A horse, a horse, my convienantly located hotel for a horse

I’m at day 8 now, I knew getting hold of a suitable bike would not be straight forward so I am not too stressed about being bike less after 8 days. Problem being larger bikes are few and far between in Thailand with the added complication that to travel to a different country the bike must be registered (or with a green book as it is called here). Most of the larger bikes have been imported directly from Japan and are not registered, this does not necessarily mean that they have been stolen it is just larger bikes particularly European and American bikes are very expensive to register between Bht 75,000 and Bht 100,000 ( about AUD 2,500 and AUD 3,000 ) a significant cost to the bike. The registration process takes between 4 and 6 weeks which would put a severe dent into my schedule.
The legalities are a little vague I understand that it is illegal to have an unregistered vehicle and if you are stopped by plod you are up for a Bht 300 fine , about AUD 10 ( cheaper out of the city ), oddly you can only be stopped and fined once a day. So by my reckoning you would have to be stopped no less than 250 times to make it worthwhile getting the bike registered.
I would be able to ride the bike in Thailand and have to cough up Bht 300 every time I’m stopped but will not be able to leave the country. Needless to say the registration here is no resemblance to the rego we have in Australia (or tax in the UK) it is a one off thing which lasts the entire life of the bike and does not cost anything (as far as I know) to transfer. It sounds like the non registration fine is just another way of swelling the coffers of the local government which I think is corrupt and disgraceful and I’m glad that we don’t allow anything like that in a civilised country like Australia.
The quest for a bike has not gone well, I had a trip out to Saphaphon, a half hour taxi ride, last Wednesday to a shop called Red Baron Motorcycles, as I understand the largest large motorcycle dealer in Thailand. There were about 10 biggish bikes there including a 2001 Yamaha XVS1100 Dragstar which looked promising. With green book and in pretty good nick, low k’s (although I understand ‘clocking’ is a common practice). I started it up and gave it a good once over and it looked pretty sound, a bit pricy at Bht320,000 but I was expecting that and there should be room for negotiation. The guy I spoke to at the shop didn’t speak much English but I managed to get the name of the sales manager who would be in the next day and he spoke pretty good English. So happy with the fact I might have found the bike at the first shot I travelled back to the hotel to put feelers out for getting a rack (I’ve been told virtually impossible in Thailand). I Rang the sales manager the next day and was disappointed to find out the bike was not for sale, It was owned by someone else who had brought it in for a service. Disappointment turned to shock when you have to wonder what sort of shop it is where you take your bike in for a service only to have the shop try to sell it. It’s a bit more complicated than that, the bike had been there for some time and the sales manager is convinced the owner wants to sell it, but has not been able to get hold of them.
After another internet search I have managed to find a contact called Terry who runs an operation called Asiabike.com, a fellow pom who appears to be a kind of link man between buyers and sellers of serious bikes and gets a commission from the seller. I haven’t met him yet, I am meeting him tomorrow night at one of the MTS (Mass transit system – Bangkok underground) and we are going to look at two 600 cc Honda Shadows.
He did explain that the purchasing of a bike in Thailand is full of pitfalls which comes as no surprise. If there is money sloshing round, there are hands out to grab it.
I did go and have a look at three bike shops on Sunday ( thinking they would be open ) they are located side by side in an area of the city called RCA ( Royal City Avenue ) apparently a major nightlife area, but completely dead on a Sunday avo. There were two Harley shops and one Ducati shop. The Ducati shop had a 996 in the window and about 3 old classics, I couldn’t make out what they were, the Harley shops had about 8 bikes between them, not an extensive collection. Ducati’s are rare and expensive and just not practical for the trip, I did see a Ducati Monster on the road very near the MTS station, the first Duc I’ve seen here. I wasn’t planning to go over to the dark side by buying a Harley, however according to Terry a Harley Sportster it might be the way to go, especially if I want something already registered and are priced in the same sort of region as the Dragstar and I would hazard a guess at being easier to sell. Anyway, my trip is stalled for the moment until I can get a bike sorted hence the multitude of blogging material.
I’m still at the same hotel and contemplating moving somewhere a little cheaper but I have got into the routine of going for a swim at 7:00 AM, the only time the pool is empty and it’s doing me a lot of good. Ad has recommended another hotel which is almost ½ price and connects to the BTS (Sky train) but does not have a pool. As I said before the hotel is OK, the room is nice and it is a great location but it has an uncomfortable feel about it, the staff are a bit up themselves (apart from the cleaners who are very friendly) it is very touristy and there’s a bloody Elvis impersonator in the Bar three times a week. Yes a Thai Elvis, it is either a syrup or he has to spend the entire day travelling round with that ridiculous barnet. The other good news is the parcel I posted to myself to avoid a horrendous excess luggage charge on the plane has been lost, so there goes my boots and all the presents I was bringing for Kwan’s friends and family. It was insured and I have tried to ring Australia post, my call was valued but not valued enough to be answered.
This morning I went shopping down Silom Road to Robinson shopping centre, I don’t do much shopping, I have just about all I need and I can’t carry a great deal on the bike but I was after a plastic plate and a knife of all things. My Swiss army knife was with my boots so that’s in a temporal vortex somewhere. It has been such a long time since I have been doing the ‘living in a hotel’ thing I forgot that there are a few minor things that are an inconvenience. The street food here is great and there is a whole plethora of interesting fruits easily and cheaply available, my favourite being Rambutan or (Ngor – with a rising tone in Thai) which are virtually unheard of in Australia and if you can find them they are expensive and not very fresh. There is a street vendor just outside the hotel with a barrow full of them. She complains every time because I only buy ½ kilo. Anyway, limited resources of the hotel room not having a plate or a knife to cut them a shopping trip to Silom road and the supermarket in the basement of the Robinson department store.
I was also on the look for a new Bangkok map; the one I have is a bit old now and is ripped so I thought I’d invest in a new one. The old map had the BTS and MTS lines on them but not the stations; the reasoning behind not putting this information on a map just defies logic. I managed to get hold of a new map which has the stations marked on but not their names.
I did manage to find a shop which sells maps (maps are quite a mysterious concept to Thai’s) although it was interesting finding it. The Thai word for map is pantii, so I asked the shopping centre that I was looking to buy pantii, the result is almost too “carryonesque” to be believed.
Oooh!!! Matron !!!

Keep upright.