davidgtr

I haven't found one in Chiang Mai but if you happen to be in Mae Sai they opened one just across the border in Tachilek. They sell original and copy gear and the prices are good on both compared to Chiang Mai. They carry jackets, helmets, pants, gloves, rainsuits, boots and all kinds of accessories. If you're interested let me know and I will give the best directions I can.

I have recently been to Tachilek but did not see the M/C shop. I would also be interested in directions .

Walk into Myamar across the bridge

Turn right & go down the steps

At the bottom of the steps,

Turn right & walk towards the River

Turn left into the first lane

Its on the right hand side Jin Chen Fa

If you know where Scorpion Music CD shop is, then it is before Scorpion.

There's good photos & more info on GT Rider here

There's a lot of good gear, but usually only Asian sizes, so if your a bigger older grey haired fart like me, then you won't always find something in the right size.

You can get legit Alpinestars Mesh Jackets for 4,500 baht that sell for 9-10,000 baht in Bangkok & Chiang Mai.

You can also get crap copy ones for 1,500 baht.

Legit Alpinestars gloves for 1,500 baht, in the USA US$200+.

Some good boots too.

Take your time in the shop, they have a storeroom elsewhere & can fetch bring in other sizes.

But for me more often than not, nothing fits quite good enough.

Oh yeah in Chiang Mai try Piston Shop.

Fast Corner at Panthip also has quite a bit,but not cheap.

There is a shop that sells motorcycle apparel. Jackets, gloves, boots, armor and some other stuff. Good enough to save a friends skin and bones on a 30 meter slide on blacktop recently. Prices are not bad either.

Yes indeed. A good shop: Jin Chen Fa.

Some more photos & info here.

Interesting thread guys, my friend in MHS says the weather is fine there right now & in Cnx city not much rain at all where I live. If you look at this Thai weather sat image

I'd say your rain is not from Mindulle(?), but a depression in the top North. Mindulle seems to have broken up in the last few hours even. But my reading of it all could be totally wrong.

The Ping river comes from dozens of drainage basins, only a very few which happen to have dams on them. The main reason for the 2005 flooding (from what I understand from an in-law and ag official in Mae Taeng) is that the Mae Taeng river basin which drains into the Ping river near Mae Taeng got a huge amount of sustained rain. That large basin has no large dam (just a small canal diversion dike), and the water actually caused flooding in the Ping Valley above where it flows into the Ping. (It back-flowed up toward Mae Ngat Dam in the big wide valley up there). The water could not all go down the Ping, but when it did, that caused flooding in Chiang Mai.

As I write this, the heaviest rains of the season are occurring here. Yikes. Hopefully Gonzo will build a big boat!

Yep the 2005 flood was from torrential rain in the Chiang Dao - Phrao area.

Check out these photos & trip report on GT Rider.

Photos of The Hub Bicycle Museum in Chiang Khong.

Maybe it's not only the Chinese who are coming, but the Koreans also...

Korean development of tourism complex near fourth Mekong Bridge

(KPL) The Lao government has given a green light to a Korean company to invest in a USD 41 million tourism complex project in Bokeo province, said Mr Choumpheng Vilaisane, Head of the Investment Promotion Section of Bokeo province.

Mr Choumpheng said that the Korean company signed the contract on this project in 2007.

Scheduled for completion in 2015, this complex would have a five-star hotel, a golf course, guesthouses, restaurant, swimming pool and entertainment place.

The project covered the field site of the fourth Mekong bridge and the construction work just started a few days ago.

I note the Korean flag, so I guess we know who the main financiers & customers are going to be.

Mae Chai, off the GT Rider Golden Triangle guide map...

Nice shots. thanks for those!

Wat Pra That Pa Ngao! my 'local' Wat! Ban Sob Kham,

yes, the difference in the water levels is remarkable.

Cheers,

Biff

Biff

No worries, you're a lucky man if you've got a residence in Sob Kham, as I always thought that would be a delightful little village to get lost in & "retire gracefully." One that they could not build out or ruin with over development. The history of temple fights between the rival groups of monks over Wat Phra That Pa Ngao is pretty amazing though.

For photos of the Mekong you might like to watch this one on GT Rider.

Some photos from Chiang Saen on Wednesday 28th July 2010.

Looking upstream

Looking downstream

Its almost unbelievable the difference in just a few weeks!

Chiang Saen from Wat Phra That Pa Ngao 22 June 2010

Diesel oil. Did I say something wrong?

What I used was a Shell Helix 15/50 semi synthetic diesel oil for years, but it is no longer available.

I've swapped over to Castrol Power 1 Synthetic 10-40.

And the reason - the bikes burning oil & in need of a ring / valve seal job, so I need to top up regularly & you can get the same Castrol everywhere.

That I believe can be an issue for some riders - being able to get the same oil all the time. Hence my preferences for Castrol Shell brand oils - you can get them everywhere.

Thanks all for your inputs and advices. Even though quite a number of big bikes have used it, but there is no known long term effects reported yet, I do not know whether it will cause premature failure to the oil pump, or the oil is actually bypassing the filter due to higher pressure require to work the pump, I am guessing only, I have no idea how the bypass work, does anyone know how much pressure is required to work the pump?

BTW David,if the Mazda filter I guess is papper and not those high filtration type, it should cause no damage, the problem I am a bit worry is this pure one filter has 3 filter materials, high efficiency 20 micron, but is not stated how much minimum oil pump pressure is required.

So what's wrong with whatever you're using now?

If it aint broke, don't fix it?

25 Satang's worth...

My Africa Twin has 270,000 kms on the clock (got it with only 17,000 kms on the clock in 2001)& I used copy Mazda car filters for at least 200,000 kms.

I change both the oil (& many times diesel oil) & filter every 5,000 kms approximately, sometimes 6,000 kms and have never had a problem.

I've just switched over to HilfloFiltro filters from out of Bangkok, because they are available & supposedly better.

But my point is how many of you guys have had, or heard of first hand of engine failures because of the wrong / bad oil filters?

So I reckon change the oil & filter regularly & you should be ok; & usually your bike manufacturer knows best, as he's the one who made the bike.

A quote from a KPL news report, that I can no longer find the URL for, but I saved the text...

Chinaman Chao Wei pledges to bring glamour to Lao side of Golden Triangle

(KPL) Chinese owned Dok Ngew Kham Group Co; Ltd wants to bring the world of glamour to Tonpheung district, Bokeo province, which shares borders with Myanmar and Thailand, by making it one of the top international entertainment place in the world.

Three hundred people were at a groundbreaking ceremony in the entertainment centre, located in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone and on this special occasion some of the people tested the casino by placing bets on the various gaming tables in Tonpheung district on 9 September.

Two distinguished persons were at this event, Deputy Prime Minister, Asang Laoly and President of Dok Ngew Kham Group Co. Ltd., Chao Wei.

Mr Ousavanh Thiengthepvongsa, advisor of the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone and Tourism-Services Development Project told KPL News last week that this Chinese company would invest US$2 billion to this total entertainment place.

He said that initially this company decided to invest only US$ 86 million to develop the entertainment cum casino place, tourism and service sectors on 827 hectares of land but it morphed to become a much bigger project with a total investment of US$2 billion on 3,000 hectares of land on a 50-year lease.

On completion of this giant project the whole complex would employ 5,000 workers and an estimated 300 domestic and foreign companies would be operating in this zone.

Presently, it has 20 new start-ups. Besides these, the zone has seven hotels and a total entertainment cum casino centre. According to Mr Chao Wei, on its completion in 2020, he would have a trade centre, a five star hotel, an entertainment centre, casino, bank, golf course, school, hospital, airport, harbour and a service centre.

“ I pledge to change Tonpheung district to become one of the most romantic place in the world for people who want to relax, to game and to see its unique natural landscape” said Mr Chao. Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, in Tonpheung district, Laos, is 56 kilometres from the centre of Bokeo province and its unique location is such that just in front of it and on one side is Xiengsen district, Chienglai province of Thailand and on the other is Thakhilek village, Myanmar.

Comment: from 827 hectares to 3,000 hectares. From US$86 million to US$2 billion!!!??A slight miscalculation at the start or....??

This Asia Times Report is well worth reading.

And this Bangkok Post Report.

There's also a website for the Chinese city being built there, but I can't find the URL right now.

yepper, did this route by bus, both ways, this month. currently only 30km of roadworks,

only 10km or which would be unpleasant. should be even less by the end of july, when

i plan to bicycle back to china.

as for hwy 13 road conditions:

huay xai-km 160: no problems.

km 160 - km 150: some rough spots and old patched areas. not too bad. generally flat-ish.

km 148 - km 143: same as above, but more hills.

km 142 - km 139: very rough. gravel, missing pavement. steep downhill sections->north.

km 138 - km 132: very rough as above, but low, rolling hills or valley.

km 131 - km 128: a few rough spots, nothing severe. uphill->north.

km 128 - km 127: currently being repaved.

km 127 - china: no problems.

if heading south to odomxai at na teuy, road work begins 100m south of the intersection.

Thanks for the detailed report. Good stuff. How ere you recording the kms?

The Na Teuy - Oudom Xai road really sucked in Feb-March, but they were working on it big time.

Cheers

Curious if you have actually done this trip recently, as the last time I rode up the Houei Xai - Luang Nam Tha road there was 60 kms of road construction, making it somewhat unpleasant.

Try this one also

Tee Gan Boh

Upholsterer for seat repairs, plus repacking them nice & comfy for your bottom.

80/2 Wualai Road. (Opposite Baan King Kaew orphange.)

Tel: 053275069.

Mobile: 0817966468

TRy this one

SOMCHIT - DAENG GLON PRATU:

Aluminum welding & engineering. New exhausts, metal top boxes & cases, luggage racks. Two locations:

1. Daeng Glon Pra Tu

105 Rakaeng Rd

Chiang Mai

Tel: 053820784-6. Mobile: 0189508622

2. Daeng Glon Pratu

250 Mahidon Road

Pa Daet

Tel: 053202269 & 053202270. Mobile 0896356908

from GT Rider.

How I refer to them

1. Route 11 "the super" = inner ring road & the original "ring" road.

2. Route 3029 = the middle ring road & the 2nd one built.

3. Route 121 = the other ring road & the 3rd one built.

You don’t say which province you intend to buy the bike in, but different provinces often have different practices regarding farang ownership of vehicles, despite what “the law” says.

IMHO you need the "same" as Thai people

1. Confirmation of ID = your passport

2. Confirmation of address = letter from immigration, your embassy.

Depending on where you are you may be able to get away with it on a tourist visa & not need a 3 month non immigrant visa. But it's all up to the relevant Land Transport Dept & the motor vehicle rego division office that you are dealing with. They either accept your docs or not; & that is where you should pay your money to the seller, at the vehicle rego office - once the vehicle transfer & rego is approved. Not in advance.

If you're buying new from a bike dealer, they often can sort out the rego & ownership for you.

Not registering the new owner is indeed an option, they sign the bike over & you leave the new owner's details blank.

However when you go to move the bike on later on - after 3 months? - you may need newly signed papers from the previous owner.

I hope this is a help, & cuts through some of the BS.

2 hrs ago the traffic police cruised town on several streets asking people to clear the roads - a VIP from Malaysia? was in town & no roadside parking today! Sick. There are many red cones set up on the streets at the moment to indicate no parking. Moon Muang Road & Singharat are two that have been cleared. Maybe Rathawithi too? All pretty stupid IMHO.

Try Nat at Piston Shop.

As much as you love the old smelly one, buy a new one. Shark helmets are now available in Thailand.

It is indeed a nice little memorial monument.

Surprised to see that the young Danish adventurer who chose a career as mercenary

in the service of the Great King Rama V was only 24 when he was halted and sent to

the eternal hunting fields.

Limbo

Yes indeed the story is fascinating. I put some info about this on GT Rider here Captain Hans Jensen.