Bob L's Motorcycle Travels
Still testing my blog.
January 2012
Here are some pics of the First Robin’s of spring. We had about ten male robins outside our house last weekend during one of the coldest days this winter. I think I saw an equal number of female robins in another tree yelling at the males for coming up with the idea to come north so early.
Had a slight glitch in my database server, so needed to check that it still works and that the RSS works still.
No need to respond.
Here are the pics I took of our deck both early in the storm and after it was over
http://www.whereisbobl.com/2011/2011-10-29-Snow-Storm.html
http://whereisbobl.com/pics/index.php?album=2010-10+SNOWSTORM
The Minute Man 1000 long distance rally was this weekend. Here is a link to the pics I took at Max BMW, the sponsor.
A month or so ago I bought a new Triumph Tiger 800 XC motorcycle. I will continuously update the following link as I make changes etc.
Wade asked me to write another post, here it is.
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/safety-and-security-tips-for-traveling-by-motorcycle/
Well, I asked for an intervention to talk me out of a potential new bike purchase. The Triumph Tiger 800 XC. For some reason, the intervention did not work. Instead, everyone tried talking me INTO one.
I broke down and put a deposit down on the bike. Originally I was told they would be coming in sometime in April. Now it is looking more like before the end of March. Not much time to have you guys help me change my mind.
I don’t really know what it is about this bike that I like. I have always liked the way the new Triumphs seem to be geared towards Adult Male Children. I suffer from AMC myself. Rather than trying to get the most power out of an engine, Triumph tries to make the most useful and user friendly power. It is almost as if they understand that us fat old guys want to be able to go really fast all the time, but are more likely to spend most (all?) of our time within 15 MPH of the speed limit. When I was looking for my last bike (I settled on an ST1300) I test road the larger Triumph Tiger 1050. A very sweet engine and bike, but it was not what I needed at the time. There is something about a triple I like. I tried a few of their triples through the years and loved them, I just never fell in love with any of the bikes.
Late last year I tried the BMW 800 GS. This is a very similar bike to the Tiger, forever after called the Tigger, which is spelled TI Geh Errr. Look up Winnie the Pooh if you don’t recognize the reference. Anyway, I really loved the GS. The only thing keeping me from chasing down a used one was that it was a BMW. My first experience with BMW was less than wonderful, the only bike I have owned that I was ever glad to be rid of. ( A 1996? R1100R)
Then, just about the time I had settled on either a KLR or a Wee-Strom, leaning heavily towards the Wee, Triumph comes out with this Tigger. I have few gripes about the bike, the biggest being that it does not run tubeless tires. I like the long travel suspension, good for the New Hampshire Frost Heaves. I like most things about this bike.
Soooooooo, Sometime in March or April the bike will come in and I will be able to get a test ride. If I like it, I will get it. If it turns out I don’t like it, I will be in the market for a Wee.
It takes me a long time and a lot of thought to decide what bike to ride. I put a decent chunk of miles on a bike, and don’t get rid of them normally until they are well worn and not worth much. Mostly I buy new, as the fewer hassles are worth the extra bucks for me. My Honda ST 1300 I bought used and got a great deal on it. There was probably $1,500 worth of work that needed to be done on it, but by doing it myself the cost was around $100. Sweat equity saved me a bundle here. Unfortunately, there are no used bikes available that meet most of the wants I had.
Obviously no one needs any bike much less one particular bike. There are wants that translate into needs though. For example, I want to be able to always have a functioning bike to ride for both my girlfriend and I. That pretty much requires a second bike, since there are times when parts may not be available for one bike right away or some maintenance/repair needs to be done but I don’t have time to do it. For two up, any time riding/traveling, that requires a bigger bike than the KLR and one with better power generation. At this point I could still just get a second ST1300 or an FJR or whatever. Next I wanted a lighter bike, that was different and could handle the crappy spring roads better. That narrowed the field some. leaning heavily on DualSport bikes. The last thing is that I do not want to buy a bike bigger than a KLR that does not have ABS. Now, since BMW is out of the running, there are only two choices in mainstream bikes, the Wee and the Tigger. The Wee is a bit weak in the alternator, and the Tigger has a longer (hopefully better) suspension. Whether it is the best choice only time will tell, but I think it will be a good choice.
I write this, hoping someone will come up with a good reason for me not to spend the bucks on this bike, as well as helping me decide whether it is a good choice.
Bob L
I finally got around to finishing my Thailand trip journal. If you have been keeping up with my blog you will not find much new in this story, but there are some details that I put in the end for my own reference. I started writing my journals for my own purposes and only made them public when people started requesting my stories. Not sure if many people read these now, but I enjoy writing them. I don’t care much for “blogging” as I prefer to write one big article than short posts, but blog’s seem to work better for most readers.
http://www.whereisbobl.com/2010/2010-12-thailand.html
I took over 400 photos. I was able to trim them down to around 200, which can be found here: http://whereisbobl.com/pics/index.php?album=2010-11-thailand-select
If you REALLY like looking at pics, you can find all of them here: http://whereisbobl.com/pics/index.php?album=2010-11-thailand-all
Bob L
Wade from VagabondJourney.com asked the question: “What has been your experiences of taking a motorcycle across borders?”
My short response became longer and longer, until it turned into an article for his site. Not a how to article, but more of a what have I experienced.
Go here for the article: http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/how-to-cross-borders-with-a-motorcycle/
EXPENSES
For the most part, traveling in Thailand is rather inexpensive. Not everything, but if a person was smart, they could travel all over Thailand, skipping the big tourist areas in Southern Thailand, for very little money. Even some touristy things such as trekking (hiking, elephant rides, or other excursions) can be done on the cheap. Of course, if you are going to rent a motorcycle, and also spend 4 nights on a boat diving, you will still be spending a decent chunk of change.
Being that I was on a relatively short trip, spending a decent chunk was not out of the question. I recorded some of my expenses. The total cost of the trip was $4,470.65 for the 21 days I was out. This included the rather expensive last minute air fare of $1,367 flight to Bangkok, plus an additional $400 for the rest of my transportation costs. A frugal person could have taken shared transportation or buses in many cases if they were trying to save bucks, especially if they have plenty of time to plan. For example, getting from Khao Lak to Bangkok can be done very inexpensively by taking an overnight first class bus. Due to limited planning time, I ended up spending $40 on a taxi and $80 on a flight to get there, sleeping in the airport on the way.
SCUBA is expensive anywhere. Thailand is no exception. A day of diving (2 dives), with equipment, Nitrox (different air mix) and lunch will cost around $100. That is about how much I would have paid for a single day of diving in the Florida Keys last year. The live-aboard alone was $643 for 4 nights accommodation, 14 dives, rental gear, dive guides plus pretty much all the food you could ever want to eat. This is rather cheap for a live-aboard.
Food is very inexpensive. A good meal can be gotten for around $1 almost anywhere. Decent restaurant meals at small restaurants can be gotten for double that. Adding beer can raise the price rather quickly, as much as $3 for a 22 ounce beer in a restaurant, half that in a store. There is something wrong with paying as much for one (large) beer than you pay for your meal. Other alcoholic drinks are also fairly expensive relative to other costs.
As with most places, trying to live like you do at home will make the costs a lot higher. An American breakfast (eggs, meat, coffee) will run you about $3 sometimes more. The price didn’t vary much, but what you got did. Anything from one egg with a small piece of ham, to a meal with 3 eggs, lots of fruit, two kinds of meat, and french fries. The coffee adds a lot to the price. In some places, a good American Breakfast without coffee is about $1, but it is almost $3 if you want real coffee. Good coffee is NOT inexpensive in Thailand (or most of the world) even though it is grown here. Now, if you want to eat like the locals, you can eat cheap. Eggs cooked on the an open charcoal grill like hard boiled eggs. Plus some Rice Soup, and maybe a dumpling with Pork. A pretty good breakfast, for less than a dollar.
Bottled Water is VERY cheap, compared to the US. Around $.20 for a quart. Less sometimes.
Tuk Tuk to airport in Chiang Mai $3.50 Cab was $5 and not as quick or as fun.
The average price for gasoline was $1.31/Liter or about $5/gallon. My average MPG = 48.1
As mentioned before the bike rental cost $417.65, since I rode 1,836 miles, that is $.23/mile not including gas. That is pretty much what I would expect to pay for my own bike, long term, so it is a pretty good deal. One could spend less than half that, if they chose a different bike.
Although I kept my trip fairly simple, conversations with others showed me that many things in Thailand are inexpensive. My take on it is that if the bulk of the cost was labor, it was cheap. If it required gasoline, or imported gear, it could be a bit more expensive.
Hotels were running around $8 for a very basic room. These could be gotten for a lot less if you were going to spend more time there. A basic room is a room, with a bed or two, and a bathroom. Maybe a couple of chairs and a table. Now, the quality of the accommodations varies wildly, but the worst I stayed in was still pretty good. If you want to spend twice that, you could get a room with air conditioning, and nicer sheets, maybe a TV (in Thai), and a view. In areas with lots of tourists, and few accommodations, you could spend twice that if you were not careful, but you would not have to. In places like Khao Lak, a beach resort area, you could spend $35 on a very basic room. A little searching and bargaining and you could probably cut that by 40%, or better, just get a better place in a better location. Or, if you really want to splurge, you can get a room in a very nice resort on the beach (with views of banana trees) for $60. Food in these areas are also more expensive, about twice the cheaper places in northern Thailand. As always, the more time you have to travel, and the more time you are willing to spend bargaining, the better you will do. Mostly, when I travel, I spend almost no time bargaining. It just is not worth it to me for the few bucks saved. I will go from hotel to hotel to find the place I like the best, but price is only a small factor. Even if I got a room for half price, I might only save $4. Now, when I travel in the USA, I ALWAYS bargain for a room. Getting just a 25% discount can be $20 or more. In the USA I have gotten $70 rooms down to $30 Them’s some REAL savings.
Yeah, sure, you take pictures of people, places, and things. But what else can you use a camera for?
When most of us travel, we bring a digital camera with us. Some even bring a phone that has a camera on it. These have uses past just photos.
When you are in a country with lettering different than your own, you can take photos of signs. For example, in Thailand, the lettering is, uh, cryptic. To many it looks upside down and backwards. Although a lot of the signs were either in English, or at least the phonetic spelling of town names and such. The problem is that they were not always that way. A sign says that such and such waterfall is 6 kilometers that way. You go 6 kilometers, and there are signs pointing every which way. None of them in English. If you took a photo of the sign 6 kilometers ago, you could pull out your camera and compare the Thai spelling to what is on the sign.
Now, you are looking for some town or another. You get lost. No matter how many people you ask, no one can understand your pronunciation of the town name. If you had a photo of a road sign, or a bit of your map, you can show it to people. Even when people can’t read, they often recognize the spelling of local towns and can point you in the right direction. Just remember that if a person can’t read, and does not recognize the symbols, they might still give you directions. They will be wrong, but their conviction might convince you they know what they are talking about.
You are in an internet cafe, the printer is not working. You make reservations to some hotel, or other place the next town. The best way to get to this place would be with a print out of the address, which may not be in your language, or even recognizable lettering. If you take a picture of the address on the computer screen you will have something to show the bus/taxi/tuk tuk driver.
This photo of the screen works on a lot of things. Reservation confirmation numbers, maps, bus schedules. Photographs can be taken of other things as well. Take a photo of a bus schedule at the bus stop. You can then zoom in as necessary to see the details you need.
Often times there are things you might want to have reference to sometime in the future but don’t want to carry. You see a brochure for some tourist site or festival for a town you will be in a few weeks from now. Take a picture.
Sometimes there are signs up for what looks like an event you might want to go to, but in a different language. Take a pic.
Frankly, you can use your camera as a substitute for a good memory or to help communicate something to someone that is of a different language. Take a photo and say “What’s this?” can be a lot easier than saying “you know that yellow fruit that looks like a deranged Easter Parade Balloon?” Want to remember the name of a street your hotel is on? Take a pic. Don’t forget to take a pic of the front of your hotel before you leave. It might help you find it later when you get lost and need to ask directions. If the hotel does not have business cards, you can take a pic of some letterhead or whatever.
Room numbers, lock combinations, whatever.
Of course, your camera can get lost or stolen, so you would not want to rely on it. But as a backup, it is great. There are a few things, such as your passport and the entry visa that might not be a bad thing to have. I keep a scan of my passport on my camera, as well as on-line. It may help a bit if your passport is lost.
If you are using your camera’s memory as a backup for scanned files, you will need to try it out first. As storage, it generally works fine, but you may not be able to retrieve it directly from the camera and you may not be able to look at it. Cameras tend to have a file naming structure that needs to be followed. If you put your memory card in a reader, and look at the files you will see a directory (Folder) structure and naming convention that is used. If you name your files similar, and put them in the same directories as the other pics, you should be able to look at them on your camera.
While you are at it, put some pics of your family, friends, pets, whatever on there so you can show people you meet.
Some of the other things to think about: Guide Books, translation pages, phone books, even hand written notes and journals. Backing up notes. Scraps of paper that people write their e-mail addy’s on.
Some say it is a good idea to keep a photo of your name and address in your camera to assist in it’s return. This is a good idea, but one must decide if you really want to give your addy to someone that just stole your camera. I think a picture of your first name, telephone #, maybe e-mail addy, and a note that you own the camera. Even if a thief took it, he might want to sell it back to you.
I posted a new article to Vagabond Journey, a site run Wade, a friend of mine.
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/how-to-rent-motorcycles-abroad/
You may find it of interest.
Bob L
SCUBA DIVING THE SIMILAN ISLANDS
SCUBA diving the Similan Islands is awesome. The only practical way to dive them is on a live aboard SCUBA boat. This is where you rent a cabin on the boat, and live there for a few days to a week or more. There are speed boats that go to the islands in a day, but it is expensive, and you only get two dives a day. If you really like to dive and only have one or two days, that might be worth it for you, but I recommend a live aboard. I lucked into getting on the Dolphin Queen through Similan Dive Safaris. www.similan-diving-safaris.com I say lucked into for a number of reasons. I had a limited schedule to dive. This was one of only a couple I found that were scheduled to go out when I could reasonably make it. I made my reservations through a third party organization, that I knew nothing about. I knew nothing about how best to dive there. This dive boat turned out to be one of the best values in the area. Normally one has to rent a room. The room costs the same whether it is one person or two, and it is expensive. This boat had the option of renting a bed in a 4 bed dorm room. For a dive adventure, this was downright cheap. I was a little worried that I would get what I paid for (low price = low quality) but I had no reason to fear. This was one of the best operations in the area. It had a reasonable number of divers, plenty of dive masters, plenty of crew. I spent 4 nights on the boat. The weather was cloudy much of the time, and some rain, but it was a very comfortable trip. Leave the dock at 5pm or so. Head towards the islands while having dinner. The next day, dive at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm. Repeat for 3 days, with the boat moving from island to island. On the 4th day of diving, there are two morning dives, then a boat ride home, getting back in the late afternoon. In between there is food. More food. Rest and relaxation. Talking and making new friends. I was worried that it would be too crowded and I would not have enough time alone. That was not the case. I could always find someone to talk with, but I could also be left alone if I wanted. There were plenty of places to hang on the boat where you were more or less alone.
The diving was great. I saw a Sea Snake (the 3rd most poisonous snake in the world), I was pretty close up before I realized what it was. It was not until after the dive that I found out they are not normally aggressive under the water. NOWWWW you tell me. Under the water there is just about every kind of sea creature you could want. Eels galore, turtles, crabs, shrimp, nudibranch, sea horses, you name it. The only things we did not see, were Whale Sharks and Manta Rays. The whale sharks have not been being sited at this time and the Manta Ray’s eluded us. Better luck next time.
When Neptune puts me in charge of protecting the reefs, the first thing I am going to do is outlaw cameras. I may make an exception for professional photographers, but they will be followed by someone carrying a shock pole, and if they touch the reef, or harass wildlife, they will get a serious jolt. I have seen more damage done by any one so-called experienced diver with a camera than by all the beginners I have ever seen. Having a dive buddy with a camera is worse than having no dive buddy at all. Not only is your dive buddy not paying attention to you in case you need help, but they are not paying enough attention to what they are doing, putting themselves in danger that you may have to help them out of. The absolute worst are the people with too much money. The ones with the huge, incredibly expensive camera outfits. It is like they forgot how to swim or something.
After we got back from the live-aboard, I wandered around the town of Khao Lak. Nice enough for a tourist town, but not my style. I decided I needed another day of diving, so I took a trip to do a wreck dive. This was fairly shallow, and really just an artificial reef. The wreck part was not all that interesting, but the marine life on the wreckage was great. LOTS of eels, lion fish, scorpion fish etc. This trip was taken on one of the long tail boats. These are magnificent boats. They seem to be perfectly adapted to the open waters here, as well as the crowded ports. It was also the only time I got a bit of sunburn. Although I was under a canopy, the time in between my dives I was on the side of the boat with no shirt on Just enough to get a burn. Damn it…
The dinner, relaxation area.
The kitchen area, library, Coffee, TV room, beer storage, etc.
A turtle came around to look at us, and to eat the bananas we were throwing to him.
This is a similar boat to the live aboard we were on. It is hard to get a photo of a boat you are on.
These are all the divers and the dive masters/guides.
This is a long tail boat. They come in all kinds of sizes, some look home made, some are pretty sophisticated. They all have a motor with a long tail which has a prop on the end. The whole motor/tail combination rotates left-right and up-down. I was able to go for a ride in one of these for one of my dives. It had one of the more interesting flex couplings I have every seen. Home made I think. For those of you that are not engineers or techies, a flex coupling probably holds no interest to you.
LANGUAGE Revisited
I have a bit of a problem with certain things about language. I do not expect a country to learn English just so I can travel easier. It is their country, they should not be expected to learn a foreign language if they do not want to. But there are certain places where people really should know one of the more universal languages (English, French, Spanish) For example, airports. Here is an area that is likely to have people that do not speak the local language. You would think that the people in the airport shops would have a better handle on languages. For example, I go into the airport, which looks like any big airport anywhere in the world. I try to order a Starbucks coffee. Just a plain coffee with half caffeinated, half decaf. At a Starbucks, this should be easy. No way…. The language barriers were too great. No understanding of English. No ability to figure out what I was trying to say. Finally had to get the supervisor, who spoke a little English and understood what I wanted. The supervisor tried explaining it to the woman waiting on me, but finally gave up. And this was in the BOSTON airport. A similar thing happened in Thailand, but the person there figured out what I wanted even if he did not speak any English.
While staying at a guest house in Chiang Mai, I received my first virus. I had decided to use my camera’s flash memory to store a few programs that I use to edit photos and such. It seemed like a good idea. Normally when I upload photos to the web, for back up or to display publicly, I slide the switch on the memory card to lock. This hopefully protects the data on my card. The programs I had on the card required me to have the switch in the unlock position. This was why the problem was allowed to happen. The next time I used the computer to upload pics, I had errors and could not read the pics from that computer. I eventually gave up on the computer and went to an Internet cafe. The anti-virus software on that computer told me I had a suspicious program on my card and it would not allow me to run any programs from that card. I looked at the files. In every directory (folder) on that memory card that I had accessed, there was an executable file with the file name being the same as the directory name. I never ran these files, so did not cause any problems, BUT……. I could have. I have no idea what the files would have done. I suspect it would have just replicated itself, and installed itself in such a way that these files would then be installed on the next users storage. The risk here is that often times the name of the file you would normally run is the same as the directory name. This would be a very easy to miss, if it were not on a photo card where there should just be photos.
Fortunately, no harm was done to my photos, my card or anyone else’s computer. From now on, I will NOT keep anything except photos on my memory card. I will also not run any executable from any flash card on a public computer. If I want to use my own programs, I will copy them to the public computer, and run them from there. Why any public computer would allow me to load, or even run an executable is beyond me. This is a huge security risk.
Public computers are not exactly the safest way to access the Internet. It is much better to have your own computer. This still does not guarantee security, but it helps. There are few things I will do on a public computer. I will only log into sites that I would not be too upset if they got hijacked. Frankly, any time you use the Internet, you are at risk. You can reduce this risk, but never eliminate it.
OK, I lied. I have not had much of a chance to write anything. Here are a few things that I wrote earlier that I did not yet publish. Not sure when I will write up more, or if any of it will be worth much.
I did get the rest of my pics up on the web at http://whereisbobl.com/pics/index.php?album=2010-11-thailand-all These are ALL my pics, so there are a LOT of them. I plan on eventually trimming this down some.
I have been reprimanded for not letting all know what has happened since my last post. I will write up something pretty long soon, but for now, a VERY quick summary of the rest of my trip.
I went back to Chiang Mae, then flew to Phuket and got a ride up to Khao Lak in southern THailand. Did a 4 day live aboard SCUBA trip to the Similan Islands. WOrld class diving there. Then a day of local diving.
THe trip home was brutal. Made do I guess, but it sure would be nice to have a Star Trek Transporter.
I left Khoa Lak Saturday at 5pm local, 5am EST, got a ride to Phuket, then a late flight to Bangkok, then an early flight to Tokyo, then New Jersey, then Boston, for a van ride to Nashua, NH, then a car ride home, arriving about 10:30 PM Sunday, that is 41.5 hours travel time door to door. Then I was up at 5:30 AM for work. THAT is why this post is short.
All in all the trip was great. Will post the rest of my pics, and a big story in a few days. Will let all know here.
In Mae Han Song I met an Australian and we discussed whether it made sense to visit the Karen Hill Tribe Village that was nearby. There is often a debate about this kind of thing. This village is a refugee village from Burma. They are very poor. The Karen tribe are also known as the Long Necks, as the women wear a series of metal rings on thier necks, in increasing numbers until they get married. The cons are that supposedly the tribe is paid to keep up this tradition for tourists. This being somewhat disfiguring, not to mention they often file thier teeth into points. The pros are that you pay a rather large sum of money to see them, and your guilt almost always makes you buy something at a rather high price, just to get a picture with one of the women. We discussed and discussed, and when we walked away, niether of us knew if we were going to go there. In the end, when I got to the village, the other guy was there. We did a quick visit, took our picture with a women, and left, not knowing if we should feel guilty or taken. The visit, in the end, cost more than a very nice guest house here.
On the way up there, I found out just how slippery wet elephant poo can be. There were numerous water crossings covered in the stuff. No embarassing slip ups (downs?) though.
Bob L
Rode south to Mai Sot, some great views, some great roads, some roads very rough. Mai Sot was just another crappy little city. All cities suck. I have never found one that I liked. A few have small areas that are nice, but as a whole I don’t like them.
I ran into a couple of harley riders from sweden. Broken down. Helped them get the bike in the chase vehicle. They run tours, where they transport people and their harleys to wherever, and run a tour. These are seriously long tours in interesting places like Thailand etc. The breakdown was a result of a modification, as usual. The bikes were older (Shovel Heads) although there really was nothing Harley about the S&S engines and other mods. The breaksown was due to a blown bearing in the steering stem. The bike was raked out by using an insert that allowed the bearings to be at a different angle. The top insert was turned, which may have caused the bearings to tighten and fail, or may have been caused by the bearing failing. Whatever. They were in good hands, having locals along in a truck to make the ride easier. The box of spare parts was bigger than my bike.
From Mai Sot I went down to Um Phang, to see some waterfalls. In Mai Sot a guy at a restaurant said that you get rides to the waterfalls, or drive out there. I went there, but got there in the afternoon. The ride down was great, but a bit rough. When I got there, while trying to find the recomended hotel, I asked a few tour companies about trips to the falls. They had none going at that hour. Most of the tour companies were closed. At the hotel, I inquired about a ride out there. They said the road was closed to motorcycles. True or not, I don’t know. The only way to go there was to hire a car. The amount was the same no matter how many people went. it was something like $45 US. To see water falls? I don’t think so. But, that is why I came here. OK, I spent the money. I thought I was getting ripped off, but what the hell. It turns out that the price was pretty decent. The ride was on a VERY rough road. It took over an hour and a half to get there. A street bike could do the ride, (If they let you) but I would not recomend it. Especially if it was wet, then I don’t think it would be possible. The falls were pretty damned nice, but not nice enough for me to make a special trip down here, and to spend that much money. Oh Well, it’s only money. But my hiring a car Solo was a good thing. We came across a Thai family that was going to the falls in a truck they hired. Their truck broke down. The truck I was in was nice, fairly new and had air conditioning and a back seat, plus two rows of seats in the back. We all fit fine. I gave up my seat to the ladies. It was a man, his wife, his two daughters, and a few other ladies that I never did figure out who they were. They were very sad for me travelling alone. I think one of the women was discussing whether I would make a good husband. They helped me out at the falls, showing me paths that I did not know were there so I could look at the falls. All in all, I would not do the entire trip to this town just to do the falls, the roads were too rough. There are lots of other treks one can go on here, and if one was to plan a multi-day trip, including rafting, hiking and the falls, then it would be worth the hike. I am glad I forked over the money for the truck, as since I was in town, it was sort of worth it.
The next day I rode to Mai Chaem via Tak an some big dam. The roads from Mai Sat to Tak were very fast, nice and curvy with decent scenery. I did not want to do the rough riding north of Mai Sat again.
In Mai Chaem I tried the recomended guest house, but it was full of Harley Riders, as there is a “bike Week” in Chiang Mai this week. They have lots of bike weeks, but this one is more for big bikes and a lot of people come from all over the world. I lucked into one of the better deals I have found. About $9 for a very quiet place, very clean (most are) with a great restaurant. In the restaurant there was some Thai Guy that ordered enough food for a family of ten along with American whiskey (very expensive). He thought it was funny that I only ordered one meal. He also thought it was funny that I was reading a Booth. He said it was funny that all Farang read booths.
Today, my last day with the bike, I rode some great roads (OK, most roads here are great) and some crappy city stuff. Rode up to the highest point in Thailand, and met a Loas couple from Las Vegas, then went to a temple overlooking the city of Chiang Mai. Funny to watch all the white backpackers with their girfriends on the back of scooters, trying not to crash. The road up was awesome, with two lanes on the uphill side. That makes three lanes for the locals (and me) to use. The backpackers were looking pretty pale by the time they got to the top.
Tomorow I go to Khao Lak, in southern thailand to dive. Hopefully the weather improves, as I have been told that it is rainy down there.
I will, of course, give excessive details later, but basically I find northern Thailand to be mostly wonderful, easy to get around in, the people are nice to you, and the roads are mostly outstanding. Frankly, it was so easy, I found it about as easy as traveling in the US. A lot cheaper mostly, but easy.
I will try to get some pics up, if I can get my card reader to work.
Bob L
OK, I don’t know what day it is. I think it is Monday. I am in Mae Hon Song in the western part of Northern part of Thailand. Great roads, great scenery, hard to make good time. This bike is great, but needs a MUCH firmer seat. Kawasaki could learn something from the bed manufactureres. I have slept on concrete that had more cushioning.
This is some awesome riding. Did I mention that already?
Here’s some bits I put together over the previous days when I could get a few minutes on a computer…… Damn. I just killed a mosquito. I am sure it was loaded with Malaria or Dengeue fever or japanese encephalitis. Something. Oh, wait, it is night time. I think it is the malaria skeeter that I have to worry about at this hour.
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