Motorbike ride from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos

ancientpathos wrote:

Greetings,
I am planning a trip starting in Da Nang to HCMC, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and back to Da Nang. Does anyone know the procedure for crossing the borders with a motorcycle. Hoping someone can share their recent experience.

Check out the classified section of the Laos forum, motorbikes for sale There is a guy there who is selling 2 bikes after travelling in Vietnam and then Laos. Perhaps he may be able to give you the info you are looking for.

Have a look through this link at the HUB...
Some info about traveling in and out of VN

Horizons Unlimited

Cheers
Alex

Great plan.
I like it.
Have a safe trip.

Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge. Thailand seems to be the tough part. Motorbike needs to be in your name, may have to bring my housekeeper with me. Bikes are in her name.

Out of curiosity:   What size motorbikes are you planning to use on this trip?

Speaking from experience,

Wife and I drove our Honda Wave from HCMC to HaTin, thru Cambodia (no worries at border except for the visa fee and the $10 to check your temperature)....The border on the way out of Cambodia (KohKong)didn't even stop to get stamped. On the Thai side there was a good hour delay and an exercise in paperwork. They checked the bike title, frame and engine numbers. Had fun for a week in Pattaya then returned home same Thai border, but was quicker this time as we had paperwork already done. Back into Cambodia, the officers asked if we ever left. "No, we just stayed here on the border." No $25 visa fee for me! Back thru PP, beware of driving with lights on as is illegal and easy to pinch you for a few bucks. They will demand $50, you can throw $3 at them and walk off. Border back to Vn was a line but no biggies. No checking of bike except at Thai side of borders

Big-Tex wrote:

Speaking from experience,

Wife and I drove our Honda Wave from HCMC to HaTin, thru Cambodia (no worries at border except for the visa fee and the $10 to check your temperature)....The border on the way out of Cambodia (KohKong)didn't even stop to get stamped. On the Thai side there was a good hour delay and an exercise in paperwork. They checked the bike title, frame and engine numbers. Had fun for a week in Pattaya then returned home same Thai border, but was quicker this time as we had paperwork already done. Back into Cambodia, the officers asked if we ever left. "No, we just stayed here on the border." No $25 visa fee for me! Back thru PP, beware of driving with lights on as is illegal and easy to pinch you for a few bucks. They will demand $50, you can throw $3 at them and walk off. Border back to Vn was a line but no biggies. No checking of bike except at Thai side of borders

Big-Tex, just a question... what sort of VN visa did you have for your trip?

At the time, I had a multi-entry(provided by my job) 3mo visa as my job hadn't secured a proper 1yr long working visa yet.....Now I got 5yr resident status as being married

The trip was 2012-2013 Christmas

Tks,
Makes sense.. I have heard of riders on tourist visa NOT getting thru with there bike simply because they are on a Tourist visa... your experience seems to validate my resaerch about the issue of getting through VN boarders on a bike.

Cheers mate.

I would post some pics of the border crossings, but cant see how to embed them here.

I changed my avatar to show some of the hassle at the Thai border.

Citsym wrote:

Tks,
Makes sense.. I have heard of riders on tourist visa NOT getting thru with there bike simply because they are on a Tourist visa... your experience seems to validate my resaerch about the issue of getting through VN boarders on a bike.

Cheers mate.

Looking in my passport, it was a multi-entry B3 visa is that helps.

It does... cheers

ancientpathos wrote:

Greetings,
I am planning a trip starting in Da Nang to HCMC, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and back to Da Nang. Does anyone know the procedure for crossing the borders with a motorcycle. Hoping someone can share their recent experience.

What I like a bike tour is that no maps! Just drive to hcm and if you see any bus name PhnomPenh, follow it. And enjoy your time in Cambodia until you feel bored so ask someone how to go to Laos and Thailand..

I think you can buy engine 300cc there for your bike and ship to hcm. There are 2 big motorbike markets. I know some places accept shipping from cambodia. High cc engine does not cost as much as in Vietnam.

Dejavu.dot wrote:

ancientpathos wrote:

Greetings,
I am planning a trip starting in Da Nang to HCMC, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and back to Da Nang. Does anyone know the procedure for crossing the borders with a motorcycle. Hoping someone can share their recent experience.

What I like a bike tour is that no maps! Just drive to hcm and if you see any bus name PhnomPenh, follow it. And enjoy your time in Cambodia until you feel bored so ask someone how to go to Laos and Thailand..

I think you can buy engine 300cc there for your bike and ship to hcm. There are 2 big motorbike markets. I know some places accept shipping from cambodia. High cc engine does not cost as much as in Vietnam.

#1-Use a map, there are far and few between gas stations in Cambo and driving aimlessly is just plain stupid, not to mention choking on exhaust fumes from following busses.(even the road side stands selling bottled gas became limited on one stretch for us as we neared empty)

#2-Communication was hard for me as most didn't speak English, Spanish or Chinese....but most did speak Vietnamese, so the wife took care of that.

#3-You obviously have no idea of mechanics, you don't shop for a new engine like its a pair of shoes.