cruisemonkey

I stand corrected... sorry - 'brain fart'.

You will be given 30 days.

... true, and you will not be in detention... so you can leave earlier. LOL

A 7-day overstay will cost you 1400 baht. But, if caught before making to the airport, you will end up in detention and facing deportation until you can buy a ticket (at an inflated price). Not 'worth it' IMHO.

If you can't read or write it's best to pay a lawyer.

I'm Canadian but live and work in China. I visit Thailand four month a year on holidays (Jan./Feb & July/Aug.). If/when I'm forced to go back to Canada, I'm not... it sucks... and has nothing for me. When the Chinese kick me out because I'm too old, I'll live in Laos and vacation (or go to the hospital) in Thailand..

Ok. You guys have convinced me.

Cruisemonkey. Do you have any route maps?

I am up that way in early December and prefer minimal dirt and mud but love mountainous twisted ribbons of bitumen.

Are there any issues taking a Thai registered bike into Laos?

There is a ride through central Laos (Khammouane Province to be exact) called "The Loop" it is about 400 KM i believe and it goes past one of the biggest caves in Southeast Asia (Khonglor cave). It is getting bigger and bigger with the lonely planet group year after year, so do it soon. I have attempted to do it twice but have ended up getting stranded on my own will (it was too much fun) at the "Sabaidee Guesthouse" in Thalang village (about 120 KM into the loop if starting out going East from Thakhek) . Had so much fun, brought my brother the second time. I will go back in early September for my third attempt at it

as for bringing in a bike, I have heard different stories, I cannot confirm either way. If you do end up doing this trip and want some more first hand information feel free to PM me, I really enjoyed the parts I did, so it would be fun to help someone else out.

There is no map for the first trip I mentioned... the 'road' (I use the term loosely) north from Vang (about 75 km west of Vientiane) doesn't even show up on Googe Maps at the closest zoom. There was no 'plan', we just went... north from Vang through Naleng Tai, None Hai, Pakham to Feuang and Done... with a side trip to Sammun, back to Done, then east over to Hin Hoeup to get on the road to Vang Vieng... and up to Kasi, and Phou Khoun. We were going to go to Phonsavan and The Plain of Jars, but got to around Phou Vieng where torrential rain forced us off the road into a restaurant... where we waited half a day, then decided there was not enough time. Turned around and headed back to Vientiane.

There's lots of info. on the 'Thakhek Loop' - just Google it. We did a little 'side trip' from Lak Sao to the Vietnam border up in the mountains. Kong Lor Cave is in the centre of the loop (south east from Nahin). Here's a map -

Renting Honda 250 Bajas in Vientiane and riding west, coming to a collapsed bridge (it's not a good idea to try to drive a 40-ton truck across an 18-ton bridge) just before Xamamkham, heading back to Veng and going north... into the boonies... where most of the villagers had never seen a farang... in monsoon season... mud, mud, mud... and rivers flowing across the (so-called) 'road'. Getting attacked by red ants while riding along the jungle trail to Bee Cave... getting stuck in the buffalo-piss, cow-shit 'mud-hole' in the middle of the jungle trail. Spectacular scenery!

Another trip -

Riding down to Khammouane Province... the Thakhek 'Loop'... cave alley... the surreal landscape of the flooded forest at the Naki Reservoir... Kong Lor Cave... the 'limestone forest'.

... and of course, noodle soup (kao bia???)... and Beer Lao!

... and everyone pays a buck more on weekends.

... and in the evenings - "Overtime".

People can't own houses in Thailand because the termites do... and they'll eat it before the thirty year lease on the land expires.

As the road was not used often, he didn't steal it. He recycled it.

I was expecting the 'Impostor ladyboy" to have actually been a woman

That's what I thought too.

If it's not a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman, 'impostor ladyboy' is redundant.

If they were all black at least it wasnot racist

Yeah... murder based on religion is way more acceptable than murder based on race.

Why not simply withdraw the withdrawal? No symptoms at all....

Agree completely - avoid hangovers, stay drunk.

...definetly wouldn't have donated eggs you don't know what genetics you are producing.

They could be Thai genes.

Cool! I enjoyed that.

Why is this even news? Bus crashes happen daily. Driver doing a runner is normal.

Yeah, along with:

- tourist drowns off Phuket;

- ex-pat jumps to death from condo balcony in Pattaya; and

- mysterious death of tourist on Koh Tao.

... but, a while ago I read news story on Thai Visa that martial law had been good for tourism.

Some Overfishing Payback...

When they use the word "trawler" and report a crew of 132, I really think more of a "factory ship".

It's both.

wow... maybe Japan, Korea and soon the rest of the world are right...

China has banned flights from Thailand too.

Was that a 45 or 90 degree right angle

It was a 45 degree right angle... because he was facing backward... and could only see 180 degrees of the circle around him.

The Coconuts reporter is a drunk.

It doesn't matter... because they're Chinese... so they're "bottom end tourists" according to Global Travel Industry News -

http://www.eturbonews.com/56854/thailand-where-are-russian-tourists

That's great to know! However, the methane produced when I fart after eating airline chicken massaman curry sort of cancels out the 'low footprint'.