Safety First

One of the things that has always amazed me about Thailand is the traffic. Lanes are pretty much only a suggestion, and you can veer from one lane to the other or even straddle both lanes if you feel like it. There's no real right-of-way, and people will turn left right in front of you if they want to. There aren't really any speed limits, and Thai people generally seem to want to get where they're going as fast as possible. Even the trolley driver at the zoo drives like Jeff Gordon. Only in Thailand would you worry about getting into a crash as you're going by the zebra enclosure.

The most unbelievable thing of all is how many people and objects Thais will try to stuff into their vehicles or onto the back of their Honda Dreams. Just when I think I've seen it all, we'll be passed by a truck piled sky-high with cabbages and there will be thirteen workers casually stretched out on the very top of the pile. We've seen people speeding down the highway on motorbikes carrying tables, chairs, brooms, fishing rods, and bicycles. Entire families of five people ride on one motorbike, usually one kid in the front, another kid squeezed between Mommy and Daddy, and a baby in Mommy's arms. I have to admit, it makes me more than a little nervous to see helmet-less babies flying by me on bikes going 70 km/h or faster. I keep the camera with me at all times when we're in the car, and I have assembled a little collection of some of the crazier things I have managed to photograph from the backseat of our Suzuki Caribbean.

Here it is, the gallery of "Good God, What Are They Thinking?"

How come Mommy gets a helmet and I don't?





Hopefully we won't make any sudden stops





Who needs to hold on?



In case I need to sit down later



I'm pretty sure we could fit another couple of guys back here, don't you think?









Can't beat the view