Family on a Motorbike in Asia

Snaps from a Tuk Tuk

One of the best ways to catch a glimpse of life in Asia is to take a ride in a tuk tuk. As your driver speeds dangerously and weaves through stationary traffic you’ll experience the true sights, sounds and smells of Asia. It’s likely that you’ll be assaulted with the smell of exhaust fumes, rubbish rotting in the sun, meat cooking on open fires, incense and fruits from market stalls; your ears will be filled with the sounds of beeping horns, the calls of market sellers, the thrum of music from nearby shops, monks chanting, the crowing of roosters and the barks of stray dogs.

Whether you’re travelling through the city or the countryside, one thing’s for sure, everywhere you go you’ll see people zipping past on motorbikes; often whole families will be crammed casually onto one bike while other single riders carry incomprehensibly-heaped loads of vegetables, bamboo baskets, boxes or even live animals. We’ve been in Asia for almost a year now but still these sights never cease to amaze us.

Our Snaps from a Tuk Tuk

To give you a taste of life in Asia, here are some of Andrew’s best snaps from a tuk tuk ride we took in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Motorbike Loaded with Bags in Asia

Family on a Motorbike in Cambodia

Boy Walking Along the Road in Cambodia

Bike Loaded with Baskets in Cambodia

Carrying Baskets on a Motorbike in Asia

School Girls Riding a Bike in Cambodia

Transporting Wood in Asia

Man and Luggage on a Motorbike in Asia

Cambodian Women Cycling

Pigs on a Motorbike in Cambodia

It’s not the clearest picture but yes, those are pigs on the back of the bike in that last shot!

Snaps from a tuk tuk, Pinterest

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10 Comments
  • Rob
    Posted at 20:57h, 24 February Reply

    Love em, honestly I think they could get in the Guinness Book of Records – Most People on a bike, Most Items… Imagine this on your commute in London, mayhem!!

    • Amy
      Posted at 10:17h, 25 February Reply

      I know Rob! It’s going to be quite a shock when we get back to London and see people actually wearing helmets, obeying the traffic lights and not squeezing a whole family onto one bike!

  • Nomadic Boys
    Posted at 13:11h, 25 February Reply

    Jaw dropped when I read the pigs comment!
    Love this idea: photos from a tuk tuk.

    • Andrew
      Posted at 13:46h, 25 February Reply

      Yep, they sure are inventive with their transport in Asia; I cannot believe there aren’t more accidents…

  • Patti
    Posted at 00:23h, 26 February Reply

    Whenever I see pictures like this I can’t help but think of – no way would you ever see this in the USA. A family of four on a motorbike would be hugely illegal and hard to imagine seeing a little girl standing up like that – so unsafe! I love the last photos with the pigs!! It just goes to show how vastly different this world is!

    • Amy
      Posted at 04:20h, 26 February Reply

      I know Patti, there’s no way you’d get away with that in the UK either! It still makes us cringe when we see the young kids and babies crammed on bikes with no protection. We’ve seen four motorbike crashes since we’ve been in Asia – one of which was pretty serious – it’s amazing we haven’t seen more.

  • Agness
    Posted at 02:32h, 26 February Reply

    Great snapshots. You can see the daily life of locals! I’m not a big fan of taking tuk tuk when taking photos as the ride is always shaky, but your photos turned out to be awesome!

    • Amy
      Posted at 04:22h, 26 February Reply

      Yep, it’s pretty hard to get shots Agness; Andrew took many more that came out as a blurred mess, these were the best ones. Why not give it a go yourself one day and see what you capture? 🙂

  • Kerri
    Posted at 15:27h, 26 February Reply

    Love the snapshots! It really does capture the uniqueness of SE Asia.

    • Amy
      Posted at 13:01h, 28 February Reply

      Thanks Kerri, Andrew had fun taking them, it became a bit of a challenge to find one more outrageous than the last! 🙂

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