Russia: Common penalties

[madmarco]

Hi out there!

Just for your Info, because many motorbike travellers have the same problems:

- If you want to leave russia with an expired customs declaration for your bike (the green paper), you have to pay around 1500 Roubles (no bribe). At least this was the money i payed in vladivostok by leaving with ship to south korea

- If you didn`t register your immigration card at the OVIR or in a hotel, you have to pay around 1000 Roubles. I payed exactly 1050 Roubles, with receipt... This was in Zarubino, a port south from vladivostok

- Traffic offences: Driving between 1-20km/h more than allowed: 100 Roubles. Driving more than 20 km/h allowed: 200 Roubles. Expensive (fortunately i had not this problem ;-) is to drive drunken. I heard that to keep your license, you have to bribe about 300 USD. Keep in mind that the official alcohol limit is 0.08 per mille. Anyway, don`t drink and drive!

Hope this information helps you. Keep in mind, that this information is supplied without liability and that it can be different anywhere in russia. Two friends of mine went only three weeks before me the same way and had to pay other fees.

Marco

[liketoride2]

Thanks for the info, Marco. It's been printed out and saved for future reference.

From your post it seems you've left Vladivostok. Where are you off to now?

Continued happy travels!

Mike
Idaho

[madmarco]

Hi Mike

I`m sitting right now on a computer in Seoul, South Korea. Here i have to do some more repairs on my bike, and after that i want to drive a little in Korea. Maybe i will stay here for working. My future plan is, to go to pusan and ship my bike to somewhere in South America!

Marco

[liketoride2]

Marco, After I did the above message I found your post about taking the ferry from Vladivostok to Korea. Could you please tell us more about the ferry - how long was the trip, the cost, what were the facilities like, and how far was the port from Seoul? Did you need either a visa or carnet for Korea?

Perhaps I can fly my bike and myself to Korea (Korean Air told me they could fly a bike to Seoul but not to Vlad), and then take the ferry to Vlad. If Korea doesn't require a carnet, this route would avoid the requirement for a one in Japan, which I believe you were attempting to avoid, as am I.

Thanks again for the info.

Mike
Idaho

[This message has been edited by liketoride2 (edited 26 October 2004).]

[Brett Dean]

Gday Marco,

I too would like more information about Korea. I have considered travelling Japan/ Korea/ Russia. But have understood that you could not import or ride a bike in Korea. Any information would be great.
Cheers
Brett

[madmarco]

Hi there

Originally posted by liketoride2:
Could you please tell us more about the ferry - how long was the trip, the cost, what were the facilities like, and how far was the port from Seoul? Did you need either a visa or carnet for Korea?

Ok, i took the "Dong Chun Ferry", they have an office in "Morskoi Voksal" in Vladivostok. The trip took about 26 hours, comparably long for only 700kms. For my ticket i had to pay 140USD (minus 20 percent student discount), and for shipping my bike, i managed all the stuff with a guy called Andrej, from a company called OSA (Oriental Shipping Agency). The guys from "Dong Chun" will give you his phone number if you are in vladivostok. I agreed to pay 200 USD for shipping the bike, payable in Korea, but in Korea nobody knew of it, so the best thing was, that i shipped my bike for free!

The port is about 300kms east from Seoul, so you can make it easily in one day. Most westerners don`t need a visa for korea, check out with your korean consulate.

Perhaps I can fly my bike and myself to Korea (Korean Air told me they could fly a bike to Seoul but not to Vlad), and then take the ferry to Vlad.

ATTENTION: By arriving in Korea, i had to do some things for the bike at the border, namely i paid about 80000 Won! (80 Swiss francs) But i don`t know, if i have an insurance or something with this payment, i think it was only an electronic registration for the bike, so that i can drive. Somehow i feel that i`m not completely legally driving here, but i really don`t know! That will maybe be a problem if you come by plane on a big airport, where i heard that the bureaucracy is usually bigger.

If you decide to come by plane to korea, you will probably fly to Incheon Airport. From there, you could drive straight to the east, to the port of Sokcho. In the sea terminal, you will find an office from Dong Chun, i think they can do the shipping for you...

Any more questions on this interesting Korea subject? Maybe we should start a new thread?

[liketoride2]

Thanks once again, Marco for the very valuable info that you've posted. Please let us know if you find anything more about the legalities of bringing a motorcycle into Korea and using it there.

Mike
Idaho

[Boxer2V]

I've been trying to find out how to get my BMW R80 to Korea. Can I just ship it in? Do I have a mountain of paperwork first? is there import tax to pay... What?
I would really like to get the full story as I want to tour Korea on my own bike.
A new thread on this topic would certainly be useful...
emails on this topic welcome.
Happy biking.
Ian.

[Chris of Japan]

Originally posted by Boxer2V:
A new thread on this topic would certainly be useful...

Actually, there is a thread on the Trip Transport forum.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000640.html
Or you can start a tread in the Northern Asia forum yourself!