india to SE asia over land
 

plan to travel overland in car from india to SEasia in jan 09,abt 5 months trip.will be glad if some one allready done this willing to share experience and info.

So which route are you going to take? Burma?? You can't actually go overland from India to SE Asia unless you go via China which I understand can be pretty expensive. I had to fly my bike from Bangkok to Kathmandu.

If you want to stick to your plan going "overland", you will be faced with the almost impossible task of getting your vehicle to Burma. Put simply, that won´t happen.

Or, you have the possibility to go to China, which will put the Himalayas or other considerable natural barriers on your way, especially wintertime. And also Chinese bureaucracy, miles and miles of red tape, which based on what Ive read mostly on this site, seems to be negotiable, somehow, but by no means easy. Or cheap. Or quick. Very troublesome, expensive, and time-consuming. But possible.

These, plus the almost total absence of passenger ferries in the region, are the reasons why most people freight their vehicles across the Bay of Bengal.

We went through Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan, but the cost is really prohibitive. However, if you are one of the many Indian millionaires then try contacting transhimalaya.com. They were very good and efficient.

Are you sure that is the right URL?
When I try to access, transhimalaya.com is not operating (URL is for sale).
Please correct the URL if you made a typing error.

correction
 

arun
 

thanks to all,do u have idea about renting cars for self drive in each country,, if it becomes to expensive,not possible due to permissions to travel in my own car,my alternate plan is to hire self drive car in each country.
regards arun

Arun, S. E. Asia is very big and varied, better you tell us what countries you hope to visit, then we can help you better.

In Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia you can hire cars, but to get good priced local deals you would need to take your car back to the place you hired it from. Only the big international car hire companies may allow you the hire and return a car at a different point. And I'm not sure if that is available or not.

Dean

It may be as cheap to rent a car and driver .. the driver uses their own car - they know the road, road behaviour and might even act as a rough guide ..

hi dean, bangalore>kolkata>darjeeling>tibet>china>laos>viet nam>combodia>thailand>malaysia>sp.
hello frank,driving and nature photography is my passion,but agree with u points. my present plan is drive my car from bangalore up to sikkim abt 3 weeks stopping by few intresting places.(i have done south india,west india,north india many time in my car each time abt 15 to 20 days ),park the car in mitubishi service station,use bus and train to cover china ,from vietnam if things are favorable would like to use self drive car for rest of SE asia ,i will miss my car which i have modified with some facilities which is suitable for long trips

the distance b/w imphal(india) to mandalaya(myanmar) is abt 350 kms,from mandalaya to chiang mai(thailand) is 450 kms by road.(1)is it possible for travellers to take local bus or lacal taxi between imphal to mandalay and mandalay to chiang mai to travel over land from india to thailand?.(2)also is it possible to use myanmar local cargo truck to ship our vehicle from indian border to thailand border since myanmar will not allow us to drive or ride to pass through myanmar in our own vehicle.

if any one has travelled from imphal>mandalay>chiangmai by road using local taxi or bus,please share the info

Hi Guys,

I am planning to make a route through Asia next year. O thought to go from Kyrgistan through China to Laos. Besides all of the expenses in China, I have just receive information from one of the Chineese agencies, that it will be prohibited to ride own bikes (even with the assist of Chineese agency) through Tybet starting from January 2009! Have heard anything about this?

Cheers
Aleksandra

i think it might be much easier to freight your bike from India->Thailand, and go backpacking through Burma. Freighting your bike from India, and backpacking through Burma might not be as simple as it sounds, but getting your bike freighted through Burma could still be in yet another league.

Laos
 

Looking for anyone that has been to Laos on motorcycle as I would love to email others that have been there or are thinking of going. I am thinking of going in Jan. 2009 and renting a motorcycle there.