# จักรยาน



## gino (Jul 20, 2009)

I miss my Evo. 

It’s not particularly practical and certainly not very green, but it’s a fun car. Back in the States, it was a nice car, possibly a notch above average. But a day seldom went by when I did not see at least one truly exotic car that took all bragging rights: Ferraris, Porsches, an occasional Maybach (which I find a bit ugly and pretentious), Rolls-Royces, the occasional cherried-out ’34 woodie or some ridiculously impractical stretch limousine built from a Hummer. 

I haven’t seen many exotics here. I saw a Lambroghini on the road for the first time today, although I’d seen another in a showroom window. The police stopped traffic this evening for a VIP procession that included a stretch Rolls-Royce. Mercedes-Benzes are not uncommon. But I rarely see anything I would call high-performance, exotic or vintage. 

I’ve considered a scooter, but can’t register one without a work permit. I finally broke down and bought a bicycle. Everybody says you have to be crazy to ride a bicycle here, which made the idea particularly appealing. I shall try to get some cardio by logging some serious mileage this weekend, which will also give me an opportunity to explore my surroundings.

The bike came with a 134-page instruction manual, written in English for some reason I can’t fathom. I shall have to check my glove box when I get back to the States. I don’t think the owner’s manual for the Evo was that lengthy, not that I ever read it. Real men don’t read instruction manuals until something breaks.


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## Mr. Soap (Feb 6, 2010)

gino said:


> I miss my Evo.
> 
> Real men don’t read instruction manuals until something breaks.


I'm very proud of my husband. He is one of the real men. He often doesn't ask for a direction either. 

Mrs. S


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## Guest (May 30, 2010)

What about guys who don't read instruction manuals even if there is a breakdown? Does that take me out of the real man band and into superman status?


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## gino (Jul 20, 2009)

*That depends*



frogblogger said:


> What about guys who don't read instruction manuals even if there is a breakdown? Does that take me out of the real man band and into superman status?


Are you Irish by any chance? 

HYPED UP - PICTURES - IRISH TOW TRUCK TEAM


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## gino (Jul 20, 2009)

*Bicycle Diaries*

I’ve been exploring my neighborhood these past two days. I put ten or twelve kilometers on the bike yesterday and eighteen or twenty more today. 

I may be alright, but I’m no lumberjack and perhaps it isn’t my place to judge, but I have trouble believing the team in the first two pictures was going about trimming this tree in the absolute best way possible. OSHA would have a conniption if anybody did this in the States. It looks like a couple of guys climbed the tree with no safety lines or other protective gear, carrying sharp tools, and sawed at a branch until it fell under its own weight, tearing a strip of bark from the part of the branch left behind, which hardly seems conducive to the well-being of the tree. They didn’t prune the smaller branches first or make a relief cut on the opposite side or anything. Meanwhile three others in similar T-shirts sat around doing not much of anything. 

I’m not sure if this is a branch of a river or a stream or what to call it, but it’s an ocean of tranquility in a bustling city. 

Thais have an animistic belief that spirits inhabit the world around them. When a building or home is erected on a lot, they must also erect a miniature home for these spirits. 

Here are two shots of Central World, the huge shopping center that was set ablaze by the red-shirt protesters. I really think they overplayed their hand and lost a lot of grass-root support through their disruptions and vandalism. Before the arson, many of the taxi drivers and others I met claimed to support the red shirts. Now they seem much less vocal in their support.


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