One of the satisfying things about travelling is that you get to experience a whole range of differences between countries. How boring would it be if the whole world were like France or Spain?

Every country has its own inherent components and if these components are interesting enough, they may attract tourism.

The components usually all fall into the same sort of categories; food, scenery, sports, leisure, climate etc. You go to France for good food; you wouldn't go to Greenland for the same reason. Well, not unless you have a real hankering for fish, fish and nothing but fish.

Transport is one of the components that has become part-and-parcel of the experience that a country offers. Think of London and apart from Big Ben or Tower Bridge, you'll probably picture either a red bus or a black cab.

New York will probably conjure an image of a yellow cab; India and you have the old Morris Oxford taxis. Japan has the Bullet Train.

These methods of transport have now become synonymous with the countries and can be tourist attractions in their own right. In London, a tourist highlight is to take a black cab and suffer the ceaseless barrage of conversation from the driver or 'cabbie' as they are known there.

That's not to decry the London cabbie, oh no. They are very knowledgeable people and can give tours of London better than the official guides. One of them even became a Mastermind of Britain.
Venice has its river buses. Amsterdam too has canal buses. Some modes of transport are famous; like the Orient Express, and some are infamous; like the motodups of Cambodia.

What of Thailand though?

Obviously there is the long tail boat. This is embedded deep in the history of Thailand and is always the star of the warm water, with islands in the distance, filmed and used extensively for marketing. Rightly so, much the same as the Dhow is used around the Arabian Peninsula, India and East Africa or the Felucca in Egypt.

I was thinking, however, more about land transport. When I first started coming to Thailand ten years ago it was the tuk-tuks that was the principle mode of transport for the tourist; but is that the same now?

Well that strictly depends on what you call a tuk-tuk . If you go to Hua Hin or Bangkok or many of the more northern towns you can still see what I, and many others, call a tuk-tuk.

A small 3 wheeled, highly decorated, covered Taxi that seats four at the most, makes a lot of noise and can be fairly uncomfortable depending on how many corners you have to negotiate.

Originally thought of to have been designed in Japan, the three-wheeled, handlebar-steered vehicle is known throughout Asia in various guises. Perhaps a more suited name is the auto-rickshaw.

This then, is what I used to think of when I thought of Thailand. Like every other tourist, one of the first things I did on that first evening after I arrived was to take a tuk-tuk to the nearest restaurant, and then I knew I was on holiday. You couldn't be more immersed in the Thai culture if you tried.
Unfortunately, these days the tuk-tuk that I came to love no longer exists in most places. On Phuket we have small riveted aluminium Daihatsu people-carriers that are about as cultural as a sore lip. These surely can not be called tuk-tuks.

They are more 'minibus' than minibuses. I appeared in a Pantomime recently and was described "as ugly as the back end of a tuk-tuk ". But which tuk-tuk?

I consider the old tuk-tuk to be a work of art, an icon of the country I have come to love and have as my home. I would be proud to be compared to something so beautiful.

No, it has to be the small-wheeled toy version of a people carrier that has the nerve to call itself a tuk-tuk . This has to be a case of hoping that the name can give some validation or authenticity to the travesty that has replaced it.

These things are functionally ugly.

How much nicer would they be if they had beach scenes painted on them or rubber plantations? Or even a picture of a real tuk-tuk painted on the side. This is probably an example of the driver not being the owner and therefore not caring what it looks like. It's economical, has an extended lifetime and can make more money.

The old tuk-tuk drivers spent a long time tarting up their vehicles to attract customers. I remember one being completely covered in old CDs. You spent the journey reading the labels to see if you recognised any of the artists. I seem to remember that Elvis and Elton John featured quite heavily. Another was lit like a Christmas tree and had different flashing routines to keep you entertained.
It looks like the decline of the tuk-tuk has begun, and as more and more tourists come, the need to have a modern reliable people carrier to produce high turn-over is going to mean the extinction of the quaint old 3 wheeler.

So what of a replacement vehicle?

Something synonymous with and truly representative of Thailand that will withstand the politically correct rigours and emission controls of being a symbol of a country. An initial thought was the Toyota HILUX.

There are thousands here. Unfortunately, they are not what you would really want on a poster of "Welcome to Thailand". They are ugly, huge and have a carbon footprint only a Boeing 777 could be envious of.

The VIOS was another candidate. Again they're everywhere you look, on the roads.

Associated unfortunately with the more inept driver (Virtually Incapable Of Steering, Very Ignorant Of Surroundings, choose the one you think more appropriate) or the TIGER (Totally Ignorant of Every Road-user). There are many to choose from and I'm sure you have your own particular favourite.

The other obvious candidate is the airport transfer minibus. You see these a lot but only for short amount of time as they hurtle past from one bend to the next. Usually driven by a complete psychopath with a total disregard for any pedal not marked 'accelerator'; and anybody or anything else on the road.

If you have a vehicle on your bumper--with flashing lights, it's going to be one of these boys. Their brief is obviously: "They're only here for a week; get them to the hotel as fast as possible so that they can start spending money!"

The moped is another very strong contender with good reason. However, this is not a phenomenon of just Thailand. All countries in Asia have them in their millions.

The answer to Thailand's new transport icon is obvious.

You take your old Honda 50, 90, Wave or Dream and you bolt it to a topless welded cage of tensioning steel. You add a spare motorcycle wheel taken from a wrecked motorbike (of which there are thousands due to the number of road accidents Thailand boasts) and hey presto, you have the universal side-car-carry-all which would look great on any advertisement. If you've got the money you can even add suspension to the third wheel.

The "Motersai saleng"

They are so Thai. They are used for absolutely everything; the school run, getting the entire family (and friends) to the market, carrying the dog, propane cylinders, a delicately balanced, carefully arranged stash of aluminium ladders of various sizes, building materials, brooms, brushes, a mobile compressor and food. You can hide a complete kitchen on one of these things. It gives a new meaning to meals-on-wheels. Perhaps that should be meals-on-3-wheels.

Suspension can be added for more comfort

Like the tuk-tuk, it can be used to ferry people about, there are even some specially rigged out as taxis.

The beauty of the design is that it is so adaptable. You can have as many seats as you want or shelves or just have an empty shell allowing to fill it with whatever takes your fancy. You can have a canopy put on, fashioned of any material you like. You can have a red plastic heart-shaped canopy and sell ice cream from it. Why not have a brightly-coloured frilly design and sell flowers in pots? The possibilities are endless, the permutations astronomical. A friend of mine even carries his drum-kit in one. I did a spot of market research recently and counted how many normal mopeds I saw before I saw a 'motersai saleng'. The maximum number I reached was 8. Every 9th motorcycle type vehicle was a 'saleng'.

Economical, Versatile, Adaptable, Spacious, Omnifarious, Nomadic…

and there we have it. How long before we have the Honda EVASON? I think the name's taken already--but the principle is there.

That's my candidate then, the 'Motersai saleng' is the replacement for the tuk-tuk as Thailand's national symbolic mode of transport. Similar in many ways, so different in others. The preferred appendage would be the mobile kitchen as food is also a very important item in Thailand. Perhaps someone should start a national movement to reinstate the tuk-tuk before it's too late. Can you imagine what the advertising poster for Thailand would look like? It doesn't bear thinking about.