Thailand. Thai Ways. How to Explain.

As my usual readers know Noot’s mum (Ma) is currently living with us temporarily as she has started work in the city of Ubon Ratchathani. The last 5 days Noot has had to take Ma every day to work and then go pick her up and I kept asking where Ma’s motorbike was and why it wasn’t here in the city.

Now Ma brought her motorbike into the city on Wednesday night. Well not Ma but the older sister Joom’s boyfriend rode it into the city from the village. Why you ask? Well, because in the village for some reason people seem to think you just ride motorbikes and put petrol into them and you don’t need to maintain them at all.

My 2 motorbikes go to our local motorbike shop every month to have the chains oiled and tightened, brakes checked and adjusted and anything else that might need to be done. Usually it costs somewhere between 60-80 baht per bike ($2.10-2.85 Australian).

Well Ma’s bike was disgraceful. The front brake was not working and the rear brake the same. It took a lot to slow and stop even when not going fast and if you had to for an emergency you would have had no chance of stopping in time. The bike is about 18 months old and looks 5 or 6 years old. It has scratches all over it, the mirrors are missing and it probably hasn’t been washed for who knows how long.

So I took it too my guy to be fixed and got some old mirrors I had in storage to put on the bike. So after being fixed I gave it a test ride and all is fine.

Today I went off to work and when I returned home I saw that Ma’s motorbike was parked under the garage. I thought it was strange as she doesn’t finish work until 5pm. I asked Noot why Ma was home so early but Noot said she was at work.

I asked why she hadn’t taken the motorbike and was something wrong but I was told that Ma is worried about all the traffic early in the morning in Ubon city. This is a little silly as traffic in Ubon is not that bad but again I have seen and followed Ma on a motorbike and she is one of those really bad riders that should not be on a road at all.

I told Noot that this was stupid that she was dropping her mum off at work and then coming home and then going to university and then home and then picking up her mother again. I only said it once and left it at that as I don’t want Noot upset and angry. I see 60 plus year old ladies with shopping and grand kids jammed on their bikes and they always seem to get from A to B okay.

I am hoping next week Ma will be able to get herself to work or maybe I will have to give her a few lessons which I am sure would go down really well.

None of these things are a massive pain in the ass for me they just irritate me. I don’t want that in my life. I am in Isaan as I like the lifestyle here. If I want things that irritate me I would move to Bangkok or back to Australia.

So I am hiding in my room reading newspapers and searching the web for anything that keeps me out of my living room for the time being. I would usually be at the park but it’s raining and put my daily exercise on hold until early in the morning.

Brunty.