Burapa Bike Show and Bangkok Bike Fest

February was an eventful month for the Nagas MC, with the delivery of our official club patches and a couple of decent bike events to attend.
For those of you who have seen a new club back patch being worn and don't know the club, well, ours features a pair of golden Naga river serpents either side of a blue and white bar and shield with "Nagas MC Sri Racha" embroidered in the centre, with Thai script above saying "Phaiyana" (the Thai for Naga) and English script below saying "Thailand" and was voted by many friends at the recent Burapa Bike Show as being the "best looking damn patch in Thailand!!"

You'll note I do not use the word "colours" when describing our back patches.... this is purely a personal choice because to me "colours" are worn by male members of clubs wanting to be associated with the 1% outlaw style biker clubs, but in contrast to this our good ladies are also encouraged to wear our insignia, as do the girls of Thailands' premier MC, the Immortals. Mind you the girls don't get to wear the small "Member" patches; one small member between me & the missus is enough.....!!
 
The Burapa Bike Show was held in Jomtien from 13th to 15th Feb and was a good success with many trade stands operated by the numerous motorcycle clubs Thailand is home to, and shows galore, including jet skiing, American classic cars, classic bikes etc but for me the best by far being the 3-way tug of war, with the "Female under 35 kilos" a real show stopper!! Entry to the whole 3 day event was a very generous "free of charge" although I did hear many riders stating they would be more than happy to pay a "per head" or "per bike" entrance fee, which could have gone towards paying for the bands etc. Full marks to Keith & his Bastards from Bangkok for playing for free... respect!

The event was extremely well attended, with riders from the Burapa MC, Immortals, Head Stones, Nagas, Mad Dogs (great to see you back on yer feet, Mossie), Ravens, Siam Knights, Phuket Riders, Siam Samurai, Jesters, Renegades, Siam Riders, Worlicks and many others, the culmination for me being the 300+ bike road tour from Jomtien, up Sukhumvit to Nua, down past City Hall to the Dolphin roundabout, down beach road, along walking street (yeah, how many car alarms did we set off?!) over Thappaya hill and along Jomtien beach road back to the site. (Ed, you're a good pal and a great mechanic but you and your Hot Rodders don't know shit about formation club riding!!) Well done to Burapa club president Amin for a great event and here's to hoping there will be many more to come.
 
Sunday 22nd Feb saw the first ever Bangkok Bike Fest with a very well supported City tour in the morning, trade stands from many of the capital's big bike shops and a great rock concert in the evening. A very stylish event souvenir t-shirt to frame and put on show at the "Old Speckled Hen" too! (What, wear it? Perish the thought!). Whilst in Bangkok we stayed at the Park Hotel, Sukhumvit soi 7. Folks, don't even think of it until they get rid of the carpets.... ours was crawling with the type of bugs even the missus was disgusted at, and she normally eat's 'em!
 
One event we didn't attend but I would very much like to have gone to was the 5th Ubon Bike Week, held from 23rd to 25th February in Dongnatam, Ubon Rachatani. These events don't come along all that often, in fact the first 4 were 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2001 so it would be great to get some clubs together and take a tour out East to support the event... next time eh?
 
March saw the Nagas MC nipping out to our favourite "short-break" destination in Rayong, the Villa Bali Resort in Laem Mae Phim. This is a gorgeous resort with beautiful bungalows hidden by some really exotic Thai flora (plants, ok?) and a secluded swimming pool and outdoor bar area just perfect for an afternoon poolside party. Check it out on their website www.villa-bali.net, book up on Tel. 038 638080 and go say hi to owners Jon and Toi... great people, a great place.

The seafood restaurants just down the road are excellent and very happy to organise a group tour buffet... there were 20 of us who were seated and served a wonderful banquet of steamed fish with lemon grass, grilled fish with chilli, deep fried king prawns, garlic fried squid, steamed shellfish and a mountain of assorted fried vegetables, all for 200 baht per head! So much food that Bert had to take his home in a doggy bag.... or was he just too plastered to turn up and eat... dunno, everything is a wee bit hazy, apart from the bit where I fell off a table and broke me wee toe... don't ask!!
 
The next Nagas MC meeting will be held on the 7th April at the Cherry Hill pub and restaurant in Sri Racha where we will be finalising our tour details for the Phuket/Samui trip, taking place April 9th to 18th. Anyone wanting to come along with a view to riding with us to Phuket will be more than welcome, the only stipulation being your machine must be a touring bike of a minimum 600cc.

Obviously you will need to take care of your own accommadation as we have already booked places, but even so it is still much more fun riding with an organised club than on your own. Any potential club members also more than welcome, just e-mail me for club details, come along, bring the missus and join in, we're user friendly!