I remember my first time on a motorcycle back in 2005. It was in Phuket, and my friend was driving me around. I had insisted on a helmet and asked to not go too fast (I’m clearly a wuss). A month later I ran into this farang on a bus that was telling me how cheap and easy it was to rent one myself. Why pay 200 baht for a single taxi ride, when I could have my own wheels for 200 baht/day? Riding around the Thai islands and countryside on two wheels quickly became addictive, and I have many good memories doing it.

Like, the time I had that accident, lol . . . or when I drove four people on it once . . . or when I couldn’t figure out the gear shift going uphill and almost rolled back down into some ginormous cows . . . or when I was about to run out of gas, and couldn’t remember how to ask ‘where is the gas station’ in Thai (it was a long time ago).

You can’t truly explore Thailand on your own without knowing some basic motorcycle related vocabulary, so I’ve compiled a bunch for you below: