Chiang Rai to Singapore

Mar 18, 2009
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One day when i have time and when may be the administrator will teach to me the best way for download picture in this forum
i will show many picture i have about the street of thailand malesia and singapore.
Singapore is 3000 km far away from chiang rai.
I do 3 time with 3 different motobike with my thai girl friend.
honda wave 125cc,honda sonic 125 cc.,and honda cbr 150 cc.
This is one article about us of february 2004 from phuket gazzete
beacuse before from 1993 until one years ago was the place where
i like to live and they do in a section of phuket people.
Enjoi your freedom around asia with motobike.

Two for the road


Still very much together after 16,000 km on a small bike: Luca Bassetti and Supawan ‘Phoo’ Phuha.

Three months and 16,000 kilometers is a long time to spend on the back of a Honda 125. But for Luca Bassetti and Supawan “Phoo” Phuha, the extended ride was one big adventure, through good times and bad.
A motorcycle is not the best place to be in the rain, yet the couple kept their wheels turning and the kilometers clocking up from Phuket to Bangkok to the very north of Thailand, then south to Malaysia and Singapore, and on back to Phuket.
Would they do it again? Probably. And within the intriguing travel adventure are the threads of a romance on the road.
Mr Bassetti met K. Supawan a few years ago, but they were separated by distance because he, for the most part, makes Phuket his home, while K. Supawan, 31, was working in Bangkok.
Mr Bassetti, now 40, has always had an adventurous streak and likes to go to remote places or just take odd roads that other people wouldn’t normally think of exploring.
Doing it in a way others wouldn’t normally choose was part of the fun for him. K. Supawan said, “He was talking about coming to Bangkok to see me. I didn’t think he was serious.
“But when I got off work, there he was, in front of my office building, on his motorcycle after coming all the way from Phuket. I didn’t know what to say.”
Mr Bassetti managed to use a logic all his own to explain why traveling on a motorcycle, especially a 125, is much better than flying.
“It takes me time to get to the airport,” he said, “then I have to book and wait for my flight. When the plane lands, I have to get my luggage then go find a taxi, and waste more time in Bangkok traffic to get where I want to go.
“It’s just so hard to get where you want to go all at one time, and fast. If I just drive my motorcycle, I leave Phuket and get where I want in Bangkok in 12 hours.”
He added that a larger motorcycle is harder to maneuver in the busy traffic of Bangkok, so the smaller 125 suits his needs.


On the road in Singapore

In October, K. Supawan left her job and joined Mr Bassetti in Phuket. He said, “Phoo was always telling me she could never go traveling to such places because of money and the lack of time.
“I told her, anyone can do it and you don’t need to have so much money. You need to enjoy life and not just work. I wanted to show her Thailand. I wanted to open her eyes.”
So from Phuket they began their expedition, taking in 15 major destinations throughout Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
K. Supawan said, “We asked our friends if they wanted to join us and only one person said he would, but driving his truck. He ended up not going.”
On one of the early nights, they had to pull over at a gas station in the middle of nowhere to sleep, K. Supawan recalled. “There were no hotels and a huge mountain ahead so we just slept beside the minimart at the gas station. It was really quiet and no one saw us, or at least no one disturbed us.”
Mr Bassetti, originally from Italy, said, “I learned when I was younger and traveling that when you get stuck and don’t have anywhere else to sleep, a gas station is the best and safest place to stay. There are always people around and the lights are always on.”
Sleeping at a gas station was nothing compared with riding in heavy rain for hours on end.
Chiang Mai was one of their favorite places and they stayed there for more than a week. K. Supawan said, “It is really interesting how people in one part of Thailand are so different from people in another.
“The people in Chiang Mai made me feel at home and they were so friendly – the friendliest, I think. They gave me free lessons in traditional foot massage because they saw I was interested. Nothing in Bangkok is free.”
Traveling through Malaysia, K. Supawan was also able to spend time in a real forest and see “a lot of animals, including orangutans.”
K. Supawan said, “People think that we’re crazy and that it’s not safe to drive a motorcycle so far, but it’s not true.” She explained that people who drive in the city in busy traffic probably are more at risk than the couple were on their long drive.


Left, at the Burmese border in Mae Sai. Right, in front of Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers.

“When you’re out in the country it is just hendless road and there aren’t very many people you can crash into,” she said.
When they reached Singapore, Mr Bassetti was surprised that the authorities allowed him to bring the motorcycle into the country.
Even so, they ended up parking the bike at a hotel and taking taxis. The fast pace of city traffic made it no place for a Honda 125.
K. Supawan said that once during the trip Mr Bassetti decided to turn down a red dirt road to see whether it was a shortcut to their destination.
“It was so quiet,” she said, “and no one would be there to help if we had a problem with the motorcycle. I knew that we would have to drag the motorcycle out if anything happened.”
Mr Bassetti’s only concern on taking the detour was to listen to the forest noises – he has a justifiable fear of tigers.
Luckily, it turned out that the dirt road was a short cut and they made it back onto the highway.
“Sometimes it was boring sitting on the motorcycle for hours and hours,” K. Supawan said, “and the rain made it worse. But Luca kept on going, telling me, ‘We are almost there.’ He’s very determined.”
K. Supawan maintained contact with friends and family by email or mobile phone. Mr Bassetti, meanwhile, did all the driving.
For both, safety was a prime concern. They wore leather jackets and jeans, and full-face helmets, just in case.
“The only accident we were ever close to getting in was when we were laughing and joking – we weren’t really looking at the road,” K. Supawan recalled.
Ten punctures was the tally for the trip. Damage is much more likely in cities than in the country, Mr Bassetti said.
Now back in Phuket, Mr Bassetti and K. Supawan are taking a break and enjoying life on the island, not on the road.
The old Honda 125 endured more than enough on the trip and Mr Bassetti decided it was time to upgrade. The couple have just bought a new motorcycle, a Sonic 125.
They are also looking at the possibility of a sponsored trip, perhaps to Cambodia, which they weren’t allowed to enter last time around.

By Supaporn Sriprom
 

ianyonok

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Dec 9, 2008
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Well done both of you. Excellent stuff. Not the bike I'd choose for long distance touring, but Hey, anything is possible with determination. Nice one Luca & Phoo.
Ian
 

BJ

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Aug 27, 2008
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Well done a great trip.
One good thing about doing it on a scooter you get to see a lot more than on a big bike.