Hey Pilot, Thanks so much for the advice, Keep it coming. A friend is going to give my a CD with Thai lessons. I was hoping to get around that but your suggestion is solid ...as in Latin America, a little spanish goes a long way and I have barely a little. Noticed you have or had an ST1100. I had two and put well over 200,000 miles on them. On of the guys meeting me in BKK has three ST1100 and has a lot of experience working on them. He changed the engine in mine on my way to Belize with him...with my help of course :) You're gonna love him.
Welcome to Thailand, I'm just a new coming here and new guy who starting love to ride on adventure way, please advise always welcome.
Welcome Tiger, Adventurers coming your way January 8th 2013. Heading up through your area soon after. :)
Searching around for things to do in January and I come across this post I'm thinking I'll wait until the rush of Christmas/New Years tourists leave and head to Chiang Mi Jan 7 for 2-4 weeks of motoring. Thanks for posting the links to the motorcycle rental places. Scope out some mountain biking too. So...what are the over night accommodations like, as in availability? And...roads to MUST see and preferred routes?
I live just next to Bangkok city, and planned to be in Chaingmai on 7-11 this coming December to the big Motorcycle event Chaingmai Bike week on 8th and Real Biker Custom show on 9th, most of the bikers from everywhere should be joining the events that time, actually during yearend months and early of the year, Hotel may hard to find, better book early up front. http://www.webrealbiker.com/board/index.php?topic=191.0 http://www.chiangmaibikeweek.com/ hope to see all you guys here in Thailand, cheers! :)
I just downloaded https://play.google.com/store/apps/..._apps#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEwOSwibmV0Lm9zbWFuZCJd to my Sammy GS3 Droid. Then I grabbed the maps for Thai, Cam, Laos and Myanmar. I shut all data and cell functions off on the phone to simulate "lost in the back hills" and it looks like I have truly off line mapping on the phone. No need to have a cell or WiFi connection to have a functional GPS system on my phone. Now that the last of my midnight oil is burning dimly, I can sleep knowing my GPS issues are solved ... at least for now. I'll get to play with this more on the 'morrow. Then I can focus on a translator app. :)
guys, would you know where i could buy less expensive riding gears in bangkok... ill be there on march 12-15. thank you for your help.... cheers.
Yes, you can get hold of not too expensive gears at a kawasaki dealer in Bangkok (real motosports - Ramkhamhaeng 146 bkk) and if you turn up on my behalf you will get additional 5% off on all their stuff and 10% on helmets Just drop me a note lamyld.
Can anyone recommend good routes for 1-2 day trips out of bangkok? The riding in the city is absolutley horrible and I regret bringing my bike here, but I think I'll try to make the most of it. I am looking for twisty backroads since I used to ride in the US, and don't really want to see boring flat straight roads anymore. Thanks.
Head to Kao Yai National Park or River Kwai (in the other direction). Getting to either of those places from BKK is about a 2 hr slog but worth it once you get there. Quiet twisty roads and about 10 degrees cooler. Canoli
Blago - Canaoli has some good roads within a couple hours of BKK. The Khao Yai national park is a nice sportbike type road. Keep in mind its the only road through that area and a main destination area so the weekends will pack the roads with cars and take the joy out of running it at a good clip on a bike. midweek is better. For the best sportbike/supermotard tarmac roads though you've got to go to Northern Thailand. North of Chiang Mai and heading east along the Thai borders of Myanmar and Laos are the best roads to enjoy. Roads like the 1091 and 1148 near Nan are fantastic bits of tire sliding fun without as much traffic as Kanchanburi and Khao Yai. Get on some of the local South East Asian motorbike websites like Ride Asia and GT Rider for road recommendations. Enjoy.
Hwy 12 east of Lom Sak is mighty nice and very popular with Bangkok riders. The ride up on hwy 21 is ok once past Saraburi.
The 1148 from Chaing Khong to Nan is 150k of racetrack. Plenty of good riding in the north. www.gt-rider.com for plenty info
Rather than using hwy 21 up north to lomsak, I usually combine Khao Yai and further north to Khon khaen on route 2 catching route 12 on the easter of the city. reckon this is slightly longer trip but route 2 is a very enjoyable ride and also gives you the chance to head up to loei. Awesome
A question for you guys that have made the trip over from the US &/or live in Thailand. My son & GF are headed to the Krabi area for a month+. We need to get some sort of phone thing sorted out so that we are able to contact each other. They are taking one iphone (US service provider) & a laptop but it sounds like they plan to buy a local phone when they get there. What is the most economical arrangement for calling from the US? Int'l calling card? Sounds like Skype is in the works too. Thanks, TD
There's cell phone shops everywhere. 700 baht/$20 should pick you up a basic Nokia. Tesco carries them too. Maybe when your son buys it get the clerk to do the SIM card installation and change the operating language to English. A SIM card maybe 50 baht and then just keep filling the time up with cards you can buy at any 7/11. True or 12Call are OK companies. For phoning the North America I just dial direct. Not expensive. When you phone Thailand I think a calling card would be the best. Wallyworld international calling cards work OK. Maybe 5 cents a minute.
Thanks for your reply. It's nice it's actually that simple, I was expecting it to be more complicated. Will pick up a Int'l calling card when we get a new phone # from him. Best, Ted
