Riding a Chinese bike into Vietnam

[bluppfisk]

Felix and I were going to do this, but the import hassle and time lost riding to Vietnam wasn't worth it. We rented bikes in Vietnam instead. Much easier, and turned out to be better in the long run because the bikes took a massive beating.

Cheers

Haha good point. Just not as cool as riding your own that you trust. Did you ever learn what the import hassle entails and whether, as bikedoctor suggests, you have to let a third party do it for you?

[bikerdoc]

OP have you thought about riding from Yunnan into Loas and/or Thailand? Northern Thailand is great for MCing IMHO. Both countries are doable on PRC plated MC's. I have been riding in Northern Thailand the past 6 weeks having ridden down and across from Ningbo (3900km in 48 hours with 1 hours sleep just to get to Kunming). By day 3 and some 4900km later I was at the Laos-PRC border, crossing over the Chiang Khong bridge. Yes, MC's can cross the bridge but one has to pay CNY100 (500BHT) for the privilege and then be escorted across. Car drivers only pay CNY20 (200BHT) and drive across unescorted. However it beats having to put the MC on the old ferry at the old crossing point 10km away and then the rider still has to go back and cross on the new Chiang Khong bridge paying and using a shuttle bus (meaning the rider and bike are separated - as rider is not allowed on the ferry any longer - so bike travels unaccompanied).

This is my second Xmas New Year in Northern Thailand having come over from China. The riding, people, attitudes, etiquette, availability of stopping for food/drinks/beverages at every turn, along with a more genuine engagement with the local population... makes riding in Thailand a much more worthwhile and engaging experience IMO and beats PRC hands down. That and the observation that Thais driving skills and behaviour is far superior to that of PRC drivers and riders IMHO.

YMMV

[ChinaV]

(3900km in 48 hours with 1 hours sleep just to get to Kunming). By day 3 and some 4900km later I was at the Laos-PRC border,

That's fucking insane

3900 km in 48 hrs = 81.25 kmh moving speed. That means you were doing well over 100kmh almost every minute you were on the road. I'm guessing you got on the gāosù?

Cheers!

[prince666]

I said the same to the Doc when I met him at the border town of Chiang Khong and yes ChinaV he did use the Expressways all the way down apart I think for the first 300 km out of Ningbo when the Doc needed to find a appropriate on to the expressways !! mad and insane
riding by the Doc but kudos to him

[bikerdoc]

That's fucking insane

3900 km in 48 hrs = 81.25 kmh moving speed. That means you were doing well over 100kmh almost every minute you were on the road. I'm guessing you got on the gāosù?

Cheers!

Agree totally. I rode the first 5 hours or thereabouts from Beilun - Tonglu via Shengzhou & Yiwu. My rational was simple, I wanted to get onto the Expressway via an on-ramp that had as short an entry to the actual toll booths as possible, thereby minimising any intervention by the authorities. The strategy worked. Once on the Expressway I wanted to stay on for as long a distance as possible, hence the non-stop approach. I figured if I could ride for as long as possible before any intervention and likely removal, I'd then look for a hotel if and when that might have occurred. It didn't so I rode and rode, stopping only for fuel. I took 6 packs of meals that come with everything needed to prepare a hot meal on the go. The container, contents include rice in a plastic container, under which there is a packet that has some type of powder substance with a semi-permeable membrane, a bag containing water, a foil packet containing minced type meat with veggie's. Prep everything onto the bed of rice, empty water onto the white packet containing substance, place smaller rice container with meat etc on top and cover with lid. The water and white substance react causing the water to boll. Hot meal done.

I was able to remain on the Expressway all the way until Kunming. I avoided service centres on the Expressways and chose quieter locations with petrol stations that had easy entry/exit from the Expressway to minimise any detection. Meaning I did not ride through the Service Areas and avoided the restaurants etc., where possible.

I was fortunate to not have any significant hurdles at provincial border toll stations. Only one police officer attempted to stop me as I rode through one set of provincial tolls, on the other side through the road cone choke point. Strategy = head down, arse up, (throttle, throttle, throttle) and stay out off the radar as much as possible. I attempted to sleep sat on the bike seat a couple of times in the early hours at or near two petrol stations, but my really sore numb bum didn't allow that to really happen for more than half an hour.

I'd not posted about my ride, simply because there wasn't much to share, no photos, no real hassles, and only half a dozen or more crashes, where roll overs seemed the order of the night or early morning. I did get some surprised looks from the Police in attendance at those crash scenes as I rode my GS past though aside from being on a motorcycle - I was wearing a high-viz yellow jerkin too, which made them all the more surprised I'd guess.

[ChinaV]

Did you ever learn what the import hassle entails and whether, as bikedoctor suggests, you have to let a third party do it for you?

Yes, we made all the arrangements and it was going to cost us somewhere between 500~1000 USD if I remember right for 18 days.

The reasons we didn't use our bikes:

#1 Not much parts support for Chinese bikes in Vietnam.
#2 We would have used a lot of valuable vacation time getting to Vietnam.
#3 The cost of the permits and paperwork was almost the cost of the rental bikes. We started with new tires, chains, sprockets, and brakes. All had to be replaced at the end of our trip.
#4 Honda XR250's were better bikes than Chinese 250's.
#5 The "fixer" told us we had to give a pretty detailed itinerary and stick to it, including hotels etc. We wanted more freedom and using rentals allowed us to change our plans.

If you want to rent, go to Flamingo Travel . Don't waste your time with Minsks or scooters, get an XR.

If you are really serious and have the money for a fixer, I can put you in touch with "the guy". GRF_Hans connected us and he was very professional.

It took us 17 days to cover the country and the rental guy said he had never seen two people cover so much mileage in such a short time.



Cheers!