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You are here: Home / Archives for motorbike

A Motorbike in Rome

February 13, 2012 By Danny

Rome is famously known as the ‘Eternal City’ and is the capital of Italy and has more history than most people can even begin to understand.  When we think of it we think of The Colosseum, The Pantheon and its beautiful Piazza. What you don’t think about, especially if your image of Rome is defined by movies like Gladiator, is how to get around.

All over the world we were amazed at how history meets modernity and despite all those ancient marble sites people still live in the 21st century.  In Rome though, those ancient streets weren’t made for cars and so an armada of motorbikes leads the way.  I usually think of Asia when I see a motorbike but a Vespa is Italian and at the heart of Rome is its motorbike.

These bikes or scooters are available for pretty fair prices and are the best way to make way in between the heavy and chaotic traffic of Rome. Sometimes the traffic can be too heavy and a bit intimidating but still it will always be an experience worth remembering.

IF YOU GO: If you do get a chance to visit Rome, then should definitely try and visit the most famous Churches of Rome. There are more than 900 churches in Rome and you can find about the most famous ones among them from a good travel guide.  There are plenty of Apartments in Rome to rent and once you’ve done that you should’t let the traffic scare you out of your motorbike tour of the city!

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Flickr user Leo-setä via a creative commons license.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: history, motorbike, rome

A Laotian Swamp

November 18, 2011 By Danny

Three days on a motorbike through Laos! Sounded nice enough when we came up with the idea but then when we actually did it, it was even better. After our first day of riding, the only day that could have been called challenging by any stretch of the imagination, we woke up at sunrise to get a quite start on the road. Pulling up the rear of our group I’m quite certain that I was annoying the others as I kept stopping to take photos like this one.

Laos Swamp

This photo just instantly puts me at peace. The water is still and filled with trees. There is nothing that can be called particularly breathtaking but somehow I become relaxed every time I see it!

IF YOU GO: You’ll need to get to Tha Kheck and book your motorbike from there. It is a simple loop best enjoyed over three days but you could do it faster if you absolutely must. Just book some cheap flights and go. Nothing on the route, even the famed Konglor Cave is particularly noteworthy by the trip as a whole is absolutely worth it.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: laos, motobike, motorbike

Motorbiking Laos

December 1, 2010 By Danny

Some of our best memories this entire trip have been when we’ve had our own transportation. The first time was in our final days of Argentina when we shared a rental with some other travelers we met at our guesthouse. Next was Africa where we rented our own car to tour Southern Africa, taking it into 4 different countries, before heading north and meeting up with some others driving their own car back to London.

IMGP6419Those were all cars. Two wheels are far better than four.

We arrived to Tha Kheck after a long day on yet another slow bus in Laos and made our bookings for the motor bikes. Mr. Kho started us out with a basic lesson which involved us turning the bikes on, driving and switching from first to second gear, and making u-turns. The turns were actually actually the hardest part because going to slow means the bike falls down on you…and that hurts.

IMGP6437We were off, zooming down the highway….well it was a road. The first stop was one of the reasons we wanted to do the loop, the Buddha Cave. This particular cave was only discovered in 2004, filled with Buddha statues that hadn’t seen the light of day for as many as 600 years. It is believed they were hidden in the cave from invading forces from modern day Thailand, who now make religious pilgrimages to the site.

The next day was where we earned our racing stripes. The road had gone from paved to unpaved to dirt and then finally to mud. Becka’s bike liked to stall every time she slowed to a stop or tried to downshift while going uphill, this led to her constantly jumping on the starter to get the bike going again and thanks to her small legs she had more than one bruise to show for it.
IMGP6425Jill though was even worse. On the main rough patch she lost control of her bike and although she was still on the bike, it was spinning out of control, in circles, through the mud. Rather than using the break she instinctively pulled on the accelerator which kept her bike doing Evil-Kanivel 360s with the weight of the bike falling against on half of her body. This was after she’d taken a spin (not literally) through a thorn patch and had thorns through all her toes.

Somehow I survived without the same bruises and scrapes. I also got to play hero when Jill’s fuel intake came out and I managed to both find and fix the problem….skills I owe to when it happened to us in Ethiopia. Clearly I’m the hero of this story!

IMGP6445Our motorbike tour wouldn’t be complete though without our final stop at the Konglor Caves. Arriving to the caves in the morning we traded in our bikes for a boat (and boatmen) to take us through several kilometers of subterranean rapids until we emerged on the other side of the mountain. It was a spectacular river but didn’t compare to the fun we had riding those bikes!

Filed Under: Asia & Oceania, Headline, Laos Tagged With: motorbike, transportation

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