I´ve had a wonderful wlecome from the BMW Club of Thailand. They took me out for dinner last night, and tomorrow is their annual bash to which I´m invited. Not only that, but they´re having a Club outing to Laos next weekend for a few days and have insisted I join them, which fits in brilliantly with my plans.Got the bike back this afternoon - five hours of paperwork then frenetic crate destruction and bike reassembly with the help of a forklift truck. Everyone was very helpful; the Customs lady, once convinced this was a temporary import, produced a complete set of copies of Simon McCarthy's paperwork from which to crib, and very impressed when I exclaimed "he's a friend" (bit of an exaggeration - I've met him twice). And the other Customs officers wanted to see my website, and gave me a cribsheet for he difference between Bangkok Thai and Chiang Mai Thai. I had to reciprocate by explaining how to pronounce various English words.

So, back on the road.