Motorbiking in Asia forum

Your going to find it difficult/impossible to do that I think. Unless you hire a bike from a different place in each country and send it back to them (which doesn't seem likely that a rental shop would do that).

It would be a lot of effort organising everything. Have you thought of buying a bike LEGALLY in a country that allows that and then taking it over the borders. I'm not sure on all the rules and whether they get followed but I would say owning a bike yourself is a much cheaper and easier way to go, if you can of course.

The easiest way though is to just buy a bike in each country and sell it before you leave and maybe rent and send back on a train if that is possible aswell.

Buying a bike in Thailand is a bit tricky if you don't have a visa and address to base out of. Meaning a one year visa. Not sure if it's possible otherwise. Vietnam I know is easier, but crossing borders with the bike is trickier. A rentel in Bangkok, the travelling to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and then down to the Mekong and riding along it to Ubon and then back would be a nice trip though. No better place to be a steel horse cowboy than Thailand.

Laos gives you the same problem you have with Vietnam - it's a long, thin country. Basically you can drive around in a loop up north, or you can do south along the Mekong and back up the same way.

In Vietnam you also have a problem getting a license to ride anything bigger than a Minsk. There are CC restrictions that are pretty narrow.

Last, but not least, people here become morons when they drive any motorized vehicle. I don't know why it's part of the collective psyche, but the rules are ignored, even driving convention is often ignored when it suits someone. It boggles the mind... So drive assuming moronic behavior at all times.

Posted from within Vietnam.

Hi Robert
The answer to your problems is to buy in saigon and then ride in to cambodia and laos and back into vietnam and up to hanoi This can be done only on a viet plated bikes using certain
boarder crossings . Before any one says different I know this to be true as i did it myself 6 weeks ago

Regards Johny

Madmac
Can I take my Vietnamese registered bike into Thailand from Cambodia?
If so how difficult is it?

OK, thanks for the answer.What I'd like to do is cross from Cambodia where I and my motorbike are into Thailand. Problem is the bike has Vietnamese registration and plates so strictly speaking it's not even legal here.Though I've been stopped once for a traffic violation the cops only wanted to see my Cambodian licence they weren't interested in the bike just $3 for an illegal turn.No receipt of course.Policing here is basically a way of making extra money rather than enforcing the law.