The Misadventures of Joey Tafuro

I remember telling a nice story about enjoying danger and not worrying about death while traveling.

Well, karma didn’t like my laughing in the face of danger and punished me full and well. I rented a motorbike this morning and headed into Hat Rin Town from the bungalow I am staying at in Ko Pha Ngan to find accommodation closer to the full moon party. I was warned about the hills on the island and to take them very slowly. I was going to rent one the night before but opted to wait for morning. I got up early to avoid heavy traffic and have the road mostly to myself. I have never done left side driving and psyched myself out. I took a curve very slowly but hit the front brake too hard and the bike went underneath me.

I’m not sure how the fall looked but It didn’t feel all that great. I slid a few feet arms first and then face planted into the concrete with the bike pushing forward and bending my leg, luckily, in the natural direction. The first driver who witnessed it was a foreigner on bike as well and he didn’t stop or even glance over to see if I was ok. Then a couple right behind him stopped and helped me get the bike out of the street. I was slow getting up but when I did I let them know I was ok and that it looked like I just burned myself pretty bad and no back or limb breakage. The women gave me her water bottle and the guy drove my bike with me on the back to the clinic. I think the worst of it was my right leg which I lost a few layers of skin and they had to use scissors to cut it off. My left forearm has the biggest scrape in length but it doesn’t look too deep.

Apparently motorbike accidents in Ko Pha Ngan are common and they got me cleaned up very fast. The nurses were extremely comforting and informative even if they were barefoot. No shoes allowed in the clinic. There was a single fan blowing in the room where they were working on me. Flies were attacking my wounds before they could wrap me up. And the best part was the poultry that I heard behind the building somewhere. All in all it was a good experience considering the situation. They gave me some antibiotics and pain killers and sent me off. I have to go back for the next 2-3 days to get cleaned up and re-bandaged.

Lesson learned. I don’t know what I was thinking getting on a bike in the first place when so many terrible things have happened to people I know on them. I guess when you travel you try new things and become a bit more daring. I will choose my adventures more carefully. Maybe skydiving or bungy jumping!

Again, I’m completely fine with just a bruised ego and some nasty burns. Don’t feel too bad for me because I am on a tropical island in a bungalow with plenty to do even though I can’t swim. There is a free pool table, house music playing all day and night, and good people to talk to.

Believe me it isn’t quite as bad as it looks although it still sucks pretty bad.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.