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The United Arab Emirates is probably best know for the sliver of excess known as Dubai that lounges on the western coast 100 kilometres north of its hyper-wealthy neighbour Abu Dhabi. Forget about billion dollar hotels and dazzling grand prix circuits, the UAE is virtually all desert and Abu Dhabi monitors the Empty Quarter from a tiny offshore archipelago held together by the unimaginable wealth and a cheap labour force. The Rub al Khali, to give it its proper name, is the largest sand desert on earth, 1000 miles of dune big enough to lose France in. The ride, Harley's are a favourite over there, will take you on a triangular circuit from the oasis town of Al Ain down to Abu Dhabi and then Liwa. The drive, on virtually unused high-quality black-top, snakes through 300 metre high dunes and vast, mesmerizingly beautiful desert plains. Set off early and the air is cold and still, alone in this ocean of sand and you'll feel like you're flying. This is what motorcycling would feel like if you were the last person on Earth.
You have a choice of two great routes, either a NW loop taking in Dien Bien Phu and Sa Pa or a NE loop taking in Lang Son and Cao Bang, or you can just do your own thing! Minsks are as simple a machine as you can get and help for the mechanically-challenged is never far away in this very populous and friendly country. When you turn up on a 'local' bike caked in dust you get a great welcome.
Starting point is still the Minsk Club in Ha Noi - www.minskclubvietnam.com/index.htm.
A beautiful and remote coastal region, amazing roads, quiet and great fun for motorbikes and bikes.
There are also really good places to stay or camp, total variety of eateries, really good local seafood, venison and lamb as well as award winning local beers. Add this to stunning views and you have the perfect area for a meeting of bikes ... actually there are quite a few bikers who already come every year!
Tighnabruaich, and Argyll's Secret Coast lie at the end of the Cowal Penninsula, about two hours west of Glasgow. Visit by Bike, sail into the moorings and Portavadie Marina, let the Waverley bring you in style, or the seaplane from Loch Lomond; just come and see for yourself!
Combine a love of motorbikes with a taste for adventure, independent travel and awe-inspiring (and sometimes fear inducing) scenery and you have the most memorable trip of a lifetime - a motorcycle trip on the Sea To Sky Highway. The highway winds itself out of Vancouver, past Howe Sound, through Squamish and high up into the mountains around Whistler. From here, there's no going back, the roads in some places precarious, hug the mountain sides and take you past beautiful, crystal clear lakes and through dense alpine forest eventually arriving in sleepy Lillouet. From here the highway snakes back down, hugging the shores of the Fraser River, passing Hell's Gate, Hope (famous as the film location of Rambo: First Blood) and finally back to downtown Vancouver.
All this should be experienced on a Harley Davidson Electroglide. We rented ours from Cycle BC Rentals in Vancouver. Details of which can be found at www.cyclebc.ca, t: 1-866-380-2453.
We didn't book our accommodation in advance, but stumbled across the wonderfully welcoming and reasonably priced Reynolds Hotel (Reynolds Hotel, 1237 Main Street, Lillooet, www.reynoldshotel.com)
Flights were booked through Canadian Affair and in June cost about £350 each (www.canadianaffair.com)
A range of Harley Davidsons can be rented from Cycle BC Rentals, Vancouver (www.cyclebc.ca, T: 1-866-380-2453)
Voyage Vietnam can help you plan bespoke motorcycling tours throughout Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and into China, or you could join one of the many tours they run regularly throughout the region. I somehow managed to convince my wife to ride pillion with me for nine days through the north east of Vietnam as part of our round-the-world honeymoon last year. Vietnam offers a feast of motorcycling delicacies - mind bending traffic in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, more than mental bus drivers in the outer limits, sweeping country roads criss-crossing the highlands, deserted French Indochina colonial supply trails through the forests and jungles - but the best are to be found in Ha Giang province, sitting snug against the Chinese border in the far north. Dodging piglets playing chicken in the road and braving unidentified local delicacies became daily trials but they were all made easier with our guide and mechanic provided by Voyage Vietnam. Staying with families in homestays who were often part of regional ethnic minorities like the H'mong and Red Zao tribes, meant we were giving something back to communities who have been left behind by Vietnam's recent development explosion. And the scenery? Everything from the quintessential terraced rice paddies and bamboo forests by Thac Ba Reservoir and Xin Man to tall pines and volcanic rocky outcrops by Yen Minh and Meo Vac.
Voyage Vietnam - www.voyagevietnam.net
1 Luong Ngoc Quyen Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam
Ph: + 84 4 39262373
Pokhara to Katmandu, and then just ride round Nepal (maybe visit Chitwan, or check out the mountains)
You can do it in a day, it's without a shadow of a doubt one of my favourite parts of a five month motorbike adventure across North India
I arrived in style in Pokhara on my Royal Enfield Bullet, with its head-gasket blowing, and being towed by my Spanish Comrade's older 1972 Enfield! It was raining I had resorted to 'monsoon surfing'- this is the practice of being chased by a vengeful monsoon - and it was dark by the time we found a hostel. We awoke to a balcony with stunning views over the mountain peaks, (ok I lie, it was monsoon, so there was a massive cloud, but it really is perfect the rest of the year.)
Five days of near peace and perfection in Pokhara, both bikes sorted and 100 dollars poorer, we followed the scent of Raju the mechanic to Katmandu, about 200km west and one of the craziest cities in Asia.
Rock music, nightclubs and coffee and a great, friendly atmosphere. However, after five days on my shoe-string budget it proved to be a little too indulgent and expensive for me.
I headed south taking me through Chitwan to Lumbini, the sacred birth site Buddha.
I spent just shy of £2000 over five months, however you could spend this on a holiday, rent a good Enfield from the Hearts & Tears club, eat well and sleep in luxury. Stay at Chitwan nature reserve, climb some mountains, it's all beautiful.
Tip: Spare fuel! Ran out of fuel a few times, Spanish comrade ran out more times than me, biggest bonus was during the fuel strikes.
Myself and two friends, all graduates taking a year out, arrived in Hanoi craving an adventure to rival anything we had ever done. After enlisting the help of a friendly Vietnamese shop owner in the Old Quarter of Hanoi we went to the Motorbike market to purchase three Honda Neo-Future bikes which were to be our trusty steeds for the journey to Ho Chi Minh City.
After much haggling and handshaking we left the market and drove them back through the Hanoi rush hour. We made the journey South along the coastal road through every major town and some much less major towns which seem to have been completely skipped by the backpacker route.
After 3-4 weeks we made the final leg inland through the Dalat mountains and were on the home straight towards the finish line. We completed the 1600km journey to Ho Chi Minh City after more highs and lows than anything we had ever done. After holding a mini-auction on the streets of Saigon with some local bike dealers we kissed goodbye to the Hogs knowing we would never be able to forget them. Not least because the number plates are now tattoed on our ankles!
Hanoi Bike Market
Rent a scooter (USD10 per day) to see a striking world of culture, history, architecture and astonishing natural beauty that is a sharp contrast to commercialism of Southern Bali resorts. A two day adventure will take you to the old cultural capital, monkey rain forests, dormant volcanoes, azure blue lakes, terraced rice fields, botanic gardens, waterfalls, hot springs, temples: the holiest one, one in the lake and another in the sea and through villages that changed little in the past 50 years – all that while air perfumed with cloves and roast coffee blows in your face. Or take a bike and the guide for USD30 per day – try Teguh or his brother, hell’s angels with heart of gold!
Gobang Tattoo Studio, Poppies Lane 1, Kuta +62 81 353 376 600, teguhkt@yahoo.com
If anyone is into motor bike riding I would recommend renting a bike in Sri Lanka and touring around. My friend and I rented bikes in Negombo and toured Sri Lanka for two weeks.
Out of all the bike renting companies we found Negombo Motorbikes to be the fairest and nicest guy out of the lot.
Sha Lanka Tours
54, Beach road
Ettukala
Negombo
Sri Lanka
web: www.negombo-motorcycle-tours.com,
tel : 0094777- 488746 or 0094777 - 205828
Lots of people come to Chiang Mai and do a 'package trek' - and see little more than a couple of captive elephants and the backs of other westerners as they parade through well-trodden 'Hill tribe villages'. Forget this, hire a motorbike and head into the surrounding mountains.
www.earthoria.com/podcast-1483km-by-motorbike-in-north-thailand.html
Chances are, if you take a bus to Dalat, they'll be waiting for you when you get off. These guys, recommended in Lonely Planet amongst other places, are English-speaking tour guides with their own motorbikes, who will take you on a day tour of Dalat, or if you're feeling more adventurous, up the Ho Chi Minh Trail through the Central Highlands, to Hoi An or further afield.
Real professionals who really know their stuff. They can show you a side of Vietnam you might not be able to see otherwise.
Try to find the genuine Easy Riders, as there are many impersonators.
The Melbourne Motorcycle Toy Run has become a Christmas institution in Melbourne. Upwards of 10,000 bikers, their bikes decorated with tinsel and baubles, get together across the suburbs and head into the middle of the city, before heading off to Williamstown. Once there, the bikers hand over toys and food they have collected to various charities.
It's a big event with whole blocks of the city cordoned off and accessible only to those on two wheels. Those joining in get dressed up as Santa or elves.
Toy Run is a great day out for bikers helping the needy at Christmas.
Get yourself on an auto Honda 100cc (100 baht a day), and ride up the mountain to see Doi Sutep, a beautiful temple at the top.
Is this your business?