ScubaBuddha

For someone wanting to stay longer than 30 days, there is of course a double entry tourist visa with the ability to extend an additional 30 days while in country.

I recently emailed the Thai embassy in LA asking if it was possible to get a triple entry tourist visa with a 6mo. validity since I saw triple entry mentioned on their website. (validity means you have to use all 3 entry's before that date). The response: "Yes, you can request up to 3 entries tourist visa and validity of visa may be within 6 months. However, you have to make a request to Thai Consulate General, LA for consideration. Consular, Thai Embassy"

So that's 9 months if you time your visa runs correctly. $40 an entry.

There was a campaign by the Phuket powers that be to stop using public land beside the roads to put up billboards.

Just the usual hot air as during this week's local election there are billboards of the candidates on public land.

As for the giant bill-boards that visually pollute this place, they're all on private land, so, nothing will happen.

Let's face it. If Thai's are not offended by litter and fly-tipping, what chance that they'll ever complain about bill-boards?

"Fly-tipping"? Aren't you a Yank KB?

It annoys me when people in my country no longer stand for the national anthem, but each to their own I suppose. But this guy seems to have acted like a complete tool. If it was an adult, yeah that would have shown a lack of respect, but not a kid.

One big difference though...I believe not standing for the Kings anthem is considered an act of lese majeste. It's a criminal act.

... many times I have gone over the Thai border into Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, China for as little as a few hours and then returned to Thailand to again easily get another 30-day entry stamp...

When was the last time you did that? Land boarders give 15 days, not 30, for a few years now. Or am I to assume you flew "over the Thai boarder" since China and Singapore don't share land boarders with Thailand.

OP should look here for my report on Sihanoukville. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/479111-visatrip-to-sihanoukville-for-a-double-entry-tourist-visa/page__p__4671579#entry4671579

Unfortunately they recently stopped giving multiple entry tourist visa's at PP. I confirmed this with 2 agents recently. And single entry visas are taking a week to issue.

Little jap bikes like the Honda Wave are so cheap here, about 800 quid in my home currency, less than a decent mountain bike at home.

Anyone who buys Chinese crap to save 200 quid is pretty stupid IMO.

Same applies to buying a gy200 instead of a kawasaki ksr110 or klx250/125 or whatever.

It just makes no sense. These Chinese bikes are a joke.

But a 200 Cross (LF-200 GY-5) is 45k. A KLX250 is 141k. That aint' no 200 quid.

The only Criminal Biker gangs here in Thailand are all Thai's.

Not true. Maybe read up on the Western bike gangs running "protection" rackets in Koh Samui a few years ago. There are Western outlaw biker gangs here, but they mostly keep a low profile.

I have been President and founder of a MC here in Thailand for over 9 years now. Just a charity and fun MC really. Thai's and farangs.

The Hells Angels tried to move into Phuket and Samui several years ago. They lasted 3 months.

The Outlaws MC opened a club house in Bkk not to long ago. They lasted 4 weeks.

Both of these MC's are well known world wide as 1%'s and are known to be involved in prostitution, drugs etc. When they tried that here they were soon shut down by the Thai's and were smart enough to follow orders and not be beaten on.

Like I said, the only MC's here running ilegal activities are Thai MC's and they are far and few between also. Mostly in Phuket.

In Thailand anyone can go to a leather store and have a set of colours made up and nobody cares or says anything. Back home you cannot do this as you know or you would be in huge trouble.

Gone, what's the situation with the Bandidos? They seemed heavily represented at the Phuket bike week a couple years ago. Full 3 piece patches, 1% patches, I even saw a few with "prospect" patches that wouldn't talk to me because I guess they thought I was in a biker gang because I had my riding club shirt on. I heard it's against the rules for prospects to talk to other club members? They didn't look 100% Thai to me.

I don't have the bylaw...but I know it actually is the law.

The police are lying through their teeth actually.

There is NOTHING in the Thai Land Traffic Act that states motorcycles are required to stay in the left-most lane.

Sections 33 and 34 of the Land Traffic act state that ALL vehicles should stay left except when overtaking, road is less than 6m wide, road is one way, left lane is a bus lane, it is necessary to be in correct lane when approaching a junction, etc etc.

100% correct

Yep. This topic has been covered numerous times in this forum. Staying left applies to all vehicles unless overtaking. Also, motorcycles are not required to stay in any particular part of the individual lane or on the shoulder unless there is a designated, posted, bike lane.

Also, I bet most of you aren't aware that motorcycles are not required to stop at a red light at a T-junction where a road enters from the right if the bike lane line is unbroken. Funny because I often see Thai's stopped there, but then at the next 4-way intersection they will blow though the red.

At Sairee Beach, in the (ought to be) tropical paradise island of Koh Tao there's a raw sewage stream bisecting the beach. If nothing gets done about such an obvious issue I don't expect nebulous notions about silt to get any priority.

Koh Tao has been totally destroyed over the last 10 years.

it will never get better, only worse. The island is far far too small to support the amount of development.

Killing the golden goose comes to mind.

It will get better, after humans are gone. We're just a blip on the radar to the lifespan of our planet. It would just be nice if we didn't have to take so many species with us and compound our own problems along the way.

This is the non ABS beast, my mate says it looks like a transformer and stealth fighter, it is an amazing bike!!! but very thirsty!!

Nice bike. Was really keen on the Ninja1000 (Z1000sx) for a while, but they don't seem to make sport bars for it. Does anyone know how the riding position on the 795 is like by comparison? Hard to tell when looking at pics.

I am 6'4" the driving position on the 795 is awful, I hated every minute I drove it, my crotch was forced into the tank and the handlebars are to low for a naked bike, 10 mins and I had had enough, straight down to Kawasaki!!

Well that's great news. I can't stand the upright riding position of the ER6n/Ninja650 which is why I had sport bars on it. When I punch it I don't want to feel like I have to hang on with my arms/hands. Felt like I was going to fall over backwards. Energy should be transferred down through the saddle. How as it compared to a stock ER6n/Ninja650?

, I am obliged to set the record straight. ... the unofficial infection rate of sex trade workers is 30-50% in Phuket.

Um...you call that setting the record straight do you?

I'm guessing here,..<snip>

I would think...,<snip>

I would bet ....<snip>

I would guess.......<snip>

Stat's are also probably somewhat distorted by the fact that one infected hooker could easily infect 10+ blokes in a month

Please stop guessing and thinking. Your "facts" are way off. Having sex with an HIV+ person does not automatically mean you will be infected. Not even close. The odds of getting infected through unprotected vaginal sex with a person infected with AIDS is 500 to 1. She would need to have sex with 5000 men a month. 166 a day.

seriously suggest you get your facts straight...for the third time in this thread (and 2 posts above yours) -

the prevalent subtype (subtype e) in thailand is NOT THE SAME AS THE prevalent subtype in the WEST (subtype b ). with subtype e, the odds are estimated at between 1 in 30 to 1 in 50 for HETEROsexual intercourse without barrier protection if having intercourse with an infected individual... estimated 80% of HIV cases in thailand are through heterosexual intercourse.

I have got my facts straight. The type-E transmission rate is a theory the cause of which has not been conclusively proven. Several reasons for the apparent higher transmission rate not specific to sub-type E have been put forth, including the IV drug use mentioned by patpongpat above.

http://aje.oxfordjou.../2/159.full.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/9311895

Even using the 50-1 rate, corkmans theoretical HIV+ prostitute would still need to have unprotected sex with 16 customers everyday in order to infect 10 a month.

There would be more AIDS victims in Thailand w/out ex-PM Thaksin. He forced the West's drugs barons (rich rats) to reduce the price of AIDS drugs to the level affordfable by Thais. God bless him, but no, he wasn't Jesus Christ by any measure, but he was head & shoulders above the satanic devils who developed AIDS. That came from the West's research into bio-weapons. The West's drug multinationals have more interest in death & disease than cures - the former are far more profitable. They make buckets of money from selling drugs. Cures are bad for business. OGT

Thank you. I love these kind of posts. lol

Figures.

My current and previous girlfriends had no clue about contraceptives and STDs.

No wonder when schools are forbidden to teach students about sex and how to protect yourself against STDs.

Banning then taking condom machines out of schools doesn't seem like a right good decision anymore looking at these alarming statistics...Apparently it sent the wrong 'moral' message having them there!!!

Interestingly, the Switzerland’s Federal Commission for Children and Youth have gone the other direction. The Swiss are now manufacturing and marketing extra small size condoms for kids. Very progressive but I am not sure the name "Hotshot" was well thought out.

http://www.telegraph...witzerland.html

I'm guessing here,..<snip>

I would think...,<snip>

I would bet ....<snip>

I would guess.......<snip>

Stat's are also probably somewhat distorted by the fact that one infected hooker could easily infect 10+ blokes in a month

Please stop guessing and thinking. Your "facts" are way off. Having sex with an HIV+ person does not automatically mean you will be infected. Not even close. The odds of getting infected through unprotected vaginal sex with a person infected with AIDS is 500 to 1. She would need to have sex with 5000 men a month. 166 a day.

--

Add a condom and the odds decrease to 5000 to 1. Condom and not diagnosed HIV+, and non-high risk group is 5 billion to one. So using a condom reduces your risk of infection by a factor of 10 regardless of the risk group of your partner. No brainer.

AIDS odds calculator: http://www.calculato...Calculator.aspx

It's unfortunate that Trojan BareSkin Ultra Thin and similar condoms are not widely available or affordable in Thailand and other parts of the world. I have always wondered if the Thai condom companies have campaigned to keep them out of Thailand. Sad if true. If they were available and affordable I think usage would increase among Thais as it really is almost like wearing nothing at all. Thai condoms tend to be too small for farangs anyway. Unfortunately I don't know there is an answer to the problem caused by the religious nutters that feel condom use goes against God.

Using a condom reduces your risk of infection by a factor of 10 regardless of the risk group of your partner. And oh yeah, it also prevents unwanted pregnancy and other STD's. No brainer.

it wouldn't surprise me if the renter actually learned of your visit to BIRA by someone calling him to let him know, often there's a sticker on the bike with rental name and phone number, just saying

and years ago a used to rent the odd bike here from the the lady in soi 13/1 as mentioned above, never a problem

Doubtful. There was one or two other farang riders there besides our group and the only Thai on site was an employee woman that never came out of her office.

Anyway, there is nothing in the contract that says you can't ride it on the track, nor do they say this when you rent it.

I should add I rented a D-Tracker from the beach road once with no issues.

.

...And the bike was in terrible condition- obviously crashed and repaired on the cheap. Shift linkage was bent making gear changes difficult and there was a nasty shudder in the front brakes, probably from a bent wheel or bent disc. And that was the least damaged bike of all the bikes my friend looked at on beach road...

Your memory is better than mine on this. I had forgotten about the shift linkage and shuddering brakes. In retrospect I don't think any of those bikes along the beach were track worthy. Won't be doing that again.

This is the non ABS beast, my mate says it looks like a transformer and stealth fighter, it is an amazing bike!!! but very thirsty!!

Nice bike. Was really keen on the Ninja1000 (Z1000sx) for a while, but they don't seem to make sport bars for it. Does anyone know how the riding position on the 795 is like by comparison? Hard to tell when looking at pics.

ABS is good I just don't think it is a must have thing!!

Fair enough. I think we can both agree on that.

I apologize if I was insulting.

Why do you value ABS, is your driving so bad you need to depend on ABS? if you drive too fast in the dry or wet and too close without looking ahead then you need ABS

That is one of the most outrageously ridiculous statements I have ever read, but perhaps my sarcasm detector is not tuned correctly. So you have never had another driver/rider do something totally stupid and unexpected causing you to take defensive actions? I certainly have a number of times. Had once a Thai swing across 2 lanes, no signal, no warning, put me right into some sand covered asphalt along the shoulder. ABS kept the rubber side down I have no doubt of it. Another time I had a cement truck u-turn in front of me in the rain. Again, ABS to the rescue. It is not my bad driving that caused them to do this. My friend had a similar experience on his BMW S1000RR.

There are only two kinds of people that will say they will never benefit from ABS on a motorcycle. Those that have never had to panic brake and those that don't ride motorcycles. If you have never had to panic brake, then you are the first rider I have ever met that has not had to do so.

ABS will not save you if a car etc pulls out in front of you at the last minute,

It certainly may depending on the circumstances, and certainly has many times. That is the whole point of it. True, the benefit of ABS decreases exponentially as your lateral coefficient of friction approaches 0, unlike in a car. But unless it is at ~0, ABS can still help in a turn by keeping the wheels turning.

Keep finding things to say, so the Cement truck that did a u turn in front of you in the rain, how fast were you going and how far from the truck were you? obviously you were going fast enough to activate ABS which in my opinion is far to fast!!!

ABS activates at about 30kph. I was definitely going over 30kph.

Shame you have such a kawapowerful bike but never go over 30. Seems like such a waste.

^ So now I'm confused...if you think that ABS is a "good aid" and has "saved many people" then why all this "you must be a bad rider if you put value on ABS" and "40 yrs of driving bikes and cars and I have never needed ABS" and "I never get myself into a situation where I have to panic brake" bravado stuff? So your point was just to brag about your superior riding abilities?

If you were to go back to the posts I made in '09 before I bought my 650R ABS you would see I was saying some similar things about ABS that you are. I was not sold on it. I went on about threshold braking etc etc. Although I never felt that "it has caused many accidents" as you claim. Can you qualify that statement? Or are you just going on your gut feeling. If that is just your opinion, than that is of course fine. After all, many people hold opinions that directly contradict reality. After riding daily for three+ years on dodgy, sandy Phuket roads alongside homicidal drivers, I have come to appreciate ABS. That is just my opinion. It may have saved my life once, but having said that it's still not a deal breaker for me. I would still consider buying a bike (like this Monster 795) without it. I just don't believe this claim you make that "it has caused many accidents" as you suggest. How does it cause accidents? Can you provide any evidence to support this whatsoever, or just another "feel good" observation?

And BTW, ABS is effective even at slower speeds. Most will activate when needed above about 30kph. This argument "if I should ever have to slam brakes on it will be at a speed where ABS will have no effect!!" Just doesn't hold any water. You never know what hazards might be ahead of you. You must be a really boring rider if you never go over 30kph except "when the road is clear" as the road is never clear in Thailand. It is foolish to assume that even on a road that looks clear the possibility of a soi dog, chicken, tree branch, coconut, or one eye'd one legged grandpa on his 20 year old Honda Dream (who took out my friend on the S100RR) isn't lurking just ahead. To do so is foolish. ABS might help, it might not. What is certain is it doesn't hurt.

Earlier I stated that people that have never had to panic stop a motorcycle before will not feel they can benefit from ABS. You have stated you are in that group.

In 2010, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a study that found that motorcycle antilock braking systems (ABS) were 37 percent less likely to be involved in a fatal accident. Motorcycles equipped with ABS also have 22 percent fewer damage claims and 30 percent lower injury claims than those without ABS. The study concluded by recommending that ABS be installed on all new motorcycle models.

Source: http://www.brubinste...nt-attorney.cfm

We have little doubt that, except for true experts, operating in perfect conditions, most riders in ambient conditions will perform much better in emergency stopping with ABS

The accumulation of evidence looks like ABS does work on bikes, and that it probably saves lives.

Source: http://www.bikesafer.com/abs.html

Linking to another forum isn't allowed but in the HD and Kawa forums there are threads running about ABS. One story after another of people praising ABS after having a panic stop.

Here's an interesting twist. It seems the evidence is so overwhelming that lawyers in the states are now trying to sue manufactures of non-ABS motorcycles:

http://www.northcaro...ycle-accidents/

http://www.houstonmo...ack-of-ABS.aspx

Why do you value ABS, is your driving so bad you need to depend on ABS? if you drive too fast in the dry or wet and too close without looking ahead then you need ABS

That is one of the most outrageously ridiculous statements I have ever read, but perhaps my sarcasm detector is not tuned correctly. So you have never had another driver/rider do something totally stupid and unexpected causing you to take defensive actions? I certainly have a number of times. Had once a Thai swing across 2 lanes, no signal, no warning, put me right into some sand covered asphalt along the shoulder. ABS kept the rubber side down I have no doubt of it. Another time I had a cement truck u-turn in front of me in the rain. Again, ABS to the rescue. It is not my bad driving that caused them to do this. My friend had a similar experience on his BMW S1000RR.

There are only two kinds of people that will say they will never benefit from ABS on a motorcycle. Those that have never had to panic brake and those that don't ride motorcycles. If you have never had to panic brake, then you are the first rider I have ever met that has not had to do so.

ABS will not save you if a car etc pulls out in front of you at the last minute,

It certainly may depending on the circumstances, and certainly has many times. That is the whole point of it. True, the benefit of ABS decreases exponentially as your lateral coefficient of friction approaches 0, unlike in a car. But unless it is at ~0, ABS can still help in a turn by keeping the wheels turning.

399k baht is certainly an improvement over what has been available in the past from Ducatisti. Might be time to finally get naked!

ive heard stories as well

Friend of mine rented a knackered CBR600RR on beach road to take to the track. He brought it back undamaged but the guy could tell from the tires that it had been to the track. It got ugly and I can't remember how much my friend got fleeced for, but it was a lot...

your friend sounds like he deserved it ,replacement tyres dont cost 800thb so the seller was a considerabe loss

burning the tyres off a rented bike at the track and then trying to leave it back without saying is just dishonest

people wonder why these rental guys are always in disputes and you rarely hear the other side is like what happened here

i never had a problem with renting vehicles,but i always was slighy careful not to drop them or be irresponsible ,i know someone who had a problem but thats with a sponsor so probablly shouldnt be discussed here

Nonsense- my friend had never done a track day in his life and went out for maybe 10 gentle laps at BIRA. The wear was no more tire wear than if he'd spent the day riding it on the streets, only it's more visible since he got rid of the chicken strips. Hell, the owner should have thanked him for rounding off the squared off tires. But it's Pattaya so of course they caused a big fuss. And the bike was in terrible condition- obviously crashed and repaired on the cheap. Shift linkage was bent making gear changes difficult and there was a nasty shudder in the front brakes, probably from a bent wheel or bent disc. And that was the least damaged bike of all the bikes my friend looked at on beach road...

Actually it was a new front tire. The rear was squared and didn't show any wear from my riding. It was normal compound. The problem was it was a rain tire. Very soft. If it was a normal tire it would have been fine.

Ok does anyone know how the timing works? If I rent at 6pm for 1 day, do I return it at 6pm the following day?

Yes, usually it's 24 hours, but every time I ask for a few extra hours I have always been told that would be no problem. Ask first or you will pay.

Friend of mine rented a knackered CBR600RR on beach road to take to the track. He brought it back undamaged but the guy could tell from the tires that it had been to the track. It got ugly and I can't remember how much my friend got fleeced for, but it was a lot...

Yeah I was going to tell that story.....

I spoke to a couple different people along beach road about renting before picking the very clean looking CBR600RR. Most the bikes seemed to be owned by one of two different groups. I didn't want to leave a passport and most won't rent without it. I think he only agreed to it because we were Thailand residents and I was a police volunteer, thus perhaps less likely to do a runner.

I have to admit it was literally a brand new front tire and there was visible wear when I returned it, but ti was by no means ruined after several light laps on the track. It had a pretty bad ring of "fur" on each side and so looked worse than it was. I did not realize until after that it was a rain tire and thus a very, very soft tire. He kept my deposit of 1000B and insisted I pay for a new tire, which was completely rediculous. If I recallI I gave him another 1500B or so only because he was really pissed that I quote "ruined his brand new 22,000B tire". I felt he had at least a 1500B worth of a point but I was alone and ligitimatly concerned of a confrontation with his mates although he wasn't overtly threatening.

We went round and round argueing on the side walk for some time. He was more trying to guilt trip me than threaten me. My plan was to just wear him out. I pointed out that the bike seemed heavily restricted and had some other problems. Eventually he went off in a huff but not before telling me that it was lucky I didn't give him my passport as he would have kept it until I gave him the full tire replacement cost of 22,000B.

Not sure what can be learned from this. Perhaps be sure not to give over your passport, but I am not sure if you will find a place willing to do that.