Hey all,



I need a break from all the crap I've been reading (not just here) lately. Not saying a lot of negative and heavy subjects discussed aren't news or discussion worthy, but I thought to try and get a little more positive energy going.

Over my last/current road trip I've had time to do a lot of writing and one thing I've been keeping notes on are some small tips, tricks and "life hacks" that I've found useful to here specifically. So I figured I should start sharing and encourage others to do the same if you feel like it.

I've always liked hearing about and learning these sorts of things, so I'll start with the first 5 that come to mind.


1. Keeping drinks colder for longer, easier...

I've always hated how drinks here in any form (water bottles, coffee cans, tea, and I'm guessing beers too) always warm up after 5-10 minutes outside, especially if you sit near a fan.

Personally I hate putting ice in anything but water because it waters down the drink to where it becomes...well, watery, not to mention all the condensation all over the container, cup, etc which drips everywhere when you pick it up.

I also hate insulated "cups", thermoses, bottles etc. because they're a pain to wash, or if you have a carbonated drink you lose the fizz after pouring it into something else.

Also I've found with thermoses that you can't freeze them as easily because they act as an insulator in the freezer and your drink they never gets cold enough overnight.

There of course there are those foam can holders that sort of work, but then don't always fit the various can sizes here, and they also tend to get really nasty after a few uses and aren't easy to wash.



So I've found surprisingly that those $2 towels you find at most "high end" supermarkets work great if you fold them neatly and wrap your drink with them, holding it on with some rubber bands.

Coffee cans stay cold now for around an hour, and if you like ice water like me, you can freeze half a plastic bottle (or however much ice you want) overnight, and then fill the rest with water and it stays cold for many hours. Even on bike rides in my backpack I have ice water for 3-4 hours.

Very easy to do and also works well with the 1 litre big mouth plastic "pitchers" which are a lot easier to wash.


2. Easy ice water any time

Going along the cold drink tip, I've always drank lots of water and prefer it to be of the cold sort.

I've found here that if you make your fridge too cold, it obviously freezes your vegetables and fruit which damages them even in the bottom drawer, (not to mention many cheeses and other foods) but if you keep it at the ideal temperature for the produce, your water isn't as cold as it could be.

But for me I've always disliked ice trays for their difficulty of washing, and also their tendency to absorb the tastes of everything around them so you end up with some really funky tasting ice water at times, especially if anyone in your family likes to keep any kind of seafood in the freezer.



So my workaround has been to freeze half litre bottles of water (or 1 litre bottles if you like the big mouth washable types), and tilt them almost flat. Prop it up with a piece of bread or whatever, just so the water doesn't cover the mouth. Leave overnight.

The ice you have now not only cools water evenly in the entire bottle (instead of cold bottom warm top water), but also doesn't expand like below, so you can set the bottle down on the table, fill with cold water and have instant ice water. Wrap it in a towel and it'll stay cold for hours.



If you don't mind watered down drinks, this also works great as a container for filling with whatever you wish to keep cold.

Also quick tip if you like ice coffee like me, you brew a cup of coffee in a ceramic mug, let it cool and then wrap it up like so (if you want to avoid your coffee tasting like everything in the freezer) and let it sit overnight. Because drinks warm up so quickly here, the coffee I've found typically melts within 20-30 minutes.







3. Always check your own tyre pressures



I've written a lot in the past about motos and the like, but some things never change here and this is important to reiterate.

When you get your tyres filled, make sure to check the pressure yourself. You can do so at many Total service stations for free and do your own filling too. Personally I have my own bicycle tyre pump and pressure gauge.

Last place I went to when I had a puncture they filled my rear tyre up to 80 psi (5.5 bar)...only had to let out 60 psi (~4 bar) of air




4. Best tyre pressure depends on how much weight you're carrying



For those new to the forum, I'm a motorcycle mechanic ("retired" I guess you can say) of roughly 20 years, so this isn't your Uncle Joe or Cousin Keith's off the cuff advice.

I'm surprised to find most people don't seem to know about proper tyre pressures on small motorcycles (including mechanics and dealers here). So if the dealer says you're wrong, simply don't listen. I have found more often than not that dealers and mechanics here know very little about proper pressures and reading tyre sidewalls and load ratings.

In regards to scooters and "small" motos, don't just fill your tyres to the number on the side (like the picture above), fill it up according to how heavy you are.

Rule of thumb, if you're an "asian sized" person (9 1/2 stone like myself, 58 kg, 128 lb) or thereabouts, your moto will probably take between 22 psi (1.5 bar) in the front + or - 3 psi or 0.25 bar, and 20 psi (1.4 bar) + or - the same in the rear.



Personally on my PCX I'm running 26 psi front (1.8 bar), 20 psi rear (1.4 bar) which gets me the appropriate sag and a comfortable ride. Much more and it becomes bone jarring, much less and the handling becomes mushy.

If you ride mostly by yourself and weigh upwards of 14 stone (90 kg or 200 lb ish), you probably want to bump it up to 32 psi front (2.2 bar) + or - 3 psi or 0.25 bar, and 28 psi rear + or - the same.

If you frequently ride with 2-7 people onboard, or are the size of 2-7 people, then you will want to up the pressure near the max sidewall rating (usually not more than 40 psi for both, 2.75 bar). Anything more than this pressure is no good unless you have heavy 6 ply tyres like that found on old style tuk tuks, demork or Daelim's with 500 kg of rice stacked on the back.

Adjust accordingly to your comfort and observe if the tyre is either too "squishy" or not squishy at all, because different scooters and bikes weigh different amounts and have different weight distributions (not to mention tyre sizes), and also, different tyres react differently to different pressures, so you be the judge.

Generally I have never found 6 ply tyres to ever be necessary for any reason on a normal moto.

Do not exceed 40 psi, there is no reason to do so



5. If you have trouble sleeping due to random noises at night



I found this out by mistake recently while staying in someone else's house.

A cheap floor fan (off brand, non Hatari version) can be incredibly loud. However, I've found that if noises startle you at night (like they do for me), a really noisy fan does wonders at drowning out those noises, especially barking dogs and I find it a lot easier to sleep when the noise is constant.

So now I make it a point to use a really noisy box fan at night when I sleep as a form of white noise generator.


Hope anything here helps, and let the tips and tricks roll in!
-AK

When riding in traffic always try and block your path so other nut jobs can’t squeeze past. Ride defensively.
You have one plus on your side - locals (moto and car) are wary of westerners and hesitate to see what you’re going to do. Use this to be on your way. (Doesn’t work if you’re from an Asian country, sorry AE86!)
By a dashcam for your car.
By a GPS for your moto ($65 and you don’t even have to top up the sim!).
Buy a helmet that costs more than $50.

Hello AE86. Good thread!

Wish you could have a coffee but the power is out?

Ever run out of paper coffee filters?

You don't need either. If you use a Vietnamese phin -- stainless steel filter cup. About a US$1.50 to $2.00 at the Central Market. Don't bother with the aluminum ones. I haven't used an electric coffee maker in, well, I can't remember, except this one time a few years ago when I was getting tired of cleaning these phins all the time. (I have 5.) I made three cups. Awful. Dumped the electric coffee maker. So far, I haven't found anything to beat a phin for a fresh, clean coffee.

Here's a how-to video from the big Viet coffee company Trung Nguyen. The presenter makes three cups of super strong coffee. I just make one at a time, using three teaspoons of medium fine ground. I recently bought a Delonghi grinder after multiple failures of the staff at various coffee kiosks. One time the ground coffee I got back was as fine as icing sugar. Ugh!:







These sealed kettles keep water hot at least 2-3 hours. Still pretty warm after 3-4 hours.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Sun Feb 20, 2022 3:51 am

That's really weird looking. I can't imagine drinking out of a towel.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Sun Feb 20, 2022 3:51 am

That's really weird looking. I can't imagine drinking out of a towel.

I use that trick all the time. If you wet the towel and freeze it, then wrap it around the frozen water bottle , put it in a plastic bag, it will last for 24 hours or more while traveling. When traveling by air I also wrap it in tinfoil and is always picked out on the luggage scanner. Sir , You no take water on plane. Me,, I not have water, I only have ice.

Sorry Sir , OK go.

True story.

Did you forget to put your beer in the fridge, or did the beer shop only have warm beer? Don't wait ages while it cools in the freezer.
Wrap wet tissue around the cans and put them in the freezer ans they will cool much faster. The tissue will become a frozen tissue jacket on the can. Peel it off and throw it away. You beer will be super cold and drinkable in no time this way.

When traveling and need a cold drink I stop at a roadside store they always have cold drinks, it just takes longer to get to where your going.

If you are walking at night, bring a stick or something you can pull against vicious dogs.