I apologise now folks I am dyslexic so spelling/grammar isnt good.

Hi folks,
Right just give a bit of background I have gone back to being a student (25yo) so I want to make the most of having most of the summer off. So I was thinking bike trip, due to other commitments I am looking at going for all of august. Being a student funds are limited im looking at about 2000 gbp. Im from uk by the way.

I was thinking fly to Bangkok, train to chai mai (cant remember how its spelt), then hire small bike and ride around the north on my own for a few weeks.

I have done a bit of research and it appears August is the rainy season, I would like to know if any one has done this before? How bad is "rainy season" ? Would it be safe and more enjoyable to find somewhere else to go?

Thank you so much gor your help.

Ben

Hi,
I lived there for quite a while, but it's been 6 or so years since I was there, so this is from memory...

It's a tropical climate, so it will rain any time. But August is not particularly rainy, IIRC. Certainly not like monsoon season [Oct - Feb]

The train from BKK to Chiang Mai is excellent.
Get a sleeper [it's not that expensive], it makes a big difference.
The second time I did it I took a different train to Nakhon Ratchisima and then rode a little 110CC Honda Dream the rest of the way. Some really excellent roads, and endless little roadside stores selling everything/anything you need. If you get a flat or the chain jumps off and gets wedged tight [don't ask...] help is usually just around the corner. Watch out for trucks and buses, they are sometimes piloted by madmen on yaabaa [meth] and they stop for nothing. But at least you can hear them coming, and get out of the way...

If you have your own personal long-haired dictionary [girlfriend] with you, it will help A LOT. You can avoid the busy highways and stick to the slower roads. And save a lot of money too.


Up around Chiang Mai, August is the cool[er] time of year. Still hot in the daytime, but a bit cooler at night. But not Europe-cold, if you know what I mean. If you see anything under 10deg(c) I'd be surprised.

Chiang Rai is worth a look too, I'm told. I never got there, myself.


oh, btw:
always wear a helmet, even if none of the locals are wearing theirs.
The BIB [Boys In Brown] - the local cops will see a foreign face and tap you for "tea money" - usually 500 baht. While you are standing there trying to talk your way out of it, hundreds of locals will ride past with no helmet, "no pomplem" - LOL

I dont want to be impolite to Mr Merlin, but most advices he gives is quite off...

August if definetively the rainy season - or moonson season if you like in Thailand. In Chiang Mai province the month of August have in average 18 days with rainfall and thus is the second "wettest" month just after September that has 20 days of rainfall in average. Scroll down the side in this link and you can see weather statistics for Chiang Mai province

Chiang Mai Province - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mr Merlin writes that october to to february is the the moonson season - very strange as this in fact is the dry season or cold season as they more normally call it.

You can read a little more about the climate in northern-Thailand in this link:

Weather and the best time to visit Thailand

"In northern Thailand the seasons are clearly defined. Between November and May the weather is mostly dry, however this is broken up into the periods November to February and March to May. The later of these two periods has the higher relative temperatures as although the northeast monsoon does not directly affect the northern area of Thailand, it does cause cooling breezes from November to February.

The other northern season is from May to November and is dominated by the southwest monsoon, during which time rainfall in the north is at its heaviest."

And the tempratures do not differ very much from south to north during the rainy season. The cold season do differ quite much whern it comes to tempratures from south to north.

Anyhow - the weather is not the same from year to year and one year during rainy season - could be quite liveable and the roads driveable, another rainy season can be very extremely wet and road conditions very bad.

Do not take any "long haired dictionary/girlfriend" with you for reasons quite obvious...

If I was you I would consider another place to go motorbiking in the month of August. August can be quite enjoyable in Thailand if you dont mind a shower now and then. But weather and road conditions are quite uncertain at that time of year....

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

hi,

oh no! Did I get the seasons wrong?
Maybe my memory is worse than I thought!!! LOL

I do remember it was teeming down on Christmas day one year, we were forced to stay in the bar we happened to be at for hours and hours...

anyway, thanks Snakeboy for being impeccably polite about it!!!

Hi Ben,

I live in Thailand & regularly ride up north. For sure you will get wet in August (Xmas holidays would be a dryer & cooler option if possible). Having said that it rarely rains all day long and its warm rain - so the rain in itself is no big deal if you are prepared to be a little flexible.

What you do need to watch out for is safety, so as has been said definately wear a helmet (& preferably other protective gear too) - regardless of what you see others doing. The accident rate in Thailand is staggering & you dont want to ruin your holiday.

Thailand is a great place to visit any time of year & I am sure you will have a blast if you decide to come.