Motorbike riding in Myanmar - any experiences?

[SeaVisionBurma]

I'm aware of some people who have been doing some interesting motorcycle rides around Myanmar.

I did a great trip late last year with a friend who wanted to see the coastal areas around Ngwe Saung and Chaungtha

(see trip report here - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/592850-ngwe-saung-beach-myanmar-trip-report/)

Anyone else want to share some info on their rides in Myanmar?

Photos and links welcome - lets see what interesting places everyone has been (or wants to go to)

SVB

[mingalaba]

Riding Motorbikes in Myanmar

I have shared some of the experiences I have made while riding motorbikes in Myanmar there.

I have been riding in the Mandalay area, in Ngwe Saung Beach, Kachin-State (Myitkyina area, Bhamo, Mogaung, Myitsome) and Northern Shan State (Pyin Oo Lwin-> Kyaukme)

This is the bike I am riding in Myitkyina. Yamaha FZ-S. Before I had a Chinese Pinbo 125 which cost about 325.000 Kyats and broke down all the time. Having a wife that isn´t aware of a motorbike engine dying when not having enough engine oil doesn´t help !!

Anyways I love riding motorbikes in Myanmar...I have always been lucky, I have rode thousands of kilometers without a single crash.

It´s also a lot of fun to escape from police officers chasing you for driving without a helmet. Makes you feel like James Bond !

[phazey]

Be responsible, set an example, and wear a helmet! </rant>

But I did own a 1947 BSA during the late 1990's there. I was later taken to a garage that had original grease wrapped parts - i mean like gear boxes down to the component level. If anyone is looking for a classic motorcycle, this is the place to go. The garage in question would build a bike to order and ready to ship off - Maybe these can now be used in the local market.....This is partly why I believed the spitfire story so much.

[mingalaba]

Be responsible, set an example, and wear a helmet! </rant>

But I did own a 1947 BSA during the late 1990's there. I was later taken to a garage that had original grease wrapped parts - i mean like gear boxes down to the component level. If anyone is looking for a classic motorcycle, this is the place to go. The garage in question would build a bike to order and ready to ship off - Maybe these can now be used in the local market.....This is partly why I believed the spitfire story so much.

Haha.. I wear helmets now. Most of the time anyways

[RigPig]

So, I understand there are restrictions with riding within Myanmar, but can I take my Harley from Thailand and do a trip for a month? If so does anyone know what is entailed?

This is something that I have wanted to do for some time but have understood it is not possible. Hasvthe country ¨matured¨ enough yet?

Thanks in advance...........

[silverhawk_usa]

In December of 2012 the first group of bikes in decades was allowed to cross the border into Myanmar. In January 2013, I was part of the third group to be allowed in. A few others have also been in since. It can be done, but it takes alot of red tape.

We crossed the border at Mae Sot into Myawaddi. Then it is a steep and difficult dirt and rock road over the mountains for approximately 50kms. In fact it is so narrow and congested with border traffic that you are allowed travel one way on even days of the week and the other way on odd numbered days. I can't imagine doing that road on a Harley, but we had two BMWs with us (one fell down) and some other 'road bikes' have made the trip since.

Here are two links that will help you out GT Rider guys in Burma , this has the contact information, near the end of the post, of the agency in Myanmar which helped to make it possible.

Here are the photos and the full trip report. Six Days in Myanmar.

Also, 'Google'. A couple of very large groups have made the trip from Malaysia.

I have also been able to cross into Vietnam with my bike, but the paperwork was even more involved than Burma.

I suggest that if you are not familiar with traveling by motorcycle in SE Asia, Thailand and Laos would be the most enjoyable locations to try first.

Good Luck.

[stickylies]

i drove (accessable) parts of karen state and mon state 3 years ago. i was constantly harrassed by police and immigration at numerous checkpoints. sent back, constant handing out copies of passport and visas, etc. at one point i had to leave town (Ye) and head back to thanbyuzayat (they told me it was forbidden to come to Ye as foreigner). bike broke down too and was repaired free of charge by local karen kid. (it was a fake china-made honda wave kinda thing). i drove western coast 2 years ago very similar to your trip. next time i'm heading to myanmar i'd liek to do chin state but 95% of the places i wanna go are still offlimits thanx to the fascist army still ruling the country.

[stickylies]

btw there is a farang in mandalay who rents out bikes. maybe mingalaba rented his bike there. driving kachin state and shan state sounds awesome, and i mean being allowed to really travel, not just going from place A to B and then being forced to head back to place A. anyway, never received permit to do so, tried several times. been in the areas 15x in last 5 years and know many people (tachileik, muse, lashio, laiza) living there. all great folks with a remarkable life. funny thing to mention was that a high-ranked immigration officer, i must say very friendly chap too, who forbid me to continue to lashio (coming from hsipaw) last year (blatantly) told me that i was unlucky not being chinese. if i were chinese i could go wherever i wanted (no matter that there was a war going on)... which summarizes the situation in kachin state (and myanmar in general). chinese rule the place, even in tenasserim region, >2000 km away from china border.

[mingalaba]

btw there is a farang in mandalay who rents out bikes. maybe mingalaba rented his bike there. driving kachin state and shan state sounds awesome, and i mean being allowed to really travel, not just going from place A to B and then being forced to head back to place A. anyway, never received permit to do so, tried several times. been in the areas 15x in last 5 years and know many people (tachileik, muse, lashio, laiza) living there. all great folks with a remarkable life. funny thing to mention was that a high-ranked immigration officer, i must say very friendly chap too, who forbid me to continue to lashio (coming from hsipaw) last year (blatantly) told me that i was unlucky not being chinese. if i were chinese i could go wherever i wanted (no matter that there was a war going on)... which summarizes the situation in kachin state (and myanmar in general). chinese rule the place, even in tenasserim region, >2000 km away from china border.

No I have my own bike in Myanmar but I know the person you are talking about. His name is Zach and his services are really good. He is the best option to borrow a motorbike when you are in Mandalay.

It´s odd that you have been stopped when going to Lashio. The highway from Mandalay to Lashio is not restricted and the road from Lashio to Muse has been recently opened too.

[stickylies]

btw there is a farang in mandalay who rents out bikes. maybe mingalaba rented his bike there. driving kachin state and shan state sounds awesome, and i mean being allowed to really travel, not just going from place A to B and then being forced to head back to place A. anyway, never received permit to do so, tried several times. been in the areas 15x in last 5 years and know many people (tachileik, muse, lashio, laiza) living there. all great folks with a remarkable life. funny thing to mention was that a high-ranked immigration officer, i must say very friendly chap too, who forbid me to continue to lashio (coming from hsipaw) last year (blatantly) told me that i was unlucky not being chinese. if i were chinese i could go wherever i wanted (no matter that there was a war going on)... which summarizes the situation in kachin state (and myanmar in general). chinese rule the place, even in tenasserim region, >2000 km away from china border.

No I have my own bike in Myanmar but I know the person you are talking about. His name is Zach and his services are really good. He is the best option to borrow a motorbike when you are in Mandalay.

It´s odd that you have been stopped when going to Lashio. The highway from Mandalay to Lashio is not restricted and the road from Lashio to Muse has been recently opened too.

jup zach it is.

ok thx for the info. will go back soonish and try to do mandalay - lashio - muse. when u say road is open do u mean "open as in open for all", or "open as in open when u have permit from mtt and guide" ? technically it's possible to get nearly everywhere nowadays with a guide. never used a MTT-guide sofar but was offered one several years ago to travel overland from yangon to tanintharyi (the town that is), a trip commonly considered as impossible for foreigners.

do you know what the situation is getting from mandalay to bhamo? things change all the time in myanmar.

[mingalaba]

No with open I mean really open...No need for permits. But you should check with Zach about that, as far as I know he is planning to go to Muse too so he might have some info for you.

[mingalaba]

Regarding Mandalay to Bhamo:

The only way is to take a flight...Myitkyina to Bhamo is closed due to the recent conflict and reaching Bhamo from the south should be very difficult.

I am not sure if there are ships from Mandalay to Bhamo...There probably are but I dont know if they are licenced for foreigners. Roads connecting Bhamo to the south are not open either...

A possible way might be to go by train to Naba, then from there to Katha. And then by boat to Bhamo.

[stickylies]

^^ as expected and fully understood.

[RigPig]

In December of 2012 the first group of bikes in decades was allowed to cross the border into Myanmar. In January 2013, I was part of the third group to be allowed in. A few others have also been in since. It can be done, but it takes alot of red tape.

We crossed the border at Mae Sot into Myawaddi. Then it is a steep and difficult dirt and rock road over the mountains for approximately 50kms. In fact it is so narrow and congested with border traffic that you are allowed travel one way on even days of the week and the other way on odd numbered days. I can't imagine doing that road on a Harley, but we had two BMWs with us (one fell down) and some other 'road bikes' have made the trip since.

Here are two links that will help you out GT Rider guys in Burma , this has the contact information, near the end of the post, of the agency in Myanmar which helped to make it possible.

Here are the photos and the full trip report. Six Days in Myanmar.

Also, 'Google'. A couple of very large groups have made the trip from Malaysia.

I have also been able to cross into Vietnam with my bike, but the paperwork was even more involved than Burma.

I suggest that if you are not familiar with traveling by motorcycle in SE Asia, Thailand and Laos would be the most enjoyable locations to try first.

Good Luck.

Thanks guys for all the info.

The bottom line is Myanmar is STILL a police state and not open for foreigners to travel freely!

It´s a shame, I guess I´ll just keep waiting and hoping............

[mingalaba]

In December of 2012 the first group of bikes in decades was allowed to cross the border into Myanmar. In January 2013, I was part of the third group to be allowed in. A few others have also been in since. It can be done, but it takes alot of red tape.

We crossed the border at Mae Sot into Myawaddi. Then it is a steep and difficult dirt and rock road over the mountains for approximately 50kms. In fact it is so narrow and congested with border traffic that you are allowed travel one way on even days of the week and the other way on odd numbered days. I can't imagine doing that road on a Harley, but we had two BMWs with us (one fell down) and some other 'road bikes' have made the trip since.

Here are two links that will help you out GT Rider guys in Burma , this has the contact information, near the end of the post, of the agency in Myanmar which helped to make it possible.

Here are the photos and the full trip report. Six Days in Myanmar.

Also, 'Google'. A couple of very large groups have made the trip from Malaysia.

I have also been able to cross into Vietnam with my bike, but the paperwork was even more involved than Burma.

I suggest that if you are not familiar with traveling by motorcycle in SE Asia, Thailand and Laos would be the most enjoyable locations to try first.

Good Luck.

Thanks guys for all the info.

The bottom line is Myanmar is STILL a police state and not open for foreigners to travel freely!

It´s a shame, I guess I´ll just keep waiting and hoping............

Parts of it yes... But you can travel to parts in which foreigners are allowed to travel freely and have a good time without being hassled by the police. Just wear a helmet and have a licensed motorbike and you are good to go. The only real issues arise when trying to cross the border or going to areas that are off-limits. Instead of the police I would be more worried about things like bad road conditions, difficult traffic, bad health care, etc

[boomerangutang]

North of the border town of Tachilek (across from Thailand's Mae Sai), in Shan State, I zipped around Cheng Tung town on a rented motorbike. Each day, I picked a different direction, N W E S, and at the town's perimeters there were guardposts, but they didn't do more than look at me oddly, and wave me on. That was 6 or so years ago. Now, it's required to have a gov-approved Bt.1,000/day guide to go north of Tachilek, but a little mouse told me that dumb restriction will be dropped in a matter of months. I hesitate to mention where I rented the motorbike from, because it may get the place in trouble. Burma's top tamales are still led by superstition and paranoia. The purported reason for restricting farang travel to Shan State is "it's dangerous for farang" - but I doubt it's dangerous - certainly not for those of us who just want to spin around looking at hills and valleys.

[stickylies]

@ mingalaba: i don't agree. in 2012 (PRE-religious violence from June) I traveled the rakhine yoma coming from sittwe and although the area is so-called open, there's hassle all the time ("why are u here, what will u do, when do u leave, who will u leave with, where will u sleep", etc). if you leave the big 4 (bagan, mandalay, inle, yangon) there's still plenty of fascist behaviour BECAUSE bamar authorities mistrust foreigners, period. it's in their mindset after decades of totalitarian brainwashing. i've met a chin immigration officer (stationed in rakhine state) who told me it's a real shame "the government" doesn't allow foreigners in his area. He didn't agree at all and only served "his country" (obeying orders) to make a buck which he sent to his family. My experience (been there very often since mid 90s): 70% of myanmar is still no-go. Some places open-up and other places close (eg. Tachileik, Kentung, Mong La, once easy to get now permit only, and NO permit needed for thai who can just drive up there with their own car since this year).

Late 2012 I visited a village in southern mon state where the village chief was really upset since he thought he would get into trouble having a foreigner there. The list of similar incidents is endless. Maybe something substantial has changed in recent months (last visit was December 2012) u tell me.

[stickylies]

@ boomerang

indeed the junta's classic excuse: "it's dangerous" which means they (bamar) do not have FULL control over the area and can therefore not garantee our safety. nothing more nothing less.

i do think some areas in shan state are indeed very dangerous but common sense keeps seasoned travellers out of these places. remote areas in golden triangle of laos are dangerous too. some border areas in thailand are dangerous too if u're unlucky to meet the wrong people.

ps. as i mentioned already. most of these dangerous/restricted areas SUDDENLY become accessable if you take a guide and PAY. bamar want 1/ money 2/ control. nothing more nothing less.

[Tomtomtom69]

@ boomerang

indeed the junta's classic excuse: "it's dangerous" which means they (bamar) do not have FULL control over the area and can therefore not garantee our safety. nothing more nothing less.

i do think some areas in shan state are indeed very dangerous but common sense keeps seasoned travellers out of these places. remote areas in golden triangle of laos are dangerous too. some border areas in thailand are dangerous too if u're unlucky to meet the wrong people.

ps. as i mentioned already. most of these dangerous/restricted areas SUDDENLY become accessable if you take a guide and PAY. bamar want 1/ money 2/ control. nothing more nothing less.

Everything is about to change as they open full overland access to Myanmar via three border crossings, including Mae Sai to Tachilek to foreigners holding valid visas this month - this will mean the end of the permit system in Shan state.

Regarding bringing THai cars across, I believe they may be permitted to drive as far as Kengtung and maybe Mongla, but certainly not Mandalay via Taunggyi, except with special permission. In practice such groups usually enter at Mae Sot and proceed that way though.

[stickylies]

thai cars can indeed go up to kentung and mongla. not further. my neighbour did that last month.

and basically the thai still consider that area as... thai.

there is also a substantial buddhist pelgrimmage in the area (visiting wats).

[TomVan]

Hey guys, any updates on this topic?

I know things are changing and perhaps changing fast in the border towns with Thailand. Me and a friend want to cross the border soon and rent bikes, basically anywhere they're available. Any recommendations?

[Tomtomtom69]

Hey guys, any updates on this topic?

I know things are changing and perhaps changing fast in the border towns with Thailand. Me and a friend want to cross the border soon and rent bikes, basically anywhere they're available. Any recommendations?

I rented a small motorbike and drove myself in the border town of Myawady in November 2013. You could drive a bike over the Dawna pass to Hpa-an and beyond however the bike I got was in such dodgy condition I don't think that would have been a good idea. You can also rent bikes all over the place and ride around locally.