Guest blogger and award-winning Australian travel writer Louise Southerden discovers on a bicycle tour through Bangkok that the Thai capital has more to offer than temples and tuk-tuks.

When you think of a bicycle-friendly city, cities like Copenhagen or Amsterdam probably come to mind. Not an Asian city, and certainly not Bangkok, this sprawling capital with 12 million inhabitants, which is known more for tuk-tuks than for cycle paths.

Jason Williams, an Australian cyclist living in Bangkok, wanted to change this perception when he founded the Bangkok-based company Grasshopper Adventures in 2004.

The tour through the rural surroundings of Bangkok that he developed at the time came about rather by chance, he told me. "I was simply cycling alone in the agricultural areas near where I lived and discovered these old temples surrounded by trees, as well as great little paths, canal trails, and the feeling of being right in the middle of Bangkok, even though you could still see the tall buildings of the city center."

Despite initial skepticism (some locals in Bangkok considered the city too dangerous for cycling), cycling is now the city's most popular outdoor activity on TripAdvisor.

To find out, I signed up – with mixed feelings – for a full-day bike tour through the countryside surrounding Bangkok, as I had always felt somewhat overwhelmed by city traffic and rather disoriented by the winding Chao Phraya River. Would this bike tour convince me of the advantages of cycling in a major Asian city?

Just minutes after putting on my helmet and leaving the Grasshopper Adventures base near Khao San Road, I realized that while Bangkok may not have the same well-marked bike paths as European cities, it more than makes up for it with its numerous bike-friendly sidewalks and alleyways. Furthermore, the 35-kilometer route of this tour cleverly avoids main roads and highways.

Our Thai guide, Tammy, led our small group along shady alleys and footpaths by the Chao Phraya River, where we watched barges and longtail speedboats as we cycled. We pushed our bicycles up a ramp to the Rama VIII Bridge to enjoy the view and felt a cooling breeze off the water. A vast sky stretched before us, and when Tammy produced a map, pointed out familiar landmarks, and explained that the river runs roughly north-south west of Bangkok's business district, I suddenly felt more at ease than I had ever felt in Bangkok.

But the best was yet to come. On the other side of the river, we entered a part of the city that is normally off-limits to tourists. In fact, we didn't see any other foreigners all day. Instead, we chatted with residents of Bangkok's suburbs, and on our bicycles, we felt at one with the landscape we were cycling through.

We high-fived children playing in the quiet streets in front of their houses, inhaled the aroma of roast chicken from street stalls, imitated the honking of a passing milkman (“Moo!”), and sampled mangosteens and rambutan. Sometimes we parked our bicycles in front of a village temple, took off our sandals, and went inside; these temples were distinctly different from the more famous and touristy temples of Bangkok.

Sometimes the paths were so narrow that we had to stop to let a local family pass on a moped. Another time, we drove carefully behind men sitting on the banks of the canals, fishing with bamboo poles. And all day long, people called out to us, "Sawasdee-ka!" and "Sawasdee-krup!" Hello!

Since the tour was advertised as a "rural" tour, I had imagined driving through green fields, passing farmers knee-deep in rice paddies, and having lunch under a tree by a stream while water buffalo grazed nearby. It wasn't quite like that, though. Although we had escaped the city's skyscrapers and shopping malls, we were still in an urban environment, albeit with very low buildings, and we had lunch at a roadside restaurant (although the pad thai noodles were delicious).

However, it was an adventure, a kind of obstacle course.

We cycled through small jungle islands, along narrow paths over raised causeways, across bridges spanning canals, and through winding alleyways. We passed banana plantations, orchards, and plowed fields, and had to carry our bicycles over two railway tracks. Late in the day, we even found ourselves on a dirt road softened by a water-sprayed truck—and got dirty ourselves as we splashed through puddles to cool off. It might not have been the Thai landscape I'd imagined, but it was a Bangkok I never knew existed.

At the end of the ride, my shirt was soaked with sweat and my face was red from the heat, but I would do it again (at a cooler time of year, not in May) just for the chance to find peace on two wheels in one of the busiest cities in the world.

Getting there: Grasshopper Adventures offers various cycling tours in Bangkok, including the popular Bangkok City Tour, which runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and includes a local guide, helmet, 24-speed mountain bike, water, lunch, and snacks. The best time to cycle in Bangkok is from November to February. For more information, visit www.grasshopperadventures.com