On Saturday I took my motorcycle out for a long ride to Samut Sakhon, an area we have been exploring a bit recently. It was a good day to ride, but I had a rather nerve-wracking experience mid-way through.
It’s typhoon season, and I think we’re still experiencing the tail end of Typhoon Noru. It’s caused a lot of rain and flooding in Thailand, and we have had some intense rain here in the last while.
I have been wanting to take my motorcycle out on some longer rides. It has been sitting for a while, as I am not fond of riding in the rain, partially from a safety perspective. Riding in the rain, in the dark, in Bangkok is not fun.
I decided I was going to take the bike out. There were warnings about rain, and no one in my Line motorcycle group was going to go out. I went anyway.
It turned about to be a beautiful, sunny day! The traffic was light, being Saturday. By light, I mean it was moving, generally.
I didn’t end up doing as much as I would have liked. I thought maybe my battery was just a bit weak because I hadn’t been riding much, but no, it needs to be replaced. Even after riding for a while, it has difficulty turning the engine over, so it needs to go! I didn’t want to stop too much because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to start it again!
I had set a destination, and near to it, I had to cross a canal. No big deal, right? Looking at the map, I thought it was a road, but it was not for cars. Thailand has pedestrian walkways, in many places, that are perched above the edges of canals. They are concrete, maybe four feet wide, and typically have about a two foot railing.
There are often similarly constructed bridges with steep ramps, a straight stretch, and steep off-ramp. While they seem to be designed for pedestrians, people on scooters routinely use them. I don’t ride a scooter. I ride what is referred to here as a “big bike.”
This is one time I really regret not mounting my GoPro on my helmet. I haven’t ridden in one of these before, and it would have been great to capture the experience.
I stopped about 20 feet from the ramp, and it seemed to be steeper than most I had seen. I literally said “wow” before releasing the clutch and giving it some gas. You definitely have to keep the momentum going on these, and not stop. Easily made it to the level section on the bridge, and I stopped at the edge of the ramp, where I saw that an equally steep ramp didn’t have a straight path ahead, but a T intersection right at the end of the ramp!
Note: the images I’ve added were from a canal boat tour we did in Bangkok last year, but give you a pretty good idea what these paths are like. The bridge was at least as steep and as tall as this one, if not taller.
I would have known this if I had looked closely at the route, but I was committed now. Turning around on this would be next to impossible. So, I was on the rear brake all the way down, slowly, and slowly got around the corner at the bottom. That was a relief! I would not want to start my bike off at the bottom of that ramp going the opposite direction!
I continued on, thankful it hadn’t been raining, because that could have ended very differently. The map indicated an exit just ahead but, as is often the case with maps here, there was no exit. I continued on, now with no maps to guide me. I came to a 90 degree right turn off the canal, and into a small tributary, still on the concrete path.
I would have stopped here to take some photos, having spotted an egret along the edge of the canal, but I did not feel like blocking the path. At this point I had to let an oncoming scooter by me, and that was interesting.
Here it was shaded by the trees, but the concrete was green with what seemed like algae. Fortunately the main part of the path was mostly free of it. I was also fortunate that it hadn’t rained recently, because I could see that path getting very, very slippery. I have experienced just how slippery concrete can be in Thailand, and this wasn’t the polished concrete you find in parking garages.
I continued down this seemingly endless path, looking for a way out, as it twisted and turned, following the small tributary. It would be a great place for a walk, I realized, looking over the edge into the forest.
Finally I saw traffic going by on a nearby road. I thought I could exit but I had to continue on for a couple hundred metres, and was finally able to get back onto a proper road.
I wish I had it on video, but I don’t plan to go do it again just to get a video of it. It was not my favourite part of the ride, and was very glad when it was over. Makes for a good story though.
I wasn’t worried so much about my bike falling over and throwing me over the railing, as much as I was worried about my bike falling and trapping me between the railing and my bike, which was far more likely. It weighs at least 450 pounds, and I have had to lift it, which is not easy.
I am leaving for Canada shortly, so the battery replacement will wait until then. By November the weather is much better, so I will be doing more riding, and maybe another tour of Thailand in January/February.
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