Village Rides

[ray23]

This is a responsee to a P/M about the rides. I thought I would share it with others if they have a desire to get in to the real Issan, but as always remember the author possesses a sick mind proceed at your own risk

A lot of it respose to his questions

The ride was about five hours. ( 200 K )

What I do is take a main road a bit further out each time when I see a paved road that looks in fair condition I turn and go. They don't always stay in good condition so realistic speeds are a very good idea conditions can change in heart beat.

Security conditions are much better in the villages, even if there was a guy with a bad thought in his head, he doesn't know your coming and no time to put a plan together. I don't usually leave the bike anywhere, if I stop I stop someplece for something to eat or drink and the bike is in site. So don't really know how to answer your question. Just slow down when you drive through and enjoy the sites. Anyone who speaks any english will be yelling hello at you and you will get lots of cat calls. It' the norm and part of the fun, not to wory.

I would caution about a few things unless you speak really good Thia, limit your turn abouts so you can find way back out. Look for prominent buildings ect. Keep a good since of derection to where the main road is, you end up on very curvy roads and it's easy to lose your since of direction. Most of the main roads will loop and go back to the main road in one form or another, if you know what direction that is. But you may have to back track also goes with the experience.

I have only had two instances where I felt uncomforatble one was an old man insistining that I buy him whiskey, pack up your dity bag and leave politley.

The other I stumbles into a huge village party in the middle of the week. It seemed like the entire village was drunk I stopped for a bit and had some water, but fights started breaking out in the crowd, time to get the dity bag again.

These are very enjoyable experiences, but you have to keep your wits about you. These are not places where people really care about your thoughts of ethics or political correctness. Unless something is very unusual as in the two incidents I described your a welcome change to the boredom. I don't drink very much at all and I never drink when I ride, but in these excursion I would avoid booze completly, you can always have a beer when you get back ot the big city where people are used to farrangs.

Ga stations there is always fuel around, they call it benzine here. If you don't see a station Benzine Tee Nia will find he local fuel deposit. Many time it is nothing more then a small store with glass bottles of gas sitting in a small rack.

I ride a old restored Yamaha four cylinder 750 CC with four carbs. It eats a lot of fule, so as a general rule I fill it up every 150K. But in any event the villagers need fuel to so it's around, just may not have big signs telling you it's a gas station.

If you really want to know what Issan really is I think this is one of the best ways to do it. You cell phone should work just about anywhere you go. Although I have no idea how you would tell someone where you are. sometimes there are signs as you enter village the village may or may not be in english. on the main roads most are in english in the villages roads signs don't exist, just remember the loop system and you will be able back to the point entered fairly easily.

If you have trouble the villagers are very helpful people for the most part, communicating with them is where the problem is going to lie.

I recommend long pants and long sleeved shirts, the sun is really intense here even in the cool season. I forgot them yeterday as it was a spur of the moment thing, nice sunburn and I have lived here for over three years.

Just do what you are comfortable with and you should be OK.

HAVE FUN I DO

[Rigger]

Hi Ray

I to enjoy village rides but I normally do them by my self leaving early in morning at first light and just taking a different road or side track each time. Leave the map at home as it makes it more fun and over the last few years have ended up in some remote villages in fact most would call were I live remote

I have noticed in the remote areas they point and call out boxy dar. Which I at first thought was some sort of insult but is in fact isan for falang.

Have never felt uneasy and most just want to have a chat with you and look at the bike. And you get the odd shop keeper that’s trying to marry off there daughters or women that want to come with me or try and get on the back of my bike

had a few drunks try and get money or get me to buy them a whiskey and but are not very aggressive.

As for the roads they can be very dangerous pot holes 2 meters wide and ½ meter deep the first big one I hit near snapped the 1100 in half as well as large parts of road washed out..

But all in all it’s great fun much better than dealing with busy highways and is a good relaxing ride unless you get lost but then you just sit down and have a chang and its not so bad

[Nignoy]

This is a responsee to a P/M about the rides. I thought I would share it with others if they have a desire to get in to the real Issan, but as always remember the author possesses a sick mind proceed at your own risk

A lot of it respose to his questions

The ride was about five hours. ( 200 K )

What I do is take a main road a bit further out each time when I see a paved road that looks in fair condition I turn and go. They don't always stay in good condition so realistic speeds are a very good idea conditions can change in heart beat.

Security conditions are much better in the villages, even if there was a guy with a bad thought in his head, he doesn't know your coming and no time to put a plan together. I don't usually leave the bike anywhere, if I stop I stop someplece for something to eat or drink and the bike is in site. So don't really know how to answer your question. Just slow down when you drive through and enjoy the sites. Anyone who speaks any english will be yelling hello at you and you will get lots of cat calls. It' the norm and part of the fun, not to wory.

I would caution about a few things unless you speak really good Thia, limit your turn abouts so you can find way back out. Look for prominent buildings ect. Keep a good since of derection to where the main road is, you end up on very curvy roads and it's easy to lose your since of direction. Most of the main roads will loop and go back to the main road in one form or another, if you know what direction that is. But you may have to back track also goes with the experience.

I have only had two instances where I felt uncomforatble one was an old man insistining that I buy him whiskey, pack up your dity bag and leave politley.

The other I stumbles into a huge village party in the middle of the week. It seemed like the entire village was drunk I stopped for a bit and had some water, but fights started breaking out in the crowd, time to get the dity bag again.

These are very enjoyable experiences, but you have to keep your wits about you. These are not places where people really care about your thoughts of ethics or political correctness. Unless something is very unusual as in the two incidents I described your a welcome change to the boredom. I don't drink very much at all and I never drink when I ride, but in these excursion I would avoid booze completly, you can always have a beer when you get back ot the big city where people are used to farrangs.

Ga stations there is always fuel around, they call it benzine here. If you don't see a station Benzine Tee Nia will find he local fuel deposit. Many time it is nothing more then a small store with glass bottles of gas sitting in a small rack.

I ride a old restored Yamaha four cylinder 750 CC with four carbs. It eats a lot of fule, so as a general rule I fill it up every 150K. But in any event the villagers need fuel to so it's around, just may not have big signs telling you it's a gas station.

If you really want to know what Issan really is I think this is one of the best ways to do it. You cell phone should work just about anywhere you go. Although I have no idea how you would tell someone where you are. sometimes there are signs as you enter village the village may or may not be in english. on the main roads most are in english in the villages roads signs don't exist, just remember the loop system and you will be able back to the point entered fairly easily.

If you have trouble the villagers are very helpful people for the most part, communicating with them is where the problem is going to lie.

I recommend long pants and long sleeved shirts, the sun is really intense here even in the cool season. I forgot them yeterday as it was a spur of the moment thing, nice sunburn and I have lived here for over three years.

Just do what you are comfortable with and you should be OK.

HAVE FUN I DO

Really enjoy your biking stories, we used to tour isaan in the early 60,s then there were no tarmac roads and our 1948 BSA 500 single cylinder bikes used to cause a stir, was nice to see a couple of them still running in chiangmai last year, a bsa collector there had bought them, we have ridden from ubon to singapore, next year for our swansong we plan to ride our bikes from Huahin to Peking , visiting friends on the way, so watch this space for our story Nignoy

[cobra]

Excellent post,

[phibunmike]

Really enjoy your biking stories, we used to tour isaan in the early 60,s then there were no tarmac roads and our 1948 BSA 500 single cylinder bikes used to cause a stir, was nice to see a couple of them still running in chiangmai last year, a bsa collector there had bought them, we have ridden from ubon to singapore, next year for our swansong we plan to ride our bikes from Huahin to Peking , visiting friends on the way, so watch this space for our story Nignoy

How long did it take you to do Ubon to Singapore ? What stops did you make ? I am planning the same trip.

[ray23]

Hi Ray

I to enjoy village rides but I normally do them by my self leaving early in morning at first light and just taking a different road or side track each time. Leave the map at home as it makes it more fun and over the last few years have ended up in some remote villages in fact most would call were I live remote

I have noticed in the remote areas they point and call out boxy dar. Which I at first thought was some sort of insult but is in fact isan for falang.

Have never felt uneasy and most just want to have a chat with you and look at the bike. And you get the odd shop keeper that’s trying to marry off there daughters or women that want to come with me or try and get on the back of my bike

had a few drunks try and get money or get me to buy them a whiskey and but are not very aggressive.

As for the roads they can be very dangerous pot holes 2 meters wide and ½ meter deep the first big one I hit near snapped the 1100 in half as well as large parts of road washed out..

But all in all it’s great fun much better than dealing with busy highways and is a good relaxing ride unless you get lost but then you just sit down and have a chang and its not so bad

Rigger you got pegged to a tee. Always clears my mind and reminds me of what I do have here.

[Nignoy]

Really enjoy your biking stories, we used to tour isaan in the early 60,s then there were no tarmac roads and our 1948 BSA 500 single cylinder bikes used to cause a stir, was nice to see a couple of them still running in chiangmai last year, a bsa collector there had bought them, we have ridden from ubon to singapore, next year for our swansong we plan to ride our bikes from Huahin to Peking , visiting friends on the way, so watch this space for our story Nignoy

How long did it take you to do Ubon to Singapore ? What stops did you make ? I am planning the same trip.

The trip used to take us about 3 weeks, we used to stop at military bases all the way down to tanglin in singers, stops at ubon ,korat ,bangkok, hatyai, butterworth , Ipoh, KL,Port Dickson , MalaccaKota Tingi and Singers,the journey was made very difficult because of the vast amounts of Singha and Tiger beer and Ghurka Rum consumed in the evenings as protection against mosquito,s

and piles , photographic evidence of our escapades are on show in the police senior ranks club in singapore Nignoy