Mangkhut

^{The qoute of the bar owner was this:}

In my bar the number of Asian customers has gone from 5% to 15%. In a couple of years I'm going to go close the bar and open a new bar that will be all Asian customers, with no farangs allowed. I can't continue in business with people like this."

First of all - would it be legal to open a bar and deny certain people access cause of their skin colour and etnical origin in Thailand?

Secondly - why cant the bar owner continue business? nd who are the "People like this"?

Comgratulations with seven years of sobriety. Thats just fantastic. Hope it lasts....

Seems like overland travel on any road connecting Mae Hong Son and Myanmar would be a pain in the butt. My gal owns a resort there (Mae Hong Son), and it would be nice just to get a stamp for 15 days ...if that service ever gets started. By the way...Is Myanmar worth the trip? I know the temples are a hit, but how are the people? Would be looking for reasonable comfort/good choice in food. I heard its more expensive there. We like some music and dance (traditional) as well. Would fly in out of Bangkok, but do not want to get caught up in a tourist trap (I mean pushy touts, gimmicks, scams, overpriced tours)

Its expensive compared to most other asian countries - probably because there is very little competition.

But I noticed that there were cheaper guesthouses and eateries as well.

Yangoon is an interesting capital and not so overcrowded with people, traffic and pollution as asian capitals often are. Motorbikes are not allowed in the city. Some really nice parks, the very impressing Schwedagon pagoda, interesting markets.

Mandalay - just taste the word - is also interesting. Temples, especially the Mingun pagoda outside Mandalay. The very long wooden bridge so often photografed and which name I for the moment forgot.

Then sail from Mandalay on the Irrawaddy river to Bagan. Its a one day journy starting in early morning and arriving late afternoon. Golden pagodas are shimmering around almost every corner of the mighty Irrawaddy river to an extend that are really breathtaking.

Then Bagan - a place with around 3000 pagodas from the 11 and 12 century spread around in a limited area. Its pagoda spires in litterately everywhere you look. They are from the same era as the Ankor Wat in Cambodia and to me Bagan is a much more impresssing place to visit than Ankor Wat.

Another really nice place is the Inle lake where different etnical tribes has settled and live in and off the huge lake. They have been building houses on stilts where they are living, they are groving fruits and vegetables on artifical islands in the lake, they make handicrafts as weaving, gold and silver smiths.

There are a whole lot of hustle and bustle on the lake. And even some wineries on the hills near the lake.

There are ome really really amasing resorts on the the lakeshore. I have hardly been staying in a more scenic place ever. Just pure magic!

There are guarantied some more nice and interesting places as well and for sure some bad places as well. And many places/regiones foreigners are still not allowed to enter. The beach places in the south shall be nice I have heard.

I didnt see any touts at all and experienced no scams exept maybe paying 50 US dollars for good week of laundry in a luxury hotel in Mandalay which can be done for 5 US dollars in Thailand. But then again - my experiences are from a group tour.

So this is my to cents - and please excuse my lack of correct english here and there...

_{I used to be a Fisherman on a longlining fishing wessel in the North Atlantic sea - out of Northern Norway. This was in the mid to late 80's. Only 50 feet long and no shelter deck the ship was. 12000 hooks to pull and set out pr second day. All kinds of weather during winter - down to minus 15-20 celcius degrees. The shortest stint was 19 hours plus 5 hours steming each way. The worst was <deleted>**in 36 hours on open deck in terrible weather. Then 5 hours steaming to shore which was my duty.....}

_{Today I would probably choose to starve to death if longlining was the other option.}

How sad. RIP to the Austrian.

I know many people of different nationalities who have divorced their Thai wives. In every instance it was because large sums of money were spent, overtime, without the husband understanding where it went. Their wives could not explain it adequately and usually the discussion ended in a row with the wives screeching "you farang, no understand" etc etc. These wives were not all ex bar girls. Some were well educated and had businesses or professional careers before marriage.

Money seems to lead to huge issues here and these Thai wives all reacted very quickly and badly when challenged. It seems from the OP that this lady was prone to use violence.

Correct. As soon as money becomes an issue (or better - before money becomes an issue....) with thai aquintances - get out of it the sooner the better.

"Chicken" meals will now be more expensive in northeast.......

_{Nobody needs russian h***ers and chinese Nationals as guides - neither in Phuket or otker places i Thailand. What totally utter nonsence of the threadstarter.....}

I haven't researched it but there are numerous pitfalls, and almost certainly prohibitive ones, all along the way, even going as a simple tourist. You would need, inter alia and without a vehicle:

1. Plenty of money and advance permission to enter Bhutan from Nepal. Not cheap and as far as I'm aware not a route allowed to tourists.

Nepal and Bhutan has no common border so to enter Bhutan from Nepal is impossible....

Well, if you look at it historically and current culturally, east bengal (Darjeeling / Gantok) was part of Nepal once, and most still speak Nepali. I ride there often just using my 10 year india visa... no problem. But Bhutan will be the nut to crack!

Well - lets not make a big story about this. Anyhow most of the territory between Nepal and Bhutan is called Sikkim (which Gangtok is the provincial Capital of - if I remember right...) And Sikkim is a former Kingdom that until 1975 was an indipendant state. And youre most probably right that Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and East Bengal has a lot of historical and cultural stuff in common.

I dont think Bhutan would be that hard to enter. I rode through parts of Sikkim and through Bhutan last year (entered from Phuntsoling and exited from Samdrup Jongkhar). It was a group tour with everything arranged in advance, but still.... as long as you contact a guide/guide Company in advance and let them arrange it for you - its possible. But it will of course cost some buck.....

I haven't researched it but there are numerous pitfalls, and almost certainly prohibitive ones, all along the way, even going as a simple tourist. You would need, inter alia and without a vehicle:

1. Plenty of money and advance permission to enter Bhutan from Nepal. Not cheap and as far as I'm aware not a route allowed to tourists.

Nepal and Bhutan has no common border so to enter Bhutan from Nepal is impossible....

To go through Myanmar isnt possible yet. To enter Myanmar from the thai side = Mae Sot has just been allowed with lots of paperworks arranged in advance and official reckognised guides riding more or less along you and there has been 3-4 Groups that have done it. But no way you can cross the whole country from India to Thailand. And to go through the northeastern states of India is also difficult as you need special permits, Indian driving licence etc.

It is possible to go through China but also there there is a hell of a lot of paperwork that need to be cleared in advance and expensive guides are mandatory.

But ask Your questiones in the site "Horizons unlimited.com" which is a huge information/forum site for overland travelling or the site "GoldenTriangle riders" that has information about Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam riding.

I belive in freedom. So if my gf isnt happy with my income - shes free either to leave or to work harder than she does today to raise our common income......

It is now written in Norwegian internetfora that the woman also died because of huge injuries in the accident. Tree motorbikes was wiped over by the same car....

Tragic

I hope this is NO 1th of April joke. But accidents have many causes here;

- bad drivers, no driving skills

- drunk or using other stuff

- animals

- bad roads

- weather

- wrong signs

- bad maintenance

- perhaps a wasp in the cabin, who knows

It seems to be impossible to fight this all. Be careful, that's what I think.

And it could be a lot of other reasons as well.

Traffic accidents happens in every country around the world and traffic accidents will never come down to none - nowhere. But the rate of accidents in Thailand seems very high and the number of fatalaties as well. I wish there could there be done something to reduce the number of accidents and fatalaties.

I have been taking the overnight bus between Chiang Mai and Udon several times and there are some really bad curves in a steep mountain area near Phitsanoluk. Its not difficult to understand that accidents happens there.

The only time I've ever been allowed to enter Laos without a visa is in the golden triangle area. There's some island on the Mekong river with some kind of market which you can access by boat without passing through both immigrations. Anyway not too much to shop, just old opium pipes, big knifes and spirits and tobacco. The tobacco was cheaper but not sure about the quality, didn't buy it.

I did the same some 7-8 years ago. Very touristy arrangement, mostly souvenir rubbish to buy.

How to date a thai woman?

It would have been much more interesting if someone wrote a piece that was called "How not to end up with a thai woman"

Almost all of my single (and even some of the taken ones as well...... ) male friends, friends of friends and friends of friends of friends and other aquintances that has ever gone to Thailand seem to end up with a thai spouse in the end. It seems almost impossible to avoid these women.....

Well with all respect to Mr Ahtisaari: Its not him that decide who is going to get the peace price, its the Nobel piece price comitee.

Flying with these sort of back Waters airlines are the origin of the saying: ON A

WING AND A PRAYER AIRLINES...

What other options do you have in Myanmar? Train, Bus - forget it....

Thai Airways crashlands sometimes, Bangkok Airways too and 1-2 go as well (Yeas the latter is not operating anymore now but anyway...). Ever travelled with one of those?

1 - 2 Go changed the name to her Parent Company and flies, same Aircraft type that crash landed, Mc Donnel Douglas,

I flew with them and was positively surprised! NO FEAR!

http://flyorientthai.com/en/home/

Pilot and Co-Pilot will, a good possibility, need a new Job and the Motorbike driver, did not hear the plane coming?

Now I know a good reason, why I should not use a very loud exhaust on my Motorbike!

And I know now an excuse to the Policeman, when I drive a Motorbike without Helmet in South East Asia.

=My ears must be free, to hear a possible on the road landing airplane in time!=.

No helmet needed for you.....

Flying with these sort of back Waters airlines are the origin of the saying: ON A

WING AND A PRAYER AIRLINES...

What other options do you have in Myanmar? Train, Bus - forget it....

Thai Airways crashlands sometimes, Bangkok Airways too and 1-2 go as well (Yeas the latter is not operating anymore now but anyway...). Ever travelled with one of those?