Automatic motorcycles are really taking off in Thailand due to the fantastic rideability and solid performance but the Honda Wave is still the most common motorbike on Thailand’s roads both in Bangkok and all throughout the country. The Honda Wave has such a good reputation and solid performance many riders simply choose to update to a new Wave when the old bike just gets worn out.

There are a number of options on the new Honda Wave and the bike comes with two different motor sizes. You can buy the high performance Honda Wave 125 cc with numerous options or buy the Honda Wave 100 cc which is quite a bit cheaper although not as powerful and not as gutsy when you have a passenger.

The Honda Wave 125 S has a carburetor engine and costs around 43,000 baht. It is the basic 125 model and comes with front disc brakes and an optional electric starter which really is a must. The Wave 125 S, although a quality motorbike does occasionally have some starting problems with the electric starter, but most of the time if you need to use the kick starter you will get the bike running.

The top of the range is the Honda Wave 125 i, which has a fuel injected engine and is known to start first time every time with the electric starter. The Wave 125 i costs around 46,000 baht and gets as many as 50 km on just 1 liter of petrol which makes this bike one of the most fuel efficient and powerful motorcycles in the small motorbike bracket in Thailand.

For around 36,000 baht you can pick yourself up the bargain priced Honda Wave 100 which is very basic with no front disc brakes or electric starter or you can pay just a little bit more for the Honda Wave 100 S which has the optional electric starter and standard front disc brakes. Due to the cheap price and reliability, the Honda Wave 100 series is and has been for quite some time, one of the most commonly seen small motorcycles in Thailand.

From the Nongsoda Guesthouse which is located along the banks of the Mekong on the edge of Savannakhet town it is less than a 5 minute walk to the Thai Embassy where you need to drop your passport and 1,000 baht in the morning before midday for a new Thai tourist or Thai non immigrant visa. The following day you can pick up your passport after 2pm.

If you are simply looking to kick back and relax in Savannakhet Laos for few days the Nongsoda Guesthouse is also in the prime location to access the small town of Savannakhet but don’t expect a whole lot of action since Savannakhet is predominantly a sleepy little town with not a lot going on by day or by night.

The Nongsoda Guesthouse is cheap but the prices vary from 300-500 baht per night depending on what size room you take. All rooms have air conditioning which is rare for a room so cheap as well as TV’s with some English cable channels and hot water in the bathroom. It is pretty basic accommodation but all rooms are clean and are quite a decent size and the staff are very friendly but don’t speak much English.

Although not quite as big as the 115 cc Yamaha Nouvo model, the Yamaha Mio has a substantially powerful 110cc engine that is very quick off the mark for a small automatic motorcycle. The Yamaha Mio has a step through design very similar in size and shape to the popular Honda Click. Like the Click, the Mio only has a small storage capacity under the seat but has a handy hook behind and below the handle bars to carry a helmet or two or the groceries on your way home from the supermarket.

The new model Yamaha Mio has just recently been released and has a uniquely shaped single headlight designed that looks most impressive and is a step away from the currently popular twin headlight design of it closest competitors in the small automatic motorbike market, that being the Honda Click and Air Blade as well as the Yamaha Nouvo.

Same as the Honda Airblade and Click, the Yamaha Mio has slightly smaller tires than the Nouvo and Honda Wave models. The smaller diameter tires are proving popular these days and seem to give just as smooth a ride as the regular size wheels of most motorbikes in this bracket.

The Yamaha Mio is well priced at around 43,000 baht including on road costs depending on what options you choose. The standard Mio comes with spoke wheels although mag wheels are available at a slightly higher price. The Yamaha Mio has perhaps the widest range on colors available of all the small motorbikes currently on offer with a number of optional extras available to customize your bike.

Seven foot Manthing actor, the giant from down under Conan Stevens makes an appearance in Bangkok Adrenaline in a comedic role which is a turn around for him since at seven feet tall and over 300 pounds of muscle, the giant normally plays the villain or the character who usually cracks bones instead of cracking jokes. Bangkok Adrenaline is just another of the many films Conan Stevens has worked on since arriving in Asia almost 2 years ago.

Bangkok Adrenaline is predominately an action movie with that classic Asian twist of comic relief mixed within dramatic action scenes. There are no obvious special effects in this independent film since all the stunt work in Bangkok Adrenaline is performed by top rate martial artists and stunt men from all over the world. What you see is what you get, there are no hidden wires and no CGI, this is a hardcore Asian action movie and the news from the set is that some of the stunt men only just avoided a number of serious injuries while making the film and this will be evident in the quality of the action scenes when the movie is released in cinemas later this year.

Bangkok Adrenaline is just another of the many fine Asian action films to be filmed entirely in Thailand with a cast of both Thai and international actors that will be released in 2007. Bangkok Adrenaline is one action movie I am very much looking forward to seeing once it hits the big screen in around November this year.

The executive serviced apartments at the Four Seasons Place Pattaya range in size from 60, 80, 90 and 104 square meters and the monthly rental depending on the size of the serviced apartment is between 40,000 to 70,000 baht including tax.

The residential tower of the Four Seasons Place in Pattaya has 6 floors of beautifully appointed apartments from 57, 84, 88 and 105 square meters in size. All apartments are finished with immaculate fittings with no expense spared. The tile work throughout the apartments is very impressive and the kitchens and bathrooms are of international standards. The prices for the apartments which have mostly already been sold are approximately around 3-5 million baht each.

Inside the complex at the Four Seasons Place Pattaya is a reasonable size round shaped swimming pool surrounded by trees and recliner chairs for residents who like to sit by the pool or do a little bit of sunbathing. There is a small air conditioned gym alongside the pool area, including a sauna and squash court and a restaurant within the complex which is due for completion soon.

The Four Seasons Place at this time has almost finished construction with most rooms finished and furnished, all with imported Italian furniture. Some new residents are just about ready to move in and within the coming months
the condominium and serviced apartments should be fully completed and operational.

The rates at the Lamrock Lodge backpackers are extremely reasonable with a bed in a 4 bed dorm costing just $20 AUS per night. You can even get your own private room for an entire week for as little as $180. There are a number of room sizes available at different rates but all rooms are very well priced even during the high seasons each year.

The Lamrock Lodge backpacker hostel in Bondi Beach has numerous shared shower and toilet facilities on all floors to cater for the huge number of guests who often stay there throughout the year. The facilities are always clean and the staff are very friendly and helpful to all guests. The hostel has been around for quite a few years now and the staff know all the information you could possibly want to know about the Bondi Beach area as well as where to go in Sydney for fun or general places of interest and what is the cheapest and quickest way to get there.

Sydney International Airport is only about 30 minutes drive away from Lamrock Lodge by car depending on traffic levels and the time of day. Any taxi driver from the airport will know Lamrock Lodge and the Bondi Beach area since it is one of Sydney’s most popular tourist locations. Buses run from very early morning till very late at night every day of the week and taxis are always available just around the corner on Campbell Parade which is the street that runs along the beach front. Transport is never a problem in this area.

From Lamrock Lodge at Bondi Beach you can walk to a number of other beaches along a magnificent coastal walk that runs around the cliffs bordering the beach. There are also some awesome snorkeling locations within minutes from the hostel where you will normally have great visibility in the water and see some very big fish and other marine life. The location of Lamrock Lodge would have to be the best of any hostel in all of Sydney, especially of all beach locations.

In terms of value for money the Honda Click is probably one of the best buys of all bikes currently available in Thailand. At around 44,000 baht depending on your options the Honda Click automatic is around the same price as some manual bikes from other manufacturers. The Click has a V-Matic transmission which gives a super smooth and comfortable ride.

One interesting option on the Honda Click is the Combi Brake. The Combi Brake on the left side of the handle bars applies a certain amount of pressure to the back brakes while applying a smaller amount of force onto the front brakes as well to give the motorbike optimum stopping power without having to apply the front and back brakes with both handbrakes on each side of the handle bars. It is a new feature for Honda motorbikes and is also available on the Honda Air Blade.

The Honda Click also has a park brake option on the left handbrake as well that comes in handy especially if you want to stop the bike just briefly or when parked on a hill. The Click also has just one shock at the back of the bike instead of the usual two.

Like quite a few of the smaller automatic bikes on the Thai motorcycle market nowadays, the Honda Click has slightly smaller in diameter rims and tires similar to the Honda Airblade and the Yamaha Mio. The Click has the same size 110 cubic centimeter engine as the Honda Airblade and is quite a zippy machine even when traveling up hills. The only slight let down with the Honda Click is the very small storage area under the seat. It only allows you to carry one very small size helmet or just a few groceries. Although slightly more expensive bikes, the Honda Air Blade and Yamaha Nouvo have considerably more room under the seat. If travel space is not an issue for you, the Click is otherwise a great little bike.

The Honda Click in my opinion is a great value bike and comes in a wide range of color choices to suit all tastes. There are also numerous after market accessories available to customize your bike to make it stand out from the crowd.

Having lived at Bondi Beach for many years I always liked to hang out at the beach as it was always full of happy people and an amazing line up of hot chicks. The best thing of all was that the girl you might be looking at walking along the beach or sunbathing on the sand could be from anywhere in the world. After the sun goes down on Bondi Beach each day one of the first places all these single beach goers head to is the Bondi Hotel which can be seen from the beach.

The Bondi Hotel has a number of rooms for drinking, playing pool, playing poker machines, just hanging out for a chat and the hotel also has a disco that gets extremely busy on a Friday and Saturday night. Since so many backpackers flock to the Bondi Hotel after a day at Bondi Beach it is a fantastic pick up joint for both guys and girls. Many of the European girls love to flirt with the local Aussie guys and especially the local Bondi surfers who drink alongside the main front bar every night of the week.

In the Bondi Hotel disco that pumps on the weekends an assortment of nationalities mix together for good music and a chance to meet new people for friendships and often a whole lot more. The hotel disco serves up a host of weird and wonderful cocktails and after a few cocktails just about anything could happen so your chances of picking up a chick or a guy at the Bondi Beach Hotel is very good indeed. It is usually a very friendly mix of locals and foreign tourists with a huge contingent of security staff keeping an eager eye on proceedings and they rarely let anything get out of hand.

If you are a single backpacker traveling alone through Sydney or a local Sydney resident and looking for a good time or a great chance to meet new friends it is definitely worth checking out the Bondi Hotel at Bondi Beach in Sydney. For backpackers coming to Bondi Beach there are numerous backpacker hostels around the hotel or you might even find someone at the hotel who is looking for a room mate. No matter what you are looking for you will probably find it at the Bondi Hotel.

Chatuchak market Bangkok is a weekend market place and is not open during the weekdays. Chatuchak market is conveniently located at the end of the BTS skytrain line at Mor Chit. From the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok it will take you about half an hour by taxi to get to the weekend market although it could take a lot longer as Bangkok traffic is insane to say the least.

Traveling through Chatuchak market can be hard work since it is normally very hot outside and even hotter walking through the labyrinth of internal shops. It is such a sweat box deep inside the Chatuchak shopping canals that I have seen people pass out from heat exhaustion. Although I like to go there, since there is so much variety to choose from when shopping, every time I go I always find the indoor shopping extremely tiring and end up drinking so much water it becomes a problem finding a toilet in amongst the phenomenal crowds. It is believed as many as half a million people congregate at Chatuchak market in Bangkok every weekend. Bangkok is an overpopulated city at the best of times but Chatuchak weekend market is by far the busiest place I have been anywhere in Thailand.

Although it is hot it is still fun and great if you are looking for something in particular. Chatuchak market has anything and everything you could ever imagine. Where the problem lies though is finding it as there are just so many shops and with them being grouped together in such a terrific maze I have never been able to relocate a particular shop once I walked away. I once bought an item there and went back the following weekend to buy some more at the same shop but after hours just searching for that shop I ended up leaving having no idea whether I even came close to finding the location of that particular shop. If you see something you like at Chatuchak market Bangkok buy it and don’t walk away. All of the shops are extremely cheap so you probably will not find it anywhere else significantly cheaper.

I don’t think I need to mention specifically what is available at Chatuchak market Bangkok other than to say everything is available and if one shop doesn’t have the color you want in that particular item, there are thousands of other shops that probably do. I wanted a specific type of indoor plant that rarely needed watering for my apartment in Bangkok one time and saw a picture of this plant on the internet so I downloaded a picture of this plant from the internet and then went to the plant section of Chatuchak market and sure enough, they not only had the type of plant I was looking for but other hybrid types as well that were in different colors.

If you have the time and patience you will find what you are looking for at Chatuchak market whether it is rare dinosaur eggs or a life size model elephant made out of old mobile phones. Yes everything is available at Chatuchak market Bangkok and when you go, don’t forget the sunscreen but then again you can always buy it there, if you can find it.

The Yamaha Nouvo is not the cheapest automatic on the market at around 50,000-55,000 baht depending on your options, but it is definitely one of the most reliable small motorbikes available in Thailand. The Yamaha Nouvo has a 115cc engine and is just slightly larger than the new and popular Honda Air Blade which has a 110cc engine. Both the Yamaha Nouvo and the Honda Air Blade are automatics and at the top of the market in terms of popularity and rider comfort. Unlike many of the smaller motorbikes on the Thai market the Yamaha Nouvo has enough room under the seat to fit 2 motorbike helmets or a reasonable amount of groceries or other goods.

Unlike the Honda Air Blade, Honda Click and the Yamaha Mio, the Yamaha Nouvo has full size tires that offer a smooth ride at higher speeds and is quite comfortable to ride over speed humps which are so common on the side sois (roads) in Thailand. The Yamaha Nouvo can be seen all over Thailand but is extremely popular in busy places like Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

The newest models of the Yamaha Nouvo have a twin headlight arrangement similar to both the Honda Air Blade and the Honda Click and look very impressive at night. The stream lined and aerodynamic features of the Yamaha Nouvo along with exceptional handling and rider comfort have made it one of the most popular small automatic motorbikes in Thailand. With the release of the latest model Yamaha Nouvo with slightly new colors and striping it is set to continue as one of Thailand’s most in style and versatile small motorbikes.