Vietnam - England: a couple of quick questions
 

Hey,

I've been scouring the forum for a while trying to get answers to as many of my questions as possible, there are a few outstanding so I'm hoping some helpful people here will be able to help me out.

Basically, my girlfriend and I are looking at buying some bikes in Vietnam (either a couple of Minsks or small Yamahas we think?) and riding them home. We've never riden bikes in the UK though we've been exploring Thailand (where we are now) on them. We realise that this will be a massive (and perhaps foolhardy) effort, but you only live once, right?

- Getting the bike into England?
What's the score with rocking up to Dover on a bike you've bought elsewhere? Would we need to register it? Perform an MoT at the port? Would they turn us away?

- What spare parts would it be a good idea to buy before we set off?
Any quick guidance (or a link to somewhere that I might have missed so far) would be great.

- Potential cost?
If anyone has done a similar trip in the past and can indicate a 'ball-park figure' that would be appreciated.

- China
A well-covered topic on the forum I know, but has anyone sucessfully managed to buy a bike in 'Nam and ride it into China?

Thanks in advance for your help, if you need more info please feel free to ask!

Thanks again,

Adam.

Hi, I've just arrived in Bangkok on my way to Oz on my bike.

There was a guy who recently rode from Oz to the UK on a small bike, Sydney Australia to London England on a moped. The adventure travel blog of Nathan Millward | The Postman.

As far as I know China is a no go area without a guide but I don't know from the Nam side. Maybe things are different. Most of Burma is also a no go area, hence why we had to ship from Nepal.

Good luck. You do only live once and can pay off the credit card bill when you're old and grey!

Simplest thing to do is to fly them from B'kok to Kathmandu, try Trans Air Cargo in B'kok.

As for getting them into UK, yes just ride off the ferry but your insurance co will prob only give you 30 days cover till you get them registered. You'll find more info on this process here but basically you'll need to get an SVA test done at a VOSA test station and pay the import duties/VAT etc. Once you have the certificates for these, you can get them registered/taxed and get some UK plates.

Cost is variable depending on the country but for Asia, $20-30/day is fine but Turkey has v high fuel prices so you'll be wanting to camp here. Then Europe is Europe really - expensive!

Hey,

Thanks for your help, I'll have a good read through that blog as soon as I get an hour free today.

In the meantime, a quick question: Once you get to Kathmandu, how do you proceed? I wasn't sure how safe it would be for a Westerner to ride through either Pakistan/Iran (the southern route back) or through Kashmir/Tadjikistan (and, it would seem, a small corner of Afghanistan?) The China route seemed sensible because you could ride directly to Kazakhstan? Any advice would be appreciated...

Adam

If you've got the money, China is a possibility I guess.

For Kathmandu, you'd just sort the temp import paperwork at the airport when you uncrate your bike. India, Pak and Iran all require visas to be obtained in advance. If you're from UK, you may have a problem obtaining a Pak visa in B'kok as I did but I got mine in Kathmandu instead.

As for safety, you won't be allowed to ride in the dodgy parts of Pak as the police will stop you and escort you via a more southern route. Iran is totally fine other than between Bam-Zahedan where again you won't be given a choice about being escorted. The Pak escorts seemed a little bit disorganised (but that might be different now) however the Iran boys were tooled up to the max and seemed to be very on the ball regarding your safety.

Spare parts would depend on the bike, the route, your style and what kind of backup you have from home ;-)

Regarding the route: traffic aside, it's plain sailing from Kathmandu through India into Pakistan. There is no way to go from Pakistan to Tajikistan by crossing Afghanistan, however tempting it may look on a map. Firstly there is no border crossing, and secondly it might be tricky getting a visa.

You have two choices: China to a stan (Kazah or Kyrgyz) for something like $800 - $1500 per bike depending on your agent, or be stuffed with escorts through Baluchistan when heading for Iran directly. Having done the China option, I'd consider it reasonably safe (anything north of Gilgit is absolutely fine, south a few precautions apply). Balochistan depends on your timing I guess. Iran (once away from the Pak or Afghan borders) is perfectly fine.

What sort of dates are you thinking of Adam? Spring time? I'm planning on going in the opposite direction, but am put of with this 175cc max. I'll probably try and sell before I get there. d.

Hey Mike,

How much did it cost to take the bike from Thai to Nepal? What company did you use and where were they based? Thanks :)

I used Trans Air Cargo in B'kok. Would need to check but think the cost was maybe £450 or so. Its calculated on volume weight anyway so will depend on the actual size of the crate. If ends up being heavier than the volume weight, they base the cost on which ever is higher.

Thanks mike. Wouldn't it be cheaper to ride through Burma? I heard it can be done now!

Not when I did it (last year)

Are you sure?? Am not too convinced.

Remember, if you are going the Nepal-India, etc. route you need a carnet. Can you get that in Vietnam? Being British the RAC will probably serve you, but since you are already in the region you may want to give the Malaysian AA a try. This may save you a bundle (then again, it may not, nobody seems to have tried this yet, although they assured me that they would issue me a carnet for our Thai reg'd bike.)


Please, don't start this kind of rumour. If you have any facts then please let's have them. If one could go this way it would be fantastic, but I wouldn't hold my breath...

The last time I checked, the same military junta was still in charge there, so pardon me for being a little sceptical... and I know some people have actually done it in this millennium, but there aren´t many.