The Nuts and Bolts of.
by Alistair Weir
In the period between August '97 and May '98 myself and a good friend were fortunate enough to complete a motorcycle journey across the Asian continent from France to Singapore, riding through 12 different countries and spanning some 23000 kms. At the end of it all, we both agreed it was one of the best things we had ever done, though the initial idea only came about while we were sitting around chatting over a glass of beer one night and probably only eventuated because both of us forgot to pull out.
One of the first things that became apparent to us early on was the lack of information available on the subject. Though this wasn't an insurmountable problem it would have been nice to be able to put our hands on some hard won knowledge gained by previous motorcycle adventurists instead of blundering in blindly. At the end of our journey in Australia, I bumped into Eric and Gail by chance on the streets of Cairns. After swapping travelling tales they suggested I might like to put something together for TYNDA'S web page.
....So here we go, one key at a time and dictionary at the ready.
A big map was duly purchased and poured over in an attempt to sort out our route. We knew Afghanistan and Iraq were both off the menu but we were very disappointed to discover that we would not be able to ride our motorcycles through Myanyar (Burma) or the south of China making a true transcontinental crossing impossible. Not to be deterred, we resigned ourselves to including some shipping in the plan and spent the next six months working towards an early Autumn departure to avoid the worst of the Summer heat. The last three months were pretty hectic obtaining the appropriate visas for the countries through which we wished to travel and making sure they weren't going to expire before we arrived. For our motorcycles we needed to obtain a travel document called a "Carnet de Passage", which is sort of like a passport for your vehicle and waives the necessity for you to pay import and export duties to the authorities of the country you're passing through. This, along with an international driver's license and vehicle registration document, can be arranged through the international services division of the Automobile Association in your home country. Once you've gathered these essential items together you're on your way.
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