Driving From Uk To Thailand!

[SeaVisionBurma]

No way to drive over via Burma....

....Burma is and was always an obstancle....forget about it.

not true, don't dismiss this route so quickly without investigating it properly.

and are impossible in Burma

I disagree with you guys who think Myanmar/Burma is the impossible route.

If you approach the right people in the government, and do the permits properly I can't see any reason why it can't be done. The use of road travel across Myanmar from India to Thailand and vv is on the increase. I am currently planning a trip across Myanmar by motorcycle, and am getting all the assistance I could ask for.

The recently retired Aussie Ambassador to Myanmar told me of a great story a couple of years back when he was approached to help the famous London-Sydney air race (2001) when the flyers wanted to go through Myanmar. This meant permission to enter airspace and land in several destinations en route. Permission was applied for through various Ministries, and sternly granted, with cordial offers of assistance, but only if the flyers stuck to their schedules, landed at the correct airports, didnt go where they weren't supposed to etc.

As some of these aircraft don't exactly have a long range, and they had left India with some difficulties in getting fuel - it then turned into a huge circus.

Planes were late, some ran short on fuel, having to land on roads in out of the way places all over the countryside, and the ambassador was more than a little worried the military officials would raise a stink.

Instead, the Burmese officials went out of their way to track down the lost teams by road, trucked out fuel where necessary, and kept the airport open and crews on standby until all the teams were safely accounted for and on their way again.

This is obviously an air related story - but the principle of getting permission to do something through the beaurecracy applies here.

PM when if you are serious about your road trip, and I'll assist where I can with the Burma introductions, if & when you decide to do this.

[SeaVisionBurma]

... and why is it not possible to go through Burma? Is it political issues? Road constraints? or is it just too dangerous?

Spoke to young English couple that took motorcycles around the world and they also had to fly their bikes from Bangladesh to Thailand. Seems Burma has a silly rule that you have to depart their country from your point of entry into the country. Don't asl me why.

The rules on entry/exit (no overland travel) are still quoted, but no longer strictly enforced. I enter regularly through Ranong/Kawthoung, and exit via Yangon to Bangkok (and vice versa) - and I meet more and more independent travellers who are able to get permission to enter and leave through different border points.

Again - just requires the right requests to the correct people. It's not as strict as it once was. Difficult, yes - but not impossible.

[Dashing Chap]

Thanks SeaVisionBurma.

I had said to myself 'there must be some way to ask for special permission from a friendly official'

I shall certainly bear you in mind when planning, or indeed, actually doing.

[anamore]

Nice plan to go from europe to asia by car. It tastes like adventure and I would love to do it as well, but besides the visa regulations and the safetyprobleems I see something else happening : your BMW wil not look so nice anymore when you arrive at the village of your gf. So don't do it for the car doe it for the adventure, but doe it safe .

Better would be to find more people with the same plan and travel together with 3 or more cars. Bij cars I mean 4 weel drive models landrover, hummer, whatever or trucks with enough spare parts and knowledge of mechanics to take care of reparations. I also would take a gps systeem to find the way around and to stay connected with people at home/destination/authorities whatever.

Getting in the hands of bandits somewhere on the way to be traded for guns of for terrorists in prison or for money is not what you want to experience.

But despise everything I would say dare or die. go for it.

[waldwolf]

... and what a glorious moment it would be when my BMW rolls into my wife's village (I wouldn't tell her I was coming) and give her the surprise of her life with the words 'Honey, I'm home'.

I'm thinking, the worse part of the whole trip may occur right after you say,

"Honey, I'm home"

I think you'd better tell her your coming, or you might get "the surprise of your life".

[phuketrichard]

You can bring a car in for 3 months and then have to take it out and then can drive right back in

Now a bicycle is the way to go

[Narachon]

well for a start liverpool was a center of the slave trade in england during the 18th century... london never was so 

1. So that explains how Black people first came to Lilly - White England! And to believe all these years I thought they all drove there by car from Africa!

2. Also explains the Beatles, in a way....