Seems like there are a few Overlanders doing the jump over Burma thing!!!

If you want to save money on this route, fly out of calcutta/kolkata...WHY? its cheaper by 30% to freight the bike and with Air Asia you can fly for US$ 80.

I flew the other way ie. BKK CCU in 2009 and did all the paperwork myself at the airport in one day

Cant recommend an agent in India thou there are many at the cargo terminal

Finding an honest agent in Bangkok...check the HUBB but beware!!!

have fun

Reports seem to indicate, that Nepal might be easier to ship to, than India. Hasn´t appeared to be too expensive either.

I´ve shipped by air out of Chennai to BKK in Jan-2008, and while it was okay in the end, there´s no denying it was a very laborous and time-consuming experience, even though we had a freight agent, and even a separate customs agent.

For example, the customs clearance at the airport ended up taking something like 11-12 hours, even though everything probably could´ve been handled in 20 minutes.... but this is India, so you need to rush to twenty different places (then end up waiting in the hot, clumsy offices for hours!!) And don´t ask me, why WE had to be there with the customs agent all the time, but this was how it went. It was good to be present at the airline´s inspection, though, because they complained about our sidecases exceeding the crate´s outer limit, which we were able to fix there on the spot.

Will it always be like that – probably not, but many other travellers have reported more or less similar experiences. So, while shipping from/to India is do-able, if you really want, personally I´d probably try out Nepal next time!

Nothing against India, it´s really a wondeful country to visit. It´s just the bureaucracy that´s a bit of a handful sometimes (and not to even mention the traffic !!)