We Had a Gun Pulled On Us | Driving a Motorbike in Thailand | Podcast 003

Welcome to Episode 3 of the Always Away Podcast! In this episode we talk about our experiences on the road in Thailand and the UK driving a motorbike, including our past motorbiking accidents and how Dom’s motorbike ended up being seized by British Police. We also talk about the shocking road rage incidents we’ve had in Thailand and why it’s actually better to drive in Thailand as a woman 🇹🇭✨

🇯🇵 🌏🎙️ #ThailandTravel #TravelStories

Support the channel 🤗💖
Access extra content on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AlwaysAwayChannel/
Buy us a coffee via Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/alwaysaway

✨ Come Say Hey!
▹Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alwaysaway.tv/

✨ About Always Away:
We are Dominic and Emma. Travelling together as a couple for the last 10 years, we started off backpacking through South East Asia and in 2016 began vanlife as a means to travel with our pug, Percy. After years of van travel around Europe, and then Japan, we have taken the plunge to move to Chiang Mai Thailand, something we had always wanted to do. Now we plan to show you everything Thailand!

✨ Make sure to Subscribe to our channel for more videos like this one! ✨

________________________________________________________________________

Music by Epidemic Sound, get a free month with this link 🙂 :
https://www.epidemicsound.com/referra…
________________________________________________________________________

Camera Gear

Sony Z-V1 Vlogging Camera https://amzn.to/2XtxUlc
Sony a7r; https://amzn.to/31JROvb
Sony FE 24-240mm Lens; https://amzn.to/2Zvi2yM
Camera Battery Charger https://amzn.to/38ueMrv
Dji Osmo Pocket; https://amzn.to/31Lwp56
Dji Mavic Drone https://amzn.to/2VLfA6s
Google Pixel 3 XL https://amzn.to/2NWlHjT
MacBook Pro https://amzn.to/3f6pkzW

_________________________________________________________________________
#travelstories #podcast #thailand

Hello welcome back to another episode of the always way podcast I’m your host Emma and I’m your co-host Dom and this is the podcast where we talk about travel always so it’s our third episode apologies last week we didn’t manage to get an episode out did we because truth

Be told we filmed two episodes and then we got it on to the screen to edit and one we just looked really tired in there two we looked really unflattering in angle and the way we filmed it was really bad and the audio was also off so

We were just like do you know what maybe it’s not meant to be but instead what we did was we waited if you’re watching this podcast you’ll be able to see that our backdrop has changed a little bit hasn’t it yeah we moved stuff around we bought two armchairs because the chairs

That we were filming on before that came with the house they really ugly and uncomfortable so we’ve I looks slightly better I mean it’s not exactly groundbreaking but well Dom found this on air light uh to give it a bit of that professional B but yeah emaz oh we just

Bought some armchairs there’s a bit more to it than that we’ve got two armchairs got a rug that you can’t see a rug table we’ve got microphone stands oh yeah Don found microphone stands so now the microphone’s on a stand hopefully the audio will be a bit better we’ve been

Playing around with it all and we’ve got three light boxes in the background that you can’t see so yeah there’s a little bit more than two armchairs em is really she she’s not acting because it’s like it sounds like we’ve done a lot but well

We have we’ve done a lot but I don’t know if it looks that good was ashamed of saying we put some F at in we we just bought some chairs because I don’t know if it actually looks any good I mean it definitely looks better than it did cuz

We just used the old desk that was in this room yeah it was very uncomfortable had fun with that trying to get that out the room weighs a ton and all anyway so yeah so episode three of the podcast yeah episode three of the podcast it felt fitting to talk about

Our motorbike experiences or moped experiences because we just done the Mayon song Loop uh on a motorbike and driven around the whole province of Mayon song if you’ve seen the series so if anyone doesn’t know what mayong song is the mayong song Loop is a rout which

Is primarily made of the 108 road which loops around the whole of the mayong song Province hence its name it’s around see it’s there’s a mixture of because there’s different ways that you can go but it’s roughly around 600 K original route is 600 km and we did the original

Route the thing is the last day is the road is really rubbish so a lot of people don’t go the final sort of bit of the loop and they cut across do intern on the national park uh which we wish we had done but we didn’t have enough time

As you come around we were recommended to go D into enr because the road’s a lot better and the hotel owner recommended it but then technically it’s not the May Hong song Loop so and we’ve made booking Arrangements already so I thought you know what we’ll stick to it

Let’s stick to the route and the last route and the road really does get bad yeah he wasn’t joking um yeah there a really bad poth was like collapsed bits of the road into the M like the yeah part of the whole Road collapsed I couldn’t believe that it was like yeah

Something out of a should have filmed it but it was really hard to film on the bike and that’s one regret that I have of doing the Mayon song that we weren’t able to really try it we weren’t really able to film us on the bike yeah we want to

Invest in like an action cams like a new uh like a GoPro or like new DJI hero or there’s a new 360 camera that looks good but again it all cost money expensive so we we mainil save up for that yeah we mainly film on a DSLR and like trying to

Film on a motorbike with a DSLR is not the best we do have an osmo pocket which we’ve had for years but it doesn’t it’s not that great anymore but we did the Drone a little bit and the that was really difficult trying to fly the Drone was really frustrating especially when

We were trying to drive on the bike because there wasn’t really any anywhere to pull over and I mean yeah that’s one of my regrets but riding a bike anywhere but especially Thailand it definitely makes a difference in comparison to driving a car because know you feel more

Immersed you feel like you’re more present within your environment being on a bike but at the same time given the we just about escaped the worst of Burning Season before it kicked in but I’m glad we did it when we did because literally two days later it was horri it’s not a

Huge 360 on in terms of air quality the smoke and it just it does it does ruin your experience I’m glad we did it but I wouldn’t want to be doing it now I mean even when we did it there was a lot of smoke and it especially on the last sort

Of half like second half of it it was really really bad but I mean it was nothing compared to what it is right now it feels like we’re prisoners in our own home it’s like covid times basically right now but the air is still bad in the house we’ve got this air purifier

But when you go on the App it says that the air is severe inside the house and uh I don’t think because of the price of it I don’t and the size of it it doesn’t cover that much of many square meters so I think the rooms we’re putting it in

Probably above the capacity that it’s meant to purify there yeah cuz downstairs is open plan so we don’t know how well it does it down there and there’s some gaps in the doors as well yeah it says it’s used about 50% of the filter yeah he’s down here at the moment

I don’t know if you want to hold him up he’s got a little face on him you I don’t think you can see him but he he does a smiley face when the Air’s good and I haven’t seen his smiley face he has Smile for a while bit like me so but

Yeah it’s a bit like being back in Co it’s quite depressing the air is like going outside and seeing the sky it’s always been blue skies like the whole six months we’ve been here and then this last month it’s just everyday gray and really apocalyptic and horrible changm

Is a completely different place uh at from three weeks ago even to now and you know it’s not just foreigners like us you know complaining T people are constantly on the groups like saying all these taxes we pay and they can’t sort this out like it’s a joke and you know

It you know it’s not great something needs to be done about it but whether it will or not and when it will be is another question but right now we like most people in changai a lot of people who are privileged enough can just leave but most people like us have commitments

And you know upping and leaving your home and going on a hotel for a month we’ve got the dog and down in the South there is a heat wave and it’s nearly 50° so it’s like you can’t win anywhere right now it’s it’s really not good and

What’s funny is it’s High season and there’s there are a lot of tourists in the Town Center here and like bug of that like I can’t imagine I can’t imagine coming holiday at this time it’s really really horrible changma is such a lovely place but right now it’s just

It’s just like a totally different place and my observation of people that you see walking around that are clearly tourists they literally have no idea they just think this is this is what it’s like all the time but it really isn’t but right now it is the most

Polluted city in the world which is just horrible like why do we choose you know when you say it’s above like India and China and like big cities and you’re seeing changma at the top of the list it’s it’s crazy to think but it’s quite

Scary to read about as well but I mean I’m fed up of talking about it I wish it would just go away but well it will be in the next month or two but you know it’s still way to to go and it just feels like it’s getting worse and worse

Every single day so this episode is mainly going to be talking about our riding and driving experiences in different um countries now we’re currently in Thailand living in Thailand at the moment if you didn’t know that already and now if you didn’t know when

You have a UK if you’re from the UK that is or us or you know anywhere you have a you know your license that’s in your country which gives you the right to drive or ride in your country but if you want to travel abroad outside of your

Home country you need to get what’s known as an international driving permit which is basically like a little book little piece of paper which has a photo of you in it and your local Authority in your home country will stamp it to it’s like a translation in different

Languages of what entitlement you have on your license but yeah so if you want to drive a braw please get your International driving permit in your in your home country now in the UK it costs us5 I think it was5 55 and you just go

To the Post Office yes if you’re in the UK you can go to the Post Office and it’s really quick and easy it you know you just have passport photo they check your license they have the special stamp but I mean for us now living here we don’t need that driving permit anymore

So it’s like we we didn’t have bike licenses in the UK um our license only allows us to drive cars but we did the bike test here and like Dom said you can get the international driving permit or whatever is here of Thailand so for like a year

We could drive a giant motorbike back in the UK I mean that is quite scary I’m surprised that you can like do that but given the test that I’ve I did here to get my license originally super easy it’s yeah it’s not get one year but I me

You could drive in Japan which like that’s probably a dream to do like a motorbike trip across Japan I was looking into it but again it’s quite expensive to rent a bike but yeah that’d be something I’d like to do I think right like anywhere driving is you know

Every country has their quirks Thailand’s no different Thailand’s probably got the most dangerous roads in on the if you’re world if you’re going to be if you’re going to get injured in Thailand you’re going to get injured on the road most likely and that could be

In a car but of course it’s most likely in a bike so you to have your wits about you but it does surprise me how many people come to a country like Thailand they’ve never been on a bike in their life not even a moped like we’ve had

Mopeds in the UK so you get a little bit of experience on that just Road placement and handling a bike but some people just come here and like they play on a bike no T-shirt you got people on Tik Tok there’s this one guy he’s going

Oh it’s like Thailand’s like GTA 4 5 like you can you can rent anything you like you can do what you like you’re supposed to have a license but they don’t check it you don’t need one really you do you should be following the rules it’s okay I get your point maybe there

Are companies that aren’t too fast that you don’t have and they won’t ask to see your license intentionally because they know you haven’t got one but it does also mean you are liable if you crash that bike but people you only get to see that side of Thailand or that side of it

When you crash when you’re unfortunate enough it invalidates your travel insurance so if you do get injured you Absol buggers unless you’ve got loads of money then you can just pay but most people don’t especially that are coming to Thailand there’s a lot more budget conscious Travelers and that’s like the

People that we spoke to they didn’t have a huge budget and we sort of encouraged them to say look if you have an accident you know they could probably wipe out their whole onee budget of travel in that accident to pay Hospital fees yeah so if you are coming to Thailand you

Want to ride a bike make sure you have a license if you don’t have a license in the UK you can try and get one here but I to be honest I don’t think it tourist tourist I don’t think you cuz you you can get one when you have a certificate

Of residence now it’s a bit of a gray area if you can get one as a tourist cuz I know some people have done but in my opinion I believe if you don’t have a license hit don’t ride a bike unless or unless you’re going to get a license and

I mean we do really love riding on motorbikes but this time coming here we were sort of trying to avoid getting a bike but we were kind of pushed into it when our car broke and that’s when we rented a motorbike and it was like five

Six months into being here this time and normally we’ve always ridden motorbikes from we come here but um we got a car this time because one with the dog and mostly just safety like yeah comfortable as well you know yeah you can have airon listen to the radio whatever but um

Right old listen to the radio but it is nice to have a car here yeah so please if you come to Thailand or anywhere where if you’re going to ride a like have a license wear a helmet oh God wear a helmet yeah so many people we we were

Coming around a bend the other day and this guy was on the floor with no helmet with all his stuff everywhere and the bike was on top of him and next to him was the taxi driver the bike Taxi Driver helping him up because here you can have

Motor taxis but I wouldn’t get on one to be honest especially without a helmet this guy was so lucky that he didn’t crack his head open and he looked about 14 or something I mean I’ve always especially like in previous years I’ve always motorbike taxis cuz they’re so

Cheap a lot of people I see on the back of the grab motorbike taxis and they’re not wearing helmets they’re yeah I I couldn’t imagine getting on a bike without a helmet I’m too too like nervous I’ve seen this people look cool they look cool on the back it’s nice and

Easy but like it’s not that sweaty wearing a helmet and and you get over it after 5 minutes you get over it pretty quickly plus you also get stuff in your eyes yeah especially right now with all this like we got heavy shanes on but um

Don’t get on a bike with no helmet this woman I saw on Tik Tok she was in barley and she witnessed someone come off a bike and she she was like crying in the video saying that she’d seen them come off the bike with no helmet and their

Head just was like a watermelon yeah and I do not want to see that I also read recently there was an article in the BBC that uh husband and wife rented a bike uh recently and he’s actually now he had an accident he said he come off at

Around 20 miles an hour but he has since become paralyzed and he said in the I’m not sure the exact context of the accident but his wife was okay but he is now paralyzed from the waist down and he said I would probably be dead if I

Didn’t have a helmet on he didn’t even come off at high speed so every time we get on a bug I do worry like cuz people think oh if you’re in changai there’s a lot traffic and there is and you’re weaving in and out but you know you can

Still have if you’re if you hit your head on the street walking down the road let alone when you’re on a bike you know it but yeah like a friend of my dad’s was studying in Thailand he was at University in Bangkok and he’s quite he’s an experienced rider and he’s been

In Thailand you know 10 over 10 well five he’d been in Thailand around five years at that point so he’s very familiar with Thailand Familiar of the roads and he had bike experience and he was just at a junction one day waiting um for the lights and next next minute

Which is around 7: in the morning on his way to University and the next minute he would woke up in hospital and he had this awful he had serious injuries and he had this awful noise in his head that it just wouldn’t go 24-hour like a really high pitched ringing and and he

And it nearly drove him mad and I think you know he was contemplating all sorts of things because it was it was just imagine that 24/7 and the doctors couldn’t work out what was causing it and they couldn’t treat it and there was nothing really they could do now luckily

For him one day it just stopped and he’s now managed to you know recover and live a normal life again for myself I’ve had one accident in Thailand and that was my first motorbike accident was and only motorbike accident was in a province around an hour from Bangkok at that time

I was actually living in Thailand as a English teacher at 16 years old now that’s a different story which I we do a whole episode on that but anyway I was done a quick run to McDonald’s and this was before sort of the gr the grab phenomenon it was just

Getting started back then and on the way back there was just driving past this quite popular nightclub in the area and just going driving past it I was just coming up to my right turn to drive back to my condo and literally I’m waiting I can see this car coming towards me so

I’m waiting for that car to go by and then I was about to turn but then just as the car was just coming past me I hear this really loud like sound like a gunshot but it was this one of these snazzy Taw pipe you know exhaust Sports

Exhaust or whatever it was and it sounded like a rocket and it l just flew by me but as it flew by me it hit my bike only way I can describe it it was like a someone chipping a football so it hit the back of my bike and I just sort

Of pinged in the air and everything sort of went slow motion and it was all very weird and I remember thinking when I was at the highest point in the air and as I was about to come back down thinking I’m not going to make this I don’t think I’m

Going to get out of this one cuz at that point I think I thought the the car was going to another car was going to hit me as I as I come down but as I fell on the floor I was fine and I literally just

Got back up like I just slipped over I had a helmet on obviously and I remember all these there was people sitting at the local shops like getting drunk all these women and a couple of guys and they come running over to help me saying

Oh you okay and I was like yeah I’m fine and they’re all just shocked how I didn’t have a Mark I didn’t have a scratch nothing and they was like are you going to report it to the police because it turns out this person was quite a

Well-known I don’t know criminal or one of the mafia types in Thailand and they was saying you know you should you know you should report he could have killed you kind of thing but knowing Thailand someone like that I had no scratches on me the bike wasn’t even damaged really

Just scratched and the bike was quite an old bike anyway so did they hit the back point of the bik they hit the back of it and just carried on and just carried on didn’t stop no and it’s weird because the bike didn’t really have any damage I

Think the back I had to replace a back panel and that cost like3 so inconvenienced me but and you know I could have took that I I mean I kind of did and I thought well maybe I shouldn’t ride a bike here but around that time I didn’t really have any other

Choice so I was carried on riding a bike riding a bike here it’s you know it’s like it’s a love and hate relationship for me so I love riding a bike but then you do have to think about the consequence of what could happen well I mean in both those stories

Neither of you were even riding you’re just yeah I was station both you and you’ve been hereit driving in Thailand I wouldn’t feel comfortable riding a motorbike I got a license obviously just sort of for the sake of it but I used to have a moped back in the UK when we were

Both 16 17 we we had mopeds and I mean mine was really slow it was this 5050 CC really tiny bike really light pers yeah little pers I don’t know what they called them zip click click was it no it wasn’t a click it was a click was it oh

Yeah but it was it was a really tiny light one because once I tried driving on Dom’s bike and it was so heavy for me that I I dropped it trying to get on it yeah my pristine not a mark on it by but yeah I rode this tiny thing and I

Couldn’t go very fast on it but one day I was coming down a hill not even a it wasn’t even that much of a big hill but I was getting a bit more speed and there was a car quite far in front but suddenly um he just break really harshly

And didn’t indicate that he was going to turn right um so he just sort of break really suddenly in the middle of the road and I didn’t have enough time to break behind him coming down the hill I tried to break but I know I was going to

Hit the back of his car and I didn’t want to hit the back of his car so I turned and the bike just sort of skidded underneath me and I mean he just carried on like normal I didn’t hit him uh but no one no one stopped or anything Dom

Was behind me Dom helped me out but yeah it was on a main road and I just came off the bike sort of skidded across the road along with my bike I had a helmet on I was fine but I had a really bad cut

All up my my foot and my leg that went like green I don’t remember I have a history with green green infected cuts my legs it still surprised me to this day how no one stopped and no one gave a crap like was just on the floor and it

Wasn’t a serious accident but even so it was just weird to to yeah there was loads of people driving around me like and just overtaking me on the floor with the bike and I mean I seems like yesterday when I took Emma to a local community center car park and I T her

Around to ride bike in in the car park going around because then after that we we did in like in the UK the compulsory basic training which is I mean anyone comp pass if you fail that BL me but it’s literally just riding it’s quite

Easy to get like a mop head or whatever back home when you’re 16 yeah I’ve got a very weird story attached to my bike as well because I had it a while after that accident didn’t I and one night I went on went out in midstone in Kent in the

Town Center oh yeah it was sort of a you know wasn’t planning on going out but I did and then I started having a drink in town so I thought uh well I can’t right back so I left it in the car park and because if you have a bike in Maidstone

There are lots of bike sections in uh public car parks and CCTV and which is free parking and it was all I I picked this particular one because it was outside the council offices so all there was loads of CCTV uh from the office itself and then

Facing the the car park so I thought it’ be safe there but any know I went out for the night and came back the next morning and it was gone and I was like well and I reported it to the police and it turned out that they actually knew

Where the bike was cuz they found it um maybe a mile up the road so basically around 2:3 in the morning these guys have just come out of a club and just hotwired it for a laugh and joy rided it up the road and I didn’t have much fuel

In it so obviously they’re driving quite erratic you know heavy revving I don’t know and they’ve run out of betol so when they’ve went out and they’ve just dumped it and I didn’t get any call from the police I mean the bikes registered to me there was paperwork in the the

Bike itself which is my insurance documents with my address on they could have easily found me and in the end I was actually contacted later by the police to tell me that you where my bike was and they were Char they went to charg me £250 or something something ridiculous

Because they picked it up off the road and they were storing it and then they then they started storing it in the middle of the AIS of sheppy which was Miles Away they wanted Dom to pay to retrieve the bike that was stolen from

Him well yeah so not I had to pay the recovery and then I had to pay for the storage fees at like £50 a day and and I was having back and forth with Kent Police and the I don’t know some management uh it’s like a recovery company and in the

End they ended up scrapping my bike because I didn’t pick it up within like a week or something because I was still like trying to trying to find out where find out where how to get it because they said oh it’s on the other Shey didn’t give me an address there was

Multiple warehouses that it could have been at on the island you know just completely wrote off my bike and I don’t think the insurance wanted to pay out on it and I wasn’t willing to take a claim for something that wasn’t my fault and in the end my sist actually got a phone

Call with like the police officer in charge of it and they decided to make me an offer out of cult and basically they paid the full Mark I think full market value of the Bike plus loss of earnings cuz I couldn’t go to work I didn’t have the

Bike worked out okay but still the fact of just scrapping it with without telling you and and having to gather all this evidence trying to charge you to get the bike and not even telling you where it was I mean to have to pay nearly £300 to retrieve your stolen

Motorbike a bike this is what and literally it doesn’t take because they had to send photos of it cuz to confirm it was my bike and things like that prior to them scrapping it and you could see there was nothing wrong with it and they didn’t even and they got this huge

Trail like pickup trailer to come get it and it’s like you just just phone me and the bike was tax insured oted completely road legal you could just left it on the road and i’ would have come and collected it whereas my bike just went

Wrong when I was washing it I washed it a bit too well and the water must have got in it somehow because I literally washed it and then it wouldn’t start again so that was the end of my bike I think we used to ride them for like a

Maybe like a year and a half we were using them two years yeah so you know you it’s very different writing a big bike to a moped but mine was like heavily tuned up by the sports exhaust on it and all kinds of things to make it

Go Yeahs went faster than mine that’s for sure but since I came off the bike I mean I did get straight back on it and cuz I lived kind of raal I needed it to get to work and just like to get anywhere basically there was a little

Bus service that run like three times a [ __ ] day but yeah three times day now it’s once a day yeah they’ve literally scrapped the bus out so I needed the moped to get anywhere basically but um and was working in pubs at the time so she was finishing like 4:00 a.m. 3: in

The morning I remember like just being freezing coming out of the coming out of work and just like zipping up the road I remember one I remember one time I was working for this guy who ran a pub and he was bit he was a he was a character should

We say and one night she she was working there and it was basically him and all his friends used to just sit in this PB and Emma was working there and one night Emma got drunk no well he the thing is he’d made his own moonshine and he was just encouraging me

To try it and I was like but I need to drive home and he was like no leave it here and in the end I ended up trying this drink and he like ordered pizza and we had a drink or whatever and he uh got

Someone to I think I was I was picking I had to pick him her up cuz she was like oh um she rung me up drunk I’m too drunk to drive and and when I come back too drunk to drive yeah too drunk and then I

Wouldn’t I even with like yeah and I would never I turned up at the pub and there’s just the owners there with his friends they’re all drunk out there head he’s got a St burnard like as big as a bear and then and he’s yeah he’s Jordy

And two Jordy guys pushing through EMS mopo through his Pub no I think he he got he got on it and rode it into the P yeah so he rode it into the his own drove my through it Gard nearly running over his St Bernard his private property

And this St Bernard was like it was so big and for some I don’t know why it didn’t like black jackets yeah he didn’t like anyone dressed in black and I had a black leather jacket on he was when I turned off he he sort of like got on his

Two legs and stood up as tall as me and then he started going and I was like oh no take my head off dribble everywhere dribbling everywhere yeah so we’ve had quite some experiences with bikes and M because I came off like I don’t feel that um confident on especially the

Bigger bikes here like there are a lot ha than the one I had I had a really light one and yeah I tried a little bit I tried to drive up the road on the one we rented and it’s the turns that I get scared I’m going to come off because I

Came off when I was turning so it’s like every time we go R passenger going to fly out from underne bearing in mind so the May Hong song Loop we just did is how many bends is it 1,800 bends and the first and the first 800 of those there’s

500 and that’s the first leg on the by so I’m like you know getting all fans I’m weaving it and out I’m giving it all that and Em’s like holding on for dear life like I’m I don’t know like I’m driving dangerously but I’m just likes

To lean more than I would lean yeah well riding the bike correctly well yeah but I always get scared that it’s just going to sort of come skid on what Emma seems to forget is like the bike or the moped she had was this little tiny like it’s

Probably the small smallest thing you can have and we were on 100 we’re only on a 160 um but it’s the bike’s a lot bigger an M Max and you have to give it a bit more because it’s got more weight to it and I mean there two people on it

As well so you need to you know and in Thailand you really have to be careful especially on that may Hong song Loop because there’s so many bends people a lot of drivers here just don’t seem to understand Road placement so they’ll openly come around a bend on the wrong

Side of the road and not think nothing of it and also overtaking on B they overtake on the most dangerous Parts Bas it’s like they pick the worst point you could overtake and then that’s when they’re overt so you have to worry that someone’s going to come around the

Corner and they’re going to be on your side of the road and you’re going to have to Swerve it and we did have sort of a near miss with a truck try us overtaking another Mini Bus on a bend and I had to we I had to dodge it so but

Luckily because when I’m on a bike even when I’m driving a car in Thailand the most stupidest thing you can think of that a driver is going to do normally do it so like I nor now I don’t even like in the UK If you were driving and people

Did certain things like cut across you to be honest in the UK I imagine that they’re going to do the worst that they’re going to do here nor there’s no comparison like no if you was in the UK back home people would be screaming Ultra Road R but here I don’t

Even blink cut see road rage in the same way as um back home for example we’ve seen one really bad case Road Rage which was when we were in the white temple yeah when one day we went on a Mini Bus tour to Chang Rai which is about 3 hour

Drive from here it’s really nice place they’ve got the white temple which is really famous it’s near the border of Lao and Burma so it’s got the the Golden Triangle River and uh yeah we were going on a day trip there and we’ done it we

Were coming back and we were in traffic in the town of in like the main Center of Chang raai we were going down this really busy Main Road and our driver cut up a guy in a big white Porsche which the Porsche wasn’t happy about and we

Could to see him sort of like next to the car trying to like argue and Shout at the driver right was but we were moving kind of at low speed so we were coming up to like quite a big four-way Junction and they were sort of arguing amongst themselves shouting at each

Other in TI and then suddenly I looked over and the guy Unwound his window and then pulled out a gun and pointed at the car and he was sort of waving it around so I naturally was like right I’m getting down the floor I alert everyone

Else in the vehicle to get on the floor because there’s a block point and a gun at our Mini Bus and laughing like a maniac a psych it was terrifying but no one else saw it we’re on this bus full of like Spanish people no they French

Are they uh I think there was some French but mainly Spanish spch half half a spanch half of French and half of Spanish but they had kids on the there was children on the bus and they look to me like I was mad cuz they didn’t see it

But we’re literally looking out the window at this man going and like w this gun at us luckily a police car just comes up from the approaches The Junction on the other side and the guy spots it and he just UND he wh his window up and off he goes so that was

Sort of our don’t get that was probably the only time I’ve ever felt unsafe in Thailand like Thailand is really safe for traveling especially like as a as a female I would happily solo travel Thailand it’s the one country I’ve never felt unsafe apart from that gun incident

But that wasn’t necessarily towards us but I don’t think he could even see us through the tint on the window but that’s the thing because windows are heavily tinted he wouldn’t have known how many people even in that mini bus but the fact of it is it was a branded

Tour company so we could guess you know that there’s passengers in there but then you don’t know if people especially people here with power influence and they might be on some you don’t know so you do have to so in that kind of situation you have to assume the worst I

Was messaging people I was texting people like this is my location this is what’s happened if I’m dead you know why I was gave the number play I mean it would have been a ridiculous thing to do to just shoot up a minivan full of tourist I know but if they’re onid if

They’re on drugs or you know that’s the thing there is people will take this thing called Yaba which is a tie version of meth and well it’s based on meth and FY but it’s in like tablet form so they can smoke it they can you know just pop

It I mean that face that he was absolutely psychotic and that scared me as much as the gun cuz he was just laughing while he’s just waving this gun at us and in a really busy Main Road it was just really weird it’s I did think

Back as well because in my time when I was teaching here when I was 16 there was this I was working for this Language Center and the guy that run it was dodgy I mean you can assume he was dodgy because he was willing to employ me at 16 with no qualification

Uh to teach English in schools and private lessons but I was doing my first English camp and on the way to the English Camp he’s driving like a looney in his Toyota 4×4 like and he just suddenly pulls he we had a bit of road rage incident

Nothing major he didn’t do anything but he just shouted at him and just carried on but then he showed me on the inside of his door and he just pulls out what appears to be a gun but then as he’s pulled it out and it was I was on the

Passenger uh seat I could see that it was fake did he tell you it was fake yeah and then he then confirmed he confirmed it was fake and I was like why you carrying it then he’s like oh if I have a problem I can that it will scare

Them away and then it’s just but then what happens if you if you pull out a fake gun on someone who has a real one and then they assume they’re in danger and then he’s doing this with me while I’m in the car and I’m like oh God like

What have I signed up for and on the way to an English camp where you got to be all chirpy doing like English activities for young kids and I’m just had this guy was with me pull some toy gun out and someone but yeah so that isn’t uncommon

Here people do seem to carry fake guns in their cars I mean that’s the only time we’ve come across it I mean you me you with that guy and then us with the changai thing but apart from that I’ve never felt if anything like whenever I’ve lost anything like high value like

Laptops phones bags even wallets full of cash I’ve always got it back yeah and maybe that’s luck apart from the one time you we got off a bus oh the first day I landed we’ve got off a bus a few times and forgotten to get our luggage

Off the bus yeah it seems to be a common thing but one day we got off the bus uh like the big big bus from Bangkok to Pati over all places and D got off and we were trying to order a taxi and he’s put his bag down with his laptop in it

And the Taxi’s come we’ve got in the taxi but I’ve left it on the floor cuz I’ve been on my phone trying to like organized finding the taxi see where he was and what car he had and all that but I put the I put the bag down but I

Haven’t picked it back up so I’ve got in the car gone to the hotel and like where’s your where’s your bag but I just left it on the street and I tried I someone found it I tried tracking it it never come to live again so I’m guessing

Whoever found it sold it to a shop and they’ve stripped it for parts because it didn’t and wiped it that wasn’t a very hopeful situation cuz we didn’t even what stupid to do but what do things to do what it was oh well I’m sorry I can name a lot of stupid things

You do as well should we start naming stupid things yes it’s not nice is it no but we doas also left a wallet about two or three times on a bus no I’ve never left a on a bus basically what it is cuz as a man I’m usually when I’m in to I’m

Wearing like these trunks short little of short shorts I’m wearing like swimming shorts or you know Bill long you know type shorts and they’re a bit baggy so when you have your wallet in and you’re on one of these sleeper buses and for some reason I always end up

Getting the top bang I don’t know why you know stuff can fall out your pocket and yes my wallet is normally one of those but we haven’t been on any mini buses I mean this was ago we haven’t gone we haven’t gone on one in years but

Um for example we were flying out of the country to go to Vietnam and we’d got the bus to back to vancock to do it and he left the wallet on the bus by accident not realizing until we checked in for our flight and we’re about to go

Through security and Doms just realized my wallet isn’t here [ __ ] I’ve left it on the bus and we managed to ring up with the bus company and they brought it straight back yeah they they sent someone down but yeah it was nice of them know not

One penny but taken or anything and they I don’t they even charged me for the taxi but yeah so they were just helpful but I have also had it happen where I’ve been on a bus and I’ve dropped my wallet and i’ then realized I’ve dropped it so

Like I said I was on the top bunk and I saw this guy and I don’t know my impression this was a foreigner I my head he wasn’t going to tell me I’d dropped my wallet and he was going to maybe take the cash out of it or

Something but I I realized it wasn’t there and I was like hold on where’s my wallet and the guy didn’t say anything for like 10 seconds now 10 seconds doesn’t seem long but actually it’s in that kind of moment of me outright saying this guy could speak English you

Know and then I I then proceeded to get off of the bank and I was like right I would just start looking it must be in the bottom bank and then suddenly goes oh here it is and then just hands it to me it just appears out of nowhere but

Well I think that when you come to Thailand the main thing you got to worry about is the other foreigners especially when you’re in a hostal if you’re going to have someone rob you it will be other tourists basically other tourist that’s probably more what you

Got to worry about being in hostiles I mean I’ve heard so many stories of people getting stuff stolen by other foreigners but Thai people like stealing is a big no no in Thailand um have a lot of respect for each other they would never yeah I mean it also it’s going to

Happen it’s not just that it’s it’s it’s all about the Saving Face as well that it’s like not only being in a position to have to steal something but then taking someone else’s property you know it’s it’s just really really frown upon um yeah which is good I feel very safe

In Thailand even with the an incident but I mean that happened a long time ago and nothing like that has ever happened since no but in Thailand it’s it’s a place where if you don’t generally if you don’t cause trouble trouble isn’t caused upon you yeah uh obviously that’s not in every

Case cuz you know sometimes things can happen you know and there are bad people in the world no matter where you are and Thailand isn’t you know it’s not exempt from that but it’s just if you’re going anywhere but even southeast Asia especially you know and other where cultures are completely different you

Just got to be wary of your surroundings you know be conscious of what you’re doing and you know just don’t annoy don’t be disrespectful because normally that’s where it starts yeah but also the thing in Thailand as well the whole Saving Face thing is gigantic I’m not

Sure if it’s the whole of Asia I feel like it’s probably a big thing in Asia in general but in Thailand it’s super super like don’t shout at people because they don’t want to lose face yeah and I mean there are laws in Thailand like the defamation laws that is strongly linked

To Saving Face it’s literally like the Saving Face law because the whole thing is that you can’t shame someone a business an individual in in a public domain that can affect they their class is affecting their character and their image so that is literally the definition of saving faces that you

Don’t want to ruin your reputation so laws are there literally to protect that and that’s that’s why you get a lot of these people you see on Tik Tok and what they’re getting in beef with each other and they’re they’re in Thailand and it’s like now yeah if you if you’ve been on

Tik Tok and you’ve seen birie and Johnny stuff in Thailand because of this defamation law I mean it is ridiculous like literally you could leave a review on a platform like booking.com or you know anything Google you can leave can we get defamed for defaming the

Defamation law I I don’t know can we get in trouble for I love I think the defamation law is great maybe we should defamation law is excellent and it serves its purpose no I get I sort of like it’s good in one sense that like someone can’t just but then it means you

Can have a negative experience for example in a restaurant and you can complain about it and then they can say prison you are going to prison because you said your pastor was cold or your service your mom would be buggered because she likes yeah my mom she she could review the

Best restaurant in the world and give it one star so and and we seem to have especially in the UK we have seem to have this whole self- entitlement that you can if you have a negative experience in a restaurant or whatever and you normally you assume oh well this

Is coming off my bill uh or you know you want to be compensated for it in Thailand they just look at you like they just look at you like when I took your mom to Sushi play in Paia and she complained there and she was

Like ing what you get in the UK where it’s like oh I’m so sorry madam let me get you something else we take off your bill have a voucher you know treat you like God but then in yeah okay you’re don’t expect that yeah basically the best you’re going to

Get is would you like to get another one and that is sort of luck In tha it’s like if you have a negative experience in a restaurant I mean I’ve had a couple of situations where like I’ve wanted to leave a bad review but you who have to

Think about that law and how it could affect their business you know so it’s just like what sometimes reviews are just pointless in Thailand anyway yeah so be aware of that if you come in maybe don’t also be cautious of you might look at places and they’ve got no negative

Reviews but there’s a reason for that I mean I feel like that’s everywhere especially in Japan like people go crazy over restaurants and there’s cues for an hour and then it’s like not nothing speci special all yeah but um you get that here as well as a lot of

Restaurants in the Mitchell and guide for example uh and it seems like every restaurant in tand in the meling guide I don’t know if there’s something going on there who knows there just a lot of good food there’s a lot of good food in Thailand which is the right answer but

It is true though like the food is really good and you got cues and cues for play certain places all day every day and in this heat in this no thank you I’d rather just wait like I I went to a restaurant it’s a cal It’s called

Cal saw in nimon did you actually go I went there and I went there and it was dead right but this was I guess it was just coming into High season so it’s still low season but then we’ve I went to take Emma there and we’ve drove by

There and it’s cu’s out the door like non stop uh so we haven’t managed to go there but it’s like a22 to3 meal for a mitching guide and you get something mitching guide or is it mitching guide there’s so many places most restaurants are in the Mitchell and guide right in time

Or part of Thailand’s meling guy but you get people again on Tik Tok I’m going to melin Star uh Street cuz there are street food vendors that are in the melin guide cuz their food so good it’s not melin star but they’re all saying it’s mellin star and there’s a very big

Difference in that oh my God I’m living wild mellin stars from my 2 noodle soup and it’s like well no it’s in the melin guy because it’s good but it doesn’t have a start unfortunately yeah but there are a lot of places in the Ming guide and they are they are good like

It’s not hard to get good F even if it’s it doesn’t look like it could be in a melin guide because yeah it doesn’t look fancy there are this is a really good food um yeah I think Thailand ticks all the boxes as a Southeast like with your track backpacking southeast Asia

Thailand it feels really safe the food’s really good um I think it’s like the mecca of backpacking and I I it’s going to be our favorite sort of country in Southeast Asia I feel oh yeah definitely to live yeah to live I don’t know I mean you know everywhere

Has its own charm about it you know like Vietnam some parts of Vietnam I really like but I don’t know what it is is it’s easier as a tourist here I feel maybe it’s cuz we’ve been here more I don’t know but I just there’s a certain disconnect on I’m mean another like

Vietnam or Cambodia I don’t feel the same also what it is it’s got more money because the tourists tend to come here so it’s it’s put the money into uh I mean I went to Vietnam recently um to dang when I had to I had

To leave so I had to leave the country to reenter on my new Visa type when I got my work visa and I don’t know is just like I felt like everyone was out to get me it’s like I landed in the airport and there was this oh yeah there

Was this tour company and I I just got off the plane and I I was just coming across coming up to the immigration lines and I’m just walking uh across and then suddenly there’s just this tribe of like uh like on this Chinese tour company it’s the Chinese tours though

It’s a Chinese tour company and Vietnam are really pushing CH Chinese tourism at the moment and they’re offering like Visa certain benefits and I’ve just walked by and this whole this guy is literally having a go at me saying you need to get to the back of the queue

Because we’re on the Chinese tour and I was like I don’t care I don’t care what tour you’re on mate and know I’m having an argument with this BL and the Visa some ass assistant of this Visa toour company has come over and tell in she speak very good English and she’s like

You need to move and I was like why do I need to move she like well this is the privilege line and I went right and I said but the privilege line is over there where you’ve just signed them in this is the immigration line and I’ve

Walked here and I’m King and I ARG anyway she then calls an immigration officer over and I’m like I ref I said I’m refusing to move I said I’m not going anywhere and then this guy started getting really close to me like in my face like being like him and his cronies

I I don’t care I’m not moving make I said make me move and I think that’s when the immigration officer come over and I thought oh no don’t tell me I’m going to get arrested her and he’s come over and he’s like why are you not moving and I said because and I

Explained the situation I said look I’ve walked over here I’m just want to queue the guy who I was literally sitting next to on the plane he’s already through immigration he just missed this tribe of people and then suddenly he goes look just come over here and I thought oh no

Here we go and then he puts me in the Diplomat Lane and he goes just walk through and then I turned around and I went and I just I just waved at all these people in the queue as they’re waiting all in this tour as I walk

Through the Diplomat Lan with Elegance I I think um Chinese tours have a reputation yeah in general in Southeast Asia it is especially in Thailand when we’ come across like Chinese tours they they’re very entitled and I don’t know what it is because any Chinese person

That I’ve come in contact with on a one-on-one they’re they’re nice they’re friendly and you know there but I don’t know what it is these people we don’t find these people in China on these tours that the this just this arrogant type of person to sort of sum up the

Episode would we recommend doing the Mayon song Loop yes should you do it if you don’t have any bike experience probably not uh I don’t know if I would have driven it like on my own on my own bike behind D because I I feel like I

Probably would have had an accident if you’re not confident on a bike you’re probably more inclined to have an accident you have to be quite confident and sort of decisive when you’re riding and Dom is super in Thailand it’s like you there’s no time to make a decision

You have to own whatever you’re going to do and I think Emma can even when she drives a car can sometimes hesitate and if driving a car is a different thing here like I feel I feel comfortable driving a car yeah I know because you think you’re Queen of the road well not

Necessarily I I think it’s it feels a lot safer the roads are a lot calmer if you’re in a car I feel but you have to watch out for the b in Northern Thailand I think in Northern Thailand is fine in the South different different story people really Drive crazy in the South

But in the north of Thailand in a car like totally fine parking though the thinging to anyone you speak to anyone I’ve spoken to that lives in changm and you tell them that you have a car they think you’re mad because yes when you get round by the mo and near t

Pay gate or the old city things like that it’s like so much traffic traffic is horrendous and it’s bad enough if you’re on a bike let alone when you’re stuck in a car and i’ I completely get that and parking I mean it’s I don’t think it’s that bad you can find places

But at the same time it’s so much easier when you have a bike cuz you can you can park practically anywhere that’s why we did start enjoying having the bike when the car was I have missed it since it’s gone because you can just go to any

Restaurant any shop you want to go to park up so easily especially like places like Central Festival when you’ve got a bike it’s like so much easier cuz there’s so many spaces you always find Space Fu in the car I had a bit of nightm the other day I was just like

Going around in circles looking for space basically in Thailand there’s women’s parking right for women only and I and Emma went to the I thought why don’t you go on your own you can use the women’s parking it’s all great but the problem is a lot of people don’t seem to

Honor the role of because technically you’re not meant to par there even if you’re with your partner or like on your wom or with children but people ignore that and you know whatever and well it’s not that obvious because they don’t have a women’s sign it’s just pink in central

Anyway it’s pink and then they have like a pink elephant or like a A pinkant or rabbit no rabbit they have a rabbit sign cuz I told Emma that was where the parking was last time she didn’t believe me and then we had to literally go to

The information part and asked them and they told me Point Blank that was it so if you see a rabbit sign in NE and the the spaces are pink it’s for the women it’s for the ladies but Emma for some reason when she’s on her own she can’t

Find that it’s lit I couldn’t find way you go up to the next Flor I know but this route we you take in the car box there’s loads of different entrances and exits but I go in the every time I’ve been there with Emma I go the same route

Every time and it passes the women’s parking every time but Emma still can’t find it I went a different route and I’ve got lost so she probably spent like the car park so Big5 in petrol just going around run I couldn’t find where you go up to the

Next floor so I was just stuck going in circles on the bottom floor oh God but I got a space in the end um but yeah they have women’s parking here you see them at sort of stations and like petrol yeah I’ve seen at service stations there service stations and they’re always

Empty yeah and Central um it’s not Central is common to see the women’s only barking but in centrals and in and they have have like different parking for like if you have certain credit cards is like exclusive parking if you have a fancy super car you can parkc

Special spots I don’t know who decides this cuz there’s this guy again on Tik Tok he’s he’s got a fancy car and he always says this is the this is the rich people parking and it okay but from what I can gather it’s if you hold this

Credit card so that’s why when you go by there you see people in some I think it is though basic cars it’s like they try and encourage people with fancy cars they guard your car for you Bas yeah that’s is because the spaces are bigger and it’s right at the front so obviously

If you’re rich you’re more likely going to spend more so you should you should park right at the front and I think it’s it’s to set this whole image is such a big thing in Thailand and it sets this whole like lifestyle so all the peasants walking through the car park yeah you

See and you just see all these people in the G wagons and their you know Mercedes and Alis if you comes to Thailand you will become someone who is very materialistic cuz as soon as we got here we were like oh I want to buy that want

To buy that yeah it makes it the advertising the whole people really it’s sort of like Japan in the way that everyone’s very pristine and like but Western culture is the same like we live in a capitalist Society you know people you know companies are pushing you to

Buy stuff and no matter where you look they’re trying to push you to buy but in Thailand it’s like it’s on the next level you need to buy this you need to they they get you they’re like they convince you that you want to buy it’s

The free stuff they give so much free stuff this is how they get you oh but if you spend this amount you get a free so oh and you get a free this what what free stuff have we got we’ve got two free Amazon coffee cups color changing

Ones camping chairs we’ve got free camping chair free bucket hat what else b or endless bags I bought some chicken from the supermarket and they gave me a a chicken bag it’s like wa what yeah I bought like a chicken breast and by accident I ordered too much I think I by

Acci instead of saying 100 G I said 1,000 G so he bought me a kilo of chicken out but because it was like a counter I I had to commit to it and we just we had to freeze it and like eat it over a time in the freezer but I got a

Free bag out of it and they give you um oh this puppies and they give you umbrellas and like branded umbrellas if you spend it’s all the all stuff to get you yeah and it works it definitely works oh yeah Central is a is a big cuz

They have this uh loyalty card it’s called the one card and you can get it as a Taurus as well and it gives you like if you’re a Taurus it gives you like uh 5% off because of the vat of the tax so it gives you tax discount but also

You can get the it’s like a membership card you can use it in multiple shops like Central and there’s all these vouchers and points like Emma B some makeup at the store and she went in for like a Nar I I went to Nas and I bought

Some foundation and and a mascara and then they gave me an extra mascara for free and then two three he told you to sign up to this thing it was it was linked to the one car but it was like a whole it was like a beauty card but then

Because she sign up to the beauty card he was throwing in all kinds of stuff and I think I got a discount as well because of the beauty card it’s like so many freees I got a watch and they gave me a free bracelet they must Factor this

Into their you know into their how they price everything to be able to do that but it still it works it’s because that it’s just so cheap to for them to buy this extra stuff that they just a but yeah so if you’re if you don’t know we

Have uh a patreon uh for our Channel which I’m hoping if you’re listening to the podcast you’re aware that we have a channel but if you don’t we have a YouTube channel called Always away where we’ve been traveling around Japan Europe and now we’re based in Thailand we’re

Showing a lot of our Tha Thailand based content as well as our miniseries we’ve just completed of the May Hong song Loop so if you are listening and you haven’t seen those videos check them out and there’s also behind the scenes stuff from that series on our patreon and

Monthly live streams we just did our first run the other day yeah it was meant to be 45 minutes but it was 3 hours 3 hours uh yeah it was fun talking to Chrissy and Isabella and the username is called Jersey traveler some and at one point we had more patreons on there

Then no we had more viewers than patreon so was like oh hold on who’s been sharing but yeah it was fun hanging out on the live stream but yeah it’s just going to be able to make us help us improve our content being able to buy things like microphone arms and arm

Chairs and all the lighting that you can’t see it but we’re trying to invest into the channel so want to keep the channel going because it’s this last week we I felt a bit down in dumps about growing the channel it’s it’s hard to get your videos out there and I did a

Poll on Instagram about like do you want a podcast episode about why it’s so hard to grow a channel and loads of people said they would be interested in it so that’s definitely something we’re going to sit down and and will be on the podcast but it’s hard it’s a hard

Subject because you don’t want to come across as your moaning moaning or like because there are a lot of there are negatives when you are making content especially at the start where it’s like the never ending Journey it it feels like anyway yeah and putting out a lot of time into

Videos and not really seeing any numbers or I don’t know there’s no growth at the moment on our Channel because we just seem to be losing people we’re gaining we’re losing uh yeah maybe we shouldn’t put this in at the end cuz it’s not good

To end on a negative note no no I think um but yeah I want to do a podcast episode about it just showing you like the real side of what it’s like to try travel content creator to try and make a YouTube channel because I feel like a

Lot of people aren’t open and honest about it and I feel like it’s really important and I’m sure a lot of you listening probably have thought about starting your own channel doing your own thing and I mean we did for years before we even started and there’s so much you

Don’t see or like like the emotional roller coaster of doing YouTube and trying to there so many people with such good quality videos there there’s so much there’s so many other channels so it’s like how do you stand out how do you grow or of you know the algorithms

Working against you like we’ve got a lot of we’ve got a lot we could talk about in showing like what we’re going through and what it’s actually like not just the UPS the Downs as well YouTube Diary but also if you’re interested in anything that we can do in in Thailand

We’ve been trying to think of like a series or a challenge we could do I really like to do a challenge I mean we thought about doing like cycling across Thailand but tooot the air is horrific it’s too hot and Percy it doesn’t work as well we’ve got the dog and it would

Just be a nightmare um so if you can think of a challenge we could do yeah but we’re also looking to focus on the podcast about other people’s travel stories because we’ve spoken a lot about our own and I mean we have endless so we’re not short on that but we are

Looking to we want to hear your stor hear your stories so if you could email us in if you can take the time at always away podcast gmail.com so we’ve made that email for submissions it would be great we’ve had a couple of people um

Going going to read yeah we did get we we’ve we’ve got some stories sent in but we’re just waiting for a few more and then we’re going to start going through them on episodes and giving our take and maybe our experiences that relate to stories and yeah it’ be fun to hear from

You guys and shout you out on the podcast thank you Mark for sending in your story which we will talk about written beautifully in an upcoming episode um so yeah so check us out on Instagram check out our patreon check out our Channel but for now we’re always

Away see you in the next one bye Bye