and haven't done this, you're leaving the best part on the table. Check it out here*

If you want to skip the part where you figure out the hard way what can go wrong on a rented scooter, these four tours are where I'd start.

Chokdee!
​- Tim

*P.S. Disclaimer: affiliate links. If you purchase something via these links, I will earn a small commission. No additional cost.

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