I had to try...

After being in Cambodia for nearly 2 months, I had decided that it was high time I learned how to ride a moto. I mean, why not? All the Khmer people do it? Surely, it can't be that hard. Plus, it would be awesome to be able to get around on my own and have even more independence! Thus, my experience begins.

This is me on my friend Sopheak's moto. Note that I am being totally safe and wearing a helmet. It is the law, you know, but only if you are driving. Passengers don't need helmets...so long as they don't mind potential brain damage. But really, I do wear a helmet.

This is my beautiful and amazing friend Sopheak who graciously said she would teach me to ride her moto.
So, I won't go into grave detail, but my first attempt at learning to ride a moto was not as successful as I would have liked. I may have crashed into a bit of a cement embankment and scraped all of the skin off of my right knee, scraped my toes pretty good (hey, just because I was wearing a helmet doesn't mean I wasn't wearing flip flops...sorry, mom!), and had a pretty nasty purple bruise on my left leg. No, need to worry, though. I was on a quiet street full of concerned Khmer people. I had a Khmer gentlemen come running out of some sort of office with a bottle of iodine in one hand and a handful of gauze in the other. Meanwhile, my concern was for Sopheak's moto, which fortunately suffered no damage. I, on the other hand, was having my knee cleaned, and being told by a lovely Khmer man, "You go to doctor! You clean! And, you clean again! You go to doctor!" While his concern was much appreciated, I did not feel it was necessary to go to see a doctor for the surface scrapes on my knee and foot. Here are a couple shots of my wounds.
My knee did swell up a bit the next day, but it really wasn't a big deal. It healed pretty quickly.
And, just to prove to you that I healed up quite nicely, here is a picture of my knee all healed up and ready for some more action!
Ok, so I haven't attempted to drive a moto again...yet.