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Thailand pics

Made a deal to sell the scooter yesterday. For a foreigner to buy/sell a bike here you have to get a resident paper from immigration. It's under 10 bucks but kinda a PITA to go wait in line at immigration to get it. I paid the extra 6 bucks for an agency to deal with it. He's going to immigration Monday.

Was kinda funny. It was a Russian guy with a Russian lady. He didn't speak a word of English so it was me and the lady communicating. Anyway, he rode the bike around the condo and we were talking. She asked for a discount on the bike, I said no. Then she says discount for my beautiful eyes kinda fluttering her eyes. I said if it's like that you shouldn't have brought him. We both laughed. Then I just showed her the list of msg's of people that have msg'd me (26 people). I think I under priced it by about 100-150usd?? We shook hands and are meeting Tuesday with all of our paperwork.

There's no sales tax here so you can change bikes for 300b/$8.69usd. So it's no big deal to change depreciated bikes every year or 2 and the Aerox hurts my back. If I buy another scooter it's guna have motorcycle style foot pegs (no tray) and exposed handlebars that can easily be adjusted.

An old pic of the scooter.

PXL_20241115_112751672 by Norcalkid, on Flickr
 
PXL_20250112_052315086.MP by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250112_052324880 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250112_054118431 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250112_054137966 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250112_041953364.MP by Norcalkid, on Flickr

All prices listed are always without tip. But I do tip at tourist places.

$4.90usd Sunday night dinner.
PXL_20250112_102735565 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

$4.35 for a haircut
PXL_20250112_034427251 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250112_051259561 by Norcalkid, on Flickr
 
My new ear plugs arrived from Lazada, didn't realize I ordered pink(color was in Thai). So ya, I'll be the dude rockin pink ear plugs. Kinda struggling to find lower profile ear plugs that fit in this new helmet. They all fit in the older 950 but the new AT960 has less room and pushes on the ones that stick out.

PXL_20250113_022431453.MP by Norcalkid, on Flickr
 
Who all is riding with you?? Natives, ex pats, visitors??

9 is impressive to me.
 
Would love to ride there.
 
budman said:
Who all is riding with you?? Natives, ex pats, visitors??

9 is impressive to me.
Click to expand...

This is the smallest Friday ride I have ever went with (I actually like the smaller groups better). There is a scooter group that rides Wednesdays usually 20+ riders. A Thursday group that rides FAST. It's a smaller group and really not appropriate for smaller bikes or 2 up. Then there is a Friday group which is slower, usually some 300cc bikes or 2 up riders. I like this group best.

The scooter group is actually almost 50% big 300/350cc scooters. If I ride with them I stick with them until lunch and the drinking starts and ride home with a buddy rather than sticking with the group. The big bike groups are good about non drinking. The scooter group isn't. They seem to do a normal ride until lunch then it becomes a afternoon bar crawl which I have never stuck around for.

There is kind of a core group of guys you will see across the groups on different bikes. So I always know a couple guys. But the Friday group is the only one I'm really a regular with.

But most of my riding is still with my buddy that has the same Africa Twin as me.

There is a track about 8 miles from here that does track days for about 50 bucks and that Thursday group does track days regularly but I haven't done one.


These are all expat groups with regular visitors like myself sprinkled in. I started going with these groups just to learn new roads but really like handing out with everybody now.
 
I'm really liking having 2 helmets. The Scorpion is really comfortable, has D rings and doesn't fit my coms well. So I use that for my around town helmet. Use the D rings to lock it to the CRF at the beach or supermarket and don't worry about losing my Bluetooth to theft. Then I leave the speakers and stuff permitaly setup in the LS2. The speakers fit it better and no D Rings so I use that helmet when I'm guna need navigation. I still prefer the quieter more comfortable Scorpion but the LS2 is getting better as it gets broken in. I don't see myself going back to one helmet.

PXL_20250505_030353794.MP by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250505_031949534~2 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250505_031326976 by Norcalkid, on Flickr
 
Been stopped in 2 police checkpoints in a week back. Police don't really pull you over here like in the US. It's just big checkpoints where they either are doing helmet tickets or checking drivers license (or late night DUI checkpoints but I'm not out late and don't drink anyway).

PXL_20250506_033026434~2 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250506_033034880 by Norcalkid, on Flickr
 
What a different experience you are living. Pretty damn cool.
 
budman said:
What a different experience you are living. Pretty damn cool.
Click to expand...

I have been doing this, working a rotation since 2016. Love it. Just gotta be deliberate with every penny spent if your only guna work 6 months a year. No new vehicles, no stupid subscriptions, no $12 Starbucks delivered to work, no interest paid/debt, etc. And then there's the simple arbitrage, spend in the East, Work in the West. I really believe anybody can choose to work less but your guna have to do without the fancy newest bike/car/phone/etc (basically anything that depreciates). And honestly, I stay in a crappy little studio condo here. Not for everybody but it allows me to live the way I choose to live.

Sprinkled on me a bit today. Not hard enough to put on rain gear just enough to get home a bit soggy. Tried a new coffee shop today.

PXL_20250511_032022493 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250511_043359352 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250511_042859142 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250511_041800429 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250511_041747584 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250511_041731712 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

PXL_20250511_042050111 by Norcalkid, on Flickr
 
Got totally soaked yesterday, no pics as I had to lock my phone in the box to keep it dry. Gear still drying out. Went to look at a bike in Chonburi. Bike was advertised as a 2018, got there and it was a 2017 klx250sm (2017 carb/2018 fuel injected). I was surprised how different the KLX250 vs my CRF250 feel. I think the CRF is lower HP but if feels torquier. Maybe that's just FI vs carb? but the motors feel very different.

Screenshot_20250512-091207 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

Got pow moo kai dauw ($2.15usd)
PXL_20250512_110621186 by Norcalkid, on Flickr

Dinner was so spicy I had to get DQ to cool the mouth.
PXL_20250512_114403201 by Norcalkid, on Flickr
 
I vacationed in Chaing Mai maybe 20 years ago and had the thought I could retire here today.
Wonderfully warm people and beautiful Buddhist temples. Met a couple riding on the Mae Hong Son Loop and he would build a house every few years and then travel Southeast Asia.

Seems you have a good plan.
 
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