tarmovannas

2 minutes ago, purcho said:

You are ignorant on many matters . Chiang Mai suffers a smoke problem from seasonal burning of sugar cane fields and forestry for 2 /3 months per year . Most farang holiday or turn on their air purifyers and spend more time inside during this time . Bangkok suffers from a  smog problem most of the year , a combination of smoke and urban pollution. I have lived in both cities . Chiang Mai is more bearable . Pattaya is another matter . It suffers from RBS syndrome and POF syndrome all year, although it is low on both counts at the present time .

all trolls are ignorant by definition

18 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

What's even more surprising is the guys always banging on about the air quality still live there

What's even more surprising is the guys that don't even live here banging on about a smog that is non-existent since the last weekend when rains started.

14 minutes ago, Oldie said:

Laws are laws and if you don't obey you have to accept the consequences. This is the same in the whole world. It is nothing special. But you have the freedom to obey or not ????

What law are you referring to?

2 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

I get it now. If I own a bicycle I don't have to follow the same stay at home order as everyone else. Oh, and I get to call myself a cyclist. 

You can call yourself whatever you want, nobody cares ????

3 minutes ago, StreetCowboy said:

Your mask gets pretty manky, though, and it's a great breeding ground for bacteria if you want to get sick.

 

From a COVID-19 perspective, the benefit of a mask is that it kills the velocty of the air you breath out, preventing the spread of water droplets that might carry the disease; and maybe intercepts the larger droplets, if you or the other person is coughing, sneezing, breathing heavily or ranting.  When you're out on your bike, and clear of sickly sneezers and ranters, a mask probably does little good and more harm.  But make sure you have one handy, for the benefit of the interview with the police.

Sure, well aware, but thanks for pointing it out. Personally I've been using masks for air quality (not so much the virus, when out cycling, as I don't really interact with anyone), and I was just making a point, wearing a mask is not a problem for exercising or even proper training. I've used masks for quite many years now seasonally when cycling in bad air quality, so do have plenty of experience. Bacteria is also not same as virus, generally not so much worried about bacteria, there's bacteria everywhere out in the world and inside of us. Viruses are a different story. For sure if you get your mask covered in particles containing the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it can potentially become more hazardous than good for you,  the best way to take care of that is to carefully/correctly remove and steam the mask for at least 30 minutes (any part of the mask cannot be in contact with metal during this, so can use a wooden stick to hang it over a steamer pot), then set to dry. Also masks can be cleaned (from bacteria), compressed air is one good way, washing with water can be done as well (depending on the mask type), but definitely not alcohol as it will destroy the material's filtering qualities. Best would be of course to take a new mask each time you go out. If you're using a mask for the virus, you should put it on correctly at home in a safe environment and not remove until you are back at home, so carrying a mask with you and putting it on anywhere where you cannot ensure safety and cleanliness is not the best idea. All that said, definitely best to carry a safe clean mask in a double zip lock bag in the back pocket just in case, now that the air quality is good, a buff scarf to cover the face while riding outdoors alone should be well sufficient — for appearances sake, though it does technically provide some little protection going both ways as well.

2 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yeah anyone who cycles uphill knows you can't wear a mask, just can't get enough air in

Actually that is complete nonsense. I have done countless rides wearing N95 masks for hours on end, whatever hills or not, I've done vo2max hill intervals in an N95 mask, just this year training for the Ang Khang and Inthanon challenge races, when CM already had crazy AQI. I've done border runs from CM to Mae Sai and back wearing N95 mask, two days, 9 hours cycling — back in mid-March when the AQI was 400 even 600 on those days, when I decided to stay in CM and not go to Europe for obvious reasons. So yeah, there is no problem to ride bikes wearing a mask, just have to get used to it — the only catch probably is that you need to be healthy and fit as well, but if you take it easy enough and keep it aerobic, you get used to it quick enough.

4 minutes ago, pineapple01 said:

In Thailand yes, suggest a flick through Cyclists Thailand vids on YT and watch the Clowns behaviour. Im an Falcon Rider of yesteryear and a great fan of the Sport but not a fan of racing on open public roads. then denying it. 

I am well aware of who and what you are talking about, utterly appalling behaviour, but completely irrelevant to bring up here — it has nothing to do with all the proper cyclists in Thailand, and anywhere else for that matter. To stay on the topic, legally speaking, it seems the mistake for these cyclists was organizing group rides during a time of national emergency decree where group activities are not allowed, and to be noted, these are local people — trust me, they are speaking about this article WAY more between themselves and all over their social media than any farangs on TV or anywhere else for that matter.  Honest people make honest mistakes sometimes, but to bring up an absurd case of complete irresponsibility, makes no sense and has no relation to any of this.

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Which seems a bit odd as every cyclist I knew cycled up early in the morning.

I'd go up at 7:30am (quite late), and be having coffee in CM by 10:00am

That's okay, there are so many cyclists here, can't know all of them ???? and yesterday was a Sunday too.. and still a bit wet in the morning, many locals don't like that and wait to go ride when it dries up ???? 

oh and the photo seems like from yesterday to me, if you bother to read the original article, it says those photos and video were taken yesterday afternoon

These various comments here about farang bias are shameful and pointless — most of these cyclists are local, but that is completely beside the point! The only point is that they have been riding in groups. The local rules for outdoor exercise say do not wear a mask, nevertheless most people have been wearing one for the air pollution, well it's finally clean air now, so people can actually breathe clean air when outdoors and away from others. Personally I ride solo, specially during these times. I stopped riding outdoors for the last month for both the air quality and the virus situation.  Wearing a face cover to comply with the rules and please the watchful eyes is not a problem in my opinion (however, to be correct, the rules do seem to say that for outdoor exercise don't wear a mask — see the image above post #37). I do not understand either why there are group rides organized during these times, if the authorities have made it clear for people to stay cautious and conform to the rules. Many of these comments here err on the side of hate speech frankly and should be moderated IMHO.

38 minutes ago, pineapple01 said:

Yes they dont even follow the  Rules that other road users have to follow.There a Bloody Menace round here with their Bum Waggin Fancy Dress all showing off. Cant stand the pesky Me Mes Thai or Ferangs.????‍♂️

yeah can't stand them eithe, wait.. who are you talking about again?

Quote

There are around 750 million vegans worldwide, or 10 per cent of global population with the majority residing in EU and the US.

Where did they get that number? If there were 750 million vegans worldwide that would be huge, and majority of the 750 million in the US and EU, how? US + EU population is just over 800 million altogether. There are estimated around 6-8 million vegans in the US, but even that is too optimistic by some more critical calculations. A more realistic estimation would likely be something like 1% of worldwide population, ie 75 million vegans worldwide, but that is just an optimistic guess pretty much as well.
https://veganbits.com/vegan-demographics/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country

To get 750 million vegans worldwide you would likely have to be very loose with what the term vegan means, meaning not really vegan at all, but perhaps loosely plant-based or some type of vegetarian, which is NOT vegan (and could pretty much mean anything). This 750 million most likely is including estimations such as India's 360 million, China's 68 million and Brazil's 16 million, which are pretty surely not actual vegans, rather than some type of vegetarians for the most part. Though for sure China's vegan population is growing (in the bigger cities mainly), but it's a huge place, same might be true for India and Brazil likely, but it's not going to be anywhere close to this wild numbers.

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A standard vegan diet is insufficient in that the unhealthy food industry is homing in on a lucrative profit line by producing processed packaged meat-free junk food - containing oils, additives, preservatives, sugar and salt. A fried chip butty or a meatless burger - no thanks. Stick to plant based whole foods.

100%. Vegan junk food is only marginally better than animal-derived ingredients based processed food. But the idea seems to be to normalize plant-based foods, not sure how effective that will be in the long run, proper education on food would seem a better approach, but obviously not as good of a business. Also, if you look at the plant based food industries investor pitches they are pretty clear that they are targeting people with regular diets, not vegans or even vegetarians, cause those are too small niche markets.

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For meat eaters as well as vegans, by following a nutritarian diet - refer to Joel Fuhrman MD, Eat for Life: The Breakthrough Nutrient-Rich Program for Longevity, Disease Reversal, and Sustained Weight Loss - March 2020 - is the best bang they can get for their buck. 

Fuhrman is a sketchy character unfortunately (using fake testimonials for one thing etc). I would also look at McDougall https://www.drmcdougall.com and also many others and use common sense and think for yourself rather than follow anyones recommendationd/guidelines blindly.

3 minutes ago, Ventenio said:

I just looked at some of his previous rides.  He looks pretty experienced, and his descending times down Doi Suthep were not, in my opinion, at a "reckless level."  I'll look later for more information, but I am certainly thinking he had the worst luck possible.  Again, I don't think he had a ton of experience riding in CM, so maybe his accident was on "one of those roads" that I would be afraid to ride on.  There are many of those.  

 

RIP

From the photo that the 55 club posted on facebook it looked like the accident happened up on the narrow Doi Pui view point/camping area road — past the Palace, turning right onto the narrow road up Doi Pui high point (straight continues down to the Hmong village). The narrow road there has been just recently resurfaced, after being in terrible condition for quite a while, so it is now all smooth, hence some drivers there are probably going even faster. Going up is usually not too  much of a problem (as a cyclist), though the same risks are there, but coming down really have to be careful, the locals can ride (their motorbikes) and drive their vehicles often way too fast and leave very little room, they seem to think that honking their horns somehow would prevent accidents (which it does, but obviously very little — you should be aware of how to ride/drive and take precaution accordingly, meaning choose your speed and position on the road preemptively). I've had plenty of sketchy moments up there over the many years I've been cycling these roads, nothing to do with the cyclist's speed or experience level (not really as long as you know how to ride a road bike and prioritize safety as any cyclist should/would) — very little room left to pass oncoming vehicles, though cyclists on road bikes are plenty more narrow than motorbikes and can fit through much tighter gaps, so I would guess it's probably even more dangerous for motorbikes, specially tourists on rented scooters (usually with no helmets), who are not experienced bike riders and whom I see creating dangerous situations on the mountainous roads here all the time — changing their line inside the corners, stopping in the middle of the road, not thinking about traffic behind them, going way too slow and weaving around... but that's another story.

AFAIK there are no details on how the accident actually happened or what happened (which is usual, if there are no cameras around, even then...), but from the photo it seemed like he had taken damage to his head/face and the fact that it resulted in death seems to indicate at least to me that he must have collided with something hard and heavy head/face on unexpectedly, usually see that when a cyclist gets hit by a truck. But this is just speculation. Also it probably took a long time for the ambulance to get up there, I would guess maybe an hour.
 

Now, anyone who says something about road cycling in Thailand being the most stupid/dangerous thing to do etc, well... it is a dangerous sport no matter where in the world you are, that's a simple fact. Having been to many places around the world road cycling, Chiang Mai (apart from the air quality, specially in the winter months) is actually one of the most comfortable places to ride (it's not really safe anywhere, apart from closed roads, but even then pro cyclists die in accidents involving none other than other cyclists, even on pan flat roads — Tour of Poland 2019), once you get used to the flow of things and exactly what to watch out for (always need to be alert of the most absurd possible maneuver coming from any side of the road or dogs/chicken running out in an istant from nowhere) — but this is the case everywhere in the world, the difference is that in most places you will be much closer to the traffic, meaning much less space on the road and much less two-wheeled vehicles (and awareness of them) in general on the roads. It's all very relative, I could keep writing about this in detail, but there's not much point, the summary is that accidents involving cyclists (and motor vehicle drivers) happen everywhere where cyclists are present, and motor vehicle drivers just need to be more actively aware of their responsibility to assure the safety of the cyclists (assuming the cyclists are doing the same), because they are the larger and stronger ones, they can kill us in a heartbeat. Most cyclists are motor vehicle drivers themselves and know this very well, and drive accordingly, with respect and care, if everyone did that, the amount of accidents would be likely much less, the ones that can be prevented at least. Having said all that, it is totally possible that the cyclist in this case made a mistake or something other very unfortunate happened, like a front tire sidewall blowout, a larger-sized rock on the road noticing it last moment and hitting it straight with the front wheel, and a car coming at the same time, etc the list is endless.

Chiang Mai is a very popular road cycling destination, so are many other places in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia, and road cycling popularity (as a sport) has certainly been on the rise.

3 hours ago, HampiK said:

Vegetarian. There are probably some vegan shops as well. But till now most of this Exibition are for Vegetarians, because vegan is a much smaller group.  And the single "vegan" word I would say is only a mistake ???? 

Well, if they do all stick to the JAY-vegetarian rules (as that's what the festival is), thai symbol เจ, then it is actually supposed to be all vegan (no milk or eggs) and also no onions, garlic, chives, green onions and leeks (the five pungent vegetables).  It's been discussed over and over and that is generally the consensus -- correctly made Jay food is actually supposed to be 100% vegan.

1 minute ago, ChrisKC said:

So if you are right, the Bank can process the transaction in one direction only?

 

At the risk of sounding naive: if a refund has been made to me to the place it was taken from why cannot it be returned to the same place? And if not, it sounds like posting a letter with no address on it and in my case my B4,000 is orbiting in Cyberspace.

Yes, actually transactions ARE almost always refunded back to the same source they came from, the only case where it wouldn't be refunded to the same source is if you would work out a different solution with who ever processed your card, which would not happen most of the time, 99.99% of the time the transaction is simply refunded electronically and will be returned automatically to the source it came from (AFAIK this is handled by MasterCard, VISA, etc). That was also my original topic point -- if a refund is made for an order placed with a card it should simply be returned to the same card (and/or bank account associated with it). I should not have to worry about this and I certainly should not have to be wasting my time contacting my bank, in this case SCB, every time something like this happens, it's absurd to me, but after talking to SCB customer service on the phone today, they claimed that it was their company policy (hard to believe) and suggested for me to get a credit card instead (which would guarantee a faster/automatic refunds process compared to their absurd debit card policy). Like I said, I have not experienced any other bank doing things like this. Also, from my understanding, your money is certainly not orbiting in no cyberspace, if a refund was processed by the merchant who originally charged your card, then this money is basically returned to the bank already -- it is just the bank's duty to acknowledge and confirm that and credit it back to your account -- from what I know banks like to take as long as they can with this process, since they like to hold on to any money that is "in their hands" :)

Hey ChrisKC, by the way you describe this, I would assume that you just used your debit card during checkout on eBay (via PayPal), which means you never actually added your card to your PayPal account in that way, that is why you did not have it on your PayPal either when you checked back on there, it is not going to make any difference for this case anymore to add the card to PayPal now after the transaction is already done (again, just assuming based on your description, this is most likely what happened). I'm sure you were indeed processed a refund by eBay (for the transaction made via PayPal) back to your SCB card, but it won't show up on your PayPal account since you apparently did not use your account with the card previously linked to it to make the original transaction -- PayPal also worka as a simple payment gateway for card transactions without having to make an account or link your card. Now, based on my experience nothing will happen, since it is an SCB card, not in 14 days, not in any amount of days for that matter, you have to contact SCB customer service via email/phone and provide them all the details of what happened and ask for the refund to be processed. Good luck!

SCB customer service told me that I should apply for a credit card if I want these types of refund issues to be automatically and quickly taken care of, and that it is their policy with debit cards that you have to contact the bank. I guess if it is a bank policy, then probably just easier to switch to a bank with better policies. I don't know of any other bank with similar policies, but anything is possible I guess. Seems like Kasikorn is the better option.

13 minutes ago, geisha said:

Why do have so many refunds, are you running a buisness ?

So many? Where do you get that idea? No, nothing to do with any business and not many refunds at all. This is my personal card and I am talking mainly about purchases made online, which do get refunded from time to time, for example when there is no stock or shipping delays etc, nothing I can do about that, these things happen.

It is very suspicious though that whenever I do have a refund made to my card it won't be credited to my card unless I contact the bank. I am currently waiting a refund made via PayPal for over 14 days now. It should take 5-7 days max and I should not have to be contacting the bank via phone/email each time.

I use my Thai bank debit cards (mainly SCB lately) online and abroad all the time, from time to time things get refunded back to the card -- either from online payments or while paying abroad when traveling. Every time I get something refunded back to my SCB debit card (from outside of Thailand or online, even from PayPal, when paying with the debit card via PayPal) I know it is going to be a long time (and an effort) until I see that money back on my account again, WHY? Same thing with my EU based cards takes just days, sometimes hours, to be returned on my account and I never have to contact my bank for it, but for the Thai SCB (MasterCard debit) card I have to send an email to the bank explaining all the details about the original purchase and send proof (screenshots etc) of the refund and so on, then wait for a reply, then have to call in for the customer service to "confirm my identity" and then finally some time in the future I might get my refund, the whole process can take weeks sometimes. It's absurd. Also, seems like nothing would happen if I did not chase the issue with the bank myself, seems like there would be nothing refunded if I did not go and ask about it -- this just seems weird? They don't seem to have any system for this in place either -- apart from calling into the customer service phone number, then trying to explain there what it is that you want, not certain if the person on the other side has any clue what you are talking about and can see your actual transactions. Anyone else frustrated with similar issues / know a better solution?

I've had plenty of small transactions refunded to my card which I just have not bothered to chase down with SCB and they've never been credited back to my account as far as I can tell. Also when the refunds that I have chased down finally are credited back to my account, they just appear as new credit transactions with no identification of what they are for (I can only guess), with the original debit transactions still in place on the statement, normally with other banks I never see this kind of thing on statements -- refunds are usually very clearly tied to the original transaction that the refund is for. I've even had SCB credit my account double for a certain refund transaction, only to then apparently notice their mistake 1 day later and take that money back from my account -- all the transactions clearly still in my bank statement including their mistake, with no explanation to what is going on, but it is very clear that they made a mistake refunding me double in that case and then took it back -- weird. Last year I used my SCB debit card also with an online delivery services while living in US briefly, they would always add a certain percentage (I think 20% if I remember correct) and round up when placing an order, then would refund the change later based on the actual cost of the order after its delivery -- I never got any refunds back from these transactions from what I can tell. So I've been avoiding using the SCB debit card online and abroad for payments that could need to get refunded, but from time to time it still happens of course. Any comments/insights appreciated.

...

Let us now when you have a license to open a business, a work permit, the required Thai to Foreigner worker ratio. THEN we can discuss using a protected environmental zone for your race.

I am not the organizer of this event. I am merely commenting as someone who lives and works here that actually knows about what this sport is.

As for me personally, though it is none of your business, yes I have all the legal necessary documents and my work is in a totally different area.

As for "would love to just start up a cool company doing extreme sports" and "what the hell makes you so special" -- well, just go ahead then, if you think it requires no skills, experience and expertise to do something like this.

As for "revenue from these events comes not from the runners .. but from the sponsors, souvenir sales, image rights, commercial and movie rights" -- pure speculation on your behalf and beside the point as well. By the way, for a sport/activity to have big revenue coming in from sponsors, etc it would have to be very popular on a large scale -- ultra trail running is very much a small niche sport when it comes to the bigger picutre. Anyhow, this is all beside the point and not the issue here at all.

And as for the last remark in your writing piece "You can not just break into someone’s home, throw a party, leave them to clean up after, and couch it in “we are cool people, this is for the greater good.”" -- so what exactly did you base this weird assumption on? This is nothing but slander now, you're just being rude at this point.

The race capacity is actually 300 runners for the non-stop 150 km race and 100 runners for the 3-day stage race, with entry fees accordingly 255 and 495 USD, so that is one clear fact that is already grossly overlooked by the so called journalists who report on this. In terms of environmental risk, in all honesty it is quite the other way around really, this is not some run of the mill city marathon or some cheesy ultimate extreme whatever nonsense -- ultra mountain trail running is a serious sport and the kind of people that take part in these kind of unique events are actually serious nature lovers themselves and are all for preserving the wild and come equipped and prepared accordingly and it's very much about sports tourism and enjoying/discovering the nature/wild -- you can't take part in this race unless you have met the requirements, which basically mean you must have done this before succesfully and more than once -- these kind of races are arranged all over the world and just as well in Thailand also, but not quite on this big scale previously. Regarding making huge profit from this, it's quite laughable -- anyone who comes up with that statement doesn't clearly have a clue about what goes on in the world of ultra mountain trail running, it's usually people with a big passion towards the sport and the environment where the event is being held, it's far from some easy money making plan, absolutely ridiculous, there are by far more easier ways to make some efficient money if one wants. The way this has been reported for now is quite misshapen, hopefully they will start to get their facts straight and find eventually that both parties are actually on the same side. For example, this project has been very much about preserving and reopening old mountain trails in a sustainable way that have already partly disappeared and are/have been restored now, all in cooperation with the locals both for hikers/runners and the local hilltribes people themselves. Why? Because there are people who actually care and love covering long distances in the nature on foot, be it running or hiking, not much difference really, although runners tend to actually leave far less behind, if anything, in my experience. I've taken part in these kind of races in many places elsewhere in Asia as well as of course in Thailand. I've also ran the same 150 km route of this race in 3 days last November together with 20+ other runners from Asia and Europe, leaving behind nothing and disturbing noone, encountering the beautiful scenery and smiling locals. Also living and training in Chiang Mai I've covered these routes countless more times. Actually you are never too far from populated areas on this route to be honest, the only truely uninhabited area is perhaps the last 25 km or so, that is the Doi Luang trail at the end of the race. If you want to read some more facts, I suggest to take a look at the actual event website first at www.ultra-thai.com

The race capacity is actually 300 runners for the non-stop 150 km race and 100 runners for the 3-day stage race, with entry fees accordingly 255 and 495 USD, so that is one clear fact that is already grossly overlooked by the so called journalists who report on this. In terms of environmental risk, in all honesty it is quite the other way around really, this is not some run of the mill city marathon or some cheesy ultimate extreme whatever nonsense -- ultra mountain trail running is a serious sport and the kind of people that take part in these kind of unique events are actually serious nature lovers themselves and are all for preserving the wild and come equipped and prepared accordingly and it's very much about sports tourism and enjoying/discovering the nature/wild -- you can't take part in this race unless you have met the requirements, which basically mean you must have done this before succesfully and more than once -- these kind of races are arranged all over the world and just as well in Thailand also, but not quite on this big scale previously. Regarding making huge profit from this, it's quite laughable -- anyone who comes up with that statement doesn't clearly have a clue about what goes on in the world of ultra mountain trail running, it's usually people with a big passion towards the sport and the environment where the event is being held, it's far from some easy money making plan, absolutely ridiculous, there are by far more easier ways to make some efficient money if one wants. The way this has been reported for now is quite misshapen, hopefully they will start to get their facts straight and find eventually that both parties are actually on the same side. For example, this project has been very much about preserving and reopening old mountain trails in a sustainable way that have already partly disappeared and are/have been restored now, all in cooperation with the locals both for hikers/runners and the local hilltribes people themselves. Why? Because there are people who actually care and love covering long distances in the nature on foot, be it running or hiking, not much difference really, although runners tend to actually leave far less behind, if anything, in my experience. I've taken part in these kind of races in many places elsewhere in Asia as well as of course in Thailand. I've also ran the same 150 km route of this race in 3 days last November together with 20+ other runners from Asia and Europe, leaving behind nothing and disturbing noone, encountering the beautiful scenery and smiling locals. Also living and training in Chiang Mai I've covered these routes countless more times. Actually you are never too far from populated areas on this route to be honest, the only truely uninhabited area is perhaps the last 25 km or so, that is the Doi Luang trail at the end of the race. If you want to read some more facts, I suggest to take a look at the actual event website first at www.ultra-thai.com