My Red and Grey Stallion awaits !

"Thailand's wild heart called, and on my red and grey stallion, I answered, riding into the unknown." Collected my Certificate of Residency today which was again textbook amazing service. Proceeded straight to the Honda dealership where I had eyed out a 2nd hand Honda Wave , Fuel Injection with 110cc of brute force lol . Jokes aside , if you have been in Thailand long enough you realize that these little bikes are close to indestructable and the ultimate workhorses. I would have loved to have bought a 125i but these just don't come onto the second hand market for obvious reasons. This one is 4 years old and has only 7000km on the clock. I was quite sceptical but having to trust the Honda Dealership brand and after all was said and done , and I drove it off the floor and after about 10km I could feel the engine still felt tight as if it had'nt been run in. The bike needs to go in for a service at 8500km and the expected costs is thb250, approx R140 . Quite insane considering what I paid in South Africa for a 1000km service which was R1000. It is a semi automatic with 4 gears and no clutch. You just throttle back to change gears but even if you are in 4th gear you can stop at a traffic light and pull away, just very slowly. Total on the road cost was thb31.000 = ZAR17,161 and this includes registration fee ( the reg number stays the same and I get the registration papers about 45 days later). I have a copy. I get 1 years personal accident insurance 2 year warranty on the bike from Honda themselves. Extra free helmet which will be handy :-) So all things said and done , I'm now a legal vehicle owner in Thailand and although the Certificate of Residency is really only for acquisition of property, buying a vehicle, entering into a lease, opening a bank account, I already feel part of the system. Last comment and might have mentioned before that this whole exercise was fast-tracked due to the incredible "serendipity moment" of meeting Mr Cha, from Immigration, on Saturday at the Honda Dealership as he was buying a scooter for his daughter I think it was. Only Two days later and here we are ! Expected savings by not having to rent is approx thb7500 pm. / approx R4154 p.m. at current exchange rates. And oh, final note, as a result of the vehicle being in my name, if I courier it to SA at the end of my tenure here I don't pay custom duties in SA.