Biker Etiquette From A Non-Biker

[Fookhaht]

I just returned from a great 4-day trip at Khao Yai National Park, marred by only one thing--the behavior of groups of bikers at our resort.

Generally, I have no beef with biker groups. We saw literally hundreds of bikers over the four days, enjoying Thailand's wilderness and the fun roads of Khao Yai National Park. At least a dozen or two groups. In general these folks were friendly and drove in a sensible fashion.

The only problem I had was at our resort, which I chose for quiet, peace, and tranquility. We had none of those, thanks to at least 5-6 bikers who stayed in bungalows near ours. They roared in at about 3-4 a.m. each morning, well after all the other residents were asleep, or trying to sleep.

OK, a few seconds of going down the driveway and parking your bike. I could deal with that, and turn over and go back to sleep. But not these guys. They sat on their bikes, less that 3 meters from our bedroom windows, and for some reason had to rev their motors up to ten million RPM's for 5 to 10 minutes. Is the purpose here to...uh..."blow out the carbon?" Or, to compensate for something much smaller in their arsenal?

Of course it sounded as if not a single bike had a muffler or tail pipe. And they were all Harley-types which literally rattled the windows and vibrated the wall next to my head. For some reason, this gang (and now I change my terminology) couldn't arrive at the same time, but had to come in at intervals of 5-10 minutes. This meant we had to listen to the roar of 25,000 horsepower for up to 45 minutes in the middle of the night. What were these people thinking? Unless stoned/drunk out of their minds (in which case shouldn't have been out on the road anyway!).

We endured this four nights in a row. We went to the Thai management to complain, but simply received that typical shoulder shrug and Thai smile that said, "Well, it's money in our pockets, and who am I to confront a paying customer?"

No, I don't judge the lot of you by a few miscreants. In fact, if I had the money and time right now, I'd buy a hog and join you. It looks like you guys are having TERRIFIC fun out there. BUT, if you happen to find yourself in a group or with friends like the description in this post, thanks for reading this and considering your behavior from the perspective of the rest of your fellow tourists. The parks of Thailand are for all to enjoy, not be be run over by a thoughtless few who could care less about the comfort, peace of mind, or convenience of others.

Cheers to Biking in Thailand,

FH

[wantan]

National Parks mainly exist as a last refugium for wildlife and nature. But who can blame some stupid bikers with loud pipes as long as the thai government allows them to come in and use the parks as their playground? IMO bikers with loud pipes should be forced to switch to bicycles when entering the park

[Fookhaht]

Mods: What happened to a string of about 4-5 posts in this thread?

Edited August 7, 2012 by Fookhaht

[Fookhaht]

OK, somehow two threads got started. I only started one! Really!

[mcgriffith]

I'll close this one, as the other has more responses.