Health and other Dangers: When you read all the stuff that circulates online one would imagine that things would be very different in foreign country especially in Asia, again I have found that there is very little difference here to what one would find in the West. If you walking around the desert in Arizona there is a pretty good chance you might get bit by a snake, on the other hand if you spend most of your time in Manhattan chances are you will not get bitten by a snake. Here is the same in the built areas your risks are exactly the same as back home. I have to admit when I get off the beaten track and I’m walking around in a sort of jungle I watch where I’m stepping the ants here do bite and if you stand still long enough they always seem to find you.
Lastly transportation particularly riding a bike over here, I had heard horror stories about riding over here in Asia I’m lucky in that I had already spent many tens of thousands of hours on two wheels before I arrived here. It is true though that it’s a little different, on the other hand it’s actually a lot safer than riding a bike in America this I have no doubts about. The big difference is that everybody and their sister has at one time or another spent many hours riding a bike therefore if and when they acquire a car they will know the nuances to look for. I have ridden approximately 6000 miles since I’ve been in Thailand and have probably only been cut off a couple of times, in America you would be looking at 600 times.
One of the biggest pleasures I’ve had over here has been riding a bike, at traffic lights in a city you can sometimes find yourself surrounded by 40 or 50 people also on bikes and a few cars if you’re not used to a mass of bikes around you I can see how it would be a little daunting when the light changes to green and everybody moves off together, riding over here is very similar to riding in a large group of cyclists there are unwritten rules that have to be learned, luckily those rules that you learn when riding with a large group of cyclists are the exact same rules over here, something that if you don’t know will increase the odds of you ending up in an accident.