I Was Up Bright And Early,

for a trip with Gop in his truck to look at some motorbikes in Bangkok,

 but on my way out I noticed one of the amaryllis bulbs had produced a flower,

 two flowers in fact with what looks like a third on the way,

 and nice they looked too,

 09.15 and we stopped for a bite to eat just outside of Bangkok,

10 minuets later and we were on the road again, that's strange I have just started humming the Canned Heat tune,

and this was where we were headed, Rama III Soi 54, there are in fact three or four Sois that run parallel to each other, as a rough guide to where it is you can see the new bridge over the Chao Phraya River at this end of the street in the near distance,

 at first it does not look very promising,

 there is a smell of oil and diesel in the air,

 we parked outside a disused shop house,

and made our way past various shops, this one selling engines,

 this one rear axles from trucks,

 which seemed to be a recurring theme,

 the river was at the end of the street,

 but this was a street tourist seldom see,

 what appears to be a collection of injection fuel lines,

 the view from the river end,

 a straight 6 anyone?

we were now getting near to the bike shops, this one selling refurbished push bikes, they arrive here literally by the lorry load,

 we find our first few Harley's,

 all for sale,

whilst I know a little about UK bikes I know nothing about Harley's, but this one is just a few years old and is going for 300,000 baht, at today's rate £6,250, $9,820, I do not know if that is good or bad but it seems cheaper than in Pattaya,

 this 'Sherrifs' model I think a 'Fat Boy' was going for 695,000 baht, (£14,500, $22,750),

 whilst the Police model was 100,000 baht more, (£2,088 $3,275)

 I did not ask the price of this one,

 there were some choppers here as well,

 I must admit I liked this one, ridged rear hub,

 and springer front forks, 300,000 baht, (£6,250, $9,820),

 these were all for sale at T-Cycle,

 a cute VW,

 rear axles seemed to be a recurring theme,

 and I know if I wanted one it would be at the bottom of the pile!

 one of the mechanics has made a few modifications to this run around,

 a neat one into two exhaust for one, 

 this was neat, another one for 300,000 baht, (£6,250, $9,820),

 it looked quiet tidy,

 1,200 c.c. some of the shops have just show rooms where you can view the complete bikes,

but some allow you to see behind the scenes, like this one, the bikes arrive packaged up in brown paper, there are a few in the foreground, you can look through picture books of photos to pick which one you like and it will be assembled for you,

 or like here one is being assembled for stock, this one is going for 340,000 baht, (£7,100 $11,130),

all of the bits in the background, although these bikes all look like new they are of course secondhand, one small point some of these bikes come with books, that is the paper work that enables you to tax and insure them, some do not, so ask before making a purchase,

 I mentioned before there is a smell of oil and diesel in the air, this is one of the reasons why, engines are pressure cleaned in the street,

we had a great day looking around the bike shops and workshops, the businesses are divided into two, Japanese bikes only and Harleys only, next stop Pattaya, I was a bit slow with the camera, but just managed to take a picture of a speed camera, many people seem to doubt their existence over here but we saw two on our trip, also we were pulled over by the police at one of the toll booths, there were about 15 police officers there stopping every one, the officer that stopped us explained it was thirsty work in the hot sun checking every ones papers, but as ours were all in order would we mind buying him and his fellow officers a cup of tea? well as he said it must have been hot work, so Gop gave him 200 baht, which seems quite reasonable,15 officers that's only about 14 baht a cup,

next stop to see Phil, we had an attempt to start his three Harley's, two stated first time the other one despite me pushing it up and down the road refused, but as Phil said 2 out of 3 is better than usual!

 but he has two other bikes for reliability, this one,

 and 'Old Fathful',

now this is one of the things that Harley's should be ashamed of, look at the letter A in Davidson,

it has fallen off so Phil went to his Harley dealer to enquire the price of a spare, so think how much the cost of the replacement letter would be, I will tell you later, since then the I has fallen off as well,

 next stop Tesco's

 we had to do some shopping, but first stop Swensons,

 strawberry for Phil and myself,

 mango for Diana,

 a futon for when Diana's family come over, also Phil wanted a few items that were too big for the bikes,

 after a bite to eat the Friday night market, some new shops had been built next to the 7-11, some have already been let out,

 out from the 7-11,

 water bill paid,

 we had been followed by rain from Bangkok, but hopefully it will not rain here,

 opposite the bar tonight a show with ear splintingly loud music,

 the pet section seemed deserted,

 sunset over the market,

 lots of fruit, Diana bought some of the yellow plum like fruits,

then back to the bar, the music if you call that had finished, I should say it was the same clip that lasted about 30 seconds repeated time after time, then the sales girls started a shouting match,

 the ones not shouting gave out leaflets,

 and had a joke,

but the music was so loud very few people stayed at the bar, the owner was upset to say the least as this weekend no one was going to spend time at her bar, so no money for her, there was one piece of good news, I was offered 84 months credit to by the product, I thought I was past my 'best before/sell by date' but no, it seems that I am a good prospect to Toyota, but I have news for them, the show you put on was so over the top loud you will never be on my list of cars or trucks to buy - ever!

also they pushed Sai Jai off of here corner of the plot, which was a shame for her, so we bought a cover from her,

as we left I took a few more pictures, no one was any where near the Toyota stall, it still was that loud!

we picked up the girls on the way back then home feet up to watch a DVD,

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, we had seen the film before and I can not really explain why I like it so much, but there it is, back to the price of the letter A that fell from the petrol tank on Phil's German Harley, how much did you guess? £10, well no a bit more, £100? close but still away to go, £400 getting closer! the answer given to him by his official Harley dealer was £450! the answer is quite simple if you think about it, letters are not sold separately, you have to buy the whole petrol tank! when a manufacturer treats their customers with such complete contempt I am always amazed how they survive, but then selling a £450 petrol tank for a 10 pence letter will insure that they will!, with that we were off to bed.