Driving Own Car In Burma

[phuketrichard]

$1,080/person

how many days?

to where? entering where, exiting?

includes accommodations?

[nuetravelling]

@all

Made a mistake: the 1080 $US are INCLUDING FOOD

@phuketrichard

The price ist for a quick 4 day crossing of Myanmar starting at the Thai border at Myawaddy and finishing at the India border at Moreh / Tamu.

It goes via Nay Pyi Taw, Bagan,Pon Taung, Gangaw and Kalay Myo.

The price does not include any sight seeing but the tour can be changed in any wait to suit all participants wishes.

Are you interested in doing a crossing?

If you have a serious interest please let me know! I can also provide a detailed itinerary.

Best regards to all.

If anyone has any more questions, just ask!

NuE

[nuetravelling]

UPDATE:
According to our latest research the crossing is not as expensive as I / we thought it is.
To quickly summarise:
Next to the German guy Jörn Schlag whose latest price for an extensive trip through Myanmar was 2000 Euros (~ 2750 US$) per car (independent of the number of cars building the convoy) we already found three licensed travel agencies situated in Myanmar who offer crossings through Myanmar (all following prices are based on a four or five day crossing):
1st was Tin Maung Shwe from www.brightviewtravel.com who basically provided the following prices (includes everything except of own fuel, any sight seeing and personal expenses): for 1 car / 2 pax : 2163 US$ per pax; for 2 cars / 4 pax : 1287 US$ (costs are getting cheaper the more people join the group)
2nd was Thar Aye from www.burmasenses.com who offers the crossing as follows: for 1 car / 2 pax : 2000 US$ per pax; for 2 cars / 4 pax : 1060 US$ (costs are getting cheaper the more people join the group). Furthermore we found a
3rd tour operator whose costs vary significant from those of Tin and Thar Aye:
His name is Mutu Suresh from www.myanmarexperttours.com and who recommends a six day crossing due to the more difficult road situation on the rainy season for the following (costs are in total, NOT per person!):
1 Person - 900 US$
2 People - 1060 US$
4 People - 1700 US$
6 People - 2250 US$
Includes three meals per day and five nights' accommodation. Not included as already mentioned above: own fuel, sightseeing entrance fees on the way, personal expenses and road tax (no more than 50 $US per vehicle).
I was wondering how this high price difference is possible. But I only found few reviews only of people travelling with him (all were very satisfied with his work) and he assured me that no extra costs would apply (except the ones mentioned). If anyone can give any reviews about Mutu Suresh this would be very welcome!

So far I found another couple with a 4WD who is willing to join us on the crossing. Furthermore I am waiting for the reply of two motor cyclists who also are interested in joining us.
That means currently we are four, maybe six people who will do the crossing together. I requested another offer + itinerary for a six day crossing allowing for visiting Bagan and a seven day crossing allowing for Bagan and Mandalay.
News will be posted.

So far to our situation.
Still looking for more people to join us!
Since we are having travel delays the currently desired departure time (start time) for the crossing will be middle of September.

Best regards to everyone,

Enrico and Nadine
www.nue-travelling.com

[wilcopops]

Anyone want to try a convoy into Burma from Thailand? There are several new crossings open now and I'm sure as a group we can get permissions.

[Tomtomtom69]

Sounds interesting. Can one bring a Thai car on finance over if going via convoy? I have heard that the finance companies are more likely to make exceptions to the "can't take the car outside the country whilst on finance" rule if you go on a tour. I would be very interested if it's possible. Just wondering if anyone knows.

[wilcopops]

My guess would be that a finance company might have reservations as part of their assets would be in a country without any easy means of retrieval. however just one more hurdle to get over ..... perhaps some form of guarantor (freight/shipping agent) would do it?

[nuetravelling]

@wilcopops

Basically you still need to have a local licensed tour operator guiding you the whole trip through the country, no matter if you travel alone or in a convoy!

The border security at the Myanmar border will not let you get into the country unless there is a tour operator picking you up at the border!

But since there are more affordable tour operator this should all be no problem at all anymore. Especially if you have a group of six people or more.

Did you read my above posts? The tour operators Tin from brightviewtravel.com and Tar Aye from burmasenses.com are still quite expensive. But there are cheaper tour operators like Mutu from myanmarexperttours.com which we chose for our tour through Mynamar.

What are your detailed travel plans for Myanmar? I am currently building up a group for crossing Myanmar coming from Thailand (crossing at Mae Sot / Myawaddy) and going to India (Moreh / Tamu border) on a six or seven day trip with a stop over at Bagan. We are currently definetely six maybe seven or even eight people. The trip start is scheduled for middle of September but could be rescheduled for another one or two weeks (depends on the arrival of all participants in Bangkok / the Thai Myanmar border).

If you are interested in joining us let me know. You need to have a Carnet the Passage and evidence for a health insurance ready when tour booking / tour start will take place.

We will wait until second half of August before we book the trip to allow to get a better idea of when we actually can do it.

Total tour price including all fees, taxes and accommodation is 3600 US$ for a group of eight people. Not included is fuel, meals and personal expenses.

Kind regards from Dili, Timor-Leste

[Tomtomtom69]

My guess would be that a finance company might have reservations as part of their assets would be in a country without any easy means of retrieval. however just one more hurdle to get over ..... perhaps some form of guarantor (freight/shipping agent) would do it?

Perhaps; although I think asking a locally based Thai tour agent that has experience running caravan tours into Myanmar (there are two that I know of) would know the answers for sure. I will start asking them soon.

[wilcopops]

I haven't gone through the other posts yet...i am looking at 2 options at present for December.

1 - drive into Burma

2 - Drive to Kunming, Yunnan

I want to do this as cheaply as possible and allow about 5 to 7 days in either country.

[Tomtomtom69]

I haven't gone through the other posts yet...i am looking at 2 options at present for December.

1 - drive into Burma

2 - Drive to Kunming, Yunnan

I want to do this as cheaply as possible and allow about 5 to 7 days in either country.

With a Thai car? Driving into Myanmar seems to be fairly straightforward these days and there are overland caravan tours heading into Myanmar every week or second week it seems. These tours are also relatively cheap. As mentioned here I think you'll find that for less than US$1000 or equivalent you can drive your Thai car around Myanmar for about a week. The US$1000 fee should include most costs, except maybe fuel, your visa and other incidentals. Hotels, border crossing fees (these are not much), guide fees etc. are however included.

Driving to Kunming should in theory be possible just by showing up at the China/Lao border if you are driving a Thai vehicle according to the 2003 GMS cross border agreement that covers 6 countries, including Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and China's Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. In practice however, this is not so. You may be required to go on a tour. By next year it should be possible to go independently (after all, Chinese cars can enter Thailand without being on a tour) but until then you'd be better off driving a Lao car into China unless you don't mind going on a tour with a Chinese guide. Drivers of Lao cars can reach Kunming via 2 border crossings, there is now a newly opened one in the far north of Laos at a place called Ban Lan Teuy/Meng Kang (Jiang Cheng), but you may need to know someone in China to "guarantee" your car while you're there (except for trips near the border where this is not required). This merely involves calling that friend at the border while they speak to customs. The customs officer will print out a customs form allowing you to drive around Yunnan. Separate permission may be required for driving into Guangxi and other provinces. Otherwise, Lao cars are restricted to the region near the border, which used to be Sisongbanna near Jinghong, more than 200km from the border. Vehicles registered in all other countries will definitely need to go on a tour.

[oldsailor35]

Sounds interesting. Can one bring a Thai car on finance over if going via convoy? I have heard that the finance companies are more likely to make exceptions to the "can't take the car outside the country whilst on finance" rule if you go on a tour. I would be very interested if it's possible. Just wondering if anyone knows.

I think the finance company will know ...........Ask them

[phuketrichard]

I haven't gone through the other posts yet...i am looking at 2 options at present for December.

1 - drive into Burma

2 - Drive to Kunming, Yunnan

I want to do this as cheaply as possible and allow about 5 to 7 days in either country.

With a Thai car? Driving into Myanmar seems to be fairly straightforward these days and there are overland caravan tours heading into Myanmar every week or second week it seems. These tours are also relatively cheap. As mentioned here I think you'll find that for less than US$1000 or equivalent you can drive your Thai car around Myanmar for about a week. The US$1000 fee should include most costs, except maybe fuel, your visa and other incidentals. Hotels, border crossing fees (these are not much), guide fees etc. are however included.

Driving to Kunming should in theory be possible just by showing up at the China/Lao border if you are driving a Thai vehicle according to the 2003 GMS cross border agreement that covers 6 countries, including Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and China's Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. In practice however, this is not so. You may be required to go on a tour. By next year it should be possible to go independently (after all, Chinese cars can enter Thailand without being on a tour) but until then you'd be better off driving a Lao car into China unless you don't mind going on a tour with a Chinese guide. Drivers of Lao cars can reach Kunming via 2 border crossings, there is now a newly opened one in the far north of Laos at a place called Ban Lan Teuy/Meng Kang (Jiang Cheng), but you may need to know someone in China to "guarantee" your car while you're there (except for trips near the border where this is not required). This merely involves calling that friend at the border while they speak to customs. The customs officer will print out a customs form allowing you to drive around Yunnan. Separate permission may be required for driving into Guangxi and other provinces. Otherwise, Lao cars are restricted to the region near the border, which used to be Sisongbanna near Jinghong, more than 200km from the border. Vehicles registered in all other countries will definitely need to go on a tour.

I was up at the laos/china border ( Ban Boten) above Luang Namtha last year with my thai car an asked, they said impossible to take a Thai car in unless in a caravan/tour with all permits done way in advance

Laos car yes.

Edited July 14, 2014 by phuketrichard

[wilcopops]

There was an article in the Bkk post a few weeks back extolling the pleasures of driving to Kunming....it seemed to indicate a slackening of the requirements.

[Tomtomtom69]

There was an article in the Bkk post a few weeks back extolling the pleasures of driving to Kunming....it seemed to indicate a slackening of the requirements.

Yes, things are changing and they should be to be fair - just yesterday I saw a Chinese plated car driving westwards on Rama II near Samut Sakorn - if they are allowed into Thailand without a tour, so the reverse should also be allowed.

As Phuketrichard pointed out his experience was from last year. Could you please send me a private message with this article.

In any case, should I drive up to Kunming in the near future I could easily take a Lao car across, assuming that the Chinese authorities easily allow you to drive past Jinghong. Lao cars are seen in large numbers in the area up to Jinghong, but only Lao plated international buses to Kunming have, up until now been seen past Jinghong. That could be changing.

[nuetravelling]

Hello everyone,

Finally I like to provide some feedback about our successful and great road trip (with own vehicles) through Myanmar hosted by Mutu from myanmarexperttours.com in October 2014.

Upon booking our travel group consisted of six people travelling in three cars (all 4WD).

Crossing the border from Mae Sot (Thailand) to Myawaddy (Myanmar) took three hours in total (basically because of slow working customs and queues at the counters). When crossing the bridge you switch from left-hand driving to right-hand driving. Read here why:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic#Burma_.28Myanmar.29

On the Myanmar side we were welcomed by Ye, who is a Burmese travel guide and was hired by Mutu and by the MTT official who also is an experienced and relaxed guy and basically responsible to notify the ministry about our movements. They provided ‘temporary number plates’ which we had to place on the windscreen. After changing some money (change rates for USD in MMK were pretty good) we left Myawaddy and fortunately we were allowed to pass the customs bay behind town without the cars getting checked. We then started the first stage of our tour to Kin Pun, a village at the base of Kyaiktiyo Golden Rock (on the way there we did a short stop at a pagoda near Thaton). The single line road between Myawaddy and Kawkareik which is only open every second day (oncoming traffic the other day) is very windy, often unpaved and trucks are slow and there are only few spots allowing to pass them. You pass several military checkpoints along the way. You definitely have to be at the border very early to actually finish this stage of the tour on time (we arrived in darkness and most Burmese drive without using lights at all!). We skipped visiting the Golden Rock in the following morning and moved on to the capital Nay Pyi Taw with a stop at the market in Waw. The two-lane highway is very good and allows cars to drive 120 km/h. Nay Pyi Daw is a clean city with heaps of empty hotels and roads. Seeing the government buildings was not possible. On the afternoon of our arrival we visited the Uppatasanti pagoda which was inspired by the famous Shwedagon pagoda. As a tourist we found this a very nice place and unlike Shwedagon there are no crowds of people.

The Myat Mingalar hotel was a nice place to stay and we were almost the only guests at that time. In the evening another participant and I drove by ourselves to a close-by mall to get some beer and food since the hotel’s restaurant was a bit too expensive. The next day we learned that we actually were not allowed to drive without a guide in front even though having the license plate, visa, passport and so on with us. Seeing Nay Pyi Daw as foreigner was interesting albeit surreal. As we learned you cannot get here with public transport (only with a licensed tour operator). On the late afternoon around 5pm we did see a group of road workers who just finished today’s work shift and immediately were picked up by soldiers in an army truck…

After two nights in Nay Pyi Daw we moved to Bagan with stops at a palm sugar station and driving to the first stupas and watching sunset from one of them. In the evening we got to know Mutu who is a really nice guy, knows a lot about the country and is the perfect mate to have a beer with. The next day we spent the morning with visiting some more stupas, using the hotel’s swimming pool in the afternoon and did a river cruise on the Ayeyarwady in the early evening.

The next morning we moved on to Monywa with seeing the Phowintaung caves which actually were hundreds of holes in a sandstone outcrop containing carved Buddha statues.

The following day we went to Kalay via Gangaw (which is the main road between Kalay and Monyaw used most of the time of the year). Along the sometimes very windy and very muddy ‘road’ we passed lots of stuck trucks and also our guides 2WD Toyota Hiace used to have difficulties getting up the hill sometimes (unlike us with our 4WD). For us it was sheer driving pleasure!

The stage between Monywa and Kalay was the longest and most exhausting one of all but has to be done at once since there are no places with hotels along the way and sleeping in the cars is still strictly prohibited.

From Kalay we moved on to the border town Tamu where people only have power from 6.30pm til 8.00am in the morning. On the way we crossed the tropic of cancer. Exiting Myanmar took about half an hour while entering India was more time and nerve consuming (read on).

Finally I can say that all six of us enjoyed the trip very much. Mutu even managed to let one of the participants bring its dog in (and of course out of) the country. Ye was a very nice guy and both Ye and Mutu managed to organize the trip to our full satisfaction. Actually we would have stayed longer but four of us are on a road trip from Australia to Europe and we had to keep the trip short for budget and time reasons. But Myanmar is a very beautiful country with amazingly friendly locals and except of the major tourist attractions like Yangon, Bagan, Inle Lake and Mandaly the country is still very unexplored by tourism.

We definitely can recommend Mutu and his team to everyone who is also interested visiting and crossing the country with his own vehicle.

Nevertheless Myanmar is still very expensive to travel. Accommodations are more expensive than in its eastern neighbouring countries (also due to USD regularly used as second currency) and the government charges high fees to travellers (sightseeing, permissions to see certain areas, obligation of using a licensed tour operator, …). There are news found online about a Trans-Asian highway to be built through Myanmar to connect India with SE Asia but I hardly believe this project will ever be realized / finished. Furthermore since the government makes a lot of money with tourism possible due to the whole tricky system of ‘special permissions’ and so on it is hard to believe that it ever will be more easy to get in and explore the country. And still there are riots and conflicts going on in the country, like in eastern and northern Mon state and also in the far north of the country which still will make it almost impossible for tourists to travel to these regions for a long time. But if there is a chance to actually visit a certain area as foreigner, Mutu can bring you there.

Once again about the prices: travelling to Myanmar is and will be expensive. Basically a bigger group with more participants should make such a trip more affordable, but also more exhausting because the more cars / people need to travel along the roads / need to be checked the more time consuming it will be.

At the end we all were happy with the size of our group (three cars).

For a group of six people including all permits, fees and so on (excluding food and fuel) one will hardly find an offer charging less than 750 USD per person. But it is definitely worth the trip.

The following Google Maps link shows our basic route through the country:

https://www.google.de/maps/dir/Mae+Sot,+Mae+Sot+District,+Tak,+Thailand/Kin+Pun+Sakhan,+Myanmar/The+Myat+Mingalar/Bagan+Umbra/Monywa/22.0429721,94.9862361/Monywa+Hotel,+Monywa,+Myanmar/23.1936636,94.0389935/24.2160391,94.3030753/@20.4783789,95.672865,7z/data=!4m56!4m55!1m5!1m1!1s0x30ddbda33d818e6d:0x30346c5fa8a7750!2m2!1d98.5746649!2d16.7124054!1m5!1m1!1s0x30c3a79df651f5dd:0x166f3f368b6d363!2m2!1d97.0780814!2d17.3998992!1m15!1m1!1s0x0:0x6025ecfb857509ea!2m2!1d96.12023!2d19.721136!3m4!1m2!1d96.054332!2d19.6722733!3s0x30c897e94783a7d7:0xafc4deea9f64c28f!3m4!1m2!1d95.7482257!2d20.8087577!3s0x30c9781dd992cc79:0x4897690f0ea5eb6a!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0xddbac4ae7822bd2c!2m2!1d94.885354!2d21.184937!1m5!1m1!1s0x0:0xb1175049af2e5c95!2m2!1d95.129121!2d22.120469!1m0!1m10!1m1!1s0x30ca9f24b1b52ed3:0xb1175049af2e5c95!2m2!1d95.129121!2d22.120469!3m4!1m2!1d94.2057064!2d21.94367!3s0x30b4f0f7d5362663:0x3154c684e4fdd585!1m0!1m0!3e0?hl=de

After we left Myanmar using the bridge over the little river and switching back to left-hand driving we arrived at a military checkpoint where we had to provide Passports and open the cars for a simple inspection. It was around 10am (after time change) and the military pointed us to the police station in Moreh were it took us some time to actually find a present police officer to stamp our passports. To get the Carnet documents stamped he pointed back to the border. The customs office (a white building complex) is situated between the border bridge and the military checkpoint. We then had to wait once more for the customs officers to show up (Indian officials are known for starting working very late at the day). Stamping and checking the cars was done very quickly and at the end we left Moreh. They whole border crossing took us three hours. Mainly caused by non-presence of customs and asking around where to actually find police and customs.

The road from Moreh makes its way through the mountains (windy but properly paved) and you pass three military checkpoints where one always has to stop and provide personal details.

Once one makes it into the valley behind the mountains traffic gets more and cows and goats sit, walk and lie everywhere along and on the roads.

When travelling in Manipur and Nagaland it is not unusual to get stopped by the police and following them to their police station for general interrogation and providing personal details and travel plans. We even were asked to follow a police man to the police station when walking along a main road when looking for a restaurant in Bongaigaon, Assam.

Finally I hope this information is helpful to anyone interested in visiting amazing Myanmar by own vehicle. I will publish travel reports on my blog www.nue-travelling.com within the next days.

Best regards to everyone from Delhi, India.

[phuketrichard]

great report;

have read numerous reports of people driving their own cars/motorbikes into and out of Myanmar . seems as long as you align yourself with a travel agent and pay the high fees its not a big deal

BUT independent travel in China/Myanmar is not going to be as easy as entering Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia for now

[silverhawk_usa]

Congratulations, NueTravelling, on finding a source and completing this trip. You have supplied some good information. I assume you are continuing you travels onward from India. What about those that would want to return to Thailand from India?

Also, you mention the need for a Carnet. Thailand does not participate in the Carnet program for vehicles (not required to enter Thailand or Myanmar) and it is my understanding one cannot easily obtain a Carnet for a Thai vehicle. Was this necessary for only for India?

As mentioned in post #15, Here are my current reports on motorcycle travel into Myanmar and an old report on traveling by car from Tachilek.

http://daveearly.com/category/burma-myanmar/

Edit: Carnet question added.

Edited October 26, 2014 by silverhawk_usa

[nuetravelling]

@silverhawk_usa:

For the other way it would be the same. You can contact the same Burmese tour operators. They offer both directions, of course! One last time the three licensed tour operators offering guided car convois we found are:

- Tin Maung Shwe from brightviewtravel.com

- Tar Aye from burmasenses.com

- Mutu Suresh from myanmarexperttours.com

There certainly will be more who can offer such tours but the three mentioned above already have experience with this kind of trips and especially Mutu knows a lot about the country. As long as it basically is alowed to visited a certain area in Myanmar, he can bring you there!

phuketrichard is right: as long as you pay the money and start planning far in advance it actually is not difficult (anymore).

About the Carnet: Thailand does stamp Carnets! All of the countries we have been to so far did stamp it! With an Australien registered car with already travelled to Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and now India. They all stamp Carnets! And it is even written on the back site of the Carnet that all of these countries participate in this program. I can only strongly recommened you to always get your Carnet stamped at the customs at every border! This also safes you from stupid questions in case you 'skip' getting an "enter stamp" for certain a country and then once exiting the same customs want to stamp your Carnet and you don't have the "enter stamp". I remember when getting to Indonesia (border between Timor-Leste and West Timor (Indonesia) we had to explain the customs officer who to stamp the Carnet. And finally it is no matter of money anyway stamping a country more than necessary. There are plenty of stamp pages available anyway! And first of all: the Carnet is to safe you from paying custom fees / tax when bringing a foreign registered car to a certain country and is the evidence form for a TEMPORARY import. Not stamping the Carnet would basically entitle customs to charge your import tax (custom tax) which - depending on the value of the car - may be expensive. The Carnet document can be seen as "passport for your car". If you do not have a stamp in your passport, you are in trouble. If a stamp in your Carnet is missing, your "car is in trouble"!

I don't know about cars registered in Thailand. But if they do not issue Carnets at all, you may only travel to several neighbouring countries which allow cars without Carnet.

We will continue our travel to Europe once we got our Pakistan visa. Iran visa already in the passport.

[silverhawk_usa]

Thank you, Nue.

I know Thailand will stamp your Carnet, but they do not require one, nor do they issue them. i also understand most countries will stamp them. My question is, did India require a Carnet or just issue your stamp? Thanks, and enjoy the rest of your trip.

[phuketrichard]

have a great trip!!!!!

Iran visa already in the passport.

guess ur not American

I made 3 trips from Europe overland to Kathmandu and back and than back to KTM in the mid 70's

fantastic!!

[silverhawk_usa]

For those that may be interested; according to websites I visited, a Carnet de passage is required for India. This link has useful information on obtaining a Carnet. Also, you can google and get a list of countries who require one or not.

http://www.go-overland.com/indy/articles/carnet.php

Edited October 30, 2014 by silverhawk_usa

[fullcave]

Congratulations to FlatulantFrog for driving in and out of Malaysia and Laos, I have driven in and out of both countries and they are very different, suprisingly they are very different on both the Thai and other sides of the borders as there is much more paperwork needed to leave Thailand via Laos than leaving Thailand via Malaysia.

The comment made by edwinchester is normally only an issue if you turn up at the Burma (aka Myanmar) border without a pre-arranged visa, and under those circumstances you perhaps cannot leave the town of Irrawady, however I'm quite sure that restriction does not nesseseraly apply if you arrive with a suitable visa issued in Bangkok at the Myanmar Consulate.

This is different when you go to Tachiliek as Shan State issue a temporary (14 day) pass and hold on to your passport IF you don't have a visa already, it's easy enough to drive on up to the Chinese border but you cannot cross into China unless you have your passport (which means you needed a Visa for Myanmar in advance) and of course a Chinese Visa, though you probably still won't be allowed into China with a car, I say probably because it really dependes on who is on duty that day at the border and which way the wind is blowing, ie it's hit and miss at best. Your best bet is to keep smiling, tell the border guard how hansome he is, and be driving a Mercedes Benz !

In any event check the following, this is my quick guide to passing international borders in a car.

1/ The car should be in your name, and you should have the blue book (in your name). Whilst letters of authority MAY be acceptable, it's a easy reason to be refused.

2/ Though technically not required for countries other than Laos (where it's madatory) you should have a International Travel Document (car passport) issued at the Land Transport Office, you CANNOT get this if the car is on finance. It acts as a translation from the Thai and looks all very official and proper

3/ Arrive at the border early, my experience is that tricky borders are easier very early in the morning and I have passed through a border in Vietnam early that is reputed to be difficult/impossible and I'm sure it's because the border staff are half asleep!

4/ Expect a long wait and a lot of paperwork, if you are lucky they can't be bothered they will just wave you past, that's more likely if you arrive early.

5/ Keep smiling, and act like it's something you do all the time.

6/ Carry some packs of cigarettes to smooth the path when dealing with officials, and a small bottle of whiskey can work miracles if you really need it.

7. Be in a Mercedes Benz wherever possible

Maps can be difficult in Burma, you can buy photocopied road maps at the border sometimes but it's probably best to print some pages from Google Earth before you go. You will need to have a guide with you and hopefully he will know the way. If you travel on the Bus or by Taxi you don't need a guide, travelling by car you need an approved (licenced) guide and that will cost you about 1000 baht per day.

I'd be in interested to hear the "personal" expericences of others in Burma with a car, not so intereted in the opinions of armchair travellers who tho think they know it all !!

Not sure what you mean in #2 of your list about Laos. Never needed such documents when taking vehicle into Laos.Only regerstation card or papers were needed.All other entry doc's where always supplied on Laos side. Have done so 4 times and it was extremly easy.

All your other points are spot on.

I have taken my motorcycle into Burma two times,Shan State.Mind you I did this illegally north of Pai with some Thai Special Forces friends of mine. Toured a couple of rebel regions in the mountains the Thai have been training for years.Very beautiful country and the people there really impressed me. Hoping the country will open in the next year or two for foriegners to bring their vehicles in to travel more of the country than just the out skirts of the boarder towns.

I would disagree as I travel to laos every other month they always ask for the car passport which is a small purple book availible at the dmv for about .50 THB and only takes about 15-20 minutes. Well worth the effort as without it you won’t be taking a Thai registered vehicle over the bridge.

[stickylies]

I have driven my own vehicle into Myanmar twice legally, via Tachileik. That appears to be the only legal land crossing for private vehicles.

I think it might be possible to bring a car to Kawthoung, opposite Ranong province, as well, if you can find a way to ferry the vehicle.

nope. kawthoung is impossible atm. immigration is very strict in upcountry travels (no matter how you wish to move on, by car, by bike, by bus, by foot, whatever). 20 miles out of town you will be returned [unless you obtained a permit]. some backpackers claim they managed to do it on a bike but i'm not sure that is actually true. oddly though, the other way, let's say from myeik to kawthoung by bus is doable but if you get off and stay for the night in any of the southern towns (which have a "hotel"), you will get questions (and instructions such as don't leave town borders) from immigration and intelligence.

technically thai can enter at tachileik (up to mongla), 3 pagodas (around town only but i'm pretty sure this will change soon as the situation is pretty stable with the NMSP), htee kee (up to dawei area), myawaddy (up to moulmein area, has recently been impossible due to DKBA toll-gate issues) and singkhon (up to myeik). it's pretty easy for thai to get the paperwork done, most thai do these trips for budhist purposes AKA wat-hopping.

op can PM me for more infos. however there's a lot of pain in the *ss involved driving a car in burma.

it goes without saying farang need visas too in advance except for mong la where a permit can be obtained in tachileik, unless they changed this [again] recently.

i'm very often in the south of the country [for many many years] and the road between myeik and dawei (and then up to ye, moulmein, aso) is getting substantially improved BUT it's still nothing compared to Thai "highways" ... road between myeik and kawthough is still a disaster

Edited August 22, 2015 by stickylies

[stickylies]

Maps can be difficult in Burma, you can buy photocopied road maps at the border sometimes but it's probably best to print some pages from Google Earth before you go.

not anymore. there is a Thai map-maker that has a good map for Burma, at least for all (obvious) roads accessable. i don't have access to it now as i'm not at home but most Thai book shops sell it. the map even has detailed maps of border town/crossing such as Myawaddy... the language is Thai and English.

[phuketrichard]

....the other way, let's say from myeik to kawthoung by bus is doable..........road between myeik and kawthough is still a disaster

I thought this part of the journey HAD to be done by BOAT, am Planning on doing this from Yangon with a combination of trains, Bus's and Boat

and exiting back to Thailand at Kwathoung

I have the Globetrotter map of Myanmar

[stickylies]

....the other way, let's say from myeik to kawthoung by bus is doable..........road between myeik and kawthough is still a disaster

I thought this part of the journey HAD to be done by BOAT, am Planning on doing this from Yangon with a combination of trains, Bus's and Boat

and exiting back to Thailand at Kwathoung

I have the Globetrotter map of Myanmar

nope. i've done it twice this year (once by motorbike) but again, it's burma: immigration guys are the boss not you...

keep in mind that a bus a from myeik to kawthoung takes up to 20 hours... a boat much less.

[phuketrichard]

any special permission needed?

can u do it in sections?

seems like a good alternative ( at least up until the monsoons end)

[stickylies]

depends on what u wanna do. just sitting on a bus between myeik and kawthoung doesn't require a permit. just big balls and sense for adventure.

i had permission + official escort for 1 stretch of my trip...

[phuketrichard]

ahhh, so same like many areas "off limits" in Myanmar if u have money u can go.

Next time would be nice if you say that at the start.

so its not as easy as traveling between Mandalay and Bagan

[stickylies]

no money changed hands. rest see pm.