but +1000 on the wearing helmet. MANY posters here don't use one and it amazes me why they don't care about themselves that much.

Feels like people think there are on a godmode while they are in thailand

i fell asleep while driving my motorbike, and I still haven't been in an accident....

Not sure what getting used to it has to do with anything.

Last time I was in Pattaya I was walking on the footpath next to beach road, a carload of drunk thais with a drunk driver mounted the kerb and almost ran me over, I had to dive off the footpath onto the grass to avoid them hitting me.

This was at lunchtime btw.

well you're australian, i am finnish. in finland we drive on the right side. that's one thing to get used to.

also in thailand it seems the usable road is anywhere where there is pavement. in finland you pretty much have to stick to your lane.

here people run the red lights more often than in finland.

there are much less bikes in finnish roads. there might be a car passing another car coming towards you and will use your lane and make you sometimes off the road. that wouldn't happen in finland (or would be very rare)

In Thailand, you drive bike. In Soviet Russia, bike drives you. :P

Getting used to it has very much to do with it. Cause then you have a much better idea of what to expect from other drivers.

ty

what about medical insurancy?

I am looking at some germany based "international health insurancies"

which are about $100-$150 is this standard/fair price?

or should I look further into truly international (or even thai? guess not) ones?

anyone know which airlines we can choose from when leaving Thailand for vietnam? Or if its much cheaper tickets to Cambodia or Laos we might go with that.

Need a ticket out of Thailand because of the visa renewel, so we have to be able to order online and get the receipt by mail.

thanks!

$100 for how long? if they say a year it might still only cover only like 90 days of consecutive stay. I got mine from finland, needed it twice and got everything back both times. first 90 days were like 60 euros and 9 months extension was 390 euros or something like that so a little over a euro per day for a year.

try airasia.com

60-110€ a month for up to 5 years but I can stay as long as I want.

so more like 3€ a day which is still not much ofc..
I would have to always pay the first 25€ of any case myself
but I think thats ok also, when I really need it I dont care about 25€

cheaper ones only have x consecutive days in a row, like you said.

-1000 a bit harsh Lessu?!

Motorbikes are death traps, no amount of training will avoid that fact. So many accidents are out of your control and the bikes provide 0 protection.

i still think your way overestimating the danger. sure their not as safe as cars, but your odds of getting badly injured or killed are ridiculously low if you're careful and don't suck at driving.

i know 15 - 20 2p2ers who lived in phuket for 6mo+. almost all of them drove motorbikes, most drove at least once (usually much more) drunk, and the majority drove pretty recklessly on busy streets sober. i don't nobody died, 1 guy broke his leg (while wasted), I had a few stiches (while drunk), quite a few people got road rash, and 1 guy ****ed up his hand sober when a picked banged into the side of his bike. maybe my idea of dangerous is skewed, but that doesn't seem too bad to me.

that doesn't even include the countless other 2p2ers i haven't met that haven't been killed.

deathtraps - no. drunken injury traps - yes. roadrash traps - of course.

In the UK the emergency nurses I know that work in A&E have a nickname for motorcyclists - organ donors.

That's with a relatively good emergency hospital treatment and care system in place.

well that cliche statement settles that

Might be a cliche but I've been told it by people who have to deal with it day in day out.

Glad it's settled but to be sure I think you should go ride around on a motorbike all day every day for a couple of months to test out the theory.

I've driven over 18,000km on a motorbike in Thailand now in two years and had two minor accidents - both due to me being wasted or xanax'ed out. I think if you drive carefully enough your risk of accident is low (touch wood, obv)

fwiw Phuket seems waay more dangerous than Chiang Mai for driving, and I wouldn't even think of getting on a motorbike in BKK.

On another note I've been in CM 9 months now and not even seen 1 traffic accident (apart from Virge + nutsflopper showing off their amazing bike skillz, 555) where as in Phuket I would see as many as 3-4(!!) accidents or aftermath of accidents in 1 day. The amount of terrible driving that happens on that Island is just ridiculous. Deff be careful driving the busy roads in Phuket.

ha no problem there. be sure keep yourself boarded up in your room safe from all the horrifying dangers of the outside world

LOL

Bullets
Knives
Bombs
Torpedos
Nuclear Radiation
Fists
Bottles
Teh Hep!

Have all tried to kill me and I've survived.

If a MB is going to get me...so be it.

My money is on the cigarettes getting me in the end Long after I have survived another 100k KM on a MB.

It seems to me even though thais do some stuff we consider crazy they are all aware that everyone is doing crazy **** so there is like a heightened sense of awareness on the roads. I fear the soccer moms driving their suv's while on their cellphone or putting on makeup back in the US a lot more than I do riding a motorbike here in Phuket. With that being said the people that choose to ride w/out a helmet are freaking insane.

the people you're talking too see a lot of accident victims because they work in a place where all the people in accidents get taken too, so their pov is skewed

ducy?

yeah this is definitely true. thais in 4wheel vehicles have a 6th sense when it comes to motorbikes

WOW.

This is possibly the dumbest post of all 2010 and it's only January. Bravo sir!

[ ] Is not obvious point.
[ ] Is not taken into account.
[ ] Is the main point.

ducy?

couse its always the cars fault in an accident, its almost worse driving a car sometimes(although safer) couse they always tailgate, never blink and do some superstupid in a curve attempts at passing. nothing like having a pickup coming towards you in your lane and blinking at you for you to drive on the far left side so he can drive in his made up 3rd middle lane.