MESmith

.....wonder who put out the distress call....

...and how much they are going to charge the foreigners....

If you had read the article you would have been informed that the tourists used their mobile phone.

Which then makes me ask .......

Why do they need 100 people to search when their mobile phone would locate them to within 20m?

(Either through triangulation using the phone towers, or the GPS co-ordinates on their phone)

Please lets not have anyone suggesting that a 24 year old woman didn't have a smart phone.

I use a very old flip top cell phone that does not have any gps or wifi features, voice and text only. Yes one can triangulate using cell phone towers but it is not done instantenously. One has to work with the cell phone companies. I doubt Thailand has lines of communication that can coordinate that very quickly with available engineers

From the Khaosod article "Mobile phone network provider AIS also was asked to help locate the tourists. "

Polish Tourists Rescued after Getting Lost in Khao Yai National Park

PRACHIN BURI – Two Polish tourists were located and rescued by a large search team after they lost their way while venturing into the forest in Khao Yai national park on Monday.

Over 100 forest rangers and volunteers were mobilized to search for the two missing tourists Monday morning after they called the park chief, Mr Kanchit Srinoppawan, from their cell phone.

Kanchit said he received a telephone call from the foreign tourists about 10pm on Monday. He said they were completely lost, somewhere in the jungle of the national park.

Full story: http://www.chiangraitimes.com/polish-tourists-rescued-after-getting-lost-in-khao-yai-national-park.html

-- Chiang Rai Times 2016-01-13

Lucky, they had the park chief's phone number

Ok the average thai probably makes 12000 baht A month.i was making 200000 baht A month til I retired.Now I still have A 50000

Baht A month income.So for that I don't have any problem paying more.And when I go to A restaurant or taxi etc I give 15-20%

Tip.The average Thai don't make big money.I'm in their country I don't mind helping out.

Do you offer to pay 150% extra when you go shopping?

If you have never been up there, as I hadn't, you should be aware that the final stretch of road is single lane, but is to accommodate two-way traffic. There are "shoulders" on one or the other side of the road, but the drop-off can be 90 degrees and very deep -- from a few inches to a foot or more, in the dirt.

I saw one pair of girls (Thai I think) who had had to move to the side and fell over the "shoulder" and ended up at the bottom with the bike literally upside-down on top of them.

The road has some serious potholes and unless you are familiar with riding two-wheelers, you need to steel yourself before going. I saw several tourist drivers with determined looks of both apprehension and fear on their faces (along with, "Oh shit, there goes the deposit"). Even a Thai cop on an old Phantom got sideways in the "shoulder" and just barely shimmied out -- with a big grin, I might add.

Needless to say, unless you are accomplished, don't take your chopper up there like I did today. It's not a suicide mission, but if you are unlucky and have to move off the bitumen, there are "shoulders" you would not want to try to get off of and back on the blacktop, particularly given you are either going very uphill or down.

Saw these pics on FB

Best to drive up Doi Suthep, on to Doi Pui, down through Chang Khian & down to HTT. That'll show them. Zero baht!!!

Or, better still, do that on your mtb

Best to drive up Doi Suthep, on to Doi Pui, down through Chang Khian & down to HTT. That'll show them. Zero baht!!!

I've never had a problem leaving my truck ANYWHERE when off hiking or biking. Just park up at the side of the road & do my stuff. You got a Lamborghini, or just paranoid?

Btw, do cyclists have to pay the ripoff "whitey" price to cycle the Inthanon climb?

I was mountain biking up there midweek. Must've blinked

How old are the tyres?

They are going to build a new 4 lane divided highway between CM and CR. It will start on the outer ring road south of the 118 and cross midway between Doi Saket and Bo Sang heading E. I have seen the map from one of our neighbors whose house is going to be destroyed in the process. Construction is to begin in 4 years.

Did you see which route it would take through the mountains? Surely, would be easier to expand 118 than build a new highway. Btw OP, the main road from CR to BKK does avoid CM. Hwy 1.

I was more concerned with how close it was coming to our land but will be heading down there this weekend and will try to get a photo of the map band post it. IIRC it roughly parallels the 118 to the south and they are planning a big tunnel through the mountains.

That ain't gonna happen. Relax about a big road near your land, unless it's another ring road or more empty housing estates. At least your land will increase in value. Then SELL!

Some of u guys would run down anything good thing.

Go ahead & eat the cr@p if you want to. Make sure you wash them well. Thailand grows lots of great fruit. Strawberries ain't one of them. Let the hi-so idiots from Bangkok eat them. "aroy"....

Driving on the Samoeng road, today. Passed a strawberry field, not far from the canal road. "Organic" strawberries.....

It is those Stepford Wives for sure. Nobody else could turn city water into village well water, create a manganese that was rust(or rust that was manganese?) and make it impossible to filter out unless you use imported bottled water, not Thai water.

Time for a cool one ME.

Cold ones

Forgive my ignorance, but how do you know you have a manganese problem?

if you have to ask the question you do NOT have the problem manganese looks a bit like rust but I am familiar with it and it blocks pipes and all sorts. Put your tank in your tanks and run a finger along the inside edge and if you get a rusty colour 'slime' that's almost certainly manganese and is a common problem in wells in chiang mai

I thought that was rust. We get it in non filtered water in irrigation pipes, but not the house. Our whole house filter is due a re-fill, so will get the wife to ask the "water filtration engineers" about it. Our supply is from our own borehole. Water only for washing, not drinking.....

They are going to build a new 4 lane divided highway between CM and CR. It will start on the outer ring road south of the 118 and cross midway between Doi Saket and Bo Sang heading E. I have seen the map from one of our neighbors whose house is going to be destroyed in the process. Construction is to begin in 4 years.

Did you see which route it would take through the mountains? Surely, would be easier to expand 118 than build a new highway. Btw OP, the main road from CR to BKK does avoid CM. Hwy 1.

Your water is Well water from your well, not from a city, moonbaan or village system?

village well but I just heard that city water has been stretched to parts of san sai so Im investigating

Tell whoever is in charge of the village well, that the contents of the filter need changing every year. Assuming they have a filter. By village, do you mean a real village, or one of those "Stepford Wives" places?

filters don't stop manganese anyway I'm investigating if we can get citywater as some parts of san sai have it

Forgive my ignorance, but how do you know you have a manganese problem?

bit more news on water 'san sai style'

it's not city water but well water and pretty dirty, full of manganese, so i'll have to buy a filter system I'm told (around 40,000) and probably a bigger tank (mies 400 liter need 1000 I think). Cut off again yesterday so storage is the key.

Your water is Well water from your well, not from a city, moonbaan or village system?

village well but I just heard that city water has been stretched to parts of san sai so Im investigating

Tell whoever is in charge of the village well, that the contents of the filter need changing every year. Assuming they have a filter. By village, do you mean a real village, or one of those "Stepford Wives" places?

bit more news on water 'san sai style'

it's not city water but well water and pretty dirty, full of manganese, so i'll have to buy a filter system I'm told (around 40,000) and probably a bigger tank (mies 400 liter need 1000 I think). Cut off again yesterday so storage is the key.

2000lt might be better if outages are common. Shouldn't the water be filtered before distribution?

I'd start here http://www.roughguides.com/article/banaue-rice-terraces/

Bet there's some great biking there

Jeez! We just got past Loi Krathong, Christmas, and ( our) New Year....now its only just into January and we ve got another weekend when getting to a mall will be gridlocked!

Bah. Humbug. Guess another weekend to stay home and watch movies !!

Damn children. Who invented them anyway???!!!!!

LOL, but it's only Saturday. Not a good day, anytime to visit a mall

You can also buy it directly from them at their place on Sriphum corner on outside of moat.

Any cheaper?

The plastic water tanks do last a long time. Not sure about the "stainless" steel ones. IMHO.

Not everyone on a bike is trying to race you.

Very few are capable of racing me.

But I usually manage to find one or two competitors on every trip up.

I'm guessing you've never done it?

I'm thinking you wouldn't be up to the trip ....... at any speed.

That's OK, plenty of room for the fat and lazy in the world.

I'm hoping MESmith, h90 and a few others will appear to kick my bum on the way up.

I need some incentive to speed up ......... today I went up, no particular hurry, 49 minutes (Zoo entrance to temple steps).

I'm just stuck at at the 50 minute mark.

A few 'Vegans' and '30 Bananas' at 35 minutes .... too fast and young for me.

But I'm gaining on the Vegans.

I'm actually in this '30 bananas' video

50 minutes is a decent time to the temple. Are you talking total time, including rest at the viewpoint, or "moving time". Need to join strava, so you can make direct comparison with other riders.

The only way to improve your time is to ride in a group of fast riders, pulling you up. Is it that important? Not for me. Prefer to ride up to Doi Pui, myself, rather than just the temple.

Not everyone on a bike is trying to race you.

Very few are capable of racing me.

But I usually manage to find one or two competitors on every trip up.

I'm guessing you've never done it?

I'm thinking you wouldn't be up to the trip ....... at any speed.

That's OK, plenty of room for the fat and lazy in the world.

I'm hoping MESmith, h90 and a few others will appear to kick my bum on the way up.

I need some incentive to speed up ......... today I went up, no particular hurry, 49 minutes (Zoo entrance to temple steps).

I'm just stuck at at the 50 minute mark.

A few 'Vegans' and '30 Bananas' at 35 minutes .... too fast and young for me.

But I'm gaining on the Vegans.

I'm actually in this '30 bananas' video

I follow Durianrider (30 bananas a day) on Strava...quite a character! Has some interesting views on life, but he can certainly climb a hill when he wants to!

What's up with all those "vegans" on strava? I don't feel a need to tell everyone that we had a lamb roast for dinner, or chicken steak

Having lived there I know how loud a fighter can be taking off....good thing they have not had a big airforce budget lately.

Thai airforce fighters are very quiet, compared to the noise a fully laden Tornado on its way to bomb Iraqi forces in Kuwait made, when I was at Dhahran airport back in 1991.