Oriental Offerings - Reincarnated

[KruJoe]

Angyl was close in a way - it shares some oily bits with a "Chevrolet".

Another clue:

 

 

There's a close relative photo-bombing this minty-fresh Civic.

[KruJoe]

I think we got those 213-shaped Civics badged as the Honda Ballade in the UK, right?

 

Well done on that big modern lump, got there in the end. It's a MU-7, a D-Max trying to be a posh seven seater SUV:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Isuzu_D-Max&redirect=no#Isuzu_MU-7

 

Do they call the D-Max "Rodeo" in the UK? It's the Thai-built Isuzu pick-up. D-Max, when said in Thai, is homophonic with "very good".

[hairnet]

504 want

 

just to make uncle shay freak out

[Jim Bergerac]

I think we got those 213-shaped Civics badged as the Honda Ballade in the UK, right?

 

Yep, Victor Meldrew had one:

[KruJoe]

Out and about again.

 

[KruJoe]

[KruJoe]

 

This private Citroen enterprise has featured on these pages before, but there's always something worth sharing.

 

 

 

I may have spotted this mk1 before, but now on these wheels it looks proper special.

 

 

 

My excuse for calling in today was that I needed some air in the tyres of a mate's bike which I was resurrecting.

 

More later

[KruJoe]

Sorry, those smart*phone images are tosh, aren't they?

 

Now in Pai, MaeHongSon, so a few from around here.

 

 

Any questions at the end please.

 

 

 

 

 

At the evening market:

 

 

Another Daihatsu Compagno.

 

 

Northern Thailand possibly has the highest Compagno population density in the world!

 

[mouseflakes]

Hilux Hero

[hairnet]

the green thing - official as its not got numbers on the plate?

[KruJoe]

Au contraire - it's a government vehicle!

 

 

The smaller plate with the official crest is its registration. Military vehicles have stenciled plates in red on white, or white on black, and are made up of numbers in the traditional Thai numeric script:

 

 

See folks? Hairnet's not as good at Thai as he likes to make you think!

 

By the way, I believe that to be a border patrol Hummer. This remote province has a long and unfriendly frontier with Burma, and erm... tribal issues.

[hairnet]

คนเà¸Â่าหน้าà¸â€Ã Â¹â€°Ã Â¸Â²Ã Â¸â„¢Ã Â¸Â¥Ã Â¸Â´Ã Â¸â€¡ - ทางตอนเหนือ!!

 

สถานที่ซึ่งเป็นป้ายทะเบียนรถมอเตอร์ไซค์ของผมโปรà¸â€

 

khob kun

[KruJoe]

 

Hairnet, Yesterday.

[cms206]

Joe, getting ready to A-frame the fuck out if it, yesterday.

 

[hairnet]

Joe, getting ready to A-frame the fuck out if it, yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KruJoe]

A few more from the phone...

Firstly, Pa_KJ's knees want to be famous:

 

 

 

 

This thing sounded very much like it had a tasty Subaru conversion:

 

 

A view from the top of a pass between Pai and MaeHongSon town.

 

 

Cracking!

[John F]

KruJoe, on 08 Dec 2014 - 01:46 AM, said:KruJoe, on 08 Dec 2014 - 01:46 AM, said:

 

Hairnet, Yesterday.

 

Chain needs tightening... did it have a m–... er, a wrench?

[KruJoe]

Enough monkeying around. You lot drive me bananas.

[KruJoe]

More from the mobile device...





Remember this?



We caught up with it at a rest stop, with a grease-monkey (sorry) underneath it.

 

It is running a turbo'd Subaru lump. Yay, my old ears are still in tune!

It turns out the van normally runs on LPG, and like us had discovered there's no gas for sale anywhere in MaeHongSon province! They'd run out, and tried pez, but as happened to us last year, the pump had gummed up from a combination of lack of use, and the benzine/ethanol mix they commonly sell as petrol here.

Anyway, the lad got it going, and a few miles later through the mountains it caught us up, running well, I slowed to let it past, and he let us have full benefit of his soundtrack as he blasted off into the distance.

[Bucketeer]

Enough monkeying around. You lot drive me bananas.

 Ape-ysmal Joe. I expect a vast chimprovement in the future.

 

Thanks* for catalysing the explosion of bad monkey puns filling my head and clogging my brain up, pushing all the important stuff I need to remember for today out of my ears.

[Junkman]

Stop chimping about. Don't you have any ape-titude?

[hairnet]

ape-alling puns

 

weather seems a bit macaque - can it get any nicer

[KruJoe]

MaeHongSon city* is tiny and probably the most remote town. It's tucked away in the Himalayan foothills in the far north-west corner if the country. It has a few worth sharing...
 

 

Rather unusual door set-up on this Hilux...

 

 

...complete with body-coloured driver.
 

 

 

 
If I had a guest house here, the sign would look like this one:
 

 
Next door to our guest house:
 

 
Ma_KJ loves an early morning walk while everyone else is snoozing. At breakfast she was telling me abut an old Subaru she'd seen across a rice field, so we went and found it again:
 

 
Another old Hilux. Oh well. 
 
MOAR step-thoughs:
 

 

 
Pa_KJ's knees feature again.
 

 
Hairnet's next ride in the foreground:
 

 

 

 
I guess door furniture isn't easy to find here - this was the handle on our sliding bathroom door!
 

 
The local ice cream man:
 

 
Out in the sticks, actual cars are rare, it's all pick-ups and little bikes.
 

 

 
What a view!

[Asimo]

Need a "wish I was there" button.

 

When did Honda step-throughs get telescopic forks? Liking that box-body sidecar.

[KruJoe]

During the 1980's I think, maybe 90's. Many older ones have been upgraded though, especially those used in the mountains. Leading-link front ends are far from ideal off-road - I should know, that's how I learnt to ride! (Back on the farm in Yorkshire.)
 
More northern delights from Chiang Mai:
 

 

 

 

 

More later

[Bucketeer]

Fabuloso!

I am marking you down for taking a year to update though.

 

I've just been having a look through some images of the MaeHongSon area. WOW.

[KruJoe]

What can I say Alex? I'm a bad lad.

 

Aye, MHS is spectacular - it's well worth exploring for a week with a rented Honda Wave / CR250 / Toyota Soluna / Fortuner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KruJoe]

Earlier in the thread, someone confused a Fortuner for a  Merc ML on a rear 3/4 view. Compare and contrast.

 

 

Chery QQ:

 

 

 

 

Miss-matched beige, wobbly stripes and jaunty tide-lines. What's not to like?

 

[KruJoe]

 

Look what's lurking behind:

 

 

Lovely.

 

 

But not as lovely as...

 

 

Catch of the day, nach.

 

 

I could eat this for breakfast, all day long.

 

 

Yummy.

[ChinaTom]

Fabulous part of the world. Once again, I find myself having been standing a few mountains away from you (although not at the same time). We were reccy'ing a few sites in Kayah (Myanmar) and tried to get back to Thailand via a road that locals promised would get us to Mueang Pon. I think the border has moved since they last went. Road turned to track, track turned to forest. Back we went...

 

I am so envious - my next trip to Thailand will be BKK only