Some Southeast Asian countries require foreigners to ride with guides. If I am lucky I can take a local guide like this one, but this one was not required by the government. The guide sits on the back and smiles happily in Thailand, known as the "Land of Smiles."
Snow. I hate the cold. I am a motorcyclist, not a snow shoveler, and the white stuff seriously cuts into my riding time. Cabin fever and a fellow follower of St. Fermin helped me to conjure up some winter foolishness back in the 1980's called the Elephant Ride. Done in February, other snow bound motorcyclists would join me in riding over a 10,000 foot high snow covered Colorado Rocky Mountain Pass, but that was only a day ride.
In the late 80's I started to plan my 'round the world rides to be in the Southern Hemisphere during Montana winters. On one of those global romps I passed through the Golden Triangle of Thailand and thought, "Hey, I like this. It's hot, there are millions of motorcycles here, and the Thais have never seen snow except on TV. I'm coming back."
Since then I have wintered in Southeast Asia using Chiang Mai, Thailand as my base. From there I loop out for 2-4 week rides in other nearby warm countries like Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore and even the Philippines, spending about the same amount of money each month as I would in the U.S.A. watching snow fly. Between my expeditions my time is taken up with working on writing articles, a new book and a film project.
This is my "road trip" bike, the one I use for pavement or dry track travel, a 1989 Yamaha Tenere. This one was made for import only to Switzerland, so when I needed a new piston and rings, that is where they had to come from.
I keep two motorcycles in storage for six months, then roll them out each fall when I return. A late 1980's Kawasaki KMX 200cc I use for jungle expeditions, while a 1989 Yamaha Tenere does my highway work. Both are "big bikes" in these countries where 110-125cc Honda step-throughs and Chinese copies make up 99 percent of the motorcycle population.
To get a big bike into these Southeast Asia countries can be expensive, sometimes costing as much as 400 percent the price of the motorcycle. There are some tricks to get around these high costs but nothing is guaranteed. Both of my motorcycles were too big to get into Vietnam, which has a 175cc limit on imports. This rule can be gotten around with a lot of paperwork, bribery and huge piles of money, but then you may find the government assigns you guides on 110cc step-throughs to escort you, one riding in front and one following, thus being not much of an adventure.
For Vietnam I opted to rent a 125cc Minsk for $12.00 a day and was able to roam freely throughout the country, twice. I may do it again this winter. For my time and money I felt it stupid to pay government officials and guides thousands of dollars just to say I rode my own motorcycle in Vietnam. Besides, the Minsk was fun, and much easier to handle in the mud and jungle trails. Since most of the rest of the traffic in Vietnam moved at about 35 mph, my 125cc was able to easily keep up and often pass slower vehicles.
The "Cloaking" box above my headlight I made for the Customs officials at border crossings to wonder what it was. It has wires running into it, but is gutless. It brought a lot of laughs when I would open it, probably leaving the officials still scratching their heads about the crazy traveler.
AMA board member and Aerostich founding guru Andy Goldfine and I just finished a ten day ride on Japan's northernmost island, Hokkaido. While there we got into a discussion about adventure motorcycling, the way each of us would define it. We never did agree on an exact definition, but both agreed we were having a bit of an adventure. Neither of us was using a GPS or were able to read the Japanese maps or language and did not know where we would sleep at night. For over 1,800 miles we roamed the island, even working in a bit of off-road riding. Some would scoff at our calling it an adventure because we were not using recognized adventure motorcycles, instead we were on 400cc Hondas.
My biggest adventure during the 10 days? At or near the top would be when I walked naked into the women's hot springs because I could not read the Japanese sign that said that day was Women's Day. Another might have been when I was warming my hands on a heated toilet seat when the bidet automatically turned on because I was blocking the sensor. As I watched a finger like piece of plastic slide out from under the back of the seat I wondered, "Hummmm, what's that thing?" As I finished that thought it sprayed my face with a stream of warm water. Neither of these incidents had to do with the size or model of my motorcycle, but both were noteworthy adventures while I was riding around Japan.
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