P98
RIDE REVIEW I THAILAND MOTO TOURS
group of clearly foreign people
enjoying their homeland on
motorcycles, you can be almost
guaranteed to be greeted by a
happy face at the minimum.
It's for this reason, among
many more, that Brandon, a
former Isle of Man TT racer, and
his lifetime best mate, U.S. Army
Veteran Brian D'Apice, started
Thailand Moto Tours eight
years ago. Brian's knowledge of
Thailand runs deep. After leaving
the armed forces, he moved to
Chiang Rai in Thailand's north
-
east to teach English, quickly
falling in love
with the culture
and the people. A few years later,
he would formalize his adoration
for Thailand by marrying one of
its beautiful young citizens in
You feel this the more you
stay and the deeper you go into
Thailand's lush green pastures.
As Brandon Cretu and Brian
D'Apice of Thailand Moto Tours
guided us further and further into
the jungle over our week-long
expedition, we very rarely saw
people with anything other than
a smile on their face.
I'm sure the fact we were rid
-
ing motorcycles helped our so-
cial standings. Motorcycles are
the vehicle
of choice in Thailand.
Scooters carry everyone from
businessmen to entire families,
sometimes three generations at
a time in baby, mom and nana,
all piled onto a tiny two-wheeled
contraption as they go about
their day, so when they see a
his wife, Amy, the joke among
the riding group being that Brian
actually won Thailand.
My chance to experience the
Thailand Moto Tour way of life
was five years in the making, after
Brandon Cretu and I talked about
me attending way back in 2019
before the pandemic, so the over
-
due energy was palpable when we
all met
up in the Chiang Mai hotel
the day before we straddled our
Honda CRF300s for the first time.
We had a solid crew of nine
paying riders and one very lucky
journalist, the ages ranging from
early 30s to mid-60s, with former
high-level motocross and enduro
riders mixed in with people who
had only just taken up off-road
riding.
The sunrise view
of Mae Hong
Son city from the
Wat Phrathat Doi
Kong Mu temple
was breathtaking.
