Hogs and dogs gather for Burapa bike week 2010

For those with an affection for loud resonating engines, thick-armed, large-bellied tattooed men, loud cars, hot looking girls and leather clothing of all description, the only place to be this past weekend was Pattaya’s annual hogs and dogs show, aka the Burapa Bike Week(end) 2010.

Held at the Pattaya Indoor Stadium and billed as one of the largest motorbike rallies in Southeast Asia, the annual two-day event saw bikers from as far afield as America and Europe join with those from across Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore for the annual charity fund-raising event.

Hosted by Pattaya’s 90-member Burapa Motorcycle Club, this years event, the 13th, was dubbed the “Love ride for peace 2010” and organizers estimate more than 7,000 bikers and 200,000 members of the public joined in.

Though Pattaya’s tropical heat of 34C (93F) generally see’s people wearing clothing of cooler nature, the riders of the big bikes that converged on Pattaya were comfortable walking around in their protective leather highway clothes, with those who had travelled from Germany, Finland, the UK, as well as those from Thailand’s north and south, proud to display their club colors despite the searing heat.

While the “hogs”, the classic world renowned highway-cruising two-cylinder, V-twin engine big bikes with their distinctive throaty, growling and popping exhaust from Milwaukee, Wisconsin bike manufacturer Harley Davidson garnered much of the attention, the large 1500CC six-cylinder Honda’s bedecked with DVD and CD sound systems, body contouring light emitting diode (LED) lights and the sporty, sleek and considerably quieter big-bore Yamaha’s, as well as the zippy little mini super-sport bikes, commonly referred to as “dogs”, along with the customized Yamaha Nouvos and Honda AirBlades also received plenty of attention.

In the main car parking area leading to the “big iron” Pattaya’s car audio czars set up their own display, demonstrating how many speakers and amplifiers it’s possible to fit into a single car, and ably demonstrating how many cooling units are required to ensure the racks of amplifiers in these mobile music machines don’t overheat while pumping out music at decibels that rival those produced by The Who, Manowar or The Rolling Stones

Following a mass run of about 500 super bikes through the centre of Pattaya and along the beer and shopping mall lined Beach Road and through the much quieter and sedate Jomtien beach, the Love ride for peace 2010 headed back to the stadium where the Burapa Bike Week 2010 festivities got well and truly underway.

Despite being a charity fund-raising event, admission was free and all roads leading to the venue were jammed as people from Pattaya and neighboring cities and provinces converged on the event to be entertained by a star-studded line-up of country and western, reggae and rock and roll bands on the main stage, or DJ-spun house and tribal beats from the various exhibition booths.

In the car park some ingenious cabling saw more than 30 mobile sound machines wired up to the DJ booth where talented DJs spent the night pumping out hot dance music for scantily clad dancers who clamored atop the lavishly bedecked and sweet-sounding cars, some equipped with their own dancing poles, to entertain those more interested in car sound systems (or scantily clad dancers) than the big thumping hogs and dogs inside.

Organizers said last years event had raised over Bt250,000 (about $US7,500) which was distributed to five under-resourced schools enabling them to purchase computers and sporting equipment for children from underprivileged families to use.

While it is too early to know how much was raised from this years event, one can’t help wondering if the aims of charity fund raising would be served even more if even a small general admission fee of say Bt50 ($1.50) was charged given the amount of effort put into organizing the event and the first-class entertainment provided to those attending.

As the hogs and dogs prepared to depart Pattaya and head back to their respective towns, villages and countries, the Burapa Bike Week 2010 organizers claimed this years event was the best ever, and vowed to put on an even bigger Burapa Bike Week(end) in 2011.

For those who harbor the sense of freedom and individuality as adequately captured in the classic 1969 Peter Fonda cult-movie Easy Rider  pencil February 11 and 12, 2011 into your dairy now as Burapa Bike Week 2011 promises to be even bigger and better than this years rally.