I am planning to travel Southeast Asia with my girlfriend from September 2026 to February 2027. We want to travel these countries by motorcycle. We have our flights booked to Bangkok and are flexible on where to start from. I already did quite some research on buying and traveling the mainland with a bike, but a couple of questions are still open.
Our rough route: Thailand → Laos → Cambodia (maybe via Laos depending on Thai/Cambodia boarder situation then) → Thailand → Malaysia → Singapore → Thailand → Vietnam
I found that traveling to Vietnam with a foreign bike is basically impossible and that Thailand is probably the easiest place to buy and resell a bike. Hence the plan to start in Thailand, loop through Laos and Cambodia, then head down to Malaysia and a quick stop in Singapore (without bikes), before coming back to Thailand to sell the bike, fly to Vietnam and buy a new one there.
For now my main concern is buying the bike in Thailand. A bit of context first: my girlfriend drove only 125cc motorcycles while I have motorcycle experience on bigger bikes, and our budget for the bike(s) isn't yet really fixed. I want to (obviously) spend as little as possible but as much as necessary to get well maintained bikes with ABS.
Bangkok vs Chiang Mai where to buy? From my research it seems Bangkok is probably better for gear while Chiang Mai is easier for buying a motorbike. Does that match your experience?
One bike or two? I am wondering whether it makes more sense to buy a small bike (125cc) for my girlfriend and a larger one for me, or if we should just ride together on one larger bike. Two bikes is probably more comfortable, but I don't know if this complicates the bureaucracy at the borders. Or is less save in traffic due to worse maneuverability. Any experience with this?
Documents and legal requirements I am also wondering if I need anything else besides the following to drive legally and avoid unnecessary issues at the borders (please correct me if anything below is wrong):
- The bike
- The green book (in my name)
- If I buy from a dealer, will they handle that for me?
- Or if I buy privately, do the seller and I need to go to the DLT together?
- International Driving Permit
- Insurance
- Thailand insurance → already included when registering the bike
- Laos insurance → bought at the border
- Cambodia insurance → bought at the border
- Malaysia insurance → bought at the border (cheap, mandatory)
- Certificate of Residence (from the Immigration Bureau office with a form from the hotel)
How much time should I plan for getting everything sorted? And is it worth paying extra to buy from an official store that might handle things like the green book for me?