We Had A Busy Day Today,

it was the annual Pattaya Bike Show,

it is held in front of the Sat Indoor Athletics Stadium in Soi Chaiyapreuk,

with all of these masts outside and the wind hitting the rope attached to them it sounded like I was in Brighton marina!

we parked outside the stadium,

for the short walk to the show ground, on the way I spotted this Kawasaki,

I could not fail to notice that this bike uses the same suspension layout as the Vincent I mention a few post ago, but that was made in 1955, it must have been a good design for it's day!

the walk took us past the food stalls,

a new Triumph on display, very modern looking the factory can be seen on the left on the toll way to Bangkok,

but this is a visit to the past, the Triumph Bonneville, T100 written on the side panel, this one was second hand, just 7,500 kilometers on the clock, yours for 550,000 baht (£11,158.00), including the book, if you buy a bike or car out here make sure it has a book, if not the police will take it the first time they stop you!

if only I had the money, I actually bought one of these in 1969, £432.00!

as usual there were so many old UK bikes on show, like this Arial,

a sprung hub, girder forked Triumph,

and a slightly more modern one,

a plunger framed Norton,

a Triumph with high level 'sports' pipes,

I never expected to see one of these out here, a Sunbeam S7 or may be S8, an in line, shaft driven twin,

another plunger framed Ariel,

a Matchless, brother to the A.J.S. both manufacturers producing the same but 'different' models,

a very nice 250 c.c. BMW, last year there were a few of the same model in black, but this year just this red one,

and a Russian built 650 c.c. Ural,

a B.S.A. this one I think a B33 350 c.c. model,

and now for something completely different,

one of the German V-Rods, unlike Phil's this one is not super charged, but I guess looking at it a few go-faster goodies have been added to it, yours for a cool 750.000 baht, (£15,216.00), but beware no book!

of course there were a few choppers around, I never really got into that look although you can not deny that a huge amount of work goes into some of them,

a more conventional Harley dragster style,

who should we bump in to? none other than Grieg from Hooties,

of course just because you do not have a multi cubic inch engine, it does not mean you can not make a chopper out of your bike,

like this money adorned Honda,

a more conventional Harley,

a real classic, a Nimbus in line 4 cylinder, I have seen this bike in action, well to tell the truth I picked up a bit that had fallen off of it and returned it to the owner, one of the seat rubbers, but it makes a delightful noise as it goes along as it has exposed tappets, as one slightly unkind person said, ' sounds like a sowing machine sowing a tin of nails!' well I thought it sounded great!

now these I like, Yamaha 400 c.c. singles, more like the type of bikes I looked at as a teenager,

and this is the look I like, the owner has spent a lot of time and effort to make it look like a B.S.A. DBD 34,

in case you are wondering this is a real BDB 34, great British bike, but not fun to drive in traffic!

there was also a display of mini bikes,

in many different colours and styles,

this is another 400 c.c. Yamaha,

it has been built as an advertisement for the owners carbon fiber manufacturing company,

if you are not into motorbikes how about a bicycle?

but not any bicycle, these are 18,000 baht each, (£365.00), they are electricly powered, each charge gives between 30 - 40 kilometers, when the battery runs out just pedal, great for going to the shops,

unknown to Grieg we spotted him making an exit,

for some reason there are always huge numbers of stalls selling cowboy and Indian clothes,

like 20 or so of them,

the show ground was compleate with wig-wams,

one of the stalls had lots of wooden horse carvings,

even a pony sized rocking horse,

a look at the other side of the 4 clinder Nimbus, notice the exposed tappets,

then the dead buffalo skull guy called round on his mobile stall,

I am not quite sure what I would do with one, but owning one is not high on my list of 'must haves!'

the view of the area in front of the stage, the music,if the warm up is anything to go by to night will be loud!

now I know Marcel is here as this is his bike, sure enough he was just a few yards away, so we caught up on what is happening, he mentioned he was thinking of selling the bike, but I did not ask how much,

then another V-Rod for sale, this one 350,000 baht, (£7,100) I do not keep up with prices here or the UK so the bikes I mention may or may not be good deals, but again with this bike no book,

a slightly cheaper black V-Rod at 550,000 baht (£11,158.00), no book, I guess it did not have as many tuning goodies on it as the previous black model,

now this was a bike I was fimilar with in my youth, this is a very sad and worn out B.S.A. 250 c.c. model C 15, the pervious model was a C12, before that the C11G, which was the one I owned,

anothe rave from the grave, a 350 c.c. Royal Enfield Bullet,

as I showed a bit of intrest in the Triumph it was wheeled out for close inspection, if only I had the money!

the riders eye view,

then in came the horses,

we were on our way out so we missed the show,

as we wanted to watch the trick cyclists perform,

they put on great show,

by the way the guy on the ground has not fallen off, he is a photographer who wanted to get up close and personal!

we nearly walked past these two bikes until I notice the huge built in speakers, very professoinally done, I have seen many Harleys with high end sound systems, but these two leave all of them scrambling in the dust, look carefully,

both have in built televison screens, just think you can watch your favorite DVD/film on you way to work!

as we left one of the horse riders decide to have a canter past us,

then it was home, shower and off the the night market in Thepprisitt,

we needed some money put on our phones so a quick call into the 7 - 11 for a phone card, there was a promotion under way but I could not make out what for,

as we walked from the 7 - 11 I heard a bird calling out, it was this parrot like bird, being played with by it's friend,

then her friend wanted her picture taken, both parents have the stall here,

not to sure about having her picture taken with the parrot but Mum said it was OK,

the market was filling up with customers,

opposite the bar, all at 50 baht each,

Dang called by so the girls were off on their usual shopping fest,

Brian also called in to say Hi!,

the girls came back with fresh fruit and strawberries,

Diana also popped over to say hello to Sai Jai,

then home feet up for a beef stew with dumplings and another one from the Frost box, tonight Dancing in the Dark, Frost's efforts to join a gym and date Julie, the fitness instructor, are hampered by two suspicious deaths, the first concerns a man found dead on a waste tip with no identity beyond an empty wallet, the other body is that of escort girl Heather, found in a hotel room booked by married businessman Stephen Richman, he denies murder but confesses that he was shocked to realize what she did as she was a student friend of his daughter, then off to bed.