#12 - Rent a Moped

When I lived in Seattle I bought a moped on ebay and was so excited I didn't read the fine print. A few weeks later a large box arrived at my house, but not quite large enough to contain a moped. Huh.

When I opened it I discovered all the parts for a moped, but much like Ikea, China flat packs their shipments. I had to assemble it myself. A friggin moped.

The only thing that was "built" was the engine block. I had to assemble parts of the carburetor, pour alkaline/acid mixture in the battery, wire the headlights, and dashboard monitors, and assemble the tires, brakes, and chassis. For those of you who don't know me that well, I had right click to spell "carburetor" correctly.

It ran for a few months and then died. Because I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

That's why my moped ride here in Bali was awesome - no assembly required. Ban, the guy who owned the bike, asked me if I had a license then tossed me the keys. Boom. Time to ride.

For $6 I got the bike for the whole day and "insurance" - whatever that would have done. After almost taking out a pedestrian, a wall, and my left foot, I hit the highway and jammed to Jimbaran, 20 km south of Kuta. Let me just say that driving in Bali is ridiculous.

Mopeds don't really have any rules, (you encouraged to pass on the other side of the road/sidewalk) and while there are a few traffic lights, most intersections are up to your skill level/discretion/insanity. I was pretty timid at first, but after a few u-turns on the freeway I caught on.

I got well over 80km/hr on some sketchy little streets, and found myself passing locals. Man, it was so awesome. The only glitch in the day was when I took out the side mirror on a moving taxi. Luckily we were in traffic so he couldn't chase me when I jammed out of there. Allegedly.

Mopeds are extremely dangerous to ride in Bali (I had to slam to a few sketchy stops), but if you're adventurous and want to get away from where you're staying, renting a moped for a day (or two) is an awesome way to see the island.

Just make sure you can run from any super pissed taxi drivers.

Allegedly.