Back in Chiang Mai I heard about a big accident from some motorbike riders on a trip in Northlaos. One Lao die and 4 very hard injuered. Someone told me now is no entry anymore in Chiang Khong for motorbike travelers ??? What was happen and what are the news. Normaly I want to go next week with some friends ti Phonsaly.
Asian Motorcycle Adventures Trouble in Laos
- Thread starter Peter1
- Start date
Hy,
heard nothing about it, will enquire.
for info, from Xiengkhuang up north you will get 8 to 10 degrees...take your polar jacket !
good trip
jean louis papaya
heard nothing about it, will enquire.
for info, from Xiengkhuang up north you will get 8 to 10 degrees...take your polar jacket !
good trip
jean louis papaya
Jean Louis
We are most interested to know what you can find out.
But on the grapevine the gossip is that it is serious trouble.
The person killed was a government official & a relative of the Luang Prabang provincial governor!
The accident also happened in Luang Prabang province where there is already a ban on bike rental to foreigners in LPQ because of the high accident rate.
Then we have a very irresponsible Thai tour company owner denying it was a tour (12 uninsured Thai bikes & a pick up) with his Thai company, but a Lao company.
He then flees the country to avoid posting bail / negotiating a settlement in a fatal accident.
None of this was a good idea & will only jeopardize motorcycle touring in Laos for all of us.
Meanwhile the Thai mechanic / back-up driver is in jail in LPQ waiting for help from the Thai company.
It's going to be a long messy problem to sort out.
Could it be that AMA no longer stands for Asian Motorcycle Adventures, but Asian Mis Adventures?
We are most interested to know what you can find out.
But on the grapevine the gossip is that it is serious trouble.
The person killed was a government official & a relative of the Luang Prabang provincial governor!
The accident also happened in Luang Prabang province where there is already a ban on bike rental to foreigners in LPQ because of the high accident rate.
Then we have a very irresponsible Thai tour company owner denying it was a tour (12 uninsured Thai bikes & a pick up) with his Thai company, but a Lao company.
He then flees the country to avoid posting bail / negotiating a settlement in a fatal accident.
None of this was a good idea & will only jeopardize motorcycle touring in Laos for all of us.
Meanwhile the Thai mechanic / back-up driver is in jail in LPQ waiting for help from the Thai company.
It's going to be a long messy problem to sort out.
Could it be that AMA no longer stands for Asian Motorcycle Adventures, but Asian Mis Adventures?
This sure sounds like trouble.
Talk about a hard lesson in Thai corporate responsibility – scappering, whilst leaving dead, injured and your employee to carry the can.
Do we know if non-thai farangs were riding on this tour?
Not that this will matter much from a Laotian perspective.
Is the operator's name known?
And, has this affected entry south of Vtne?
It's behavior like this that smears all bikers going to Laos - is there anything we should be doing collectively to bring this operator to justice?
Talk about a hard lesson in Thai corporate responsibility – scappering, whilst leaving dead, injured and your employee to carry the can.
Do we know if non-thai farangs were riding on this tour?
Not that this will matter much from a Laotian perspective.
Is the operator's name known?
And, has this affected entry south of Vtne?
It's behavior like this that smears all bikers going to Laos - is there anything we should be doing collectively to bring this operator to justice?
HY David, I check it out with some friends in LP. let you know asap.
For sure this is not going to help us riding bike around !!!
Did the accidenthappened in LP, was it a crash betwenn bikes ?
keep in touch.
Jean Louis
to
For sure this is not going to help us riding bike around !!!
Did the accidenthappened in LP, was it a crash betwenn bikes ?
keep in touch.
Jean Louis
to
Armin
Keep fishing mate. As a fellow tour operator doing outbound tours from Thailand I am sure you're most concerned how ethical & legal & responsible tour operators need to be & not bring the business into disrepute.
I still have some newspaper cuttings about a German motorcycle tour operator who was arrested by the police in Mae Chaem many years for stealing motorcycle parts. The same gentleman once assaulted one of his customers on tour, plus in a drunken rage trashed a bungalow at the Rim Doi resort resulting in a bill for 6,000 baht. He is not at all popular in North Thailand, but tells a very different story back home in the EU. If only they knew....
This is getting foggier by the day.
Has anyone actually encountered problems in northern Laos as
a consequence of an incident?
Do we know what actually occurred?
Were the vehicles involved m/cs or 4x4s?
Needless to say, but to save others the effort, nothing has appeared on Laotian online news in english.
Has anyone actually encountered problems in northern Laos as
a consequence of an incident?
Do we know what actually occurred?
Were the vehicles involved m/cs or 4x4s?
Needless to say, but to save others the effort, nothing has appeared on Laotian online news in english.
Rhodie
No problems for other bikers in N Laos.
Yesterday a m/c tour group entered Laos at Huay Xai without any trouble.
The accident occurred between the Thai back-up support vehicle and a Lao Toyota.
An AMA tour customer was sitting in the support vehicle & from what I can gather was wearing a seat belt, along with the Thai driver. (He is an Aussie, & if he is watching this board it would be nice if he contacted me or even posted his version of events, especially after accident.)
Unfortunately not so for the Lao in the Toyota - no seat belts & going a bit fast. One Lao dead - a govt official (relative of the LPQ governor), plus 3 admitted to hospital. 2 of those are out, but a 3rd is seriously ill in a Vientiane hospital 3 weeks later.
All of this was complicated by the fact none of the AMA vehicles took out Lao insurance when they entered, so AMA has to pay.
Now the real problem is that the owner “Capt Chaos” of AMA, on tour with the group, melted into the group, denied it was a tour, then attempted to pass the buck onto a Lao company.
The Lao company AMA dobbed in knew nothing about the accident until 3 days after the event, when police visited there office in LPQ. In the meantime Mr AMA fled back to Thailand, jumping off the boat 30 minutes before Huay Sai as he knew the Lao police were waiting for him to post bail for his company employee & negotiate a settlement with the next of kin.
3 weeks AMA later has still made no contact with the police or next of kin in LPQ & they are extremely upset.
Had AMA had the balls to show some responsibility & immediately deal with the situation it would not be so messy. A very simple gesture of goodwill would have been to offer to pay for the funeral of the govt official and / or the medical expenses of the injured. Then negotiate to clear the balance – vehicle damage & dead govt official.
But the AMA back up driver has been totally left in the lurch & on his own for 3 weeks, while they “hid” in Chiang Mai.
Relatives of the Thai back-up driver have been in LPQ for 2 days so see what they could do to help.
Now at least the police in LPQ & next of kin know exactly who – which company / person - is responsible and will be seeking an appropriate settlement.
Discussions are going in Luang Prabang & if an amount can be agreed on, could be finalized tomorrow. Then someone will be getting a tap on the shoulder to pay up.
No problems for other bikers in N Laos.
Yesterday a m/c tour group entered Laos at Huay Xai without any trouble.
The accident occurred between the Thai back-up support vehicle and a Lao Toyota.
An AMA tour customer was sitting in the support vehicle & from what I can gather was wearing a seat belt, along with the Thai driver. (He is an Aussie, & if he is watching this board it would be nice if he contacted me or even posted his version of events, especially after accident.)
Unfortunately not so for the Lao in the Toyota - no seat belts & going a bit fast. One Lao dead - a govt official (relative of the LPQ governor), plus 3 admitted to hospital. 2 of those are out, but a 3rd is seriously ill in a Vientiane hospital 3 weeks later.
All of this was complicated by the fact none of the AMA vehicles took out Lao insurance when they entered, so AMA has to pay.
Now the real problem is that the owner “Capt Chaos” of AMA, on tour with the group, melted into the group, denied it was a tour, then attempted to pass the buck onto a Lao company.
The Lao company AMA dobbed in knew nothing about the accident until 3 days after the event, when police visited there office in LPQ. In the meantime Mr AMA fled back to Thailand, jumping off the boat 30 minutes before Huay Sai as he knew the Lao police were waiting for him to post bail for his company employee & negotiate a settlement with the next of kin.
3 weeks AMA later has still made no contact with the police or next of kin in LPQ & they are extremely upset.
Had AMA had the balls to show some responsibility & immediately deal with the situation it would not be so messy. A very simple gesture of goodwill would have been to offer to pay for the funeral of the govt official and / or the medical expenses of the injured. Then negotiate to clear the balance – vehicle damage & dead govt official.
But the AMA back up driver has been totally left in the lurch & on his own for 3 weeks, while they “hid” in Chiang Mai.
Relatives of the Thai back-up driver have been in LPQ for 2 days so see what they could do to help.
Now at least the police in LPQ & next of kin know exactly who – which company / person - is responsible and will be seeking an appropriate settlement.
Discussions are going in Luang Prabang & if an amount can be agreed on, could be finalized tomorrow. Then someone will be getting a tap on the shoulder to pay up.
Appreciate the update - and such scurrilous behaviour needs to be exposed.
Are these the folks involved?
http://www.asianbiketour.com/
if not, you may want to delete this post.
Your posting of reputable outfits elsewhere is most helpful and deserves a "sticky" or prominence that can readilly accessed by tgose searching for operators to enjoy as trouble-free biking experience as possible.
Are these the folks involved?
http://www.asianbiketour.com/
if not, you may want to delete this post.
Your posting of reputable outfits elsewhere is most helpful and deserves a "sticky" or prominence that can readilly accessed by tgose searching for operators to enjoy as trouble-free biking experience as possible.
Just a brief update.
1 month after the event, the Thai driver is still in jail & looking at 15 more years.
The "noble" Mr Reed Resnikoff & his "company" Asian Motorcycle Adventures are nowhere to be seen (no company registration or tour licence)& have still failed to make any contact with the police in Luang Prabang. There are many unhappy unimpressed people. In North Thailand police are now looking for Mr Resnikoff / AMA. I wonder if he will show his face in the region again?
Again, if there are Aussie tour customers from that fatal tour watching this board, would you please contact me asap.
1 month after the event, the Thai driver is still in jail & looking at 15 more years.
The "noble" Mr Reed Resnikoff & his "company" Asian Motorcycle Adventures are nowhere to be seen (no company registration or tour licence)& have still failed to make any contact with the police in Luang Prabang. There are many unhappy unimpressed people. In North Thailand police are now looking for Mr Resnikoff / AMA. I wonder if he will show his face in the region again?
Again, if there are Aussie tour customers from that fatal tour watching this board, would you please contact me asap.
Update 1st Jan 2007
For those of you who had a happy new year, spare a thought for Yoi, the Thai back-up driver of Asian Mis Adventures, who is still in the jail in Luang Prabang & awaiting help from his employer of 5 years.
For those of you who had a happy new year, spare a thought for Yoi, the Thai back-up driver of Asian Mis Adventures, who is still in the jail in Luang Prabang & awaiting help from his employer of 5 years.
Exactly - where is the "gentleman Mr Reed"?
The guy in the nick in Luang Prabang has worked for AMA for 5-6 years & certainly deserves better treatment, rather than being totally abandoned like he has, no matter who's fault the accident was.
There is much more info that will eventually come out & none of it is good.
I first learnt about the accident 2 days after the event, when my phone ran hot with calls from several parties in Laos (Luang Nam Tha / Luang Prabang / Vientiane), asking for help & advice. They all wanted Mr Asian Mis Adventures to contact the authorities to help clear up the mess. But he was well & truly on his way, fleeing the scene / country.
10 days after the event, via a friend in Luang Prabang I managed to get food & fresh clothes to Yoi in the jail. He was still in the same gear he was arrested in & eating Laos prison slop! Surely a noble employer, who had just completed a 20 day motorcycle tour (back to back tours of North Thailand & Laos) with 12 customers, would have even a few hundred dollars to splash around to help a faithful employee of 6 years? But no, not Captain Chaos, aka RR, he did a complete runner & left his back up driver & mechanic high & dry to his own resources, & they weren't much I can tell you. There is one Honda 250 Baja for sale now but unfortunately there are no papers - invoices or rego - for the bike. But if someone wants to make an offer, I can supply the address & phone number for Yoi's g/f who has the bike parked at the house & ready to go in the "fire sale" to raise money for him to get out & back to Cnx.
Now there has been a story doing the rounds in Chiang Mai, that RR is back in the US of A, working as a taxi driver to make money to recover what he has already paid for Yoi get out of the jail.
Exactly where RR is no one is sure, he is covering his tracks extremely carefully, but anyone who believes that RR has done the right thing & paid money for Yoi's release is incredibly ill informed & gullible.
Negotiations in Luang Prabang have progressed reasonably well & and currently I think that Yoi is now only short 70,000 baht before he can be released & return to Chiang Mai.
I’ve just come back from several days away on the Mae Hong Son loop, but will post an update in a day or two.
Dave,
Surely if we know his name and nationality(Mr. Reed.)
we can harass his own embassy and/or consulate ,in Laos and Thailand and every country that has GT Rider members, if we give them enough flack they might do something. Other than that the best we can do is get Yoi out and back. Any suggestions? Remember it could be YOU next time getting helped by Dave and other concerned GT Rider members.
Surely if we know his name and nationality(Mr. Reed.)
we can harass his own embassy and/or consulate ,in Laos and Thailand and every country that has GT Rider members, if we give them enough flack they might do something. Other than that the best we can do is get Yoi out and back. Any suggestions? Remember it could be YOU next time getting helped by Dave and other concerned GT Rider members.
Harri
A good idea but going on their concern for pbulic relations & treatment of third world citizens I don't believe we can expect too much from either the US or Israeli legations in BKK about one of many errant citizens.
Perhaps at the 6the upcoming HUBB meet we can try & raise many for the poor fellow stuck in Laos.
Also, it may be time for GT-Rider to give their seal of approval for reputable outfits; this, in time, could progress to an organisation who put together a pot of money to bail-out such unfortunate innocents similar tho on a more lowly scale to ABTA.
In the meantime we all should check thru our US &/or Israeli contacts to see if he has surfaced.
One final thought, a letter outlining his cut & run operating methods with details of this case should be sent to the publications listed on his website that he has ostensibly written for.
A good idea but going on their concern for pbulic relations & treatment of third world citizens I don't believe we can expect too much from either the US or Israeli legations in BKK about one of many errant citizens.
Perhaps at the 6the upcoming HUBB meet we can try & raise many for the poor fellow stuck in Laos.
Also, it may be time for GT-Rider to give their seal of approval for reputable outfits; this, in time, could progress to an organisation who put together a pot of money to bail-out such unfortunate innocents similar tho on a more lowly scale to ABTA.
In the meantime we all should check thru our US &/or Israeli contacts to see if he has surfaced.
One final thought, a letter outlining his cut & run operating methods with details of this case should be sent to the publications listed on his website that he has ostensibly written for.
Yes, I read this threat its very interesting. Why everybody are against Mr. Reed ? The thaidriver make the mistake he was on the wrong side. I want to know who in the same position like the american guy - who waiting to be arrested in Laos. Think about this when you are in the same situation. What your doing. In jail or back as fast you can - at first and than to clear the situation.
But one with the brave mind Mr. Golden Triangel with the holy shine around his head ??? Never until what I haerd now about his style and how he act - never. Someone told me befor Reed was his best friend and now ?
But one with the brave mind Mr. Golden Triangel with the holy shine around his head ??? Never until what I haerd now about his style and how he act - never. Someone told me befor Reed was his best friend and now ?
Oh this thread is going to start to get interesting! Yes, from what I have heard the Thai driver made a mistake. And you haven't? I was too fast and on the wrong side of the road and also had an accident once. Fortunately I was the only one who suffered any loss. BUT, MY FRIENDS CAME TO HELP ME.
That is what this is about, not right or wrong but helping someone in trouble. OK, Reed split to protect himself. Where ever he is now what is he doing to help his employee and I assume friend? Even if it is as you say, "back as fast as you can -at first and then to clear the situation", what is being done to clear the situation? Or are you saying that if I am at fault in an accident, then no one should care and no one should offer me assistance?
I heard another GT-Rider, much to my dismay, offered a similar sentiment. A person is dead. This a great loss and shame. There is a fine to be paid and family to be compensated. A man is in jail and suffering as much as anyone. Should we just abandon him? There are many of us who want to help. This help will then be two fold as it may release Yoi from a LAOS prison and also help the family get the compensation they desire and rightfully deserve.
As the organizer of this tour Mr. Reed should be first in line to organize and do this. Instead it is "Mr. Golden Triangle" who is the first to assist. Why? Because it is the right thing to do........
Update:
Apparently from David's last conversation with the Lao Police involved, this amount will not fix things. Negotiations are continuing. A solid plan of how to help is still on hold unitl more facts are passed on. More to follow I am sure....
That is what this is about, not right or wrong but helping someone in trouble. OK, Reed split to protect himself. Where ever he is now what is he doing to help his employee and I assume friend? Even if it is as you say, "back as fast as you can -at first and then to clear the situation", what is being done to clear the situation? Or are you saying that if I am at fault in an accident, then no one should care and no one should offer me assistance?
I heard another GT-Rider, much to my dismay, offered a similar sentiment. A person is dead. This a great loss and shame. There is a fine to be paid and family to be compensated. A man is in jail and suffering as much as anyone. Should we just abandon him? There are many of us who want to help. This help will then be two fold as it may release Yoi from a LAOS prison and also help the family get the compensation they desire and rightfully deserve.
As the organizer of this tour Mr. Reed should be first in line to organize and do this. Instead it is "Mr. Golden Triangle" who is the first to assist. Why? Because it is the right thing to do........
Update:
Apparently from David's last conversation with the Lao Police involved, this amount will not fix things. Negotiations are continuing. A solid plan of how to help is still on hold unitl more facts are passed on. More to follow I am sure....
Bike for sale going cheap.
Make an offer to help Yoi get out of jail.
Sorry no rego or invoices, but ok for parts if you've already got a 250 or sorts.
Make an offer to help Yoi get out of jail.
Sorry no rego or invoices, but ok for parts if you've already got a 250 or sorts.