planning to drive this summer from the UK to Thailand.Need some help though...
Hi
This summer me and 3 guys are thinking of driving to thailand from the UK
We were thinking of going through Europe, across turkey, across northern iran and then up through turkmenistan, uzbekistan (so to avoid iraq and pakistan), then drop down to northern india and go across india up and over burma and into thailand. well that's the plan.
However there are a few questions which we havnt been able to find answers to...
1)Firstly would it be possible to drive over and around burma?....seeing that the himalayas are in the way. I havnt been able to find anything on the net though looking on google earth it appears that there is a way if you go through the southern tibet region of china.
2)It appears that I would need to apply for a carnet de passage. Has anyone attempted this or a similar trip before and know how much it would cost if the vehicle cost around £1000
3)Ideally the plan was to sell the car or donate it and fly back home.However this would void our deposit for the carnet de passage. Does anyone know any countries around Thailand where you could leave a car behind without having to pay any import taxes?
4) Realistically how long would you say a trip like this would take?
5) Heard that you can't drive in China with an international driving permit and would need a separate license. Is this true?
6) Does anyone know of any insurance company where you could buy cheap motor insurance for multiple countries?
That about it for now. If you have any suggestions or could recommend certain routes through countries that would be great.
Cheers
Alastair
Reply to this Hello Alastair 😊
I moved this to the Overland Forum.
Mel
Reply to this hi,
i know that in regard to question 1) about burma, the military junta government would probably not be very happy about foreigners driving through their country and even if they are you would need to inform the police where you are staying every night.
and in regard to question 5) yes the chinese government requires you to obtain a licence from them, an IDP is not sufficient.
Reply to this You could try the route the following bus takes. They seem to do this journey frequently....
Oz bus Reply to this Hi Alastair Sounds like great trip, I went through all the way to Australia with www.odysseyoverland.co.uk is possible and an amazing journey, best of luck.
Reply to this hi alastair have you gone to thailand as am thinking of driving my car to thailand and am thinking of doing it by france,belgium,germany,czech republic,poland,unkrane,russia,kazakhstan,chian,laso,thailand,
as two ladys have do it in a tuk tuk and it took them 90+day but they where only doing 150 miles aday
so if you have done it will you let me know if all was ok and what do i need to look out for
many tahnks
andy56
Reply to this Hi,
My husband and I are leaving in July to drive overland from London to New Zealand. We contacted the Burmese embassy but had no reply and it seems that it is not possible to drive through Burma. As it is so expensive to get a permit to go through China, we are going to ship from India to Malaysia as I have read of a couple who did this recently and it was less than £300.
We are planning to take about 9-12 months to get to NZ - we think we could get to Thailand in 3 months but want to spend some time in India so will take longer.
I can't help you with your other questions - we are looking into insurance at the moment but there is good information on www.overlandtooz.com
Good luck with your plans
Andrea
Reply to this Hi Alistair and good luck with your trip. I looked at the same trip last year and found it frought with difficulties Burma (Myramar) will not let you drive through it. China does not recognise the IDL and you need a Chinese license The way to go would be follow the Ozbus route I really hope you do it and look forward to reading your blog. Oh i actually went from Singapore to Blackpool overland last summer but i used public transport all the way and travelled the TransMongolian from Beijing to Moscow i spent four months doing it but i stayed in Malaysia a week Thailand for a month and Cambodia 2 weeks Laos 2 weeks China a month but if i wanted to go direct just jumping from train to bus throughout all the countries i could do it in 21 days providing everything runs smoothly lol once again good luck and keep us posted
Reply to this
In response to: Msg #107382
Hi Andrea,
Did you manage to do this trip? I came from Portugal to India on a motorcycle but I am having problems now to get into Burma. They say they only give Visas for people that travel by air. Where did you get that boat to Malasia? In Kolkata? I'm in Dhaka, Bangladesh at the moment but had to leave the motorcycle at the border as they wouldn't let me in with it either.
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