The Golden Triangle Rider

[Bush Pilot]

Has anyone heard?

Seems like the home auto club is the guarantor. I don't think Thailand qualifies.
Does this mean my globetrotting on my Thai plated bike ain't gonna happen?

[Davidfl]

Probably. There must be a way around the problem as you do get Thais driving overseas in the cars, but I don't know how they get around the Carnet issue.
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Davidfl
Keep The Power On

[Bush Pilot]

[pexa]

Hi, Ive just finished a tour from Finland to Australia, 6 months, 15 countries and about 34.000kms altogether.

Didnt go to Singapore (but went to Johor Bahru, which is just next to it) and Im not sure, if they will require a carnet. My friend said it is a bit of a pain to get your bike in, but at least Malaysian and Singaporean bikes and cars cross there all the time. Unless I was going to freight my bike from Singapore, I wouldnt bother taking my bike in, but rather leave it in Johor Bahru, and go there by bus, theyve got excellent public traffic system.

Indonesia will require a carnet, and before you ship there, DO try to find out about the situation in different ports of entry as best as you can. We went from Penang, Malaysia to Belawan, Sumatra, in the beginning of February. I understood that this was actually the only port of entry in Indonesia that your not likely to have big problems with the bike.

Later heard about several travellers, who had their bikes more or less permanently stuck in Dumai port, Surabaya port and Jakarta airport. The customs demanded ridiculous things from them, even if they had all the papers, including CPD. Contact Cakra Shipping in Penang, they can get your bike to Belawan on a small cargo boat, and you need to then take a fast boat yourself (cannot go with the cargo boat).

In Indonesia you should be able to island-hop all the way to Timor, from where theres a Perkins cargo ship to Darwin. We were planning to do that, but then several factors turned against us, so we decided we must freight from Bali. We freighted by Qantas to Perth, which was very expensive, nearly 2000 usd altogether. You could also send by ship from Surabaya, much cheaper, but that will take some 3-4 weeks to get to Oz.

There may be also something like smaller airplanes or cargo boats going from Kupang or Dili, but getting accurate info about these from far away seemed almost impossible. You´ll need plenty of time to go to Timor, I would say 2 months from North Sumatra, because Indonesia is very slow to travel, and theres plenty to see.

Australian quarantine inspections are also quite tough, you need to clean your bike "clean as new" before freighting. Australian customs stamped our carnet no problem, so I dont really know what the procedure is, if you dont have one. You will surely have problems getting into Indonesia without carnet, though.
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[Bush Pilot]

The carnet thing is a bit of a nuisance. I think Australia won't be a problem as they seem to have a system in place allowing for temporary vehicle importation if the request is made well in advance.
Indonesia I'd try to follow Robert's footsteps in Belawan. He managed to bring his AT in without a carnet.
Thanks for the tip about cleaning the bike before going into oz.

[pexa]

I´ve also read Roberts excellent trip report from Sumatra. Do note that he had big problems bringing his bike into Indonesia, and I actually think he was very lucky to succeed at all without a carnet. What I heard during our trip makes me think we were lucky to get our bike in WITH a carnet!!

So good luck to you, if you decide to give it a go, and I would only consider using the Cakra Shipping cargo boat from Penang. All other options seem to get you into trouble, once you get to Indonesia. Especially Dumai seems to be a place to avoid. But things change rapidly in that country, so it may already be different.

You can find information about Australian quarantine inspection from their website:
http://www.daffa.gov.au/aqis

You need to book a time for them to come and inspect your cargo, before you can get it out of the port or airport. In Perth airport, the AQIS was located right next to customs, and we actually managed to get the thing inspected the same day without booking, but another traveller, who shipped to Darwin, had to wait a couple of days. The inspection cost about 120 AUD.

You will also need a compulsory 3rd party traffic insurance for Australia (one that covers if you injure someone, but not if you damage other vehicles or property)......... and no-one at the airport knew nothing about this, so we actually rode a couple of days in Perth without one - not a good idea at all, if the police stops you!

You need to contact the Department of Infrastructure and Planning (sorry, I dont have the phone number anymore, but you´ll find it in their Yellow Pages) and by credit card you can get a 48 hour temporary insurance right away, which allows you to ride to an Inspection Centre, where they will once again check the vehicle, this time its a roadworthiness test (any modern roadbike, which has lights and indicators will probably pass it) and after that, you can get the compulsory insurance. Altogether (test+insurance) I think it cost around 150 AUD.

BTW, they said its called a "Carnet insurance", so make sure you really can bring your vehicle in without one, and get it insured there.

We had a huge rise in fuel consumption in Australia (1,5 or even 2 litres more per 100km!), before we realised that we must fill with the best Premium gasoline that we can find. Strangely, it was the only country in the whole trip that we noticed this...... but maybe fuel was so cheap all around Asia, that it simply went unnoticed. In Australia, riding speeds were also higher than in many other countries. Try not to ride in the dark or during sunrise/sunset at all, as there are lots of kangaroos, wombats etc, and thats when they will be moving around.
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[David]

Isn't there a time limit on how long a Thai bike can be out of the country??
30 days I believe, then Customs issues become a large concern.

[beddhist]

What is the concern about taking a bike out for longer? If I don't bring it back I don't think they can do anything about it.

However, I'm also out for a Thai carnet, if such an animal exists. The reason is that somebody wants to continue my trip from here with me. We are now looking to buy a bike and for Indo will need a carnet.

I have heard that it is possible to buy bikes in Cambodia and get a carnet for them there. Can anybody shed some light on that, please?
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Stopped in Mae Sot on the road home to NZ: http://beddhist.googlepages.com

[Lightemup]

Would also be very interested, since I plan to do quite a drive, which would last more than 1 month, for sure.

If planning a trip, go here for a visual of what countries require the Carnet.
http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/view/SIk76IsOtha6qKV5ABlNI2-

[Davidfl]

[LivinLOS]

I have been told the ATA carnet can be used to bring even CARS (!!) into Thailand.. I was always told this was nigh on impossible but someone shot me down and claimed to have done it himself with an ATA carnet (which seems a bit different than the regular Carnet). I dont know if an ATA carnet gets issued on anything.. I had some links I will try to find.

My brother has a house on Bali.. And he wants us to do the Thailand to Bali and back ride with a month stop off on bali.. In fact hes even talking about doing the full Timor run (we have done lombok on rental scooters we smuggled out of Bali with no papers for 10 USD bribe to the customs guy, was fun and pretty easy) but theres many factors that may or may not make that happen. The Bali leg doesn't sound to tough once you get the Malay / Indo crossing done.

So any links, info, or places to chase info on the Thai leaving papers and the Indo arrival / transit papers would be great. We would use Thai plated bikes.

[SilverhawkUSA]

Thai Customs are getting fairly astute with their computers. The last time I went to leave Thailand at Chiang Kong for Laos, they told me I had a problem. It seems when I went out last year they had no record of my return with the DR650. I had also been out and in with a different bike.

I always make copies of my paperwork and showed them I checked out of Laos, and my passport entry stamps into Thailand. A little searching and a couple phone calls by them showed it was likely their error and they let me go.

I also have a tried a number of times to get a definitive answer about a carnet for a Thai bike and have not had any luck in finding someone who actually knows.
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Dave Early

Ever notice that "What the Heck!" is usually the right answer?

[LivinLOS]

https://www.atacarnet.com/CountriesandTerritoriesAcceptingATACarnets.aspx

This is what someone tells me they used to do a temporary import of a car via malay border..

You cant get cars (non malay sing ones) trough that border normally..

I notice indonesia isnt listed on that.

[Davidfl]

[LivinLOS]

Thats exactly what I thought.. And said.. And got shot down

Someone on Thaivisa swears he used an ATA carnet to bring a car into Thailand.. As Thailand accepts the ATA system but not the normal vehicle carnet.

[LivinLOS]

Also for Thailand ATA they list..

THAILAND (TH) Advisory

Board of Trade of Thailand
150/2 Rajbopit Road
Bangkok 10200
Tel: (66-2)622.1111
Fax: (66-2)622.1994 or 622.1991
E-mail: ata@thaiechamber.com or winai@thaiechamber.com

http://www.thaiechamber.com


I would also hazard a guess that 3rd world border guards may not note the fine distinctions between an applicable ATA carnet and a Carnet de Passage.. Its still a merchandise passport with the entry exit forms, and its still going to have 'carnet' branded over it..

As Thailand is not a signatory to the CDP type I would think its going to be tough to got a Carnet de Passage issued here. Have you thought about contacting a home country AA ?? I dont think there is a specific requirement that the CDP is issued from the country where the vehicle is registered.

[beddhist]

[beddhist]

[LivinLOS]

[beddhist]

You mean to say that if, say, a Laotian or a Cambodian wants to drive his/her car across the border into Thailand they have to post a bond at the border?

I wasn't aware that Thai customs make a distinction between cars and bikes, the temp import form talks about 'vehicles', if I remember correctly.
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Stopped in Mae Sot on the road home to NZ: http://beddhist.googlepages.com

[LivinLOS]

No Theres agreements with the local bordering countries.. And in Typical Thai fashion an asian face at the malay border may get an easy slide without a bond.

However if you as a farang turn up at the malay border in a foriegn registered car trying to transit Thailand you need to leave a massive (300%) cash bond or bank guarantee.

Lots of guys would bring UK cars here to Phuket and visa run every 6 months.. I can get a nice range rover for a couple of grand UK, or a SL merc convertible for 5k or so.. Who wouldnt want an SL here for 350k plus some minor shipping ??? Even if I did have to drive to Malaysia twice a year, not such hardship in an S Class Merc or 740 BMW is it ??

Theres a new range rover vogue running around Phuket on Brit plates.. He tried to bring in via malay and was stopped at the border and denied.. He then had it shipped to cambo and some $$$ at the border got it over into Thailand without a bond.

Cars and bikes for temporary import are totally different and there really is no avenue for temp import to Thailand as they dont do the carnet scene hence why the ATA carnet is such new and interesting info to me.

[Davidfl]

LivinLOS
Curious, have you ever driven across a Thai border with your own a vehicle - a car or motorbike?
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Davidfl
Keep The Power On

[LivinLOS]

Done both down at the Malay / Sadao border.. Of course Thai regged..

Not got any experience with Laos / Cambo tho..

[Auke]

Lots of Thai cars entering Laos and Lao cars entering Thailand (mainly for shopping in Thailand an visiting hospitals, etc.) in Nongkhai and I have ever heard that a bond would be required.

I (farang) am driving my truck (Thai plates) every month in to Laos without any problem and only pay about 500 baht for a two week period to keep it in Laos.
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Take the unfamiliar road or trail, you never know what you might find.

[Bush Pilot]

It seems Thailand does belong to the ATA carnet system.
http://www.iccthailand.or.th/about/other_service.php
I'm not sure whether the Royal Thai Automobile club is an ICC member or not.

I'll go up to Bangkok next month an research this a bit. But it seems like if we joined the ICC we could be issued a ATA carnet.

BTW having an ATA carnet for a Thai reg. vehicle is only useful for entering Indonesia, AU, NZ, and Egypt. All the other countries around the world don't request it from what I can tell perusing the HUBB website.

If someone is in Bangkok with some spare time they could make some inquiries with the Royal Thai Auto club and the ICC.