T_Dog

I don't if they still do it, but two years ago we were beat after moving to a new house. Called in a food order and asked for a bottle of wine. At that time, nothing on menu but I told them how much to spend and the variety and their selection was just great. Sure was nice at a time when you are bone tired and barely able to move to have such great service.

Remember it was the same with the ninja 250, there was 3 or 4 of them on every classifieds pages every time you opened them in their second year.

The CBR250 is such a good bike that just going by the numbers sold there's going to be a lot in the classifieds from the smallish amount of owners that will want to move up in CC from 250. Especially with cheap used Er-6's also in the market.

Back in 2006 it was the same with CBR-150's. You could see them for sale all over the place and a buddy and I bought a pair of identical twins at the same shop, each with (a reported) 5000 km on the odometer.

I grew up on a farm and remember getting stung by something every summer. Now living in the country in Thailand it is the same thing. Trimmed a few branches from a tree today and two Dahn Lek (Iron Wasps) got me with their rather painful sting and two weeks ago it was something else. Two years ago my wife spent two nights in the hospital after a Tiger Hornet sting which was better than the friend of a mountain biking buddy that died from one. I take Benedryl as soon as anything stings me but I just keep wondering, what next!

The Laughing Thrush must be territorial as I saw the group again in the same area as before. Every bird seemed to have something to say. (Photo attached is not mine.)

Live Update (almost), Jollyrog is right: There has been a PROCESS CHANGE and it took me 8 minutes to get my 90 report done this morning at 10AM. No queue number needed and you just step right up to the counter and get in line. Only two people in front of me and zip, I was done.

Thinking back, I didn't even see the queue machine so if anyone knows how to do other things, post away.

There might be a conference in town. Below is a link for holidays.......

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=2012&country=68

The last time I reported I arrived quite early and got my name on "the list" to get called for a queue number. The place was just jammed as we waited in line and I am wondering if arriving more like 10 AM might be a better idea. Besides doing it by mail, what time is best for 90 day reports these days?

It might be time to find a "bike whisperer."

About a year ago I took my bike into the Pro Bike dealer here in Korat for a thorough once-over. I asked him specifically about the flats. He seemed puzzled but suggested that I replace the tires and tubes. He installed a pair of Geax tires (Mezcal) and tubes. While doing this he thoroughly checked the rims and spokes and said that they were fine. Although the Geax tires are still in good shape, the Geax tubes failed just as quickly as the cheap ones I buy from local bike shops. I'm sure it was punctures for both, rather than manufacturing defects.

Gee, that is odd to have so many things done and still have flats. If you lived closer would love to ride with you to try to determine the root cause of the flats. Should not happen so often to anyone.

Very sorry to hear you are still having flats. Have you changed your tires over the course of this problem? Knock on wood, I have only had one flat in the last year, but I do need to stock up on Geax inner tubes. Most everything else seems to fail right at the valve stem in my past experience, just like many of yours.

Farm is special, 90 minutes from bangkok and we have our own river, crystal clean. Swam in it all day and even drink the water from time to time, very special and unique little area, but its a secret.

Wildlife and especially birdlife is so lacking in this country and I have travelled all over Thailand and never seen such a large group of birds yet, even in the national parks. The ever ready slingshot puts an end to many with ease and provides a feed of bony wings and thats about it.

The lorikeets are very noisy and in a group even more so, as these were.

I remember my first adventure away from home as a young buck of 17yo and my arrival in the tropics, the real tropics of north Queensland in Oz and venturing into the Townsville Mall for a hotdog at dusk and the northern end I think it was where the rainbow lorikeets gathered in abundance and the chatter was deafening. It is a real tropical noise.

Sounds like a neat spot and a cool sighting. Up north of Chiang Mai we have plenty of bird life and we see a new one every week. Not so much wild life on the ground but plenty of birds, although I have a friend that often sees bears in the deep back country.

I think Tonto had it on although the camera took several big hits from low branches. Not sure if he is planning on putting together a video. In the mean time.....

They can use the phone? Pretty smart dog!

Tonto and I had an epic ridge ride today totally dry between the heavy rain periods. Fairly technical climb on single track and then a long ridge ride through the wet forest.

Very slippery in places but we still hit it as hard as we could with an occasional ballistic race pace. I think we are close to putting together about 40 km of single track in three sections with just a bit of pavement between them. World class trails.

Reception? I certainly hope you haven't been posting photos on this thread as advertising.

burgdawg..... How is the desert riding? I remember riding in Tuscon and getting endless thorn flats.

Tonto and I are headed out this morning to do a backwards ride on the route we found last week. It rained quite hard here this morning and now the sun is out

so it should be a great day in the forest. First I have to de-frog my bike shoes.......

I've bought a lot of Northface equipment in the USA in the past and I think most of it is in service 15 years out. I have also bought Northface stuff in Thailand and you will get about a year out of it, depending on use. It is not the same at all. First thing that happens is the inside waterproofing will flake off. At least that part is guaranteed. To flake off that is......

T_Dog #34

Identification of a bird becomes easy when you have the answer on the following questions.

# What does the bird look like? Size and shape, plumage, bare parts.

# What is the bird doing and how is it doing it? Behaviour, voice.

# Where is the bird? Habitat.

# What is the time of the year? Seasonal status of a bird and moulting (the cycle of plumage changes).

A detailed observation.

# Size and shape. Compare with a known species or give an approximate size in cm. Observe the shape and size of:

bill, head, neck, body, wings, tail, legs, feet.

# Plumage (feathers). Observe the general colour. Observe marks or patches, their colour and position on the bird. Any special feathers?

# Bare parts. Bill, legs, feet, eyes and any area of bare skin are bare parts. Observe shape, size and colour of the bare parts.

# Behaviour (as an identification aid). Behaviour is about action and the character of this action. How is the bird flying, walking,

sitting, swimming, diving, feeding, etc.?

# Voice. Call notes or song.

# Habitat. The habitat is the natural home of a bird species.

Because you have given a detailed observation it has been easy to identify this bird as a White-crested Laughingthrush (Garrulax leucolophus).

Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) can be found in open forests in large groups and is very vocal as well.

Under forest conditions it is more favourable to use a camera than binoculars for birdwatching. An image gives you a second change at identification. I use a Canon SX30 camera in sports mode: the sensor will follow a moving object. In video mode you can capture sound. With a computer sound application, e.g. Audacity, noise can be removed and an MP3 file created.

And that is exactly the bird, HMJ! The bird is quite aptly named, isn't it? One of the noisier birds I have run into and "laughing" is a good description of the calls. Thank You again!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-crested_Laughingthrush

Was in deep forest yesterday and heard the alarm cries of a group of birds. They were some of the most beautiful I have seen and were just a bit smaller than a Greater Caucol. Head had a white hood and dark around the eyes. I tried to get a photo but they would alarm like puppies caught by the tail and stay just ahead of camera range as I stalked them. A very noisy group and I wish I had a photo to try to determine what they were.

Edit: Behavior was similar to Blue Jays in the northern latitudes of the US. Haven't found anything that looks like what I saw in the field guides though.

That HP rating must make it the "Fargo" model.

Fargo model? Mai kao jai. Pls explain.

The blender I have is the bottom of their line, for sure. Our domestic usage doesn't require any more and it does the job beautifully. Their top end models have three horsepower motors and cost in excess of 40 grand, up to 70 for the state of the art computer controlled model.

It's not humor if you have to explain it! Twisted or otherwise.....

burgdawg.... Still riding here, but a few projects did keep me off the trails for a few days. This morning I went out and did some scouting after heavy rains yesterday.

Forest was damp, trails a bit soft, spiderwebs everywhere, but ran into birds I had never seen before. The place Tonto and I call Heartbreak Ridge is so park-like and it seems almost designed for mountain biking. A great ride, but a creek bottom that looked hopeful for a trail was a dead end.

villagefarang... beautiful photos again. If you are up for visitors, would love to come up and ride up to that waterfall some day.

I had the same problem - went through a lot of cheap blenders before finally breaking down and buying the real deal.

Hamilton Beach commercial blender. Wasn't cheap- slightly under 9 KTHB. Available at SevenFive restaurant supply. I've probably spent that much on cheaper blenders over the years.

I remember these from my childhood in the last millenium- making "Orange Julius" drinks at the mall. They have stood the test of time / built to last.

It is brutally powerful and fast - chops ice up from cubes to creamy smooth in about 30 seconds. Gotta love the fact that they measure their motors in horsepower! This one is 3/8 hp.

That HP rating must make it the "Fargo" model.

We just bought a Phillips blender from Macro for 1100 baht. Crushes ice just fine and we've been using it often. Probably not super high quality but we should get a few good years out of it. Our cheap National one lasted 5 years and was still working when we gave it away.

Only the Thai version works here with FIreFox. The system has gotten popular as most slots are filled.

Guesthouse.... Definitely that expensive gear he was after! Wondering where this happened. Years ago I used to ride to an overlook near Bang Saen Beach and they would jump on your back from trees due to people feeding them so much. Not a pleasant experience at all.

maybe they will use the extra revenue to clean the Inthanon Chedis better. Last time I went smell of feet funk in the left one was over powering. Otherwise great place to visit.

The waterfalls on the way up are really good. Still at that price worth visiting once.

I like to ride the bicycle up there once in a while. Maybe there is a way to bypass the entrance and fee. Doesn't seem right to pay that much to ride up the mountain.

Smile, keep riding past the cars, and guaranteed no one is going to mess with a biker. Now if that technique only worked at Mok Fah waterfall to get in and see it.