I learned fairly quickly that when you're a cyclist on Thailands roads, everybody else has right of way. especially anything as big as an elephant. Most of the traffic moved faster than I did, cars and buses certainly. Songthaews-a small lorry with fitted passenger seats- and tuk-tuks, motorised rickshaws generally made quite a healthy pace too. The other strange vehicles which seemed to have evolved from inbreeding between motor scooters, lawnmowers, wheelbarrows and ploughs all puffed along at about my pace. They were generally narrow enough to overtake. But elephants are slow, they're wide, they don't have indicators.
So what do you do when there's an elephant tail in your face and the faster moving panoply of Ayutthaya's traffic is overtaking you and it both? I can't accelerate much, the saddle's so low my beard is tickling my knees. But there is a soft shoulder to my left. What do Thai traffic rules say about overtaking elephants on the inside?
Probably not much, and in truth the laws of pragmatism overrule them anyway. It's a big beast, mine is a small bike and if I can't out-cycle it I can sure out run it. And if it decides to suddenly turn left I have a better chance of avoiding it on my own two feet than on a bike. So I hopped off the bike, hefted it over my shoulder and sprinted past the elephant on the inside. It was completely nonplussed. They don't suffer from road rage, lucky things. When I had gained a few yards, I dropped the bike back on the tarmac and hopped back on.
I'm certain that I provided that service we all provide as tourists in a foreign country: entertainment for the natives. In addition, I may have invented a new traffic rule!