The Battle of Nepal Cargo

Managed to retrieve my bike from customs. Somehow.

I left the guesthouse in the morning with my carnet, keys, and my small camera and set off for the airport cargo terminal. I waved down a taxi (very easy to do in Thamel, they are everywhere) and told him to take me to the airport cargo terminal. He replies with "ok yes!" and we set off, I then remind him to turn the meter on.

We end up at the passenger terminal and I tell him again we need to go to the airport cargo terminal, he says "ok yes!" and then theres more confusion, he asks someone, and then they point to the building behind us. But that's the cargo offices, not the cargo terminal, I tell him I've already been there and got my documents and that I really actually do want to go to the cargo terminal. He reverses over to the cargo offices, I get out and ask a guard how to tell the taxi driver where the cargo terminal is, he has no idea, I ask another official looking guy inside, he explains sort of, but another guy butts in and says "cargo terminal? I know!", excellent, so we go outside and he says "this is your taxi?", I say yes, then there was  some confusion at the door with him standing there, I jump in and expect him to tell the driver where to go. He sits in the taxi also.

We get to the cargo terminal gate, I pay the taxi and we get out. This guy marches up to the gate past all the other people wanting to help me. Some more confusion at the gate when appanently they don't want to let him in, but he gets in after someone else on the inside says something.

Now we march over to the customs office (or some office) with a bunch of terminals and people typing furiously into an old text base database application. I laugh to myself at how old the software must be and then remembered how often the newer looking software I used to work with actually worked.

Now Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy talks to one person for a while and then says they want 10r to photocopy my passport. I counter by producing a photocopy of my passport I had previously obtained, a saving of 10r. Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy then goes to the other wall in the room, and starts talking to one of the people at the terminals. I still have no idea what's actually going on.

I'm watching Mr. TerminalGuy type furiously, save/load files, log in and out of the database. After about thirty minutes he has a printout which he then staples to the airway bill and a few other miscianious bits of paper and gets me to sign. Ok, we're almost there.

Then Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy and Mr. TerminalGuy lead me out of the room and tell me I'd need to pay storage fees (I was aware of that) and then I ask "how much would that be?". Mr TerminalGuy thinks for a bit, and then types 8000 on his phone. I laugh, but leave it, because I know it will never be near that amount.

Mr. TerminalGuy and Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy start conversing in Nepalese, and Mr. TerminalGuy hands over 1500r to Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy and then tells me to wait over in the warm sun for a while.

So I wait.

And I keep waiting. About an hour and a half of waiting in fact. There are many facebook and google plus posts and comments from me to confirm this.

After a while Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy comes out to find me and I ask "so they are getting the bike out now?" and he says, "yes, come with me". So we go up to the fenced off area in the warehouse and he wanders in and tells me to stay at the gate. Eventually he comes back and just gives a small wave to me. And five minutes later the crate with my bike is out. Curious. But then most of the other people standing around got their stuff at a similar time too.

The crate arrives! Hey that's my name!

Now the crate gets crowbared open and a crowd of 20 nepalis has gathered around to see the big reveal of what's inside. All the plastic is torn off and the crate is slowly taken apart bit by bit until there's no more of it. Well that's my $300 crate gone... No idea where it went, I guess they took it all to sell the wood again, which is what I wanted to do.

Half de-crated.

Now my bike is sitting there without a front wheel. I get out the tools and ask if they have something to prop the bike up with. Nope, lots of discussion which I wait for but nothing comes forward. I could have used a bit of crate but who knows where that is now. I get my little prop stand out of my tool kit (it's not as stable on this though), and ask the three people near the bike to help lift it up. Who knows what they were actually doing but I managed to get it under the bike by lifting from the handlebars.

I then start trying to put the front wheel on with all these nepali hands flying in trying to help, I think, or just pointing and commenting to others. I get the front axel halfway in but it won't go all the way because the bike isn't quite high enough, I ask them all to help lift the bike again so I can just get the axel in, but somehow they manage to drag it around the floor slightly, almost knocking it off the stand (because they weren't actually lifting it) and getting the front wheel and axel in some odd position that may have damaged it. I lift the bike up by the handlebars again and move the stand back slightly to get the height I needed.

Note to self: Nepali help is... Possibly the opposite of help.

Now the front wheel is on, I start bolting all the other bits together. While I'm doing this there are lots of poeple gathered round picking up bits of my stuff, examining it closely, folding things that aren't meant to be folded, opening and closing stuff. I just ignore it and go about my business.

After about an hour of bolting stuff up while dodging nepalis it starts to look like my bike again. I tell Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy that it's all done and he says ok follow me, we march off to the customs office to get Mr. TerminalGuy, then for some reason we back out into the hall, and then the stairway, and then halfway up the stairs, where they have this long discussion about how much I need to pay, but they never actually tell me an amount. I tell them I have very little money on me anyway. And they offer to take me to an ATM, plus I need to get fuel too because the bike is empty. Sure, why not. I thought it would be a taxi, but no, Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy gets hold of a bike, a 180cc thing and he can barely get his feet on the ground while on it. I ask him if he's ok to ride it, which he says yes, of course. I jump on the back, and then we set off on a very jerky wobbly ride to the airport ATM. I note that I'll need a change of underwear.

He drops me off at one ATM and I try to get 10000r out, but this one won't let me get it the money out. I turn around and tell him I can't get that much out, then I ask, "how much do I actually need to get out?". Now it's at this point he stops speaking English. We rope in a few other people and he has these long discussions trying to explain why it's 10000r to people, and then they all tell me that the total cost may not be 10000r, but that I could use the extra money for fuel or food or anything. I keep trying to ask what is the actual amount in fees that I need to pay, but nope, keeps coming back to 10000r. I tell my translater that I know he's ripping me off, but before it was 8000, now it's 10000, and I just want to know the actual amount to get the bike out of customs because I may already have that in my wallet. I know he has the documentation in his pocket and I say can I see it, but he pretends it's not there of course. So now he's annoyed with me and no longer saying anything in English. We go up to the next ATM, which works, I get 10000r out which I do plan on using for food, and then hide a lot of it in various pockets.

We then set off on the bike again, him almost falling over with me on the back, I think we're going to get petrol, but nope, we end up back at the cargo terminal. We to back inside and try and find Mr. TerminalGuy. And I start asking, where are all the reciepts for this, there's some discussion and then they hand them all over. 1795worth, just like I thought.

Now the problem is they're holding on to the bit of paper that lets me get the bike out of the customs lot, plus, I still need fuel.

We end up outside where there's no one in earshot again. I then said, that I know they are ripping me off, and I'd gladly pay double for their help, but not 8000. Looooooooonnngggg nepali discussion, Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy is now wearing his cranky pants and almost jumping up and down. I'm laughing at it all anyway. Eventually Mr. TerminalGuy counters with 7500. I laugh again and say no, How about 4000 (they have helped after all). More crankypants, more discussion, more laughing. 7000 from them. At that point I give up because they're being jerks from jerktown and they still have the paper I need to get out. I get the 7000 out of my wallet and you should have seen Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy grab for it! I did actually comment to Mr. TerminalGuy about Mr. JumpInTaxiGuys grabbing for the money.

Then I say, I still don't have fuel. So Mr. TerminalGuy asks Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy. No wait. You know what, I'm changing their names. Jerk1 is JumpInTaxiGuy, Jerk2 is TerminalGuy. So Jerk2 asks Jerk1 why I still didn't have fuel cause that was one of the things we were meant to get. More nepali discussion, but then eventually I'm on the back of the bike with Jerk1 and we go to the petrol station. Jerk1 says to give him 500r, I say no, the pump is still counting. Fuel comes to 370r for 3 litres, and then Jerk1 goes for my change and keeps it! It's amazing that he's being like this right in front of me. I wish I got a photo of him so I could plaster his name all over the place for being a jerk, and I wish there were jerk police to report these guys to. What jerks.

Back on the bike to the cargo terminal with my expensive fuel, Jerk1 gets stopped at the gate, some angry words from one of the gate guards to Jerk1. I'm allowed in anyway so I go in, no idea if Jerk1 got in, never saw him again. I only see Jerk2 as he hands my documents back and gives me the ticket out.

Inside I put the fuel into my bike, wheel it outside, put my motorbike gear on, all while a crowd of nepalis are following. I start the bike (it works!) and then one of the guys that was standing around my bike the whole time says "porter charge" (jerk3). I pretend not to understand this, and just keep putting my gear on and then ride to freedom!

But I'm stopped slightly before the gate, oh right, ticket out. They check it but it takes a little while, and in this time Jerk3 has caught up and says "porter charge" again. This time the ticket checking guy is there (niceguy1) and he translates for me, but is laughing because he knows they're being jerks. But they're persistant jerks. I'm not sure if Jerk1 or Jerk2 were going to pay them. So I get some money out, 85r, and try to hand it to them, but they didn't want to take it! I said "if you don't want it I'm going!", and niceguy1 is there telling me to go anyway.

Six hours after leaving the guesthouse I'm back into the freedom of crazy traffic that is Nepal. All up it was 7500r to get my bike out which is about $90. All this from asking directions. What jerks.

Here's some calming pictures of Kathmandu from the top of the guesthouse:

Looking north, away from Thamel.

Looking East.

Looking Northwest.

Prayer flags.

Nighttime north.

Monkey temple all lit up in the distance.

Chatuchak Market

Yesterday I went out to Chatuchak Market again to look for silk. It's the largest market in Thailand. It's big. I got lost several times. There's a clock tower in the middle which I could see from the BTS, but I never actually got near it.

One of the roads through it.

The other direction.

The map...

There's LOTS of clothes here. Lots of them advertise being able to make copies of American brands. There are hundreds of tshirt stalls so if you need one this is the place to go. A lot of them have signs up saying no photos and no copy, but I'm sure half of it is copied from elsewhere. There was even one tshirt stall dedicated to rage faces.

Through it there are various coffee and other drink stalls, and some places selling food, massage stalls, a large group of pet stalls. Most of the stalls are grouped together by type (as shown by the different colours on the map) but there are different stalls all over the place too. Lots of things being sold here, although slightly more expensive than in other shops, but you're meant to bargain a little bit.

Lots and lots of rows like this.

100% fakesilk.

I was there to pick up some silk. I wanted real silk but I thought the likelihood of finding that was quite low. I found the above 100% Thai silk stall and they wanted 150baht (about $5AU ) per large piece. I picked out four bits and got them down to 500baht for the lot, not really trying. I'm sure I could have got it for less but I kept getting lost while looking around and I was only interesting in finding the store again so I could get it and then get out.

It is fake silk though, I tried the burn test to verify. But I didn't really expect to find real silk at that price. The real silk goes for around $30/meter from what I understand. I should have got it in the north when I was there. I avoided buying it in the north east because I read that it's produced over in the north west near Chiang Mai, but once I got there I didn't see any. There was also a silk farm in Cambodia which you could tour, but I didn't see any at the markets there either (didn't want to pay at the farm!).

I have since got some real silk from the Jim Thompson store, it's expensive there but most likely real. I will check however...

DOOPI!

A cafe hidden away inside the market.

My market haul! A lot of this stuff is sold all over Thailand/Laos/Cambodia.

My lunch. Some kind of chicken chilli fishball noodle soup. No idea what it's called, but I've only seen it in Bangkok (doesn't mean it isn't elsewhere)

So after the markets I headed up the road to get a photo of this!

The elephant building! Not the best from this angle, but I wasn't walking any further yesterday.

After market day I headed back to the hotel to remove my mashed up toe from my stupid shoes. I solved that problem today when I visited The North Face store and spent up big on better shoes and a jumper for Nepal.

All that's left to do is to wait for the sprockets to be delivered tomorrow, buy a chain and brake pads, pack, and then wait until it's time to fly to "Phase 3: South Asia. Part I: Nepal. Esquire.". Yes, that's the title I'm going with.

My bike goes to Nepal!

I've been dealing with Trans Air Cargo to air-freight my bike into Nepal. I had been dealing with Kittima which is who everyone else mentions on Horizons Unlimited. I started the process just before I entered Thailand. I crossed the border on the 1st, had the required documentation to her by the 3rd, and by the 9th it was all crated up and booked on a flight for the 12th. The only delay after I had all the documentation together was the dangerous goods certificate, but that only took a couple of days and then I got notice from Kittima that I should be at Trans Air Cargo on the 8th at 10am with the bike.

So on the morning of the 8th, I realised I didn't know where to go exactly. So I checked their website to see if I could figure out where, and spotted the head office address in the middle of Bangkok, a main warehouse and a customs warehouse near the airport, and two other office addresses. I tried calling Kittima a number of times that morning to verify where exactly I should go but she would not answer. I called Trans Air Cargo but no one wanted to commit to an address without Kittima being there. I thought this may delay my shipment because it would be a dangerous goods inspection like in Australia when they must be present to check the bike over before shipping. If I missed this appointment I figured I may have to hang around for a week for another appointment to be booked. 

As it as getting closer to 10am I just decided I should just get to the warehouse address, that's the most reasonable destination to go to, but I miss-underestimated how hard it would be to set my GPS to navigate me there. After trying to find the location via eyeing similar locations in Google maps, and then matching the streets in the GPS I eventually found the warehouse location. 

Just as it hit 10am Kittima arrived at work and responded to an email and gave me the head office address in the center of Bangkok. I called back quickly and asked what happens if I miss 10am, which I already had, and she said it's OK, just come in at 3pm. I thought that was curious... But I asked where exactly where I was going, and she said she would send a map. The phone coverage at the hotel here is terrible too so it was hard to understand what she was saying, she probably couldn't understand my broken Australian English either. Through the conversation I'm trying to verify if i'm going to the warehouse, and she said yes. So I get my gear together and got ready to head out towards the airport. 

After a few minutes I get the email on my phone and I decided to check it, just in case. I find a map and directions to the head office address in the middle of the city. Now this made me wonder, I called Kittima back and asked why she sent a map to the office. Well it turns out they have a packing facility there and that's where I should be going...

Right. I headed there, an hour through Bangkok traffic. It's not to bad, it's like driving in Melbourne, maybe like it was before the police started cracking down on all the lane-splitting by motorbikes. It has been nine months since I was there though, I could have forgotten entirely!

Finally I get to the office location...

Taking the freight elevator up to the second floor.

After I get to the packing floor they ask if I want to start disassembling the bike now or tomorrow. I said now is OK and get to it. I took the panniers off, the front wheel, front mudguard, the mirrors, my extra PVC tubes, and loosened the bark busters. Fairly minimal disassembly.

Here is Mr Ano measuring for the crate, and his assistant draining their free fuel.

After the battery was taped up and the fuel gone it was all done.

This is everything.

There was still some space left in one of the panniers after the yellow tool box was out. I had some other gear back at the hotel that I was going to put in there. I knew I'd be paying the volume rate as the bike is quite light compared to the space it takes up. I went back the hotel and packed up anything I wouldn't need in Nepal for a few days so I could ship that for "free" too.

Once I got back to Trans Air Cargo the next day (right near one of the BTS stations too) this is how I found my bike:

Well... I won't be putting anything else in that pannier.

I had my blue bag filled with riding gear and other items so I just jammed that in the corner of the crate to go with it. It was dark in the box too, so who knows if they actually packed everything. I guess I'll find out in Nepal.

Here is my crate! If they knew how expensive they were they wouldn't fill games with them.

So all that was left was to pick up my Carnet that had been sent to customs and to pay!

The crate is 100x200x114 but the bike could have been packed down a lot less. If I'd taken the rear wheel off and handlebars too, and then put everything that's not a bike into a second crate I wouldn't be shipping so much air. But there's only so many things that are convenient to take apart and then put back together.

The actual shipping weight should have been somewhere around 200kg, but they charged by volume weight because it was higher and that worked out to 372.5kg

Costs were:
Thai Airways Freight charge = 29800
Handling = 3500
Transport = 1000 (truck to the airport)
Dangerous goods certificate = 700
Wooden case = 9000
Fork lift fee = 500

So that works out to just over $1300. Plus my $400something airfare to Nepal. I read up on some forums before doing this and the only charge I could have really bargained for was the crate cost but that was all done over the phone and I didn't know until I had the final cost in front of me. That might have only saved $150 though. 

And then there's the airfare. Nepal air have a cheaper flight on Mondays and Fridays but I'm going on Tuesday, and for $100 less than the Thai Air flight you can get 1 or 2 stop flight through India with Jet Airways but it takes about 12 hours and I'd possibly need a transit visa. 

But anyway. For similar costs to the Darwin-Singapore freight I'm doing the same Bangkok to Nepal! I think the next shipment will have to be sea-freight though (India to Turkey perhaps?). Just depends on how much "Phase 3: South Asia" costs.

More Bangkok Stuff

So far I still haven't seen a lot of Bangkok. Just what's near the train lines and shops. Haven't really been to see any of the non-shopping sites here yet.

Market food haul from the other day. Pork+rice+egg, fried chicken, and bbq'ed pork. $2

I was on Gmail the other day and saw that a friend from uni (Lets call him Jeff, because that's his name) had "BKK" in their status, I queried them about this, because I was also in Bangkok you see, it was odd. Turns out he's here for a few days before heading south, so we met up and wandered round the city for the day. Which inevitably turned into drinking.

Ending here:

Soi Cowboy

More Soi Cowboy

This is one of the many streets in Bangkok that has go-go bars. As you walk down the street there are girls out the front trying to get you inside. There were four of us so there was discussion over which bar everyone was happy with and we went in. Once we entered, we found lots of Thai girls sitting around and doing nothing, and us being the only customers in there. We were quickly made to order a drink, and then we sat there while a set of girls danced on stage, and another set sat in front of the stage, and then a third set sat around in bikinis and looked at themselves in the mirror. I might add that they were all looking at themselves in the mirror, not just the bikini girls. They'll rotate the girls through the bar, some of them stand outside and try to get people in, some dance, but we couldn't figure out what the girls in bikinis were supposed to do. They Just seemed to sit there and study themselves. Then after a while they got up on stage, and then took their bikini tops off. Now we know what they're there for!

After this brief introduction to Soi Cowboy I had to head off and organise shipping for my sprockets so they would get here by Thursday. Friends in Melbourne had managed to find some in stock after searching round a few places, all at very short notice from me. But they packaged them up with a few other items I needed that I'd left in Melbourne. They have been rewarded for their efforts!

DHL and UPS sites were both quoting over $250 to ship to Bangkok. After two hours of very very slow phone internet I managed to find another place (ship2anywhere.com.au) which booked through DHL anyway and charged half the price. Good to know for when I need tyres.

And then... The morning after that finally one of the places I'd emailed over the past week got back to me and said they could get them to me within a day for about $50... Just five hours too late. I still needed the other things sent because some of it was thermal underwear and I see it's still quite cold in Kathmandu.

The next night I was meant to meet up with Jeff to go to some rooftop bar they had mentioned the day before. After getting on the train to the building I thought they meant, I found out they meant the one that was in the Hangover 2 (which curiously the night before I met them they had to go through photos to see what they had actually done, which is the plot of the movie by the way, if you haven't seen it).

So stuck at the train station with fifteen minutes to the next train that would get me to the second train that I would need, which in turn would get me to the third train I'd need to catch to get to this bar. I decided to try and walk across to the other line, which would have been doable, but there was just too many people to try and walk through. I made very little progress before I told them I wouldn't make sunset at this bar, so instead I headed to the tallest building in Thailand which was where I was still near so I get get photos of Sunset.

Buildings.

Roads and buildings.

The sun disappearing through the layer of smog.

Wider view...

Clouds.

In the center left is the Victory monument.

Lit up roads.

More lit up roads.

Looking towards all the big shops, Siam Paragon, Discovery, Central World etc. Pantip plaza is in there too.

Roads.

More roads and buildings.

Then finally I started to head back to the hotel because some of that market food in that first picture may have had a slight impact on my digestive system.

From the railway station.

Same intersection, different view.

Today I got my bike cleaned because tomorrow it goes to the shipping place to have all the customs formalities worked out, and measurements taken for the crate. Tonight, meeting up with Jeff and crew again as they're heading off south tomorrow to start their Tuk Tuk race/drive thing through southern Thailand Malaysia and Indonesia. But there will be no grog tonight, it's a Buddhist holiday and all the shops have cardboard coverring the grog with signs up saying you can't buy it.

Maybe I forgot to mention but in Thailand restrict the sales of alcohol through the day between 11am and 2pm, and then 5pm to midnight. It's supposed to stop drink driving, so you stock up in those hours instead.

A positive review

To balance out the previous post :)

I replaced my Hifiman RE-0's! They're a very very good sounding earphone for moderate money. To me they sound very good, but with little bass so some people may not like that. But the biggest selling point is they sound as good or better than earphones that cost $300. They were about $85, but you can get them cheaper online.

I got my first pair a couple of years ago, they had some problems though. The cloth covered cable was constantly getting knotted, and also if it dragged over your shirt you would hear that in your ears. It had a small plug which was quite fragile and that's the part that eventually died on them. Also back came off the earbuds, that was because the helmet tried to rip them apart every time I took it off, but this was fixed with sandpaper and superglue.

However the new ones have fixed two issues at least and they come in different packaging now. The cable is now plastic coated, and the plug is now much chunkier. I'm yet to test the durability with my helmet. I think they also sound slightly better now too.

I got them from Munkong Gadget. They have two outlets that I've found so far. One in Digital gateway (go out the opposite side of the Siam BTS station from Siam Paragon) and another in Pantip Plaza (on the ground floor, towards the back, head right and it's near the Bangkok Bank branch that's hidden away there). Small store, but they had a good selection of headphones and amps.

I went to get these because the Logitech headphones I got in Cambodia were excellent fakes but sounded horrible. The box, the pamphlets inside, even the earphones themselves all looked right. But they sounded just like any other boring earphone, nothing like what the reviews said about them and no where near Hifiman territory. The box was missing a few things which I saw in photos on some reviews so that's why I figure they were fakes and not just bad sounding headphones. So I stuck with a lesser known Chinese brand instead of going for another big name brand that's probably going to be a fake anyway.

A negative review

I'm still having trouble finding sprockets in Thailand. I know they are made in a factory here somewhere, however, I don't know where or how to get them here. I'm resorting to getting them posted from Australia with a few other things that I need.

Rant mode activated.

In the meantime I tried contacting a place I've used several times before. The place is Procycle and I think half the parts on my bike are from them. It was always straight forward dealing with them in the past: put the bits you want in their cart system, pay via paypal (which has been disabled now), and then it arrives a few weeks later. They are a good supplier for DR650 parts, they have everything. But I probably won't use them anymore.

So the other day I sent off this email to them to see if I could get the parts sent via UPS, as the normal postal service in Nepal is apparently unreliable (lots of posts on the lonely planet forum about things going missing etc). Now I know it's going to cost me a couple of hundred just for shipping by using UPS, but it's my only option when it's a critical part. However on their site they say they use USPS for international postage, but that isn't good enough for me, too slow and things to missing at the other end.

This is what I sent:

Hello, Is it possible for you to send a few items via UPS to Kathmandu with their wait for pickup option? I've heard the poste restante in Kathmandu is very unreliable so I'd prefer to use UPS over USPS for this shipment. I'm having no luck finding parts for my DR650 in Thailand, so my best option is to use you to get parts into Nepal for when I arrive. I've used Procycle multiple times in the past when I was back in Australia building up the bike. This is all for a 2009 DR650. So far what I need: - Fuel tank vent cap - Remote choke cable kit - DT Triple Layer Air Filter - Sprockets for front and rear, both 14+15 for front, 42 for rear, and 525 chain (or 520 if it's cheaper). - Sprocket retainer for 14 tooth sprocket. Can you give me a cost with/without the chain? I can pick up the chain locally and just throw it in the crate for shipping. Regards, Ryan Beales

So I'm emailing because I need to. Obviously I've tried other avenues, and I need them to help me out here.

And I get this back:

HELLO RYAN,, WE ONLY USE U.S.P.S. FOR SHIPPING. WE OD NOT HAVE ANY MEANS TO USE UPS. THANK YOU,  CARL.

The formatting and spelling is all theirs. So I think they obviously haven't read the previous email past the first line, or even past the subject. I can read their website, I know they use USPS, but I need them to help me out and ship via UPS. Also, they don't have the means? Really? Uhh... Anyone anywhere can send via UPS, yet these guys are unable to for some reason. I understand the parts may be in a warehouse somewhere else, but here's a solution: Get it sent to yourselves and then get UPS to pick it up (or I can even organise a pickup from here online), I'll gladly pay all the extra costs. I have a need for the parts anyway, cost obviously isn't an issue if I'm asking for UPS. There's not a huge amount of extra thought or work here.

So a little annoyed that a place I have dropped $1000's into in the past won't help, I send back my sarcastic reply:

You don't have a phone or internet access? Thanks for helping me out and giving the standard answer, I'll be shopping elsewhere from now.

Of course that's not going to help anything, but I'm annoyed that the customer service is really that bad.

I get this response back anyway:

HELLO RYAN, WE DO HAVE INTERNET ACCESS, THAT IS HOW WE ARE TALKING NOW, AND WE DO HAVE PHONE SERVICE,, 541-688-9543. GOOD LUCK, AND THANK YOU,  CARL.

Whooooosh... Looks like Carl still hasn't found his capslock key. I had an email from him about a year before this for another order and it was all in caps too.

There are other people working at Procycle, but Carl is the sales manager. Way to make a sale mr sales manger. If he'd helped me out I would have gladly added their sticker onto my bike and ridden it all over the place. I've posted photos of my bike on other sites too so they would have got free advertising when I do that. Instead the only mention of their name from me will be attached to this crankypants rant now.

Bangkok

Bangkok is... Quite big. This is the first really big city I've been in since Kuala Lumpur. So far It's not the best...

I'm staying in the Nasa Vegas hotel which is right next to a stop on the new airport rail line. I thought that would be convenient for getting my bike shipped out, but mostly it's just noisy when the trains go past. The average budget hotel here is 700baht/night, I booked this one for 400baht/night so I can't complain too much. But that's only until Sunday and after then I have to re-book until the 11th, and probably at the normal 890/night rate.

Just near the hotel a couple of expressways meet over the top of an intersection.

So far my plan is:
8th/9th - Take bike to Trans Air Cargo for crating and then shipping
11th - Fly to Nepal
12th or later, pick up bike!

But nothing's really set yet, If I book everything the bike might not be able to go to the cargo place until after I want to fly to Nepal, it all depends on the dangerous goods certificate which I'm trying to organise now.

In the meantime, I get to wander around Bangkok. So far I've seen some of the big shops, but that's all. Siam Paragon is big, and ridiculous with it's Lamborghini and Maserati shops mixed in with various other big European (mainly Italian) brand shops. Siam Discovery is better. MBK is huge, but that's the place to go if you want a mobile phone, or a watch, or jewelry, or clothes, or furniture. But I still can't find shoes that I want. The shoes I got in Chiang Rai are killing my toe and feet and are almost warn out but still have a new shoe smell! I'm also trying to find winter gear for Nepal to see if it's worth getting my stuff sent from Australia, no luck there yet.

The Pantip plaza I went to (there are two) is multiple floors of electronics madness, much like Low Yat in KL but bigger. I only looked at a little bit because I'm just trying to replace the headphones I bought in Cambodia (which were good fakes) with the same as I had before. I managed to find what I'm after but they're $85, about the same price as Australia. Maybe later. There's lots of pirated software/movie/game stalls in there, most of them try and shove a porn DVD in your face as you go past. There's the same problem here as with Low Yat in KL and Funan in Singapore, there's just too many vendors selling the same crap. It's very difficult to find something specific which you can find easily on the internet. You can be guaranteed though that if you want an SD card almost every single place will have one. Australia still has the variety and price advantage most of the time. A lot of people buy laptops here because those models are just not available in Australia, but you can order most from Amazon these days, and for cheaper than you can get here. There's really no point to come here and shop for electronics.

So the other thing I'm trying to find today is sprockets for my bike. Since this model isn't sold in Thailand no one keeps stock of sprockets. I tried about five places today, but all were unsuccessfuly because they didn't speak English and I don't speak Thai. The one's that do speak English said they'd have to order them in from Japan (but I'd prefer the cheaper British made aftermarket sprockets).

While riding from Red Baron (didn't have anything) to Siam Superbike (didn't find it), I got pulled over by the police. There were groups of police out today, one pulling over trucks, another pulling over buses, and the one I got caught up in was pulling over motorbikes. I was in the right hand lane while riding along and a few waved and got me to pull over. There's about 10 policemen on this side of the road and another 6 or so on the other side.

What I had done was ride in the right hand lane, which is apparently wrong. There are signs up in other parts of Thailand for bikes to keep left but I'd never done it and never been hassled at any police stop before. I asked if there was a sign on this road but they didn't understand that. One of them asked for my licence so I got it out for him (I have another one in my luggage if they take it), and then they pulled out a card with all the differnent infringements and fine amounts. It was all in Thai of course, I think the other side had translations but they wouldn't show me that.

He pointed to one with a 400baht fine, and said I had to pay it. So I'm questioning this, wondering if this is a rule for all roads or just roads where the bikes keep left sign is up, but he didn't quite understand this. After a bit of him saying "400 baht fine for not keeping left" and me trying to claim ignorance, it was clarified to "You pay 400baht now, or I write ticket and you pay 400baht at Rama road". So I asked "What happens if you write the ticket?" knowing that I'm leaving the country in about a week and could easily not pay it. But he didn't understand that, and kept saying to pay the 400 baht. Eventually I said that I may not have that much and he immediately dropped it to 200baht (Ha! Jokes on you policeman! I had 6000 baht in my wallet and $100US). I said "fine" (HAHA GET IT? FINE?) got out my wallet, and then he starts covering my wallet with his book as I'm getting the money out. Ah, I seeeee, this wasn't actually a fine, this was me paying you to not write a ticket. I then get back on my bike and hoon off out of there (in the right hand lane).

I figured It was best to leave it at that rather than pressing him to write the ticket since I remembered all the paperwork for the bike was back at the hotel. They could have asked for the temporary import permit and then made up some ridiculous fine for not producing it when asked and I wouldn't have known any different. Maybe they'll get wise to that one day.

I've been stopped a couple of times by the police in various road stops. One laughed to the others when I got closer and said "falang" and waved me on. Another wanted my phone number so I could show him round Australia when he goes there. And another couple wanted to come with me into Cambodia. So yes, they're not all like that, there's just a few bad ones out there.

Also driving here isn't too bad. There's some idiots on bikes (hey I'm probably one!) but it's a lot like Melbourne traffic otherwise.

So in summary: Bangkok isn't my favorite place. Only been harrased by a mototaxi once though, no tuktuks, tailors, massages yet!