The Driving Test

Well, I am ready to buy a motorcycle now but there are a couple more things I need to sort out. One is what day and what time is the best to buy it. For this one, I asked my aunt to do it for me. She asked me about my birthday and what time I was born. I told her. She said she would call me when she finds out the best time to buy. I asked her to be quick. Now only one more thing is in my way of getting a bike. That is a riding license. I didn’t really want to do it because none of my friends bothered with this. But, I agreed with my parents that I would do it differently. I can’t wait to go to do it. I am so excited.

One day later, I got myself and everything ready to go to do a riding test. I was there in the afternoon. I went to line up and filled in the paper they gave me. I handed it to a woman at the counter then she pointed and told me to go in a room to do some tests. I went in that room and saw a man sitting down looking at pieces of paper with lots of colours on them. I went to stand behind him and then I knew that he was doing a colour blind test. He couldn’t answer some of them.

Now it is my turn. I sat down and looked at those sheets of paper. I told her all the numbers in a minute then she gave me a book to read. I looked at it. It was a book about riding rules and some things like that. I didn’t really read it because I hate reading books, especially learning books. I pretended to read it and then I gave her back the book. She then gave me an exam and an answer sheet. I came back to my seat and started to do it. God! It was not that easy. It took me more than half an hour to finish all twenty questions (all multiple choice). I was real scared that I wouldn’t pass it. I sat there and waited for them to call my name. I prayed in my mind, “pass, please pass”. Then my name was called. I walked up to the counter. My heart was beating fast. Then the women at the counter said “congratulations, you passed!” Then she asked me to come back the next morning to do a riding test.

The next day I was really scared because I have never ridden properly before. I have never used an indicator when I turned left or right on the road. It is quite hard for me to do that, you know. They told me to go downstairs to meet someone. I went down there and saw a man standing by a really old motorcycle. He asked me if I came for a test. I said yes. He told me to get on the bike and told me to ride it to a sign, turn around and come back. He told me that I have to do hand signals. He showed me how to do it and then he told me to go. I started the bike but it didn’t start properly because it’s very old. I started to ride and did everything like he said. I came back to him and he put a tick on my paper. Then he told me that’s it. I passed. I couldn’t believe it because it was too easy. I said to myself, if it is this easy, why have none of my friends done it? Maybe they are too lazy to do it. Now I will ring my aunt to see if she has found out from her astrologer the best time to buy the motorcycle.

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This is the uncut version of Panrit’s article that first appeared in his Gor’s World column in the Bangkok Post when he was 16 years old. We will be posting his full versions every Sunday for him while he is still in prison. Read more about Gor at his website www.ThailandLife.com.