The world needs to know: You can get free bikes in Bangkok!

On our trip last January, Peter and I had read about these in our guidebook, but when we went to find them, the kiosk was abandoned.

Imagine our excitement then when, on this trip, we saw a crew of people zip down a street one day on very touristy bikes. Last time around, apparently, the system was way too broad–you could go anywhere. Now you’re supposed to take the bikes on only two set routes–one on the east side of the river, and one on the west. You can pick them up and drop them off at any kiosk along the route. And did I mention they’re free?

We hit the east side (EAST SIDE!) first. That’s where all the big fancy temples are, and the bike route takes you in a big loop past all of them. But Peter and I were so excited to be riding bikes that we didn’t bother doing any of the sightseeing at all.

We did cruise past our previous point of disappointment. Now much happier:

The bikes are well designed for city use, with just one speed (Bangkok is totally flat) and a nice integrated basket on the front. Only trouble for Peter was that the seats didn’t go up very high. These bikes were not made with American tourists in mind, much less Dutch ones. They have this cool built-in prong that ka-chunks the bike into place at the kiosk rack:

There were a lot of buses and other things in the way on the bike route, as well as mobs of schoolkids (next time, I’d make a point of being off the street by 3pm). But it was far less strenuous than riding in NYC. Traffic moves more slowly, and drivers are on the lookout for more crazy behavior, having to deal with mopeds zipping between lanes, and tuk-tuk drivers, and food vendors biking along with their carts full of sizzling whatever. We even got big smiles and thumbs-up from some drivers.

A couple of days later, we took the west side (WESSIDE!) (sorry, can’t help it) bike route. This was much niftier, because it was more residential, and we felt no obligation to sightsee at all. We followed a spur route to the royal barge museum, which was just closing (fortunately, or we might’ve been obliged to go in it!), and wound up in a neat little warren of canal houses, where we were riding along narrow little paths right next to the water. These women were sitting near a bridge.

Later, back on bigger boulevards, we cruised past some dudes unloading pig carcasses. They were stacked so beautifully. They could teach a thing or two to the halal-meat delivery guys around here.

And, don’t tell the bike people, but we got a little lost and off-route, and while we were at it, we passed these girls, raising money for a charity.

And then Peter got transfixed by some locks.

And then we finally got back on the route, and found the guy we’d been looking for, a candied bael-fruit seller. He was marked as a destination on the bike-route map. I had a dim memory of seeing some travel-show segment about him, on some flight or other, and this magical fruit that was so rare and odd-tasting. We rolled up, and there was no sign of any real commerce. But we asked around, and a guy turned up and took the cover off his display, which seemed to draw customers out of nowhere.

We’d been biking for a while, so we took a breather, on the tumbledown couch in the alley.

The fruit was strange, slightly numbing, and so intensely candied that my teeth hurt just thinking about it. He also sold dried slices of the fruit, which I wish I’d gotten, but they were big bags, and they weren’t cheap. I don’t think being in a tourist brochure has gone to this guy’s head.

Down the alley a bit, we found we weren’t the only ones out for a sunset bike cruise.

We were just getting a little tired when we passed a guy by the side of the road with an old-fashioned projector.

Peter stopped to take some photos for our friend Katie, and next thing we know, people were pouring us shots of booze, offering us Cheetos and giving us high-fives.

One woman realized I was never going to drink all my hooch, and so took it back and poured it back in the bottle. I like that kind of sensible hospitality. We took a tour of the back room, where we finally figured out they were getting ready for a dragon parade. Oh, so that’s why the kids outside had been playing around with boxes on their heads!

We left them some bael fruits (a little went a long way), gave some more high fives, and wobbled off down the road. Fortunately, it wasn’t too much farther to the next bike drop-off point.

We’d almost done the full circuit (it’s a straight line on the west side, not a loop). But we were somehow almost more pleased to be able to drop our bikes at the penultimate stop–because we got to use the word penultimate.

We wandered over the bridge back to the east side and found ourselves smack in the middle of the wholesale flower market. Which took us a little while to figure out. “Gosh, there sure are a lot of marigolds here…”

Stupendous, and so much better than if we’d made a special trip.

Thank you, Bangkok, for your wonderful free bikes. We’re smiling still!