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maxmaniac
L Plate Warrior



Joined: 13 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: 07:38 - 13 Nov 2007    Post subject: Ride SE Asia Reply with quote
Greetings from Asia to all fellow bikers !!
Being a travel bug, I understand how important it is to
have local knowledge when biking in a foreign land....
So, if anybody is out in this part of the world (Singapore, malaysia, Laos,Thailand)and needs a hand or some advice, feel free to drop me an email and I will do what I can. Mr. Green
You can find me here: chummum@myfastmail.com

Cheers!!
Frank
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The Tot
World Chat Champion



Joined: 11 Jun 2004
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PostPosted: 12:40 - 13 Nov 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, i'm actually interested to use it as an excuse after uni. Well my folks live out in Indonesia and i thought it would be nice to spend a month on the road from Bangkok or maybe Hanoi and ride along the malaysian peninsula along the coast, cross over to sumatra, ride down sumatra and over into Java.

I know thailand is innundated with 150cc strokers and 400cc's, how much would a traillie cost, something like a tenere, africa twin or something of that sort cost over there. It'll be interesting to do and will be something that i wanted to do as part of my "around the pacific ring" ambition on a bike. What's the traffic and roads over in southern thailand since the only stretch of road i've been on is Sukhumvit road from Bangkok to Pattaya, which was nice.

Glad you enjoyed your journey.
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Itchy
Super Spammer



Joined: 07 Apr 2005
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PostPosted: 13:17 - 13 Nov 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Titz wrote:
Well, i'm actually interested to use it as an excuse after uni. Well my folks live out in Indonesia and i thought it would be nice to spend a month on the road from Bangkok or maybe Hanoi and ride along the malaysian peninsula along the coast, cross over to sumatra, ride down sumatra and over into Java.

I know thailand is innundated with 150cc strokers and 400cc's, how much would a traillie cost, something like a tenere, africa twin or something of that sort cost over there. It'll be interesting to do and will be something that i wanted to do as part of my "around the pacific ring" ambition on a bike. What's the traffic and roads over in southern thailand since the only stretch of road i've been on is Sukhumvit road from Bangkok to Pattaya, which was nice.

Glad you enjoyed your journey.


I hear that cargo ships leaving Europe (often empty) are incredibly cheap heading for China/Singapore, with some crazy prices such as $400 US for a whole shipping container for obvious reasons.

Might be quite plausible,

but is their petrol any good? LWR had (according to their book) 68 Octane petrol, big H says 90 at the very minimum ?. Confused


a quick search says £500 for a 26 ton container to China
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The Tot
World Chat Champion



Joined: 11 Jun 2004
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PostPosted: 15:42 - 13 Nov 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well it might be worth considering because i have an incredible amount of stuff that i need to ship back to my parents and may have to go down that route - 26 ton container form southampton to the ports in jakarta was 800 quid including landing fees when my parents relocated. however, the major downside is that they WILL tax my bike 200% import fee - don't know why, but customs and excise WILL (mates all work in the indonesian embassy) so i'd be wasting a lot of money. Octane aint bad in and around
Thailand - it's about 89/90 mostly around SE Asia - 95 octane is what they call "premium" Knowing how corrupt it is down there, it wont be suprising if they mix the 90 octane with kerosine! I know there was a massive splurr on Pertamina (indonesia's petrochemicals) about how dirty their fuel is - put side by side with petronas fuel and shell (which they have) you can visually compare the purity.

I've inteneded thailand to be a starting point since i still have mates there and might kick it off with a partay.

But it could be a good plan in the pipeline.

Or i can do what they do - get a step thru semi auto, wear a hard hat, flip flops and ride hard core - be tiring like and you'd smell, but THAT's an adventure - Suzuki Satria's for about 700 quid - yeh gwan, parts wont be an issue!
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Al
World Chat Champion



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
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PostPosted: 17:57 - 13 Nov 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Titz wrote:

Or i can do what they do - get a step thru semi auto, wear a hard hat, flip flops and ride hard core - be tiring like and you'd smell, but THAT's an adventure - Suzuki Satria's for about 700 quid - yeh gwan, parts wont be an issue!


Step-thru and hard hat FTW Very Happy Thumbs Up
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/big_al/P5011096.jpg


We hired some other stuff aswell but any large cc bikes that were 'for sale' seemed to be really overpriced. The guy in the rental shop said it was because they only sell 200cc and under bikes new in Thailand so everything else has to be imported, not sure how true that is?
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/big_al/P4281027-1.jpg

Would there be any trouble if you brought a bike in Thailand with taking it out of the country or would it just be a case of showing the papers?

I know you probably won't if your starting in Bangkok and working down but the mountain roads around Chang Mai and out towards Pai are really amazing if a little dangerous because of the crazy Thai drivers. We were behind a guy on a step thru for a bit, he was getting his peg down on every bend and he had his whole family on board with him Shocked Laughing

Quick question to 'maxmaniac' or anybody thats been to the countries.
Is it safe to travel on your own via motorbike in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam? or are you likely to be robbed or kidnapped? Smile
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maxmaniac
L Plate Warrior



Joined: 13 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: 23:29 - 13 Nov 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Titz wrote:
Well, i'm actually interested to use it as an excuse after uni. Well my folks live out in Indonesia and i thought it would be nice to spend a month on the road from Bangkok or maybe Hanoi and ride along the malaysian peninsula along the coast, cross over to sumatra, ride down sumatra and over into Java.

I know thailand is innundated with 150cc strokers and 400cc's, how much would a traillie cost, something like a tenere, africa twin or something of that sort cost over there. It'll be interesting to do and will be something that i wanted to do as part of my "around the pacific ring" ambition on a bike. What's the traffic and roads over in southern thailand since the only stretch of road i've been on is Sukhumvit road from Bangkok to Pattaya, which was nice.

Glad you enjoyed your journey.


Roads along the southern part of Thailand are pretty good but it would be more worth your while to travel up North to Chiangmai and thru to Laos and there are some fantastic bendies and scenery as you proceed up the mountains. There are big Bikes(600cc and above) for rent for about 10 to 20 quid a day but I wouldn't trust those for long trips. As for buying a big bike in Thailand, they are just not worth it as the obscene taxes on Big bikes make them cost as much as a car !!! If you are thinking of a round Asia trip, best thing to do is to start in Singapore(cheapest place in Asia for bikes), buy a Bike( you can buy a decent trail bike/sportbike/cruiser for as low as 1000quid) and ride up North to Malaysia, Thailand and Laos or Burma.
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maxmaniac
L Plate Warrior



Joined: 13 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: 23:43 - 13 Nov 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
"Quick question to 'maxmaniac' or anybody thats been to the countries.
Is it safe to travel on your own via motorbike in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam? or are you likely to be robbed or kidnapped? Smile"

The only trouble you will get into is trying to balance yourself after downing all that cheap booze and trying to weave in and out of traffic Razz The people are fantastic and you do not have to worry about security as long as you follow some basic rules like not inviting strange women to your room Rolling Eyes or having a joint while speeding downhill along the mountainsides Mr. Green
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dancingroads
L Plate Warrior



Joined: 04 Dec 2007
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PostPosted: 13:39 - 05 Dec 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
"Quick question to 'maxmaniac' or anybody thats been to the countries.
Is it safe to travel on your own via motorbike in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam? or are you likely to be robbed or kidnapped?


cambodia gets a bad reputation because of its past but to be honest it's just as safe or as dangerous as anywhere else security-wise.

More of the major roads are now paved allowing for people to ride bigger bikes if they so desire, but the bikes of choice are still 250 and 400cc dirtbikes. Riding through the countryside you're more likely to get accosted by a group of nose-pulling kids or betel chewing grannies than by bandits; the main danger on the roads are the manic buses and taxis (and landcruisers, hummers and lexuses) who are blind to anything smaller than them. hence we prefer to stick to the dirt roads wherever possible Smile[/quote]
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phil2alp
Nitrous Nuisance



Joined: 22 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: 14:51 - 05 Dec 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Al - your question on travelling to Laos.

While travelling in Thailand I hired a bike (Honda CB 400) in Chang Mai and rode a lot around that area and to Pai. I was told to be careful of riding much more North of Chang Mai, especially into Southern Laos as you are then much more into the golden triangle ie drug production areas. Whether this was just scaremongering I don't know as I didn't cross the border into Laos.

This was about 4 years ago so this information may be out of date.

Cheers.
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