So here’s the deal: we’ve been trying to get our motorbike licenses here for quite some time. We’ve had a variety of obstacles, including my fear of driving one and tendency to wreck them; the fact that I am on Stephen’s work permit here, and thus not really here in some way, so I need papers from immigration to prove my legal existence; the three hour video in Thai that you are required to watch before you take a test in English and do a test drive, all of which consume a full work day of ours and our office manager.
And after having to pay a $6 ticket for driving without a motorbike license, we went in last week for the official we’re-doing-this day. We had even borrowed an automatic motorbike, since my driving is still leaves a little bit to be desired (as in I don’t drive on roads with other cars, motorbikes, or on-lookers).
In the end, our address was wrong on one of the papers we received from immigration, and we’re back to square one.
For me, it’s an excuse to not get one. I’m very happy, and much safer on my bike or riding with Stephen.
But for Stephen, it’s just delaying the inevitable. And to help our poor office manager who does nearly everything to keep us in this country legally, we have a new plan: he can get a motorcycle license in the States.
Thailand is nice enough to respect licenses issued by the States, and you simply show your current license and have a new Thai one created. Well, I guess they did check to see if you could identify red, green, and yellow first, and they asked if we had good vision. Yes–asked.
Anyway, thus arises our question: is there anyone reading this blog, living in the central Arkansas area that would have a motorcycle for Stephen to borrow for the test?
We’re now on the lookout.