I felt the jarring impact and the weightlessness as my body flying through the air. I saw my life flash before my eyes and thinking “life is too short”. I hit the poorly paved road with a solid thud before I helplessly skidded off the road and into the gravel below. Shocked, I lay there trembling for a second as I try to get by bearings. When I finally came to, I heard the sounds of laughter.

On the crooked back road from my school with two of my friends, I was met with an unfortunate biking accident. As my friends and I were talking and pedaling distractedly talking about some mundane thing, I suddenly saw a white Brahman cow running towards me with no intention of stopping or turning directions. My hands reacted on their own accord clenching the brakes as I tried to careen away from my impending doom. However it seemed that the cow was set on hitting me and veered towards my bike and hit me. I flew off my bike into gravel and a split second later my bike came in after me. I lay there dumbfounded by what had just occurred, I had no grasp on my surroundings and it took me awhile to process what had just happened.

It seemed my friends were overly amused with my impact with the cow and were laughing hysterically. One of them laughed so hard he lost his balance and fell into a mud ditch next to him. I lay there for a few seconds too dazed to stand up. Nearby a car that had seen my collision stopped, and the driver came out to help me. She rushed out thinking I was seriously injured but after seeing I was generally unscathed if a bit traumatized she went back in her car and left. Afterwards, the man who was the herder came up to me making sure I was okay and started offering me money. First he offer me one hundred baht, I declined so he went higher offering me two hundred baht (approximately $6). I refused him with as much dignity as one can muster after being unseated by a raging cow. He offered me more money a third time (as is respectful in Thai culture) and after my final refusal he left smiling. I never saw the herder again and every time I go on that back road, I make sure to look every direction to prevent another surprise attack by a cow.

As days go it wasn’t my best, but none could say it wasn’t eventful, and in retrospect while this experience was terrifying at the time and has left me terrified of meeting cows when they are not in a bun, it has given me a great story that I can share with people and give them a laugh, and maybe show them a little bit about Chiang Mai, Thailand and that in itself is worth it.