what route would the chinese cars here now have used?

[Tomtomtom69]

Seen a Chinese motor bike the other day,big panniers on the sides.they are

allowed into Thailand,but you cannot go the other way.

regards Worgeordie

I saw 3 a few weeks ago .New BMW bikes with yellow plates from Shanghai .The 3 Chinese lads were having a coffee outside big wing Honda near the Thape gate .

Well that will have been one of the last times you'll see them because they are about to be banned. I'm looking forward to it.

[northernjohn]

Reciprocity.

Why isn't our Happiness Government telling the Chicoms to either open up to Thai-registered vehicles or close the border to them coming here? Period.

Why? This is a winning situation for Thailand. The Friendship Bridge in Chiang Khong and the Lao highway were specifically built to increase trade and tourism from China. The Chinese traveling here buy car are generally well to do and not cheap package tourists. They are spending a lot of cash. Many if not most of the cars are luxury class vehicles. I saw a Bentley Continental at Rim Ping with Chinese plates. Chinese are pouring in by the thousands and spending cash, the Thais can't leave and spend there tourist dollars in China. Win/Win for Thailand.

Before this topic goes in crazy directions; The OP question was "What route are they taking". Asked and answered.

was behind that Bentley last night,with a jag xj6 behind me,must be some money in that china.

Beijing now has more billionaires than New York. what is really interesting to me is that with that kind of money they are willing to make the drive rather than just fly in and rent a vehicle with a local driver here.

[northernjohn]

Looks like the Chinese will in the near future (starting late next month) only be coming by plane, as they should be, and getting on tour buses once they're here.

You mean just like you get on a tour bus once you arrive?

Most people travel independently so they'd just grab a taxi, songthaew, or rent a car.

(which, incidentally, is why a ban on cars is silly when you can just rent one.)

Agreed it is silly. Also it is silly going into China.

I wonder how many of the complainers would even travel to China and tour around there in their own car if they could.

I am surprised even upset the government is wasting time over such a trivial matter.

[LawrenceChee]

Reciprocity.

Why isn't our Happiness Government telling the Chicoms to either open up to Thai-registered vehicles or close the border to them coming here? Period.

Why? This is a winning situation for Thailand. The Friendship Bridge in Chiang Khong and the Lao highway were specifically built to increase trade and tourism from China. The Chinese traveling here buy car are generally well to do and not cheap package tourists. They are spending a lot of cash. Many if not most of the cars are luxury class vehicles. I saw a Bentley Continental at Rim Ping with Chinese plates. Chinese are pouring in by the thousands and spending cash, the Thais can't leave and spend there tourist dollars in China. Win/Win for Thailand.

Before this topic goes in crazy directions; The OP question was "What route are they taking". Asked and answered.

was behind that Bentley last night,with a jag xj6 behind me,must be some money in that china.

Beijing now has more billionaires than New York. what is really interesting to me is that with that kind of money they are willing to make the drive rather than just fly in and rent a vehicle with a local driver here.

Some like driving just like u like taking trains slower but the scenery for those with time is lovely

Compared to Beijing ....driving in Chiangmai even at Thae Pae Gate area is a piece of cake for the Chinese ...there are accident yeah but then with 1.3 billion , they are not as worried in dying as some nationalities

[Tomtomtom69]

Looks like the Chinese will in the near future (starting late next month) only be coming by plane, as they should be, and getting on tour buses once they're here.

You mean just like you get on a tour bus once you arrive?

Most people travel independently so they'd just grab a taxi, songthaew, or rent a car.

(which, incidentally, is why a ban on cars is silly when you can just rent one.)

Agreed it is silly. Also it is silly going into China.

I wonder how many of the complainers would even travel to China and tour around there in their own car if they could.

I am surprised even upset the government is wasting time over such a trivial matter.

It's not silly, it's common sense. There are already too many cars on the roads in Thailand for the available road space, and foreigners driving their own cars bring with them more congestion, more pollution, the risk of accidents (even more likely when they're used to driving on the opposite side of the road) and locals encounters problems trying to claim from insurance when an accident with a foreign registered vehicle occurs. And they have been able to do this without paying anything, except for a measly few Baht at the border. That's not only silly, but grossly unfair towards local Thai road users (expats included), most of whom have to pay thousands per year in road taxes.

Already this CNY there were thousands of Chinese vehicles driving into Thailand, mainly in the northern provinces. If they didn't do something about it, how many would there have been next year? 10,000? In 2 years? 50,000? It is simply unsustainable.

The Chinese government has the same arguments as to why it doesn't allow foreign vehicles to enter it's country, even though it has a hell of a lot more road space than Thailand, not to mention that major cities are located hundreds of km (or more) from the border, unlike in Thailand. This would distribute the traffic a little bit but it doesn't matter - they don't want to take on the risks of foreigners getting into accidents with locals.

It doesn't matter what you think though - it's a done deal. Within weeks this new law will take effect and the Chinese cars will be forced off Thai roads.

Also, renting a car is different - the steering wheel is on the correct side of the vehicle, the vehicle is insured and has Thai road tax paid, and the rental fees bring money in for the Thai economy. Still, I don't anticipate a large increase in Chinese that will rent cars as a result of this new ruling, some might, but many will just catch public transport.

[Tomtomtom69]

Why? This is a winning situation for Thailand. The Friendship Bridge in Chiang Khong and the Lao highway were specifically built to increase trade and tourism from China. The Chinese traveling here buy car are generally well to do and not cheap package tourists. They are spending a lot of cash. Many if not most of the cars are luxury class vehicles. I saw a Bentley Continental at Rim Ping with Chinese plates. Chinese are pouring in by the thousands and spending cash, the Thais can't leave and spend there tourist dollars in China. Win/Win for Thailand.

Before this topic goes in crazy directions; The OP question was "What route are they taking". Asked and answered.

was behind that Bentley last night,with a jag xj6 behind me,must be some money in that china.

Beijing now has more billionaires than New York. what is really interesting to me is that with that kind of money they are willing to make the drive rather than just fly in and rent a vehicle with a local driver here.

Some like driving just like u like taking trains slower but the scenery for those with time is lovely

Compared to Beijing ....driving in Chiangmai even at Thae Pae Gate area is a piece of cake for the Chinese ...there are accident yeah but then with 1.3 billion , they are not as worried in dying as some nationalities

Very soon they won't be allowed to drive from China anymore, but renting locally will still be allowed.

However, what surprises me is that Chinese have so much time. Why drive from Beijing when you can fly in 5 hours? Chinese people who drive to Chiang Mai must either have a lot of free time or they don't work, I don't see any other way how they could afford to spend that much time driving. No other nationality does this. One doesn't see convoys of Laotians driving from Vientiane even to Phuket - one lone car might make the drive every few months, but the vast majority will either fly, catch a bus or train, or drive more locally, perhaps as far as Bangkok but that's it. Same thing for Thais - even if they could drive to China they wouldn't. The few who would have time still wouldn't have more than a week or two and the furthest they could realistically drive to in that time would be Kunming.

But really, the Chinese should be flying in and renting a local car with driver. Much less stressful, no worries about accidents and problems communicating with the locals. Actually I convinced my former boss, who's Chinese to do exactly that a few months ago. Rather than drive from Kunming in a crammed sedan with a crying 6-year old, 2 parents and her husband, they flew in, rented a car with driver, went to all the places they wanted to go and headed home. They spent 6 days in Thailand rather than the min. 3 weeks they would have needed if they had driven in. Fortunately, in the near future driving in wouldn't even be an option for them anymore.

Some Chinese have this childish excitement when they think about traveling abroad, including the possibility of driving themselves. Some people just need to get a good slap in the face to wake up and realize, in the real world, there are serious risks and consequences and driving abroad, without any experience is just NOT a good idea.

I doubt any Chinese person values their life so little that they wouldn't mind getting killed or seriously injured while driving abroad. Highly, highly doubt that. I also don't think that driving in Chiang Mai is easy for them - driving on the opposite side of the road, with all the motorcycles cutting you off and getting lost around the moat, that's not easy. It's way easier in Beijing where there are no motorcycles and you just have a lot of congestion.

[JaseTheBass]

Reciprocity.

Why isn't our Happiness Government telling the Chicoms to either open up to Thai-registered vehicles or close the border to them coming here? Period.

Why? This is a winning situation for Thailand. The Friendship Bridge in Chiang Khong and the Lao highway were specifically built to increase trade and tourism from China. The Chinese traveling here buy car are generally well to do and not cheap package tourists. They are spending a lot of cash. Many if not most of the cars are luxury class vehicles. I saw a Bentley Continental at Rim Ping with Chinese plates. Chinese are pouring in by the thousands and spending cash, the Thais can't leave and spend there tourist dollars in China. Win/Win for Thailand.

Before this topic goes in crazy directions; The OP question was "What route are they taking". Asked and answered.

was behind that Bentley last night,with a jag xj6 behind me,must be some money in that china.

Beijing now has more billionaires than New York. what is really interesting to me is that with that kind of money they are willing to make the drive rather than just fly in and rent a vehicle with a local driver here.

I doubt its the billionaires coming to Chiang Mai. I would presume they could afford to go somewhere nice.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Looks like the Chinese will in the near future (starting late next month) only be coming by plane, as they should be, and getting on tour buses once they're here.

You mean just like you get on a tour bus once you arrive?

Most people travel independently so they'd just grab a taxi, songthaew, or rent a car.

(which, incidentally, is why a ban on cars is silly when you can just rent one.)

Most Chinese travel in groups as you probably would have noticed so they'll be getting on a bus.

Those few that travel independently will be getting in a taxi or Songthaew, which is fine by me. Like everyone else, I'll be glad not to see those <deleted> blue plates anymore.

Nope. Not in Chiang Mai anyway. (And I see a lot of them arrive at the airport.) I do see a group tours arriving, but it's nothing compared to arrivals of just families and groups of friends. Quite easy to see around town, too.

[anto]

>> what surprises me is that Chinese have so much time. Why drive from Beijing when you can fly in 5 hours? <<

Not that far away .They are mostly coming from Youang province ,and Kuming City .