Buying a Bike in Hong Kong and traveling S/E Asia
 

Hey Guys,

I have been combing the forums for a while now trying to answer all the questions I have to a trip I am planning for August 2013.

The Trip i am planning is roughly Hanoi, Vietnam > head south West through to Laos > Head South Through Laos > Enter Thailand, head initially north to Chiang Mai > Head south West through Thailand to the Cambodian Border > Through Cambodia seeing the sights to Ho Chi Min City > ride north (a la Top Gear) back to Hanoi.

I have put 3-4 months aside for the trip, and by itself it is not to difficult, that said my sister lives in Hong Kong and I will see her first. Ideally I would love to buy a bike around there and take it south to Hanoi, and ideally I would love to be able to get a bigger bike than the 175cc owing partly to me being a big guy but that said I want a bike thats not going to be an issue to fix along the way.

The first major question is if it is even possible to buy and get a bike out of China or if it is way too much hassle.

Any either way what do you think is the best bike for that sort of trip?

Cheers,
Carl

I would not start in Hong Kong for this trip. You'd have to ship the bike from Hong Kong by sea or air, as you cannot cross the border from Hong Kong into mainland China and drive west, unless you have assistance from one of the expensive agencies like Navo. Hong Kong has completely separate immigration and customs from mainland China. Unless a car or truck has a special license plate from China, it cannot cross the border. I have never heard of a motorcycle having such a second license plate (would be awesome!). There is a 35% "First Registration Tax" on new motorcycles in Hong Kong. The motorcycle clubs in Hong Kong do ship their bikes to Southeast Asia for holiday rides, but again, but obviously this is costly. I guess theoretically you could figure out how to transport your motorcycle by truck to the Vietnam border, via Nanning...never heard of anyone doing that. I am actually trying to figure out if I can get a truck to take my bike from Hong Kong to Mongolia...