Last week I shared my adventures leaving Vietnam and spending a few days in Cambodia. After a whirlwind tour of the capital Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (home of Angkor Wat) we left for Bangkok by bus.

After six hours on the road and all the fun of border crossings we arrived in the Thai capital. Immediately my ears were greeted with the sound (and smell) of two-strokes in the form of the county’s famous Tuk Tuks, three wheeled auto-rickshaws often elaborately decorated. I was in two-stroke heaven.

Better, I was in vintage scooter heaven. While contemporary scooters still represent the vast majority of two-wheelers here, unlike Vietnam and Cambodia, the relatively affluent Thailand has adopted the car much more widely, leaving scooters as a principle form of transportation as more of a sign of Thailand’s past.

On every street corner in the old town section of Bangkok, vintage Vespas from VBAs and VBBs through Rallys and P-series bikes continue to ply their trade in the city. Most of them have obviously seen better days but all are cared for in their own way. In particular, the scooters seem to represent a convenient delivery vehicle transporting supplies from store to store around the area. It was rare to see a rider simply commuting. Almost always they were carrying some form of cargo.

The only problem I had was that these scoots were busy buzzing around the city, not leaving me much of an opportunity to drool.

Finally on my last night in the city I hit scooter pay dirt. I had a couple of hours to kill before going to watch Thai Boxing at the famous Ratchadamnoen stadium just north of the old town and decided to wander some of the side-streets. Given this was now the evening, the scooters were resting and I got my chance to get up close and personal with some great bikes. I hope you enjoy the photographs.

Typically for a Bangkok Vespa, this bike is delivering cargo between stores.

This was one of the few commuter bikes I saw.

Sure it's no looker in the paint department, but this scoot is still out there working hard.

Clearly some of the Thai riders like their bling as much as the Vietnamese.

If you’re interested in hitting this part of the world, I thoroughly recommend the travel company GAP Adventures with whom I traveled on their “Cambodia Experience” tour. The tour was a fantastic opportunity to see a lot of great stuff in a short period of time.

In mid-September I’ll be hitting Paris, so stay tuned for what I hope will be more great scooter snaps.

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