Badass Bangkok Biking
Bangkok’s not usually the type of city one thinks about when you hear ‘city biking’, but over the past few years my friends and I have braved the narrow streets, unpredictable traffic and stifling heat to map ourselves out a nice collection of routes. Some of them take us down Bangkok’s main drags, where we have to fight for space with tuk-tuks, trucks, cars, buses, motorbikes, food carts and pedestrians, while others take us into silent suburban neighbourhoods that probably only see a foreigner every other year. We’ve been chased by (probably) rabid dogs, high-fived groups of schoolchildren, stumbled upon customers leaving a love-hotel, joked with security guards about Japanese pubic hair (long story), been shouted at by crazy homeless guys, shared lunch with countless interesting characters and discovered plenty of great photo ops (that’s me, left, on a real dead end street). If you keep your wits about you, it’s not nearly as dangerous as it seems and is certainly never boring.
Most people assume that you’re going to be run off the road by the admittedly insane traffic that snares Bangkok’s roads, but it’s often not the case, and I’ll tell you why. Bangkok drivers are already on the lookout for nutcases on motorbikes, dudes pushing insect snack carts and all manner of vehicles that whip and swerve and turn in and out of traffic at every street corner. They’re aware that at any moment, something could jump out, so their reflexes are usually pretty quick, and they’re surprisingly patient with line-cutters. As long as you watch the traffic lights, get familiar with the traffic patterns (which often act contrary to the traffic lights), look, listen and go slow, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Often, moments of great traffic noise and pillows of black smoke can suddenly cease, as you come out into a serene little alcove where you can barely hear the din of the proudly-unserviced car engines like this picture below - the Chao Phraya River in the rainy season, when it’s thick with topsoil and upstream silt.
One of the great things about Bangkok is that most of the city exists off the beaten path, among a maze of tiny alleys and narrow sois that the average expat never sees, and this is what makes it fun to explore. When I ride with my friend JB, he sometimes brings his GPS unit, tracking our every move, which makes for an interesting look-see when we pull the information into Google Earth (see below).
There are plenty of companies that offer bike trips around the capital - I’ve never taken one, so I can’t recommend any personally, although a Google search of ‘bangkok bike tours’ should turn up a few good options.
And last but not least, you have to give the Bangkok city council credit for trying to promote bike use by designating bike paths around town, but really - is this the best they could come up with? (source)
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Great post and promo on biking in Bkk. It is really a fantastic experience.
We once were about 77 people riding through someone’s kitchen - and they just smiled and said “Sawat dee kaa”
Splendid.