How to buy a bike and tour SE Asia

[Sutty.89]

Hello Ride Asia Forum.

firstly I would like to apologise if this is covered elsewhere - I have looked - but my internet connection is so slow (rural Australia) it is incredibly painful to load a post - only to find it gloss over the details I need.

I want to buy a bike somewhere in SE Asia - legally - and ride it through several Asian countries. I am being vague because frankly I have no specific plans - if it's too difficult, expensive or illegal, I'll just cross it off the list like I have with Vietnam (cannot obtain a licence with tourist visa/ will not accept australian IDP so no insurance). I don't really care what kind of bike as long as it is reasonably cheap ($1000 usd ballpark), reliable and can cruise at regular highway speeds.

I do not have any address in Asia or any way to obtain one. I can only obtain standard tourist visas to my knowledge ( no sponsors or employers). I have a valid IDP, passport, Australian riders licence (provisional).

This is my first time travelling, so please keep it simple, as I am a noob. Any up to date, straight forward information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[blackwolf]

Best way would be just to rent locally to be honest. No hassles.

Otherwise, the best places to buy are Thailand or Malaysia. For Thailand, you need a local address (some apartment you are staying at temporarily should qualify) but you need to get a statutory declaration made at the Australian embassy in Bangkok or the consulate-general in Phuket to verify your address and present this document to the Land Transport Department in the province where you made the purchase in order to register a bike in your name. If you do a search on here, there was a recent thread made about buying and registering a bike in Malaysia and the process is even easier because for some reason, they don't check your visa status there (they do in Thailand, though a tourist visa is sufficient to be legal to purchase a bike in your name).

A Thai bike can be brought over to Malaysia, Singapore and Laos and driven throughout those countries no problems. Thai bikes can also be brought into Cambodia through two border crossings without advance permission (other crossings require advance notice) though you won't be able to purchase insurance for a foreign bike in Cambodia unless you go through an agent and even then few agents seem to be able to organize insurance except if it's a big group.

Malaysian bikes can be driven into all of these countries (Thailand, Singapore, Laos and Cambodia) with the same conditions. While Laos allows bikes in, only 3 crossings are currently viable without a permit (exiting for Thailand at other crossings seems to be OK).

Riding into Myanmar requires a tour (except for day trips by Thai registered vehicles sticking close to the border but that's of little interest to most western bikers) so too does Vietnam. A Vietnamese registered bike could be ridden into Laos and possibly Cambodia, but some border crossings don't allow them in or do one day and don't the next. It's also quite difficult to register a motorcycle in Vietnam for foreigners (from what I've heard).

In conclusion, depending on the countries you want to visit, it's probably still best just to rent locally to save you a lot of hassles, the only viable alternative I've mentioned is to buy a Thai or Malaysian plated bike - you could ride that into both Myanmar and Vietnam provided you are willing to go on a guided tour. Tours to Vietnam are relatively well-priced, whereas Myanmar based tours tend to be rather pricey but this depends entirely on your budget.

 

[Sutty.89]

Thanks Blackwolf.