The Adventures of Lead-Hand

The Adventures of Lead-Hand

If you think you can stick a key in a motorbike ignition while you breeze across the northern thailand countryside-- and expect it to stay there-- you'd be me, and you'd be wrong.
If you think that the bike would turn off when the key fell out.
You and I'd both be wrong.

I was out riding past old villages and smiling people hand painting temples and elephant "camps" (ethical discussion to follow) and throughly enjoying the pristine beauty of this place.
Butterflies of every imaginable color and shape flit among the dense green. And by some strange miracle, the roads are perfectly paved and mostly empty, save for the occasional rooster or village dog.
It was a breathlessly beautiful way to spend a day and as I went to stop the bike and look at my map, I reached down to turn the bike off.... but no key.

Step 1: Curse.
Step 2: Realize that's what the sweet little thai woman was trying to tell you -- the key can fall out.
Step 3: retrace your steps...slowly... all 8 km of them
step 4: retrace your steps... again.
Step 5: Wonder if all that additional insurance you purchased will cover a missing key since it would cover a stolen bike.
Step 6: curse
Step 7: breathe and stop cursing.
Step 8: stop beating yourself up too.
Step 9: hum a bob marley song
step 10: mentally calculate the cost of a keyless motorbike in bhat
step 11: go back to the motorbike place with your tail between your legs.
step 12: find out this happens all the time and will only cost you 50 bhat for a replacement.
Step 13: pay up your $1.50
Step 14: start believing that every little thing will be alright.