Bangkok - Cambodia - Saigon
 

I'm looking to do this by road, but haven't yet worked out the vehicle, except that crossing two borders in/on someone else's vehicle looks tough. Does anyone have any comments ?

I will bus or train it if I have to, and maybe try to hire something for off trips.

I've been riding around in Cambodia and Laos about two years ago and at that time it was not legally possible to bring any bike bigger than (I think) 175cc into Vietnam and to my knowledge that has not changed yet.

Of course the situation on the ground changes fast and might be different today. The guys and gals at gt-rider.com might know, if nobody here does.

See ya!

Crossing any border in that region, with a vehicle that hasn´t got your name in its papers might be a problem. I have done it, when the person who owns the vehicle has been present at the border, but haven´t done it with an authorization paper - the owner of the said vehicle said it would not work, but I cannot be 100% sure about this.

Vietnam, at least in December 2006, seemed to very much reject all foreign bikes, regardless of engine size. We tried with 115cc "chicken chasers", from Cambodia and Laos, because we also thought there´s a 175cc limit, and there wasnt. Would be even harder to get in with a rented vehicle, I guess.

But there are nice side roads in Cambodia leading to some smaller border stations, and they are fun rides, even if you wouldnt get into Vietnam. And if you´re only 1 or 2 people, who knows if its your lucky day (we were a gang of 8 falangs, I think they were put off also because of the size of our group).

Yep, I'm with you Pecha, the Vietnam border is closed to any bikes, regardless of capacity.

Garry from Oz.

I just thought about it and I met a western girl in Cambodia on a Honda 100cc scooter, who told me she rode it down from Hanoi...

I think you could probably get a small scooter in there. The locals cross with them all the time and if you just push it through chances are nobody will care much.

Then again you might get ripped of at any police checkpoint if they spot foreign plates...

Thanks to everyone - I have looked elsewhere and basically confirmed the advice given above. Looks such a pain that I will have to go back to Cambodia as a separate trip :) I think I will have to fly, and hire something for a few days in Thailand and Vietnam. I'm not going to have time for Cambodia too, so will skip it this time.

Bangkok Laos, Cambodia
 

I just returned from a month of riding in Thailand and it is very easy to rent a small bike there which is all you need. From what I was told there it was not easy or possible to take it across the border anywhere. It was not a big problem to rent a bike on the other side of the border. I did talk to some girls that had hired a car and a driver for about $30 per day plus gas.so just fly to Bangkok and eieither take night train to Chiang Mai or catch a cheap flight to there and then rent and ride as long as you want and then just take bus to border and cross and rent something else there. No big hassel fro what I heard.