From Kathmandu, Nepal to Bangkok, Thailand - April, 2002

We recently shipped Kathmandu - Bangkok with a previously unused agent who did an excellent job and was cheaper than the regularly used DAD and Eagle Eyes.

Nepal

The whole process went very smoothly. We gave the go-ahead one week before but probably could have left it later. We drove to the airport on the Monday where we were met by the carpenter and our agent. We dismantled the bikes to make them as small as possible (front wheel off, handlebars loosened, clutch and brake levers removed, handguards removed). We were supposed to empty our fuel tanks but no one checked so we left a couple of litres in - enough to get us to a fuel station at the other end. We also had to disconnect our batteries and let the air out of our tyres.

Ishowar dealt with customs who gave the bikes, but not our panniers, a cursory glance and stamped our carnets. The crating took longer than we thought it would - we were at the airport all day - but by the end the bikes were both in crates, labelled and cleared through customs. Everything went very smoothly and Ishowar did a good job of making everything happen and dealing with all the various people that were involved. The bikes have to sit in customs for 24 hours before you can fly them out, so we flew on the Wednesday - Thai Airways fly daily from Kathmandu to Bangkok. We happened to see our bikes being loaded onto our plane as we were waiting in the departure lounge - an extra element of piece of mind!

Costs - Nepal

Your crated bike is weighed and measured and the volumetric weight calculated (LxWxH/6000) - you are charged whichever is the greater between volumetric and actual weight. Our bikes came in at 585 kilos together.

The following costs are the same whichever agent you go to:-

Thai Freight Charge - $US 1.07 per kilo
(as long as the total consignment is over 500 kilos - if it is under then the cost is 1.37 per kilo)

War Surcharge - $US 0.07 per kilo

Dangerous Goods - $US 20 (per consignment)

Airway Bill - $US 2 (per consignment - make sure the name of each bike's owner appears on the document)

Agent's Fee - $US 80 per bike
(This is the only charge that the agent can vary as all the above are fixed by the airline - it includes crating, customs clearance, transport back from the airport, and various fees to "helpers" at the airport).

Thai Airlines flights $US 218 per person one-way
(As of 1st April this has gone up to $US 233 per person)

Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok in the evening so went to collect the bikes the next morning. We didn't use a clearing agent or any touts as the process is pretty straightforward - although again it takes a long time. Go straight to the Thai Air Cargo people (to the right of the Customs Service Centre) who are very helpful and will start you on your way. Make sure that when you collect your delivery documentation there is one document per bike (even if you put all the bikes on the one airway bill). Then when you go to pay for the documentation and Thai Airways handling charge, you need a receipt per bike - so don't pay all together! Customs wanted to see our carnets but didn't actually stamp them - instead they wrote in our passports all the horrible things they would do to us if we didn't re-export them by the expiry date of our visas. We also had to sign a document guaranteeing that we would pay 500,000 Baht ($US 11,500) each if we failed to re-export them.

The warehouse people were lovely - again go straight to the Thai Airways people who are very helpful. They gave us loads of space to put the bikes back together which took a couple of hours (there is no air compressor there so you'll need a hand pump). There was talk of a customs inspection of the bikes but none ever materialised. Lots of people helped us in various ways and not one of them held out their hand for money - a refreshing change.

The whole process was relatively painless - it just took a long time.

Costs - Thailand

As long as you collect your bike within three days of it arriving in Bangkok, Thai Airlines will not charge you storage.

Thai Handling Charge - 1 Baht per kilo (the exchange rate is currently $US 1 = 45 Baht)

Document Charge - 200 Baht per bike (you need one receipt per bike or you will be sent back to have it split)