Hi, just posting out of curiosity, not really planning a trip now (actually went from India to Thailand last winter, but freighted the bike Chennai-->Bangkok)....

As Burma seems to remain closed for foreign motorbikes for the foreseeable future, what are the options, if you would not want to freight your bike between those two countries? Lets just for a second assume you had everything sorted out for China and Tibet (and I know China would not in reality be easy, let alone Tibet!)

I understand you could go to Pakistan, then cross the Karakoram Highway into Xinjiang province in China, then work your way all the way to Laos, from where its only a short distance to Thailand. But even if you could climb that mountain of paperwork, that would be a HUGE detour, if you only intend to ride from India to Thailand!

Are there any existing roads between India (or Nepal) and Tibet? Somewhere I saw a mention about a road between Kathmandu and Lhasa, but I dont know if it really exists.

I know that because of politics its highly likely that you could not use those roads, even if they exist (and even if you could, probably couldnt ride them except in summer) - just wondering if there are any?

Also heard something about a "superhighway" from Delhi to Bangkok, but that would pass through Burma, and even if its not just gossip, I dont think it will be operational in 10 years... and they´ll probably ban bikes from riding it anyway!!

Here´s hoping that the China/Tibet issue will be solved some day, and that in time China will become more accessible for foreign bikers with their own bikes!

If you do a bit of search in the forums you'll find out that the border between Nepal and Tibet is open and very well known, although of course will all Chinese strings attached. Most people prefer to airfreight from KTM to BKK or KUL though.

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2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

Does anyone know, if there are any international border crossings between India and China? If you could cross from somewhere near the border with Burma (Arunachal Pradesh?), that would make your detour a lot shorter.

But since India and China have their border disputes as well, and its the Himalayas anyway, maybe that wont be possible anytime soon.

I heard somewhere in North India that foreigners are not allowed near the border with China at all (east of Manali and Kullu).

hi pecha72,was courious on the cost to ship from chennai to bangkok?and also a contact or name of the company you shipped with.trying to work out a rough budget to get back to nz...if thats possible...

the distance b/w imphal(india) to mandalaya(myanmar) is abt 350 kms,from mandalaya to chiang mai(thailand) is 450 kms by road.(1)is it possible for travellers to take local bus or lacal taxi between imphal to mandalay and mandalay to chiang mai to travel over land from india to thailand?.(2)also is it possible to use myanmar local cargo truck to ship our vehicle from indian border to thailand border since myanmar will not allow us to drive or ride to pass through myanmar in our own vehicle.