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photographie-irie > Police Thumbs Up, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia           Giving me a walk and thumbs up after being stopped for a one way street violation. Pretty good, coming out of a one way street the wrong way straight into three cops waiting at the intersection, to find these guys so friendly. Happy I didn't need to use the 20 folded in my passport.
photographie-irie > Princess on Motorbike, Chaing Mai, Thailand      On our own ride up Doi Suthep mountain west of Chaing Mai to visit a temple and other lofty sites, this happy family passed while we were admiring the view. Classic SE Asia, the whole family on a bike, this one a very small family. But with helmets in hand in spite of being required under law, enforcement appears only sporadic when necessary to fill the local constabulary coffers. Hence little girl with tiara instead of helmet, riding at 50 KPH or so, hanging on to daddy's neck for safety. Smiling in the Land of Smiles (LOS), Thailand.
photographie-irie > Motorbike Parasol Soldier, Luang Prabang, Laos           There is so much I like about this subject here. A soldier of the perceived heavy handed and repressive Lao military cruising on his motorbike with parasol in hand to maintain his complexion as light as possible, and proudly advertising local brew along the way. I have mentioned elsewhere that light complexions are most treasured wherever I have travelled in SE Asia, and that as a result locals largely try to shield themselves from the sun. But in Laos, as with other finely developed local arts unappreciated by modern society elsewhere, the art of riding motorbikes with a parasol or umbrella is finely tuned and ever present. Whether guarding from sun or rain, one handed motorbiking is a given, in order to finely balance that parasol the with slight tilt forward, necessary so as not to catch the breeze, ruin a perfectly fine umbrella, and turn it into a disasterous space shuttle type drag chute. They have very nice umbrellas and parasols in Laos, and lots of them. I never witnessed a single local miscue in this fine art among the hundreds of single handed riders I would watch over a short period of time, downtown or on open road. And as with any finely practiced sport, they look good doing it, especially the cute girls. Note in the blurred background is another one handed rider with parasol in other hand.
photographie-irie > Motorbike Repair, Somewhere South of Hue, Vietnam       Motorbikiing is my favorite way to get around all of Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam where you become so much more a part of being there by doing so. It's nice to have friends with whom to ride in case of trouble. But trouble begets trouble, as now started my effort to find someone in the middle of nowhere who could fix a flat (our second of the day) and would come to where the flat was, that is after I was able to convey my request and negotiate the transaction entirely with hand signals and body language. We paid what they asked, which although high locally was only a few bucks equivavlent, with the personalized on site road service of two friendly qualified professionals. Greg is practicing the peace sign he learned from local Southeast Asians. Marique is happy there are two able Vietnamese to our rescue. On another motorbike event in Laos I was not so lucky to be traveling with friends, as I broke down riding solo about 120k into remote mountains. I needed to push the bike up and coast down huge hills about 10k to get where local Hmong thought I was very interesting pointing, making noises and pantomiming what I wanted to convey. And as usual, although previously in this caption I mentioned how trouble begets trouble, both of these experiences and all my other challenges in route all ended up each as a wonderful highlight experience of my long journey. I met great people, surmounted challengess, and experienced wonderful interaction with locals on a level never imaginable unless shit happened.
photographie-irie > Five Spice Ducks (soon), Hoi An, Vietnam      Payday, as this gaggle of ducks is brought to market for sale. I don't know how they do it, but lots of practice enables almost anything to be transported by motorbike. I count two dozen. maybe 25. Duck is very popular on the local menu, and as a result it's quite common to see ducks gaggling in rice fields, often following their owner as if she/he were mom or dad. Imprinting in poultry causes them to associate as their parents the first moving stimulus they observe during a critical period shortly after birth, subsequently following them as if the pied piper playing his flute. This application is quite compelling evidence of the phenomena, following the parent onto motorbike to eventual dubious fate after the market...
photographie-irie > On the Road Again, to Kampong Som, Cambodia      That's a lot of people on one motorbike, especially when you consider the type motorbike most common there. 100 cc Korean bikes a step down from the already step down Chinese Honda knockoffs vendors try passing off as the real thing. Sometimes I count 32, other times 33, plus the driver.
photographie-irie > Open Road to Kampong Som, Cambodia      Conveyance by motorbike and trailer, Cambodian style, with passenger wearing the everpresent Cambodian 'krama' to protect from rampant road dust even on paved roads. The route between Phnom Penh and Kampong Som is one of two good paved highways in Cambodia, in accord with the governement's priority of developing the province's beachtown potential as Sihanoukville. The other good road leads toward Angkor. Tourism and NGO's continue as the prime drivers of the ecomony.
photographie-irie > Local Transport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia      Local conveyance in Cambodia is colorful if very basic. In spite of very dusty road conditions, the open air approach is common theme, with motorbikes and open trailers packing goods and people, bulky cabless trucks hauling the same, and tuk-tuks shuttling people as would taxis in the other cities. Everything is "make do", as with these tire patches and milk carton mototbike gas tank. Quite a contrast to the opulence of the Royal Palace only yards away. Yet in spite of mid-day heat and a likely long dusty way to go, smiles come easy for even a strange looking outsider like me.
Police Thumbs Up, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia          

Giving me a walk and thumbs up after being stopped for a one way street violation. Pretty good, coming out of a one way street the wrong way straight into three cops waiting at the intersection, to find these guys so friendly. Happy I didn't need to use the 20 folded in my passport.
photographie-irie > Police Thumbs Up, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia           Giving me a walk and thumbs up after being stopped for a one way street violation. Pretty good, coming out of a one way street the wrong way straight into three cops waiting at the intersection, to find these guys so friendly. Happy I didn't need to use the 20 folded in my passport.
Police Thumbs Up, Singaraja, Bali, Indonesia          

Giving me a walk and thumbs up after being stopped for a one way street violation. Pretty good, coming out of a one way street the wrong way straight into three cops waiting at the intersection, to find these guys so friendly. Happy I didn't need to use the 20 folded in my passport.
See photo in original gallery.
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