The problem is not riding your bike over the country, it's riding it through Bangkok, and to a lesser extent on those bone jarring concrete highways.
I've wandered around the country for 20 years now and ended up in a small village in Buri Ram. I've spent time on the coast in Rayong, Cha-am, Nakhorn Sri Thammarat, Songkhla, Samui and Krabi. Sure, the beach and sea are nice, but you can't spend your whole life sitting on the beach. I've spent time in Bangkok and Pattaya, convenient in that most of what you need is there, but there's only so much dirt and smoke you can take. I worked in Fang, north of Chiang Mai for a while in the early 90's. Very nice part of the country, nice scenery, mountain roads, but a bit isolated for my liking. So how did I end up in Buri Ram? It's where the wife comes from, her families all here. It makes it better for her when I'm away at work, and easier for me to jump on the bike and head off when I want. It's also a nice place. I drew up the plans for my house the way I wanted it to be, teak upstairs with a big verandah, marble down stairs, nice and cool. No real view, but we're completely surrounded with trees so no need. I don't have to fight through traffic everytime I leave the house. I'm half way between Buri Ram and Surin, so there are there are 2 Tesco's, 2 Big C's, 2 Makro's, countless Thai bars and a few expat ones within a 30km radius. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. There's a few other farangs building houses in the village now, so looks like others do too.
I've wandered around the country for 20 years now and ended up in a small village in Buri Ram. I've spent time on the coast in Rayong, Cha-am, Nakhorn Sri Thammarat, Songkhla, Samui and Krabi. Sure, the beach and sea are nice, but you can't spend your whole life sitting on the beach. I've spent time in Bangkok and Pattaya, convenient in that most of what you need is there, but there's only so much dirt and smoke you can take. I worked in Fang, north of Chiang Mai for a while in the early 90's. Very nice part of the country, nice scenery, mountain roads, but a bit isolated for my liking. So how did I end up in Buri Ram? It's where the wife comes from, her families all here. It makes it better for her when I'm away at work, and easier for me to jump on the bike and head off when I want. It's also a nice place. I drew up the plans for my house the way I wanted it to be, teak upstairs with a big verandah, marble down stairs, nice and cool. No real view, but we're completely surrounded with trees so no need. I don't have to fight through traffic everytime I leave the house. I'm half way between Buri Ram and Surin, so there are there are 2 Tesco's, 2 Big C's, 2 Makro's, countless Thai bars and a few expat ones within a 30km radius. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. There's a few other farangs building houses in the village now, so looks like others do too.