I´ve heard of only 1 single person, whos made it with a bike into Burma/Myanmar lately, that was some years ago. And he lived in India, spoke the same languages as the Burmese officials, had lots and lots and lots of connections, (and patience!) and was able to negotiate with them for months. And even then he wasnt allowed to cross the whole country, only some parts of it, and freight the bike for the rest. Said the roads were piss poor, too. There was a thread on this at the gt-rider.com forums (2004, maybe?)

And since then, the junta has become even more paranoid, and moved the capital elsewhere etc., so at the moment, just forget that your going to get your bike in there. It aint happening, simple as that. I hope theres going to be a bloodless change of power soon, who knows, maybe its possible with the protests and all, and then the country could, after some time, open to foreigners. Thats just wishful thinking for now...

Hi guys ......

Reminder to all the other thread watchers ..... there's a meeting pencilled in for October 6th at the Ace Cafe North West London area.

Anyone else up for it, then get in touch or leave a post ASAP so we can arrange times for comings and goings.

Regards Len (UK to Oz via Asia 2008)

Hey guys - I shall not make the meet but would appreciate an update on peoples plans.
I am working up a route - more a list of places of interest to join together - on behalf of a splinter group that has got together through e-mail and this thread. Once the route is shared, we'll decide which points to join up as we go along. We aim to start in the first week of May 08 when Mick gets his bike shipped in from Oz. Duration is three months. Currently three riders and one pillion.
The route so far is down to Czech, Solvakia, Hungry, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, Russia and then back by either Finland/Norway or Ukraine/Poland depending on time.
Cheers
Paul

Hello Len, Bjorn, Fizzy, Jim, PaulM and All, just to let you know I can't do Saturday meeting. (selling my flat and packing boxes)
Still working out routes and visa stuff, mostly with PaulM and joining dots on the map with help from Lonely Planet guide.
So far it's a ride through Europe to Turkey, then various countries ending with Stan,into Mongolia, has been suggested that we put bikes on Trans Siberian railway for some of the trip back.
All still very flexible regarding dates (though 1st of May seems a good date to aim for departure) and once again Turkey seems to be where routes divert, some going north to Stans,others south towards south east asia.
Hope the meeting goes good, let me know of any developments.
See ya on the dusty road somewhere. Brian.

__________________
rust & dust

To Brian ... Not to worry, as I'm sure we'll get another meeting together in the not too distant future. Good luck with the packing etc, and keep in touch ......

Meeting's still on ...
For anyone else following this thread, tomorrows meeting's still on!!!! I spoke to Bjorn earlier, who say's he's going to do his best to get there by midday. I'm setting out from Bristol circa 9.00am, with a view to arriving Ace Cafe late morning. For those of you haven't met me (which is everyone), I'll be guy with long long gray hair and matching beard.

NB. to find the Ace Cafe see: Welcome to the Ace Cafe London Home Page

Len

Im trying to find a route to do the same thing UK to thailand[ have family there and possibly a few months work so i can continue to OZ or ship to america and head to S.America again got a place to stay and potential job in peru]. I just got a africa twin [650] and im starting to prepare it for the journey. Im very very new to biking[ im just sorting out my license now] so would love to do it with a group. Ill be free from work from feb 2008 but could easily lurk getting some more cash for a few more months in the uk. I may have some use to a group i was a chef many years ago and my current job gave me plenty of first aid experiance.
Even if you dont want to babysit the scotsman any help with route or equipment your taking[ including best gear/lids to wear] would be most helpful.
feel free to email me its in my profile
thx,
garry

Hi All, welcome Pictish..I made it to the Ace and met up with Lenz and Bjorn..Spent a good few hours discussing our various plans and ideas.Bjorn is releasing an excel spreadsheet to which all interested parties can add there routes and times, this will enable pre planned meetings along the way.... It seems there are two routes, the North and the South. South route including India maybe Iran and Nepal and freighting bike from Nepal. North route revolves around transiting China, entry being through one of the Stans the exit being Lao.Travel dates are constrained by weather since some of the passes on the North route are not/open passable till June onwards. I would like to be in Thailand mid August which means entering China mid July, the cost of guides and paperwork means China is perhaps a bit too expensive for a lone traveller, however a group of 5 with a 30 day transit schedule can split the guide cost to a reasonable $600 each plus paperwork. So if there are 4 others who are interested please get in touch. Its not neccessary to travel on the same route through Europe as long as we meet on or before the border.Pictish there will be at least one more meeting early next year, re gear etc use the HUBB to search and read up, and ask questions...

Regards all Jimmy46

Hey there have u tried contacting the British Consulate in Almaty in kazak they helped a lone biker through the border last year. He didnt have the guide either and travelled freely. Although it was a bit of a run around to get in. I think the requirement other than the visa for himself was a multi language/national ownership doc in chinese. Will try to get more info on this as it could save a lot of cash.
thx,
garry

gonna be a bit of delay getting bike ready as apparently i dont live in mainland britain according to the delivery firm[ im 20 miles north of aberdeen where apparently anything north of this is not mainland]

temporary driver's license now issued at airports and borders[i think] international driving license or home country one required.

bike registration ie numberplates[ believe these have been issued in past to bikes.

this method has been done by a german couple

Hi Pictish, I read about jake, www.slowbikes.com/Home and his success at entering China without a guide. I have e mailed him several times for further info but so far no reply. I hope that it is possible without a guide and plan to enter China by mid July, giving me 30 days to transit. If anyone has any confirmed info please post...( I wondered if Jake got lucky or just smuggled the bike in?) I understand he was too early weather wise and had to put the bike on a train to avoid high cold snow covered passes ( or travel between areas got difficult with a smuggled bike?) I have no evidence to support the smuggled hypothesis, just covering all possibilities...Ken can you get in touch?...

Have fun ...Jimmy

First off is Hi to Pictish ... welcome to the thread.

And to Jimmy .... great to meet ya Saturday. I thought the meeting was really useful and intend following up on the info' you put my way. Have mailed Ken telling him I'd given you his contact details. Guess he'll be in touch soon.

Bjorn .... top jigger matey! Am really impressed with how well organised your travel plans are. You've given me a new lease of life after having to delay things for this year. I'm pretty excited at the possibilities for getting through China, though your contingency looks genuinely workable.

Looking forward to seeing you both at the next meeting, so we can avachat about travel plans again.

And to anyone else still following the thread ... I've cobbled together a spreadsheet with basic contact details/route/travel plans. My thoughts are to have something that keeps track of who's intending going where and when. It's already gone out to a few guys that I've got email addresses for. Anyone else who's interested, then leave a post to this effect and I'll drop you a PM to exchange Eaddress's. After which, I'll to send it on for you to add your stuff.

The plan for this is: As anyone sends in their details, will update the original and then circulate back to all interest parties. That way we can all keep in touch a bit easier, as well staying up to date with the latest itineraries ...

Catch ya'll later ....... Lenzzzzzzz

Hi Len nice to talk to you yesterday and yes Jimmy please feel free to call me anytime on the number Len has given you, I have now ordered my new bike
( V STROM 650 X ) and getting delivery 2 November, I would prefer leaving end of April so as to arrive mid July in Thailand which would mean transiting K/Stan end May and June and what I have found is that it should be snow free but like all things it could happen any time we just take it as it comes, (just find a bar and wait).

I hope we can get as many as possible to go as safety in numbers, I hope we can all meet up hopefully soon as possible or at least get to know each other by phone, if any one would like to chat on phone then email with you number and I will call.
Safe riding
Ken

to bjorn, len, thanks your mail. been lurking in the background since i'm heading that way - north route stans / china / laos, if possible. after some initial contacts with chinese agents it sort of narrow down to what jimmy has mentioned - min group of 5 ... may be possible but need to apply early many months ahead.

count me in, provided not too late in the entry. am told route is passable from early may, so an earlier entry date would suit fine.

sheen

Hi Sheen, I have spoken to Len,Ken,Bjorn and it seems we all started with different time plans...I have brought mine forward to match Kens...Not sure if Bjorn is going to do the same ..Len was unsure when we met last week. Bjorn has a time based spreadsheet that should be filled in by everyone interested and maybe it will evolve into two seperate groups on two seperate dates.... early May is too soon for me I want to be in Thailand early July and imagine the China transit will take a Month..therefore Early June is my prefered entry date..I believe this is the same for Ken...we need perhaps a minimum of two more for that for the costs to become sensible. I havn't checked the weather in China in early May but advise you to check the weather on the high passes and mountains ...As and when we have a firm travel group it may work best if we split the tasks between us..one handles routing, one does visas, one does China permissions, one does logistics for service and spares/tyres etc...I think we need to be firm by the new year in order to sort China out before we leave U.K. in May

Regards Jimmy

Hey Jimmy,
PaulM here from other posts on this thread - we've a splinter group from this thread (Mick and Colleen Tharme from Oz and BrianW) that is departing UK early May for Russia/Mongolia and back through The Stans and Eastern Europe. Thanks for getting this much used thread going !!
This is my first 'big one' and I am only 'novice class'. I see from your last post that you're going over some high altitude passes. I've been reading up on high altitude sickness and the use of acetazolomide (Diomox) to accelerate acclimatisation. One for you to consider and maybe advice from others on the HUBB.
Have a great trip and thanks again for getting this going.
Cheers
Paul