Hello all,

in kathmandu. doing the pakistan, iran, turkey route back to uk asap. Nepal Enfields EXPENSIVE, but carnets ok. no carnets for indian bikes by RAC. heard from Dutch Bart that bribes possible for border crossings with no carnet, but only when in a group of 3, small enough group to wave through and enough cash dollar for everyone from 3 bikers. im alone.

anyone doing the trip sans carnet soon?

Cheers,

Ash J

Ash i did the same trip without a carnet. Just took a lot of savvy and a lot of patience. Pakis detained me for a week at Wagah. I played the poor niave but well meaning plod and it cost me 20 $ to get released.\

I paid for me and the bike and we borded a train Quetta bound. More red tape there but no money changed hands.

Iranians ( bless then) just put your engine no and chassis no into your passport so you cant leave the country without it. No money, no corruption- just great people.

Plane sailing from then on.

Ashjames

I'm thinking of doing the enfield back to the UK trip- out of interest which model did you get, and just how expensive was it to buy one in Nepal (if you don't mind me asking)?

cheers

bigmonts: I'm also considering doing this - how long do yo think it will take you - i'm guesstimating 3-4 months & thinknig that early 2008 (Jan Feb) is best to leave India to avoid excessive heat & monssons.

How many of you are there?

Well done for making the trip ash. Sorry can't really advise on the carnet issue, but let us know how you get on. I'm planning something similar myself. Fancy a pint when you get back? I only live in Shrewsbury

cheers guys,

just bought a 350 bullet here in kat. enfield mechanic school on the bike starts tomorow with local guru. been in touch with a few guys about no carnet travel and seems everyone has to get a train to the border once entering pakistan? especially With the whole place kicking off i decided to go for the carnet option.

bigmonts: its 2004. cost about 1200 gbp. in nepal, you double what they cost in india (100% tax) and add a bit. it hurts when you compare to delhi. i decided to do this trip 10 days ago and i want to get on the road asap. if you hung around kat for long enough you could get lucky. All I wanted was a piece of nepali rubbish with all the papers for the carnet which i could push to Delhi for a rebuild, but they dont seem to exist. people run the shitty ones around the kathmandu valley illegally; stolen bike/lost papers etc. Also 500s very scarce, at the present at least, in kat and command a silly premium. may change when you come over. hope this helps

had my first enfield run yesterday, as pillion on another 350. late night blitz around the royal palace. QUALITY, until we locked up and nearly hit the only taxi on the road.............

Hutch, would kill for a shrewsbury bitter right abut now!

Ash

Kinvig: I'd also guess around 3 months- I know of someone who did the trip the other way around, London to India, and it only took him two weeks to get from london to the Iranian border. Obviously better roads in much of Europe so the going slowed down after that a bit, but even so, it can be done in not too much time.
I'm looking to do it in 2009 rather than next year. If i get everything together it'll be with one other bloke who i've ridden with before, and we'd do it over the summer. Good thinking with the monsoons- if done in the summer the route would have to be up the northern parts of India (from the sounds of it coming from Nepal at any rate) in the foothills so as to keep cool and dry i suppose.
This whole carnet issue is the big problem, as i'm not sure i'd be able to deal with the cost of having to get a bike in nepal that's that much more expensive , but as Ashjames said with it all kicking off in pakistan it sounds like a good idea to have everything in order.