"Instead of staying home, I like to meet many people — I like my freedom," says Chiemi Svensson. It's a feeling this 57-year-old Japanese resident of Bangkok surely has in common with most of her Harley customers.
Born in Shibushi, Kagoshima Prefecture, Chiemi moved to Thailand in 1983, together with her husband Erik. Now, in that so-called Land of Smiles, they jointly run their "Harley-Davidson of Bangkok" dealership.
However, unlike in the United States — where Harley riders were long regarded as akin to the social outlaws famously celebrated in films such as Marlon Brando's "The Wild One" in 1953 and 1969's "Easy Rider," with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper — those who mount these mighty two-wheel beasts in today's Thailand are almost exclusively company owners, executives or senior members of the police or military.