Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Stephen "Prem" Bradley, from Frankfort, Kentucky, U.S.A. My wife, Nok, and I arrived in Thailand 40 minutes before the new year began. We did our time in a BKK lockup to insure we weren't contributing to the pandemic problem and then beat feet up to Isaan. We are making our home in Meuang Loei for now and slowly looking for that just perfect piece of property to buy. We found a great rental and went ahead and paid for a year up front.
I grew up on a working thoroughbred horse farm, which created a pretty strong work ethic, but I left my home town just after graduating from high school and did my initial training in photography and photojournalism through the U.S. Air Force and completed and associates degree in photography through the University of Kentucky (Go Cats!). My background outside of photography was in metal sculpture where I worked for the world's smallest fine art foundry and then the world's largest art foundry, casting sculpture for some of the highest tier artists around. I also created my own sculpture and paintings and enjoyed some success with solo shows of my work in New York City, Atlanta, and Lexington. In the mid 1990s, I returned to Kentucky and began learning to use AutoCAD while doing land surveying. Because of my background working in sculpture, I was learning AutoCad just as it evolved into a true 3D program and I took advantage of this and the engineering firm I was working for became the first in Louisville, KY to use 3D modeling in their designs. I went on to develop my 3D skills and later worked on many projects over 200-500 million and headed up the virtual construction modeling for these. In 2005, I published books on temple architecture in Kyoto, Japan and in Cambodia. As my research for the book included uncovering the history of the Khmer empire, my travels extended into Isaan, where I met my wife, who was my fixer while in NE Thailand. We joke that after being stuck in a car with her for several weeks and not killing her was a sign that I should hang onto her. So we were married in 2006 on the day of the coup against PM Thaksin Shinawatra began, April 2nd, also my wife's birthday. Ever since we took a trip over to Dan Sai in Loei Province, I have been scheming on how to return to this area and live here permanently. So last May we sold everything we owned, the house, the furniture, books, telescopes, photo and darkroom equipment, machine shop tools, blacksmith tools, welding gear, etc. and loaded two bags each and a synthesizer (. my retirement project) into the Volvo and took a several month long spin around the U.S.A. to show my wife as many states as we could sneak through during a pandemic. So she has now been to 42 states and I knocked off that final state so that I have been in all of the contiguous states. Maybe someday I will wrap it up with Hawai'i and Alaska. Then we sold the Volvo and headed here. I have to say this about Volvos, I am 13,000miles short of putting one million miles on 5 Volvos. Great cars! I knocked off a bucket list item in the last one by getting out on the Bonneville Salt Flats and breaking a ton in both directions (just to make it official). It took 36 quarters at the car wash to remove the buildup of salt later that day.
As to motorcycles, I started riding road bikes in the late 70s when in the service. Later, I got into Italian bikes starting with a Moto Guzzi and then moving on to the Ducatis. A few years later I was the Presidente of the Thoroughbred Ducati Owner's Club of Kentucky. I sold my last Ducati, a Paul Smart 1000 LE to pay the medical bills from my wife's surgery to remove a brain tumor (she's okay now). After several years off, I vowed to buy a new machine once in Thailand and just purchased a F750GS last week I defected from Ducati as I needed something more like a battle tank for these roads and something with dealer support a bit closer than BKK. Still waiting on the Tabian Bhan (or however you spell the yellow residency book) so that I can get the included insurance from the BMW dealer in Udon Thani. In the meantime, I'm ordering the necessary extras, e.g. crash bars, windsheilds, tool kit, protective clothing, etc. Still having an issue finding a helmet to fit my big ol' head and probably need an Arai as they are about the only ones I have found that fit me well. I guess I will need to order from outside of Thailand as I need at least a 2XL. Any suggestions welcome to try to avoid paying a big duty. So by the last of this month, I should be prowling around the roads that radiate outward from Meuang Loei. I hope to get the chance to meet up and ride with some of you soon.
I grew up on a working thoroughbred horse farm, which created a pretty strong work ethic, but I left my home town just after graduating from high school and did my initial training in photography and photojournalism through the U.S. Air Force and completed and associates degree in photography through the University of Kentucky (Go Cats!). My background outside of photography was in metal sculpture where I worked for the world's smallest fine art foundry and then the world's largest art foundry, casting sculpture for some of the highest tier artists around. I also created my own sculpture and paintings and enjoyed some success with solo shows of my work in New York City, Atlanta, and Lexington. In the mid 1990s, I returned to Kentucky and began learning to use AutoCAD while doing land surveying. Because of my background working in sculpture, I was learning AutoCad just as it evolved into a true 3D program and I took advantage of this and the engineering firm I was working for became the first in Louisville, KY to use 3D modeling in their designs. I went on to develop my 3D skills and later worked on many projects over 200-500 million and headed up the virtual construction modeling for these. In 2005, I published books on temple architecture in Kyoto, Japan and in Cambodia. As my research for the book included uncovering the history of the Khmer empire, my travels extended into Isaan, where I met my wife, who was my fixer while in NE Thailand. We joke that after being stuck in a car with her for several weeks and not killing her was a sign that I should hang onto her. So we were married in 2006 on the day of the coup against PM Thaksin Shinawatra began, April 2nd, also my wife's birthday. Ever since we took a trip over to Dan Sai in Loei Province, I have been scheming on how to return to this area and live here permanently. So last May we sold everything we owned, the house, the furniture, books, telescopes, photo and darkroom equipment, machine shop tools, blacksmith tools, welding gear, etc. and loaded two bags each and a synthesizer (. my retirement project) into the Volvo and took a several month long spin around the U.S.A. to show my wife as many states as we could sneak through during a pandemic. So she has now been to 42 states and I knocked off that final state so that I have been in all of the contiguous states. Maybe someday I will wrap it up with Hawai'i and Alaska. Then we sold the Volvo and headed here. I have to say this about Volvos, I am 13,000miles short of putting one million miles on 5 Volvos. Great cars! I knocked off a bucket list item in the last one by getting out on the Bonneville Salt Flats and breaking a ton in both directions (just to make it official). It took 36 quarters at the car wash to remove the buildup of salt later that day.
As to motorcycles, I started riding road bikes in the late 70s when in the service. Later, I got into Italian bikes starting with a Moto Guzzi and then moving on to the Ducatis. A few years later I was the Presidente of the Thoroughbred Ducati Owner's Club of Kentucky. I sold my last Ducati, a Paul Smart 1000 LE to pay the medical bills from my wife's surgery to remove a brain tumor (she's okay now). After several years off, I vowed to buy a new machine once in Thailand and just purchased a F750GS last week I defected from Ducati as I needed something more like a battle tank for these roads and something with dealer support a bit closer than BKK. Still waiting on the Tabian Bhan (or however you spell the yellow residency book) so that I can get the included insurance from the BMW dealer in Udon Thani. In the meantime, I'm ordering the necessary extras, e.g. crash bars, windsheilds, tool kit, protective clothing, etc. Still having an issue finding a helmet to fit my big ol' head and probably need an Arai as they are about the only ones I have found that fit me well. I guess I will need to order from outside of Thailand as I need at least a 2XL. Any suggestions welcome to try to avoid paying a big duty. So by the last of this month, I should be prowling around the roads that radiate outward from Meuang Loei. I hope to get the chance to meet up and ride with some of you soon.