Riding the Honda CBR250

I'm in a bit of a quandary. A few days ago I rented a Honda CBR 250 and immediately fell in love with it. Several of the the rental places here in Chiang Mai have the new Honda and for about 25 bucks you can rent one for a day. That's what I did. Nut and I rode it to Doi Inthanon and back, a total of about 130 miles, and we both loved it. The problem is that I just bought a cherry 2005 Honda Phantom, a comfortable but underpowered cruiser. I've posted photos of the Phantom in here earlier. The thing is virtually brand new and it's a pretty bike equipped with a few farkles that I like and a few that I don't. The Englishman I bought it from put only 1000 km (620 miles) on it in 5 years. I've had it only three weeks and have put 2300 km (1420 miles) on it already. But climbing the rugged hills in northern Thailand with two riders and gear greatly taxes its little 200 cc, old technology engine.

Nut on the CBR 250 at Doi Inthanon (N18.58897 E98.48684)

Me on the CBR 250 at Doi Inthanon

As you can see I am, ah-hem, a bit on the large side for this bike, especially compared to my petite companion. (I know, I know, she's cuter too.) But the 250 can haul my big ass around easily. It's surprising how quiet and powerfully smooth the engine feels. You turn up the throttle and the power comes on quickly. At anywhere in the 4000 to 8000 rpm range its response is quick and solid. Redline is 11,500, or maybe it's 12,500, I forget, but I never got close to that in my test ride. Because I was completely unfamiliar with the bike I never went faster than about 75 mph and then only briefly. There were times when the engine lugged on a steep pitch but if I remembered to keep the revs up high enough this wasn't a problem.

The Phantom has a 200 cc air-cooled, carbureted engine. As I said, it's old technology. The CBR on the other hand is equipped with a fuel injected, dual overhead cam, 4 valve, water cooled, 250 cc powerplant. Both are single cylinder, which makes them narrow and light, but the newer bike has a sophisticated counter-balancer that was designed to eliminate much of the vibration inherent in a single cylinder motor. This seems to work quite well as I detected minimal vibration in the hand grips at any speed. The CBR can also be had with ABS as a 15,000 baht ($500 USD) option.

The reason I didn't buy a CBR at first is because it has a sportier riding position than any bike I've ever ridden and I wasn't sure it would be comfortable enough for a guy of my size and weight on a long ride. My Suzuki V-Strom was a huge bike by comparison and on it I sat almost completely upright. I was able to ride it all day without any fatigue in my arms. The Phantom has a similar seating geometry although it is much lower to the ground. I rode the CBR for about 5 hours that day and while I felt a little discomfort in my wrists it was nothing like I had feared. The seat is comfortable enough. Apparently the pillion seat is okay too because as we hustled along the highway on our return to Chiang Mai Nut yelled out, "Sell the Phantom!"

Today Nut and I took a 130 mile trip on the Phantom. Other than running around town this was our first real outing since the test ride a few days ago. I must confess to being less than impressed with the old thumper. It's noisy, underpowered and clunky. We struggled going up the hills, nothing new there, and when I got it up to the maximum speed we generally travel at, a ripping 50-55 mph, the noise was overwhelming.

So, it appears a trade of some sort is in the future. New CBR250s are not readily available. They're in short supply since Bangkok and the Honda factory there are currently flooded. A Honda salesman we talked to yesterday in Chiang Mai wasn't anxious to sell their  floor model for cash money -- he wanted to sell it on payments so they could make more money on it. In addition, they had a price tag of 129,000 baht ($4,200 USD) on it -the highest priced CBR I've seen anywhere in Thailand.

Buy new, buy used, keep the Phantom? That's my quandary. The CBR250 is a dream to ride. I hear tell they're very popular stateside. And they should be. As a low priced, high performance small-bore bike, it should be an ideal starter bike for new riders.



We're holed up in a nice little hotel, it's actually called Nice Apartments, on Ratchadamnoen Soi 1 (N18.78881 E98.99238). It's costing 330 baht per day. We walk down the street to Sailom Joy for breakfast and across the street to a little hole in the wall reatuarant that serves up some of the best northern Thai food I've ever eaten. Moo kum waan (hot, sweet marinated pork salad) and tom sap (pork bone soup with tons of Thai basil) and grilled fresh tilapia are our faves. Dinner for 2 sets me back about 200 baht - about 6 bucks. Oh, and Sailom Joy makes a pretty tasty, and good looking, latte - take a look.

Bangkok Flooding - an alternate view

The flooding in Thailand and Bangkok is apparently not big news in the states but here though it is the only thing worth reporting and the TV news is now exclusively flood related. The crisis is definitely not over and the situation will probably get much, much worse before it gets better. Even after the water recedes, in a few weeks or months, there will be a multitude of problems to deal with. There are abandoned cars and motos everywhere, there is also uncollected garbage everywhere. The potential for waterborne disease is extremely high. Consider this: the greater Bangkok area contains approximately 15 million people and since the water rose many of those people have toilets that no longer flush. Many areas have had chest high water levels for upwards of 3 weeks. Some Thais, trying always to be cheerful, are playing in this water and allowing their kids to play in it. This article is about the irrepressible Thai optimism that many, including me, find so special and intriguing. Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles by travelers and residents alike. That appellation is not without justification as you'll see.

A couple of weeks ago I emailed to many of you a collection of photos that illustrated the flooding situation in a very dramatic way. Today I present a few more photos to demonstrate that Thai optimism. The photos are screen shots I took last night of TV interviews done by Thai commercial TV reporters of flood victims (November 07, 2011). They present a picture of Thai culture that other news sources probably do not. Remember, these are people who are being interviewed outside of their flooded homes, their flooded markets and places of work -- flood victims. I was struck by how many times the interviewees smiled during the conversations. We have watched a ton of flood coverage and these portraits are quite typical.

And just a few more smiling victims ...

Market scene - notice the vendor at right - he's smiling

Her car is stuck in the water and she's smiling

I find this tendency to put the best face on everything amazing and admirable. It has drawbacks though. Thais sometimes do not face a problem head on but deflect it with a smile or a little white lie. In the current situation some say the government officials are doing this instead of facing and solving the problem at hand. But hell, our government tells us little white lies too. All the time. If you stop and think about it some of those lies weren't so little nor were they very "white". Just sayin'

Nut and I are currently in Chiang Mai motorcycling and enjoying the balmy, dry weather. I don't know when we'll be able to go back to Bangkok. Our place is still dry and has so far miraculously escaped flooding. But there are still mega-cubic meters of water trapped north of the city that have yet to reach the ocean.

At least the rain has stopped. That's something.

We Tour Northern Thailand by Motorcycle

We take leave of Udon Thani

I've experienced some of the best motorcycling in the world in the past few days. The new Phantom is running well, nothing like those miserable rentals of the past two seasons. It is comfortable enough and gets between 60-70 mpg riding 2-up. I do wish for more power at times but, hey, it is what it is and its miserly gas consumption makes up for the lack of power to some extent. (Gas costs ~ $3.60/gallon here.)  I found a little shop in Udon that swapped out the silly Harley platform foot rests for folding foot pegs (a must for touring 2-up), yanked the fake whitewalls and the crash bar, which was much too low for safe cornering at speed. I gladly gave the mechanic the bars and foot rests in partial trade for his almost 2 hours of work. The bill for the whole deal, including a chain adjustment and lube, was 150 baht, about $5 USD.

We packed up and left Udon a week ago visiting Loei and the park at Phu Kradeung before heading west to Nam Pat via Route 12. I had driven this same road the first time I was in Thailand but I was in a hurry to get my clunky rental bike back to Udon before it blew up. This time through I was able to more fully enjoy the hills and forests bordering this wonderful highway. Nut had never been there and despite the fact she was chilly at 2400 ft above sea level she remarked several times that she was impressed with the beauty of the area.

Nut takes a call from her daughter at Phu Kradeung town

On the road to Nam Pat

We showed up at our favorite little guesthouse in Nam Pat and found our friend Al sitting there on the deck enjoying the evening air. He had departed Udon a couple of days before us. We had dinner together, shared some drinks on the deck afterward and made plans to meet up in Nan in a few days.

I toured the area around Nam Pat next day by myself because Nut was reluctant to get back on the bike after the longish day to get here: in short, her butt (her ตูด dtuut) was sore. I visited the Sirikit and Din Dams on a beautiful summer day. It was 94 in the shade that afternoon but the air up here is fairly dry so it's much more comfortable than steamy Bangkok. The region is famous for its teak woods and right now the fields are lush with the ripening rice harvest. It's a wonderful place for motorcycling.

Rest stop at Keuon Din on Sirikit Lake (N17.82585 E100.39808)

Obviously, this topiary sign says Keuon Din (เขื่อน ดิน), right? (meaning: earth dam)
(My Thai studies are temporarily on hold -- too much travel and preoccupation with the flood.)

Elephant topiary - Sirikit Dam

Campground outhouse at Lam Nam National Park near Nam Pat (N17.76680 E100.49244)

Floating house - Sirikit Lake

Next day Nut and I packed up for our trip to Nan. I decided to go the same way we did last year, that is, via Route 1339 north from Nam Pat. It meant we'd have to wait for a ferry to take us across Lake Sirikit (N18.04856 E100.69145). It was worth the wait because the 1339 is an absolutely beautiful highway. It features rolling hills and deep woods, lots of gentle curves, and many shady stretches that are nice and cool even in heat of the afternoon. And the short section of gravel I recalled from last year is now paved with smooth new asphalt.

After a short wait the "ferry" came to take us across Sirikit Lake to the continuation of Route 1339 at Ban Pak Nai. We've done this crossing before but it's always fun to see these minimalist ferries take cars and trucks across the lake. The boat pulling us is powered by a 5 hp lawn mower engine equipped with a long shaft propeller. It is not a fast traverse. One guy somehow does it all with some very clever docking maneuvers at each unloading site.

We arrived at our usual hotel in Nan, the Eurngkum Guesthouse (350 baht/night), and again met up with Al who had arrived the day before. We all went out to eat and during dinner he told me about some of the great motorcycling to be had around Nan. We made plans for a day long ride the following day. Nut again declined to come along preferring instead to get her hair done and then to hang out in the hotel room watching news of the continuing drama in Bangkok. It was just as well because the roads we traveled would have been much more difficult with a heavily loaded bike.

We first drove north on Route 1080 out of Nan to the little town of Pua where we turned east on Route 1256. This is a huge rice growing region and the harvest is just beginning in some places. Most of harvesting is still done by hand. The stalks are cut with a hand sickle, laid to dry in the sun for a time, then gathered up and hauled to be de-hulled and further processed. The coarse rice stalks are left in the field and stacked here and there for use later as animal feed. As you can see it's a very labor intensive process.

Rice harvesters near Pua - Route 1256

Rice harvesters near Pua - Route 1256

Just after I took these photos the road began to climb. And climb. And climb. It climbed until we reached the height of land in a chilly, cloudy rest stop 5400 ft above sea level. While the views from all sides were spectacular, we were in a bit of a hurry to leave because rain was starting to fall. We suspected this was only because of the altitude, these high mountains making their own localized weather, so we quickly raced down the road and back into the sunshine and warmth, one of the few times in my life I've actively pursued heat for its own sake. The few raindrops that hit me on the way down evaporated quickly in the warm sun. We pulled into the Boklua View Resort for lunch -- it's a very nice place with several beautiful and very private brick bungalows that rent for 1600 baht per night ($52 USD), which is fairly expensive by Thailand standards but beats the hell out of many American hotels I've stayed in for a lot more dough.

View from Route 1256 near the height of land

View from Route 1256 near Doi Phu Kha NP

Homer friend Al at the height of land - Route 1256 - Doi Phu Kha NP   (N19.17592 E101.10799)

Road hazards like this one are common - Route 1256 - Doi Phu Kha NP

A view from Route 1256

We had lunch on this beautiful deck - Boklua View Resort

After lunch we turned south on Route 1081. Al had promised that this road was as good or better than Route 1256 and after running along the ridge top along the highway for 20 or 30 km I had to agree. Big vistas, nice curves, no traffic, smooth pavement -- a biker's dream come true.

A view off Route 1081 south of Bo Kluea

A beautiful biking road - Route 1081 south of Bo Kluea

Route 1081

We were back in Nan all too quickly. We had done a 200 km (125 mile) loop over some of the finest motorcycling roads I've yet ridden in Thailand. For those of you that have Google Earth installed, here is a link to a KML file derived from my GPS track of the trip that's viewable in Google Earth.

Below is a screen shot of the Route 1256 portion of the trip. If by some streak of good luck you happen to find yourself in Thailand looking for some great motorcycling, you should head to Nan for a few days and do this tour. It is really special.

Screen  shot of our trip - the height of land on Route 1256 is at right

After showers and a nap we all went to the Nan riverside to watch the paddling teams practice for the upcoming boat races. This is a big annual event and already today the town is filling up with spectators and teams from provinces in Thailand and neighboring countries. The races are this weekend.

The Nan River at sunset - November 2, 2011

We plan to be in Chiang Mai by Sunday night. Al is going to Chiang Rai for a few days so we'll be saying goodbye to him for a while. Loi Krathong is coming up as is the Royal Flora Horticultural Festival. Chiang Mai will be hopping next week for sure.

Udon Thani is dry and beautiful

Had my first motorcycle ride with friends today -- three bad boys from Homer, Albert, DC, Al and I rode together to a favorite spot about 35 miles south of here, Phu Failom National Park. I've posted pictures from there in the past and I'll no doubt post a few more in the future because it is such a nice spot and within easy riding distance from this city, our "northern headquarters". We had some good Thai food at the restaurant there at road's end, argued about which route we should have taken to get there and speculated on which route we should follow to get back. This time of year it's all good though. The weather is perfect, temps about 85, no wind, partly cloudy, and everything is green as hell after the rainy season. It was a great ride.

Three bad boys from Homer at Phu Failom Park
(N17.16164 E102.69558)

Rice paddy on Rte 2313 south of Udon Thani

The other good news is that Nut is finally ready to leave Bangkok. Barring some unforeseen difficulty, she'll be on the 8 o'clock overnight train arriving here tomorrow morning. I'm relieved of course. I've been in a funny place since we separated. I've gone through several kinds of, let's call it emotional unrest, since last Friday. I've been worried about her and have missed her, sure, but I've also been angry that she had to stubbornly push this to the limit. Now that the water has reached the streets right outside our apartment block she finally thinks it might be time to leave. I've been begging, cajoling, and warning her about the terrible waterborne diseases to which she will be exposed if she stayed in my attempts to convince her to leave, all without success. Better late than never is all I can say.

In her defense, I must say that she was only trying to protect our place and her things. She has more to lose than I do if the place gets inundated. When we returned to Bangkok a couple of weeks ago neither of us thought Bangkok would actually flood. Now, that seems inevitable. The only questions are, how bad will it be, how much of our stuff will get destroyed, how long will it last, how long until things return to normal?

Most of our other friends have left by now too. Henry was holding out for some reason but he finally came to his senses and booked a flight out today. Homer friend Scott was headed to Bangkok for some dental work. He wisely decided to wait until the crisis ends. Our thoughts are with the gals at the Gecko Bar, Geni and Pookie, who live in Bangkok and cannot leave. Hang in there ladies.

Daily I watch scenes unfolding in the English language Bangkok Post and watch Thai TV. It seems endless. The suffering, the wreckage of homes and livelihoods, automobiles, farm animals, pets, all lost — by some estimates the disaster could last into the New Year. I'll take the Red Shirt rallies any day compared to this.

Interesting trees - Phu Failom Park (Albert photo)

Fleeing the flood?

Nut on the sidewalk in front of Tang Hua Seng

Homer  friend Albie and I are about to flee Bangkok for the safety of Udon Thani. The flooding we've been worrying about for the past few weeks seems unavoidable at this point.

The Thai government has up to now sacrificed the outlying communities in an effort to preserve Bangkok, the economic heart and capitol of Thailand. Some places just a mile or two north of here (Banglamphu) have had chest high water for over 2 weeks. The city center is protected by dikes and flood control gates on its north side. As the water continues to rise so too does the political pressure to open the gates to allow this part of Thailand, the only part in the southern region still above water, to slowly flood. Yesterday the PM formally requested the mayor of Bangkok to open those gates. If we get 1-3 feet of water here this area could make New Orleans and Katrina look like a  backyard pool party by comparison. There are 9 million people in Bangkok proper, 15 million in the greater Bangkok area. It could get very ugly.

Phra Sumen Fort on a cloudy evening

I've been torn about leaving up to now because Nut refuses to come along. Her entire family is here, several of them are already flooded out, and she wants to protect her/our stuff. Her daughter is pregnant and their place also is flooded already. If I can get out of here today, her daughter and boyfriend, or her sister, can retreat to our place and they'll stay together. I tell her if the floods actually come it could become very difficult here for a long time -- no electricity, no water for drinking or showering, and food will become scarce as well. But she remains adamant about staying. Knowing that I'll do some good by leaving her here, I finally made the decision to get out if I can. She will come north to rejoin me when the crisis is past. It remains to be seen if we can get out by train. As of yesterday the trains were still running but many highways are already closed.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I finally got implants installed the other day. I put it off for a month because I was dreading it --- I felt like a real wuss around it. I hemmed and hawed about getting implants vs a less expensive and less invasive bridge because of this apprehension. I guess because I've been going to the same dentist in the same office in Homer for 20 years, I had a hard time being able to trust some unknown, unproven, and foreign, dentist with the delicate job of drilling into my jawbone. But the guy I picked is very experienced, with over 2,000 implants done to date, seemingly competent, and he used some super sophisticated CT equipment to help him place the implants. Nut's niece has been going to his clinic, the Phetburi Dental Clinic, for years -- that's how I learned about him.

So, I finally decided to just figuratively grit my teeth and get it done. I had come prepared to spend a couple of hours in the chair but the entire "ordeal" was over in 30 minutes flat! I never felt the slightest twinge of pain, just a bit of pressure when he did the drilling. I'm to go back in 2 months for the actual crowns to be placed. Cost for 2 teeth: about $4K. I chose American implants for an additional $500 each as the dentist said they were better than the cheaper ones from Korea. Whether that's really true or just some Thai feeling about Korea I don't know but I decided to spend the extra money. It will sure be nice to toss these temporaries, these fucking "flippers", into the trashcan.

I've been reading some great books lately. My Thai studies have been pushed aside temporarily by motorcycles, Nut, flooding, and reading, not necessarily in that order. I just finished a novel by Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong, about World War I. An excellent read and one that makes me want to sample some of his other stuff. I'm almost through Amitav Ghosh's The glass palace, a novel set in SE Asia during WWII, and another great read.

I bought e-book editions, Kindle editions actually, of several other books from Amazon.com that I'm reading on my Netbook in the Google Chrome browser. I never thought I'd like reading that way but it works surprisingly better than expected. I can carry some otherwise heavy tomes along on my travels without adding an ounce to my pack.



It will be good to get back into the cooler weather up north. Usually by now the dry, winter season is governing Bangkok's weather but because the rainy weather has persisted into late October it's been consistently too warm and too humid for this farang. But of course I'll miss Nut. And I'll worry about her. But her family is close and they'll stick together through this. I'm sure she will do her best to protect our stuff and her turf. I hope the crisis passes soon and that there will be no flooding in our apartment.

An evening at the Gecko Bar with friends - Henry, Albie, Nut and Al

Bangkok Flooding Seems Imminent

We took  a short river trip on a water taxi on the Chao Phraya River this evening. The area we're in, Banglamphu in Bangkok proper, has so far escaped the floods that have inundated much of Bangkok in past weeks. Today we went shopping for a motorcycle jacket for Nut and just as we were about to head home she got a phone call from her sister, Aouw, telling us she had heard from someone at the Phranok Market that the Chao Phraya River had overflowed near our place and that it was raining furiously over here, again.

We rushed home and were relieved to find that the rain had stopped quickly and the river had already receded quite a bit. Still, the threat of flooding was now, in our minds at least, much more real than it had been before. We went to the riverside to see what we could see and decided to grab a water taxi and head up north, toward Nonthaburi, where the flooding was more serious. Here are a few photos from our trip. They were  taken in fading light near dusk on October 19, 2011.

Nut poses at Phra Sumen Park on the Chao Phraya riverside

River walkway flooding - Chao Phraya River - Phra Sumen Park

Rama VIII Bridge from the water taxi

Flooded building on the Chao Phraya River

A beautiful evening despite the flooding - Chao Phraya River - Bangkok, Oct 19, 2011

We went north for a few stops but decided we'd better get back while the getting was good. I definitely did not want to get trapped in one of the already flooded northern suburbs seeing as night was closing in and the taxis were due to stop running at 7 o'clock. Better to be back at home, come what may. So we jumped off the northbound taxi and grabbed a southbound one as soon as the darkness made picture taking difficult.  Here's a shot of the temple at Phra Sumen Park at dusk:

Temple - Phra Sumen Park - Bangkok, Oct 19, 2011

At this point, the situation here is the worst it's been since we returned from Udon. Opinions about whether Bangkok will flood are divided but Nut is convinced it will happen. The Chao Phraya is an estuary; ocean tides periodically raise its level for several miles upstream. The current high tide is running at about 3 meters but next weekend the high tides will peak at 3.5 meters and maintain that level for several days. Those tides coupled with the already maxed out water levels that exist in the river could indeed spell disaster for Bangkok. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Right now Nut is over at Aouw's helping her move things to the upper level away from the water that today began to encroach on the first floor. I stayed home to hit the sack early because I got two implants in my upper jaw this morning and I don't want to do anything to compromise that operation. I hope Nut will be safe and can get back here alright. Earlier this evening  I noticed for the first time that our apartment block is  at a slightly higher elevation than the streets surrounding it. Let's hope that if the shit hits the fan, our place will be among those that escape severe damage.

Bangkok prepares for flooding

Park on the Chao Phraya Riverfront

Nut and I returned to Bangkok a  few days ago to prepare our place for possible high water. It hasn't happened yet. Although the water has not yet reached its crest, government talking heads assure us that they can take care of it. Others are not so sure.

The flood crest might reach 2 meters higher than the current level of the river. There is not 2 meters of seawall available to contain that much water. Nevertheless, life goes on and it's been pretty much business as usual.

The rain swollen Chao Phraya River with the Rama VIII bridge in the background

As the pundits argue about how, when, or if central Bangkok will flood several northern suburbs are already having problems with bursting levees and high water. About 100 crocodiles escaped from a zoo and have many citizens scared to venture out into the water. Some experts have said these crocs are "not fierce". Gee, that's encouraging. Then there's the fact that Thailand is home to many species of snakes, some poisonous, and some that live in water. More food for thought as the water levels rise.

Some Bangkok shop owners in my neighborhood have taken matters into their own hands and have built walls in front of their doorways.

The fact that these are public sidewalks doesn't deter them one bit. The police are something of a joke as they seldom do anything much in the way of law enforcement. They are simply not a factor in this sort of thing.

Here is a link to a more complete blog with some great pictures and commentary. It's the latest entry in a blog called Women Learning Thai, and some men too. In it Cat details the lack of bottled drinking water in the stores and other shortcomings of the "disaster relief plan" for the Thai capitol. People are predictably hoarding certain commodities like rice and apparently water.

For now we're all safe and dry. I would like to leave before the situation deteriorates but Nut insists that I go on back to Udon ahead of her. She wants to stay and protect our place. I think it could get very tough here without electricity or drinkable water. We buy  our water from one of several coin-op electric deionizers in our neighborhood. Needless to say these won't be working if the electricity goes out. I worry about leaving her but she has family scattered here and there and isn't concerned about getting stuck in the city.

In the papers this morning we read the Thai military wants to declare a State of Emergency for Bangkok. What that might mean for our travel plans is anybody's guess.







Oh, and this tidbit. In an effort to move water out of the rivers and into the ocean more quickly, the Thai government has commissioned whole fleets of boats to help "pump" the water out of several rivers. The idea is this: the boats are tied to a dock facing upstream, the engine is fired up and the propellers engaged to run at speed. Seeing as the boats cannot move the props push the water downstream. How much difference can this make? Good question.

I posted a link to a video of this on my Facebook page. Check it out if you like by going to me page or you can try this link: Bangkok boat pumping water out to sea.

Homeless people behind sandbags under the Pinklao Bridge