Re-apply for visas. Knowing that the temptation to
quit is the greatest just before you are about to
succeed, I continued to trudge.
You need to have a Chinese driving license. To have a
Chinese license you must be a resident for one year and
your bike must be registered in China. It is possible if you
have loads of money. You can hire a Chinese guide who
will follow you in a four wheeler wherever you want to go
and you have to bear all these costs, roughly about 400 $
a day ! It was beyond my limits. You can go into Myanmar
but just for a day trip and not further. So the only way is
to ship your bike to the next country and start riding
from there. Nowadays Myanmar is opening borders and
China is also relaxing rules.
Just do it !
So finally on 2nd April 2006, I launched my world
tour on my Pushpak, the yellow Karizma from
Visakhapatnam. The then Chief Minister of Andhra
Pradesh Dr.Y.S.Rajashekar Reddy flagged off my
tour. A small group of friends followed me all over
India. I reached Mumbai to ship my bike to Iran.
Customs and clearances
Shipping your bike is expensive and time
consuming.
Another hindrance for Indians to ride in foreign
countries is - we can't get out of the country on
the road. It seems silly but true. You can go into
Bhutan and Nepal but no further than that.
Pakistan won't allow you because you are a big
headache for them. I was told that even if I ride
with a Pakistan flag I will be shot just for my
motorcycle and the kind of gear I was wearing.
China is almost impossible. To ride in China,
A great journey begins
Thus, I landed in Tehran, Iran and my bike landed three
days later. I was expecting to see sand dunes, but I saw
snow-capped mountains even in mid-April. The city was
huge beyond my imagination. Welcome to the real
world. What we see on the television can never equal to
seeing it in reality. I had become dumb from that day till I
reached the UK. No one spoke English including the
highest officials in departments like Customs where they
have to deal with other countries. They can't even read
English. It was really frustrating. My customs clearance
took about 7 days. According to them, it was a record
time. I saw many imported BMWs and Hondas rusting in
the garage. I finally started riding with my fully loaded
bike for the first time.
I must say a few things about my bike Pushpak. It is a
stock 2006 model Hero Honda Karizma with no
modifications on the engine side. I had to disfigure it to
add a lot of ugly boxes to carry my luggage. The bike was
not really meant for such use and load. But I needed to
carry a lot of things including spares, camping gear and
what not. Until you become an expert in travelling you
are tempted to carry too much. You don't really need all
that stuff. I was still inexperienced so I carried a mini
Walmart on my bike. Now I can start off with a spare
underwear only.
I never had the time to fix all the boxes and load test it. I
was running busily to get my permissions until the last
minute. The bike was ready only an hour before my