I got a lovely surprise from the postie today... A 1000 quid cheque from the Inland Revenue this morning. So how better to spend it....

Me and the missus would like to spend three weeks in South East Asia in January.

We would like to rent ONE bike and go two up somewhere and anywhere...

We would like to visit Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Thailand too, time permitting.

We only have three weeks as her business needs her.


What's the best way to do this ???

Many thanks in advance....

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Ted
I'd say that's a lot (aka too much ground to cover) - probably better to chose one country and spend more relaxed time imho.
If interested in Vietnam, try to get in touch with Sam Manicom who went to Vietnam with his wife for a month.
If I recall he flew there and back and hired a scooter/moped in each main town, explored around then moved on to the next big town and rented again.They used local rooms.
I do not know his budget but if you reach him he might give you more info.
Mozzynet essential carry!

Crikey mate, you have got the wanderlust fever something fierce. Not totally unusual though, one of the first thoughts upon return is how fast can I leave again

Slightly off topic as it is of course your decision but you may want to catch your breath a bit after the last trip. Also as you had mentioned, you are trying to make some short-medium term plans like maybe starting a business of taking some additional training. That money can go part way to furthering your plans. Short term pain, long term gain and all that.

Based on how much money you stated you have upon your return, if you are serious about starting a business, you should be a bit practical about the whole thing and actually try to properly capitalize some of your ideas otherwise the odds are greatly against you. Ditto for getting some addtional training. We can all rail against the evils of money, but the lack of it certainly narrows one's options.

Yup... I'll totally harass him when he's back from his Spain trip

If only I could.... I think I have an illness. Life is short and the world is very big.

I enrolled into college today. I'm pretty much 'stuck here' for a good 18 months now. I can still work in 3-4 week trips into my life without too much disruption and I'm only going to visit cheap countries.

It's all about balance and compromise and you very wisely say. Hence why I'm going for three weeks and not three months

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Hi Ted
Check out RideAsia Motorcycle Community for more ideas. Last Christmas on a dirtbiking trip round Chiang Mai in northern Thailand the rental xr250 cost me 16quid/day. Most rental bikes in Thailand are Kawasaki, cos the factory is there and there's no import tax for locals. The 3 main rental models are
klx250 (easy trail riding)
er6 (road riding, but probably physically too small for you)
versys 600 (or is it a 650?), probably best for 2-up road touring and easy gravel roads, of which there is a lot.

Google Mae Hong Son loop.

I recommend Joe's Bike Team (owner is a German called Joe Sauerborn) as a rental company

rideasia will also sell you a Garmin compatible gps basemap with routable single track riding (v cheap). Also paper maps available and detailed gps maps of Laos too.

Nov to Feb is best time for N Thailand. I had cloudless skies virtually every day.

You could do 10 days ridng and 10 on the beach in the south.

__________________

TBS.com

Nice one Chris. Sounds like a great idea.....

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

One of the best trips I ever did was about 3 weeks in SE Asia on an Africa Twin (way back in Nov/Dec 2005): Thailand (Bangkok) to Cambodia via Pailin, then Phnom Penh, Kratie, Stung Treng, cross into Laos, then Pakxe, Savannakhet, Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang, where we put the bikes on a small freight boat carrying mostly salt bags, and sailed 2 days north on the Mekong river, unloaded at Huay Xai, crossed back into Thailand, and finally headed south enjoying the great, curvy roads of the region. All 3 countries are very different from one another, maybe that´s what made it such a great trip.

Was a bit of a rush in 3 weeks, though, one could easily spend 6 weeks on that trip. Unless you´ve done them before, might surely be nice to include Angkor temples, and/or Sihanoukville and Cambodia´s coastal areas into the trip plan, as well as Si Phan Don in southern Laos. Also the route via Mae Hong Son in Thailand, close to the Burmese border, is fantastic. (But it´s worth noting, that 3 weeks will definitely not be enough to do all these!) Roads were quite tolerable everywhere (there was one 2-up bike in our group), just some roadworks in Cambodia, but I guess its whole road infrastructure should be better by now.

But I don´t know how border crossings would go with a rented bike. I did not do this on my own bike, but the bike´s owner was with us, so that surely helped a lot.

Note, that you´re very unlikely to succesfully take any other than Vietnamese registered bikes across the border into Vietnam.

edit. Vietnam: It does seem to work the other way round (Vietnamese bikes to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and back to VN).. but your selection of bikes in VN, especially for 2-up, is probably a lot worse than in Thailand, for example.