I took the most horrendous motorbike ride ever this morning on my way into work. I left the house around my usual time on a Saturday, about 7 a.m., and I saw on the Thailand Meteorological Department (TMD) radar on my phone that a pretty bad storm was heading our way and was, in fact, almost upon us. I threw on my rain gear, put on my sandals, put my shoes and socks into a bag, rolled up my pants, and headed to Vientiane on my ‘bike.

It wasn’t too bad on my way to Salakham village, a couple of kilometers away, where I stopped to get gas. After I left the station, the storm really hit and continued all the way, another 14 km, into Vientiane. ALL THE WAY! There was heavy, heavy rain, fierce winds that threatened to knock me over and kept blowing me around on the road, and much thunder and lightning that flashed and roared around me. With the heavy rain came flooded roads, some about a few feet deep and lapping at my engine, most of the way into the city. In addition, I had to take off my glasses, which left my vision severely impaired. Almost the entire ride was full of danger, and I rode accordingly–very, very slowly. I could barely see out of my side mirrors, so any traffic coming up from behind was almost impossible to notice.

I managed to make it safely to the school, but I was, even with my rain gear on, very wet. Luckily, one of the other teachers, Rebecca, had an extra Vientiane College shirt at her desk and loaned it to me while I taught my classes. The classes were successful, though I was still shell-shocked from the ride in.

The storm finished passing through about 8 o’clock, but, again, it was the worst ride I’ve ever taken on my motorbike and the most dangerous, including rides at night through terrible storms. Never again, hopefully!