Scooter in Korea

Me and Eunmi on a rental scooter in Seoul.

That’s me unleashing the power of my 2 horsepower (I’m serious) monster. The scooter I rented was a Honda Ruckus, or also called Honda Zoomer in some countries. I rented it from a place called Scooter Tazo.  It was a great deal. It cost 30,000 Korean won to rent for a day. If you want insurance, it’s another 20,000 won. Rental of 2 helmets was an additional 5,000 won.  I didn’t realize it until after returning the scooter, but you don’t even need to return the scooter with a full tank (I did anyways since I just assumed it was like renting a moving truck in the US).  And when I did, the guy there offered me a can of iced coffee. Nice people.

I ended up returning the scooter 2 days later with no damage to the vehicle or our health. I had called around to rent a scooter when I was living in California, but its not legal for some reason. The Honda Ruckus we rented is a 49 cc scooter. Any scooter that is less than 50 cc does not required a drivers license, and doesn’t even require registration in both Korea and the US.

It was so much fun. It’s a bit like the feeling of going skiing on a medium difficulty hill (blue square hill, not black diamond) since you’re completely exposed to the elements. I have wanted to ride a scooter for the longest time. My parents, especially my mom, have always said motorcycles and and scooters are a big no-no. But, I had to do it. Seoul, South Korea is probably the last place in the world to try riding a scooter for the first time. Not only that, Koreans are absolutely terrible drivers – me included (as far as observing speed limits).

Crossing the Han River in Seoul. Its a big bridge over a big river. It was a little intimidating when a huge bus drove by. I realized that we were mosquitos to the buses on the freeway. If you look towards the end of the video, I was able to get the scooter to 60 km/hour, which is about 40 mph. I was trying to see if you can ride this scooter with two people, but certain sources suggest a limit of 200 lbs.  Beyond that, sources state that you’re limited to 40 km/hr with two people, but I was always able to get it up to at least 50-55 km/hour.

Eunmi posing with her beast.

One of my new words I’ve learned in Korea is “nado,” which means “me too.” While we were on the scooter, I said “nado chuseo” which means “me too, please” to the family inside the blue van in the picture above.  Two parents and 3 kids all eating really nice-looking (a little weird looking) peaches. The mom signaled her husband to stop the van immediately as if it was an emergency and instructed one of her kids in the back to grab a peach for me. I couldn’t believe it. I was just joking around. It’s amazing how nice some people are. It’s also amazing what you can get when you just ask for it.  I ate it at home the next day.

That’s the peach the family in the blue van gave me. Definately doesn’t look like the peaches I’m used to eating. A little less sweet than American peaches, but more crispy, which is just the way I like it.

Having fun on the scooter.

Two Korean men on a pink scooter.