Major change of plan! After failing to generate any interest from other bikers to share costs in China and Burma and failing to get a reply from the guy who can (allegedly) get you and your bike into China legally but without a guide; a change of plan (and blog title) has arisen. The more I think about it, the less I like the idea of paying money to be babysat through various countries en route to Thailand. It should be about the freedom of the ride; not the bureaucracy and red tape. So, South America beckons:
NO visas
NO carnet
NO babysitting by paranoid regimes
Already had a quote to get my bike in and out of South America: expensive and no doubt cheaper to buy a bike there and resell it at the end. But this is leg 2 of my RTW trip; so I have to do it on my beloved Tenere (she would never forgive me if I left her behind).
The very vague plan for now is to fly myself and the bike into Colombia or Ecuador in September and spend up to 3 months meandering south through Peru, Bolivia and Chile to Santiago where I will return to the UK. Maybe add on a bit of Argentina if time permits. The weather looks good for this: Springtime most of the way, so avoiding extreme heat and cold (excepting the high bits). So, time to learn some Spanish.
Hola South America!