Renting a car in Thailand

I've driven in only two countries, the United States and Japan and have long had a fear of driving in South East Asia. While I feel like I'm a pretty competent driver, my biggest beef with driving in SE Asia is the hordes of motorbikes that swarm cars like flies. And then there's the whole propensity to treat lanes of the street as mere suggestions or guidelines...so you end up with four or five rows of vehicles across three lanes.

We decided to rent a car in Pattaya for our week long vacation. You know how after you've done the paper work you walk around with the agent to inspect the car for dents and damages? This is what we came up with:

Why not color the whole thing in blue...and thanks for the reminder at the bottom to have a safe journey! The best part about this experience is that when we walked around the car the guy casually told me that when the car was returned this morning, the driver's side mirror had been whacked off somehow. And since they only had this car to rent me, and didn't have time to get it properly fixed that they had duck taped on a small bicycle mirror instead.

It was at that point I made sure to ask the guy for the comprehensive insurance option.

My new drivers license

What is it about government issued photo ID's that make you look like anyone and anything but yourself? This looks like a mug shot. In my defense, they purposefully tell you not to smile, but I didn't know I look this unbelievably dorky.

Taking the driving test in Japan is less an exercise in showing off your driving skill, and more about jumping through hoops - like driving as slow as you can go. A 1.2 km course, the test should take a normal person driving on normal streets no more than 2-3 minutes. But in this exercise it takes about 10 minutes. I don't think, but for one stretch where it was mandatory, I got the car above 20 km/hour. In my almost 19 years of driving I don't think I've ever driven that slow. (I'm counting the year I had my permit when I used to take my parents' car out -- sometimes with their blessing, sometimes without. But come on, when you're 15 and your parents let you drive all by yourself once, it's a blanket OK to take it out whenever, right? Right? Anyway, I digress.)

I don't think I've ever driven that slowly. Imagine driving down the road without touching the accelerator and just letting the idling of the car propel you down the road and you're about at how fast I was driving.

When I clipped a curb turning left a bit too sharp, I thought I was a goner. But the examiner must have been in a great mood because he passed me on the first try. And now I finally am driving legally in Japan. My two month stint of joy riding sans license in Tokyo has come to a happier ending than when I was 15 and caught by my parents for taking the car out...and slightly scratching it. But that's another story for another day.

Camping at Lake Kizakiko and Matsumoto Castle

Fall is here in Japan and a few weeks ago we escaped into the mountains with some friends to do some camping. Here are a few thoughts:

Not only were we getting out of the city, but we were doing it by car that were actually driving. This was the first time in my four plus years of living in Japan that I've driven. And for all my attempts to play it cool, I turned on my headlights by turning on the back windshield wipers, and signaled my intention to turn left by flipping on the front windshield wipers. The Californian-Car-Dependence gene inside me kicked in and became more and more convinced we needed a car.

I remember when I would camp as a Boy Scout and I could carry on my back everything I needed for a week's worth of camping in the High Sierras. But on this trip we filled the car full of odds and ends from hot plates and sauce pans to coolers full of food and pillows.

Japan is an incredibly beautiful country when you're actually in nature and for as densely populated as Tokyo can be, rural areas can be equally as remote. It was a great time to photograph nature.

I think Anthon found his first camp girlfriend, a daughter of a family we just met. He sat next to this girl who's his age and she reached across the camp chair and was tickling his knee. For about a minute they stared at each other giggling. It was really cute. The whole rest of the day they couldn't be separated playing hide and seek, building airplanes with logs and just being the best of friends.

Bonfires, hiking, fire-jumping and even a quick trip to Matsumoto Castle - the second time in two weeks for me - were also highlights of the trip. Click on the pictures above for more pictures, or on the picture below to see a short video.