Offroadlanna

Just Google "Bus Thaton to Mae Salong" and you will find tons of information

I went to my local bank yesterday and they only have 100 USD bills, nothing smaller. I will get one but I just want to be sure that I will be able to get change back in USD. I can just imagine them trying to give the 65 USD back in Lao currency or even Thai Baht and against some really lousy exchange rate.

Should not be a problem as almost everyone pays in US Dollars and they should have more than sufficient change for you. Agree with Mac about noting the number although I have not heard about scams going on.

Martin,

Have a look at the GT Rider forum at The Golden Triangle Rider • The Golden Triangle Rider

From there you probably can get some ideas and you can always ask questions - you will have to register to post questions but registration is free.

HTH

Try to contact VVP 4x4 center at 58/166 Moo1, Srinakarin Road, Suanluang Bangkok 10250 Tel : +66 2 721 3161 till 5 Fax : +66 2 321 4713 Open Monday to Saturday 10.00 am - 19.00 pm. They are quite helpful (their website is a mess at the moment) and I have had good experiences with them. They supply ARB Towbars.

Maybe do a search on the TV forum - found this at my first attempt: Fortuner Towbar - Thailand Forum

There is an online version of this book at Manee and Friends which possibly could be something similar to what you want to do

Have a look at Pun Pun Organic Vegetarian restaurant, Wat Suan Dok, Chiang Mai | Earthoria which shows the location of the restaurant within the temple grounds. On their own website (http://www.punpunthailand.org/?page_id=82) they indicate that they are open every day.

Best is to have a look at the GT Rider forum http://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/ where you will find a lot of information on riding motorbikes in Thailand and Laos and the paperwork required to cross the border at Chiangkhong.

I was told that ESRI Thailand is doing some simple repairs. Best is to contact them and see what they say and/or can do.

ESRI (THAILAND) CO., LTD

100/38-39 SATHORN NAKORN BLDG 22ND FLOOR

NORTH SATHORN RD

BANKOK 10500

Phone: 2 6368421

Fax: 2 266 9944

Try Gadgetrend - http://www.gadgetrend.com/ They have several shops in Bangkok - see http://www.gadgetrend.com/contactus.php

As there are many options with regard to GPS with bells and whistles it is best to have a look at Eagle GPS in Phanthip Plaza 2nd floor in Chiangmai as they have many different units in stock and can show you what the different unit do and don't and don't do.

1 .You may drive into Laos in your truck or car, registered in your name with blue book in hand to prove ownership, purple book passport for your truck in hand, your passport, and a visa on arrival. Discovery and deal killer. You get a 30 visa on arrival. Your truck gets a 7 day visa with no extensions, nor options. I was there March 29, 2010. From the horses mouth, The Laos immigration police at Friendship Bridge . I begged for 30 days to fully tour up to China and around. No way, no bribe accepted.

Don't know what happened when you were there but normally I ask for 2 weeks for my truck at the Friendship Bridge in Laos and that has never been a problem (done that now for over 20 times I guess). In Savannakhet they gave me 30 days for my truck even though I asked for 2 weeks. This period can be extended in the provincial capitals - takes some time but it is possible. No problem to drive there - the roads are not very good and a bit narrow but otherwise no problems.

Well, looking at my calender I guess we are being 'wenged"

Just Google it and you will find http://www.businessmobility.org/key/abtc.html for an answer

Looks like his coordinates are pretty far off on some of the waypoints. For instance, load that file into Google Earth and take a look at where it puts the Koh Samui Seatran Ferry Pier (it puts it a bit north of where Google Earth Shows it and out in the middle of the sea). The other waypoints on Samui seem to be shifted by a similar direction and distance.

You should not forget that the Google Earth picture is from 2003 and Seatran may in the meantime have built its own pier, something they said they would do.

On the top of this page there is a SEARCH option. Just type in Vientiane and you will find lots of information.

Assuming that the ESRI V10 came on a CD with the name gmapsupp.img you can either copy this file to the Garmin folder on the SD Card in the Nuvi or copy the map to the internal memory of the Nuvi. Make sure that you either move or rename the UK map (probably also called gmapsupp.img) as the Thai map will overwrite maps with the same name.

In case you bought the Nuvi in the UK and came with the UK map pre-installed than the UK map probably will be called gampprom.img and you can then just copy the ESRI map as gmapsupp.img to the internal memory of the Nuvi (in the Garmin folder).

Actually, for as far as I know you can have 5 maps in the internal memory of the Nuvi:

1. gmapbmap.img - basemap

2. gmapprom.img - pre-installed map (if any) or additional map if you replace this map

3. gmapsupp.img - additional map

4. gmapprom1.img - additional map

5. gmapoem.img - additional map but this map cannot be deselected

Guess I am spoiled with the more userfriendly TomTom in Europe.

BR

Well, you may like the Tom-Tom better but that company does not have a map for Thailand so you will have to make do with the Garmin maps and Garmin GPS units.

Where did you see the V10 map for 3,000 baht?

This is what Eagle GPS in Chiangmai is quoting as the price for the new V 10 map - see copy of their message posted on the GT Rider site:

ESRI released the map update for TSM. Changes to the newest version (V.10):

* Add more than 1,000 images of new Junction View

* Update approximately 500,000 POIs (Point-of-Interest) for the whole country that have been either opened and closed from the past year by actual field survey

* Add and update about 10,000 kilometers of road data

* Add the exits in Highway Mode for major roads, not just the highways

* Add entrances and exits on major buildings and landmarks

* Add local voice navigation for all 4 regions of Thailand (for compatible devices)

* Add about ten thousand of new telephone numbers

* Improve map data quality

* Miscellaneous improvements

Also the cost of purchasing 1 license of the map goes down to 3.000 THB

How do you find the junction view feature ??

Dont think my primary unit supports that.

The Junction View/Lane Assist only works at the newer units like the Nuvi's (1350 and 1350T, 1370T,1390T, 1450, 1490T, 1690, 755T, 765T, 775T, 785T, 855 and 855T) for as far as I know.

The price quoted for the new ESRI V 10 map has been reduced to 3000 Baht so it looks like that the competition from Garmin's South East Asia map which also covers Thailand has had an effect on pricing.

There was actually a car driving slowly round Pattaya this week with a sign in the back saying GPRS survey!

Not sure though but I think you confuse a GPS with GPRS which is not the same - have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Packet_Radio_Service for an explanation on GPRS.

Yeah, works fine on XP. I improved the performance on Win7 a bit by running MapSource in XP compatibility mode and by bumping the virtual machine's RAM up to 1.5 GB.

As you both did not have problems with Mapsource 6.15.7 running XP 9which I am using also) I decided to re-install Mapsource 6.15.7. Happy that the Rotweiler map V 5, the SEA 4.5 and the India map work now . Don't know why yesterday these 3 maps failed but probably something went wrong with the installation although I can't explain why my other maps did work properly (have another 12 maps installed in Mapsource) and these 3 failed to show.

Rotweiler's suggestion was to remove the unlock key and unlock again. That didn't work.

Yes, saw also on one of the forums that un-installing and re-installing the map would help. Have not yet tried it but - to busy with other things at the moment.

But Mapsource 6.15.7 displays the very same Thailand map just fine in XP.

Using XP as well and at my computer the Rotweiler V 5 map does not show. Same problem with SE Asia version 4.50 as well as a map for India when using 6.15.7. All others maps work with the latest Mapsource

When switching back to an older version of Mapsource there is no problem so for the time being I will stick to 6.13.7 till I have found a solution. Did you contact Rotweiler with regard to this problem?

I installed Rotweiler's Thailand v5 and Indochina maps on a Win7 machine. The process, including the unlocking of the Thailand map went fine. However, with MapSource v6.15.7 the Thailand map doesn't display anything except the small outline map. The Indochina map works fine. The very same Thailand map works fine on both Mac 10.6.1 and XP.

Any ideas why?

Mapsource 6.15.7 is a version which can be used with the latest City Navigator Europe, USA, etc. maps. These maps no longer show up in the registry but are hidden somewhere else. Quite a few of the older maps will not show up in version 6.15.7 but do not give any problems with older versions of Mapsource. There is a workaround but that seems to be a bit complicated. Jut this morning got a message from another forum that there is another more "elegant way" but I have not yet tried it out. Will let you know soonest.