Fun in Thailand

Retirement is tough. I needed a break from a week full of not doing much, so headed to the countryside to not do much in a different, less hectic, location.

Still had traffic to deal with, though.


 
I did accomplish something this week, though.
I actually got a thai friend to fix the taillight on her motorbike.

I offered to pay, I don't think the $1.60 USD bill for parts and labor will break me. (Seriously, that is what it cost to have local repair shop replace the bulb. I would have charged her a beer, but probably screwed it up.
 
A my kind of beer ( that will be a soda ) is also what i would charge for helping someone, maybe even with a more substantial job.
 
I'd do it myself, but won't see her for a week or so, and I am 'assuming' the process is the same as the older bikes I'm familiar with? Need a screwdriver, remove lens, replace bulb, etc? The chinese trike has taught me that common sense is not applicable to asian (Non export) motorbike repair. :)

She sent me a picture of the bike being fixed. I was surprised the shop looked somewhat organized. Most little shops look like 'Bubbbas Modurn Kar repair and Dawg Grooming Emporium' in South Georgia. A couple of toothless guys, covered in grease, smoking...and hoping a yankee tourist passing by breaks down. :)
 
I'd do it myself, but won't see her for a week or so, and I am 'assuming' the process is the same as the older bikes I'm familiar with? Need a screwdriver, remove lens, replace bulb, etc? The chinese trike has taught me that common sense is not applicable to asian (Non export) motorbike repair. :)

She sent me a picture of the bike being fixed. I was surprised the shop looked somewhat organized. Most little shops look like 'Bubbbas Modurn Kar repair and Dawg Grooming Emporium' in South Georgia. A couple of toothless guys, covered in grease, smoking...and hoping a yankee tourist passing by breaks down. :)

That`s a lot of Bahts. Did you find out how much the locals makes a day.
 
She makes about $9 a day on her not quite full time job at a restaurant owned by a sister., and that is around the minimum wage. (But she gets free meals and her school aged kid, also.) She also has a paid for house, 6 cows, and farmland. Middle class by local standards. The motorbike has a license plate, but she has never had a motorbike license. (That is going to be the norm until the thai government stops indulging in fantasy schemes that will never work to fix traffic and bad driving problems. The latest was to require all vehicles to have GPS tracking, including motorbikes. They can't get the motorbikes to replace a fifty cent tail light bulb, wear helmets, get a license, or insurance, but they will all of a sudden spend money to install GPS tracking?)
:)
 
Gooberment,,,,,,,, really as far from the real world as you can get.
So for the Thai and my society to start moving forward again, it is paramount we fix goooberment, so no government careers, no sweet pension deals, and as the first indicate a cap on how long you and your immediate family can serve in a public office.

Politicians here, if they drop out, as around 60 did here in the last election, well they are secured full pay for 2 years, and like other unemployed they do not have to look for jobs and go to the job center for checkups every few weeks.
And really as that base pay they get are close to 60,000 DKkr /mo, you will have to find a SWWWWEEET ass job for taking it to be worth it.
I have kissed 20.000 some months in some jobs, but really for the average Dane skilled or not, 60.000 DKkr/mo even before taxes that are the stuff dreams are made off.

Many find it strange i say it as a citizen in the worlds very best little country, but really being a Dane are often very embarrassing if not even shameful to me.
 
Well at least your friend is safer on the road now, so good job (y)

I read somewhere years ago that on the island of Jersey in the English channel, the minimum size requirement for motorcycle taillights was 1 square inch :eek: I saw that and a pic of a chopper which had that tiny taillight on it- crazy AF to think anyone would see it; might as well have none :p I always figured that it was up to me to handle whatever was ahead of me, but I always had a very good taillight knowing that it was all which was covering my backside where I wasn't always focused on ;) If I were still riding today, my taillight would be the maximum allowed and more if I thought that wasn't enough.

Phil
 
The one good thing, the license plates for motorbikes in thailand are large, and have a reflective white background.
The bad thing.....most of the 'bootleg' bikes have no tag, and pretty often no tail-lights, and more often...no lights at all.

VISIBILITY only lets the people who are somewhat paying attention see you, easier.
The ones who don't give a damn, or can't see , will run over you anyway.

Add to this situation the fact most thai cars have aftermarket, heavily tinting on the glass, all around. It's hard to see WTF is going on even if you make an effort.
(SO they install brighter headlights)
:)
 
Well at least your friend is safer on the road now, so good job (y)

I read somewhere years ago that on the island of Jersey in the English channel, the minimum size requirement for motorcycle taillights was 1 square inch :eek: I saw that and a pic of a chopper which had that tiny taillight on it- crazy AF to think anyone would see it; might as well have none :p I always figured that it was up to me to handle whatever was ahead of me, but I always had a very good taillight knowing that it was all which was covering my backside where I wasn't always focused on ;) If I were still riding today, my taillight would be the maximum allowed and more if I thought that wasn't enough.

Phil

Thailand and other developing countries in S.E Asia is a different world and life there is very different. Consider without taillight it's harder for Cops to follow and catch them:sick:.
 
I had a ,,,,,, you guessed it, BMW behind me today, already when he was like 1/4 mile behind me i was pretty sure those was not legal headlights, and as he got closer i had to flip my mirror and adjust myself in the seat to not be too much blinded by the idiot behind me.
And he wasent even on high beam.

Did not bode well for me wanting a Acebeam W30 flashlight to do some "don't get mad get even"
 
It dropped to 65 F this morning in the early hours, that means the Isaan Eskimos will be out in force today. Wearing parkas, gloves, and some calling in sick to work.

Thai people are pretty superstitious. They have 'ghosts' for everything, of all types. There is probably an empty toilet paper roll ghost, responsible for using the last few sheets.

I thought some reflective decal of some ghost they fear may work with the bright lights. Get close enough, and it appears, back off, it's gone.


It just can't look like Al Pacino, Che Guevara, or Clint Eastwood, or they will think it's cool.
 
Is that donald trump walking on the left, at 1:20 mark, white pants and sandals?



trump.JPG
 
Another holiday weekend, and I"m back in the boondocks of the province. Here are dancers in traditional attire in a convoy heading somewhere?


The villages and temples do a lot of processional dancing. I passed through the beginning of one earlier today, but didn't get a chance to save the video.


Here's an example of a larger one. Sometimes hundreds of mostly ladies dancing.

 
I thought some reflective decal of some ghost they fear may work with the bright lights. Get close enough, and it appears, back off, it's gone.

Ghost/Spirit that punishes wrathy people? Would work if people tailgate for impatience/anger?
 
Swim at your own risk...... those aren't discarded Baby Ruths in the water.

That post came right after a page break and I was reading backwards. I was - without thinking - certain you were taking about alligator noses.
 
Creative red light running, or avoidance?

I see this often. This intersection is also bad because the street across the intersection is kind of offset from the street I'm on. When you get a green oncoming traffic from the offset street usually continue to cross, and turn in front of you, using up half of the 30 seconds of green you get.


 
Not my video, but so much daily content that is being wasted...





 
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