Burma the missing link of overland travel?

**Shock absorber** · 5th October 2004, 07:41 PM

Hi We made it through Burma recently on an Africa Twin and a Transalp. We went from India to THailand.

Below are some of the admin obstacles that need completing to do it:

Burma, well the first challege you face is getting a special inner line permit from the INDIAN government to exit Burma to India!! There are two very unstable regions in India called Nagaland and Manipur. Check the UN website for current stability report.

Top tip for the Indian permit is APPLY in Calcutta, and you do need to show your marriage cert. (but this may have changed). Donot approach Delhi or a) you may be refused and b) will complicate things in Calcutta and Manipur.

Now to Burma, You will probably get a tourist visa easily. The challenge here is to get the all important ROAD PERMIT. To do this you will need to write a begging letter to the ambassador of Myanmar. You need to explain why you want to do the trip and, that you do NOT have any political objectives.
Once this is in you need to try for a face to face meeting to establish a
personal contact. This will probably be with the second secretary who really is the person who issues such a permit.

IF, you are persistant and REALLY want to get through, you will get a letter giving you permission and it will have the route you MUST follow on it. Here you need to check the route carefully as if it goes through Cheng Tung to Taunggyi they will probably insist you send your bike by truck for a 290 mile section and you and Wendy fly. THis is because of the Burmese army pursuing a policy of Genocide in this area!! I kid not! But you can try to get this changed if, a the trouble is "quiet" at the time of your application and its the height of dry season, as the road is often impassible and needs good off road skills and tyres! Do exlpain to the embassy the capability of your motorbike in terms of fuel range ( needs to be more than 300 miles) reliablility and ABILITY to take on a road such as this. THey only drive 125 scooters and have difficulty imagining a 1000 cc or 750 off-road bike!!
Do send them photos of your bike and off-road situations you have been in to prove the point! THEN they may, just may let you go! Which would make you the first to travel completely across by bike! We had to go by truck for this section VERY [}

]VERY frustrating and bloody expensive and VERY time consuming (15 days!!)

Well there you are - thats it - good luck

**Davidfl** · 26th April 2005, 03:54 AM

Just a note to let you all know that Simon & Suzi have completed their round-the-world-trip & arrived back in the UK about 10 days ago.
http://mccs.co.uk/global/

Davidfl
Keep The Power On

**Davidfl** · 12th April 2009, 12:37 PM

Aha. They're back....

Yep, had a few quiet lengthy gin & tonics with Simon & Suzy in the Kafe last night.
They've still got their bikes in the UK- the Africa Twin for Simon, & the Transalp for Suzy.
In December last year they gave a presentation to the Royal Geographic Society in London. 750 people attended.
It was brilliant to meet up again to talk bikes, life 'n adventures.

**sinclair1969** · 12th July 2010, 01:49 PM

Very interesting. Myanmar is not a country much visited as the hassle of the place seems big, but this report shows it can be done and thanks for the information.

**helbob** · 23rd November 2011, 04:17 PM

Does anyone know whether it is currently possible to rent a motorcycle in burma?

**rreznik** · 25th January 2012, 01:17 AM

Bringing this back to the top as I have a 4 week visa I need to use up in Burma - was thinking of even buying a small 125 or something over there if rent is not possible - I hear fuel rationing may also be a problem? - any advice appreciated.

Rob

**rob7711** · 16th February 2012, 12:27 AM

Burma or Myanmar as it is now known will be a fascinating country for an adventure ride. I was based in Yangon for about a year back in the late 90's and managed to travel on road (unfortunately not on a bike) from Yangon to Mandalay to Taungyi and Inle Lake. It's a fascinating country and a time warp too. Back then I would place the country as far as 40 years backwards from my own country in terms of development. It was like a journey back in time with scenes that reminded me very much of my early childhood days.

It would be fabulous if the current political developments has eased the travel restrictions. Even back then petrol was difficult to obtain at the "official" pumps as it was rationed. However there existed a multitude of black market supplies available and very often denoted by a jerry can placed by the roadside. You had to pay for it in cold hard usd or fec (I called it monopoly money!). I can't really remember the cost per gallon then. Roads were generally under complete disrepair and often reduced to a single lane for both ways and I mean for the main trunk road that links Yangon to Mandalay. Lesser roads were mere gravel.

Well I do hope this "final frontier" in south east asia finally opens up for travel and tourism as I too would love to tour it on a bike someday. One for the bucket list I guess.