Laos Survey - The Benefits of Motorcycle Touring

[DavidFL]

Well here it is....
A real survey, hopefully to illustrate why motorcycle touring is good for the local economy & people.

For anyone who has been to Laos by motorcycle i.e. rode in on their bike with a temporary import, please help & complete this survey.

http://www.freesurveysonline.com/fso/As ... ckID=11977

Or if you know someone who has ridden in on a motorbike, please ask them to complete the survey.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[DavidFL]

Keep going guys. Eight submitted on the first day. Thanks to all those good guys so far.

 

[BignTall]

I used to be near the young side on those age bracket cut offs........no more.

Thanks for the effort David.

 

[cdrw]

David...
I filled out the survey...but when the 'submit' button was clicked it stalled and was never submitted.

Could the prob be that the questionnaire requires that _all_ questions be answered? There were a few question I didn't answer as there was no appropriate answer. e.g - I entered from Cambo, not Thailand; no Lao insurance was requested at the Lao border, etc. If the above is the prob, I'll re-do the questionaire, filling in all blanks...

 

[DavidFL]

cdrw wrote: David...
I filled out the survey...but when the 'submit' button was clicked it stalled and was never submitted.

Could the prob be that the questionnaire requires that _all_ questions be answered? There were a few question I didn't answer as there was no appropriate answer. e.g - I entered from Cambo, not Thailand; no Lao insurance was requested at the Lao border, etc. If the above is the prob, I'll re-do the questionaire, filling in all blanks...

Oops a slip up.You got me. Fixed it now.
So please try again.

 

[Sven]

Heyho,
I rented a bike in Vientiane, do you need me to fill out the survey?

Jonno

 

[wimpy]

I couldn't find the United States under nationality.

 

[deepcdiver]

I started it but the questions seem to apply to people crossing borders w/ bikes only, not people who arrive and then rent a bike to tour...

 

[cdrw]

IMHO...
I'd presume that the survey is to inform those affiliated in Laos with tourism and to hopefully reduce current bike restrictions that are at some border crossings.
I would imagine that anyone riding a bike in country should answer the survey, regardless of whether they entered on a bike or rented it in Laos. The section that will most likely interest the Laoatians is the amount of time and money spent in their country!

Yep...David left the USA off the countries list. Is that because we yanks are now much poorer, having been 'bushwhacked' by the declining dollar?

 

[blkphantom]

Yep, still no USA but they do have the Vatican! I hope this will help open some eyes in Lao.Riders do spend money! Thanks David for the effort!

 

[OilSprayeR]

Great initiative, but I would like to point out a few problems with this survey (as in 'constructive criticism')
Q1: less then once a year, like once every 2 years etc: no such option... the minimum being once a year...
Q2: what if you came 4 times? (non exclusive choices, jumping from 3 to 5.. ok is a minor detail)
Q6: I think there should also be "up to 25$" as a choice, then 25-50 etc .. not everybody is on a huge budget, 50$ a day being the lowest choice is maybe too high. This way you might also better find out how many 'cheapo' riders vs whealthy spending riders you count
Q7 and A8 : you assume people come once or more a year. and came many times. thus they will have used many different points of entry/exit. but only one choice is possible... allow multiple answers on this question?
Q23 here also 5000$ is the cheapest, there are people like me who drive a 1500$ motorbike, way below the 5000$ choice
Maybe adding a question in the beginning of the survey to target people who are thinking about/considering coming to ride through Laos, but haven't yet.

The rest of the survey is OK I think. Thats my opinion, hope it helps!

Cheers

 

[DavidFL]

Fixed "all" the problems / hiccups & tweaked the survey a little more.

Our original idea for the survey was just to gather some info to use in a report & proposal to the Lao MoT & LNTA, to point out the positive side of motorcycle touring to the authorities.
In particular we are generally not cheap charlies, neither are our numbers or amounts of money spent throught country in local communities insignificant.
The aim is not to bitch or complain about their cross border agreements on managing the Friendship Bridges, but paint a nice picture why we are "the good guys" who should be welcomed just as much as everyone else.

We also hope get our report published in a few newspapers & magazines.

Now it seems as if you guys are quite serious about the survey, riding in Laos & have responded heavily.

Thank you all again.

 

[DavidFL]

Sven wrote: Heyho,
I rented a bike in Vientiane, do you need me to fill out the survey?

Jonno

Survey has been amended to include a rent or ride in question option.
So if you rented you can now fill in the survey.
If you've already completed it, no need to do so a 2nd time.

 

[DavidFL]

Aha, fixed another option.
There is a comments box, plus questions for favourite / least liked areas.
If you want to do the survey again, the default setting will override you're original response, so only one response is registered.

 

[jimoi]

Great response from the community - many thanks! Please send the link to friends that you know have ridden in Laos as we need as many responses as possible.

Yes, I am going to try to persuade the MOT and Bridge Directors about the benefits of letting bikes across the VTE bridge and hopefully get a standardized temporary import procedure going. Currently, any bike that gets a green paper is using the car import procedures and there is a wide fluctuation in fees paid and number of days temporary imports are issued for.

Keep them responses coming!

Jimoi

 

[davidmc]

Survey completed, good luck guys!

 

[tu02]

I also found it very difficult to fill out the survey. It forced choosing between dichotomous variables; in fact one question, #4 forced me to "pick a number" in order to submit it. I said to disregard several answers in my comments.

I don't do the same thing every time under most situations. I might like to visit a village and stay in a guest house or spend a couple of days in Vientienne. In my opinion, doing the same thing all the time is the antithesis of motorcycle touring.

I like Laos and would like to encourage the authorities to promote motorcycle. One thing that might be most helpful, and would have been an appropriate answer to one of the question. How long do you take to gain entrance? Variable and difficult to predict as witnessed by a thread in this forum about 15 months ago - what is the best guess on the bridge being open or closed tomorrow?

Cheers,

Bernie

 

[Franki]

David,

On April 3, a group of Chinese bikers crossed into Laos for touring and they will go to Thailand also. This is the first group of Chinese bikers entering into Laos & Thailand. Once this tour is successful, there will be more coming from China. You know how many motorcyclists there are in China. It will bring a lot of money into Laos. I was there to give them tipps on riding in Laos and Thailand before they depart from Yunnan.

Hope this info helps,

Franki

 

[DavidFL]

Franki wrote: David,

On April 3, a group of Chinese bikers crossed into Laos for touring and they will go to Thailand also. This is the first group of Chinese bikers entering into Laos & Thailand. Once this tour is successful, there will be more coming from China. You know how many motorcyclists there are in China. It will bring a lot of money into Laos. I was there to give them tipps on riding in Laos and Thailand before they depart from Yunnan.

Hope this info helps,

Franki

Franki
Good stuff. I hope you told them to look me up in Chiang Mai. Have you got any pics of them & the bikes near / at the border?

 

[Franki]

David,

The group crossed into Laos Apr. 3 evening. I won't get the pics until they return in 2-3 weeks time.

I try to post a group photo of their start.

Franki

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[Franki]

Here is a group photo taken in Laos' landmark. Hope it will help.

 

[Franki]

David,

Here is a photo of Chinese bikers at Laos border. I hope it helps.

Franki

 

[Franki]

Finally, one that is close to the border