I joined the koh Phangan tattoo club last Friday when I slid my bike round a corner on a dirt track on it's side, cutting my knee and grating my toes and arm along the ground.. ouch!
Seriously, if you're reading this and you're gonna get a bike then take it steady, these roads can't be called roads in some places. I must have met a hundred people with similar injuries and stories of them coming off at some point. It's the biggest industry on the island, rent a bike, crash it, pay for the repair to yourself and the bike- it must make people thousands!
I was litterally thinking as I was going along to visit a waterfall up in the hills on a beatiful day how I was getting the hang of my new 5 speed bike and how I was lucky to come away from the island with only sunburn and coral cuts to my shins and feet, then a corner with massive holes in it threw me off, I was only going about 25kmh too- gutted! The wing mirror snapped off as did the clutch (fuck) and the foot rest and steering bent badly, plus scratches to the side it fell on. Luckily, my mate came out and showed me how to ride the bike with no clutch only using the gears to the nearest garage.
The repair cost a mere 300 Baht, it cost more (1000Baht) to get the bandages and antiseptic cream to fix my leg! Thank fuck for it being so close to the full moon party as the woman at the bike shop was busy selling someone else a bike and didn't notice my injuries or the damage to the bike or the brand new mirror and lever so I didn't get charged a penny- lucky considering some of the tales I've heard about people getting charged thousands for each scratch or each new panel..
But don't let this put you off! It's the best way to get around and see the sights on the island and omg, there are some sights..
Paradise
This road was one of the better ones, I think they don;t fix them because they make too much money of inexperienced falangs like me!
The bike- a real animal:
My injuries later on, looking a lot better with bandages on trust me!