Beware of VANGUARD Logistic Services, Bangkok!!!

One would assume that the shipping agent and company which conducted the shipping of the motorcycle from the U.S. to Thailand in 2013 would be the natural choice for return trip shipping.

Maybe in theory. But in reality one could not be more wrong!

To deal with VANGUARD's local Bangkok office was an experience I will not forget easily. Here, the level of customer disservice is defined anew. I have never encountered a more confusing, unhelpful, disorganized and unprofessional way of dealing with me, the paying customer. Their business policy seems to be to make it as hard as possible for a customer, at least in the case of a private shipper, like myself. On top comes their utter inability to speak English.

Maybe they deal with their regular commercial customers in a different way, who knows. I, at least, don't, and I don't want to know.

Due to my limited time here in the country I needed to get the return shipping squeezed in during my stay here, of course. My time in Thailand cannot be extended, plus the bike only has a temporary import license until the end of the month of January. After that, customs penalties will be applied (max. 10,000 Thai Baht up to 6 month, after that, potential confiscation of the vehicle.)

VANGUARD and their dismal 'service' did cost me around three precious weeks of my stay here, and without materializing into any tangible result.

After I realized that VANGUARD would be a NO GO, I contacted by email, and/or phone, including my office visits at VANGUARD ten companies:

1. DB Schenker, fully owned by German railways: Major shipping and relocation company.
No personal effects are handled.
2. Kuehne & Nagel, large Swiss based shipping company: Same.
3. DHL: No ocean shipping.
4. BlueSta Shipping, Bangkok. A contact I had from Thai friends of mine in Bangkok:
More than 1.5x the cost, yet no crating services, no U.S. Customs clearance. A weird experience too since the company doesn't have a web site.
5. APL Logistics, a contact I had from Frank, my German friend in Tucson, Arizona, who imports lots of ceramics from Vietnam to the U.S.: Never got back to me.
6. Boonma Outbound Inc., an affiliate of DB Schenker: Never got back to me.
7. Freight Center Inc. Never got back to me.
8. EaseFreight, Bangkok. Never got back to me.

The last shipping agent I contacted, literally, I had from my frantic search on the various motorcycle forums on the internet. It was Prompt Shipping in Bangkok.
(Contacting means to send about 15 pdf. attachments of various necessary documents, most of the time in 'installments' to avoid maximum data limits by the receiver, meaning countless emails.

Here is the link to RideAsia.net where I found the company who finally appeared to be god sent:

http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-forum/red-tape-border-crossing-requirements/4182-motorcycle-crating-bangkok-customs-agent.html

I am happy that I was so lucky.

After my nightmare-ish experience with the same company who delivered the motorcycle to Asia, I can't image that any other agent would do a better job than Khun Mon from Prompt Shipping.

Thanks, indeed.

Sakolchai Transpack Bang Na: THE Place To Go For Expert Crating.

The very last ride of this trip:
Downtown Bangkok to the crating company in Bang Na.

Bangkok morning rush hour. Actually, it is like this for most of the day.
People are saying that in case the Vietnamese ever should invade Thailand, their tanks would get stuck in Bangkok traffic, and that would be the end of that.

Multiple layers of traffic in the Asian metropolis. From top:
1. Skytrain Light Rail System
2. Toll Road Highway
3. Pedestrian Walkway
4. Street level Traffic
5. Below: Metro

Voluntarily I wouldn't want to ride a heavy and wide motorcycle through morning rush hour from downtown Bangkok to the industrial outskirts south of the CBD, towards the harbor in Laem Chabang.

But today is a special day, indeed. My bike will be crated and trucked to the Thailand harbor in for ocean freight shipping back to the U.S.!

What a relief!
Almost in the last hour I found a terrific agent and shipping company who will handle everything from customs clearance to shipping and truck delivery to Champaign, Illinois. They are fast in the responses, very helpful and know this business. Their main work is to ship and clear customs for car manufacturers exhibition cars, which are broad for a brief time into the country, and are exported again. However, motorcycle shipping, private cars, even private yachts is what they know too.

I was truly lucky to have found them.

The agent recommended a crating company south of the city, which is a 40 minute ride from where I am in downtown, traffic already counted in.

I made it fine to the location which -due to the confusing Bangkok street designation system-  is best reached by using GPS coordinates. I arrive at 9.15 a.m., and after some telephone conversation with security at the factory gate, I am let in. The picture changes dramatically after the arrival of Khun Mon Mingmongkolkij, my Thai shipping agent from Prompt Shipping, who clarifies everything in Thai.

For then on the operation runs very smoothly; it is a pleasure to see the crew working to fabricate the crate.

In the meantime I have disassembled the windshield, mirrors, and front wheel; the precious front disc brakes are security wrapped and attached to the front fork, the battery is disconnected and the terminals and wires are safely wrapped in electrical tape. (We don't want to get into the fuel issue, but the little fuel which was left in the tank wasn't drained.)

It takes four hours to make the crate, including my prep work. The end result is a beautiful, U.S. spec fumigated wooden crate, entirely enclosed, no open slats, also a U.S. requirement.

A job well done!

I am somewhat spoiled by CRATETECH's crating quality at their Chicago location, but the guys could learn a thing or two here in Bangkok!

Thank you SAKOLCHAI!
The truck will come to pick up the box tomorrow morning.

The crate had a volume of 4.50 m3 on the way from the U.S. to Thailand, now, due to the front wheel being taken off, I was able to shave 1.00 m3 off which will make shipping cheaper.

Lots of picture taking by the SAKOLCHAI staff.

Khun Mon, in white shirt, my friendly and professional agent from PROMPT SHIPPING INC.

Almost done. Water vapor tight plastic wrapping.

Certified, fumigated wood necessary due to U.S. regulations.

A beautiful crate, much less expensive than in Chicago, better too.

Last few miles on the road

Tomorrow in Bangkok my motorcycle will be put in a wooden crate and prepared for shipping.

This ends my trip through Asia on my own temporarily imported motorcycle. It is a moment of relief yet also of great sadness, all at the same time. Sometimes I can't imaging that the journey comes to an end.

I met so many people on this long ride, people who were incredibly generous in their help or friendship, truly amazing folks who I would not have met otherwise. I saw amazing, joyful and sad things along the way, I encountered temperatures between 8 degrees C and 40 C, altitudes from sea level to 2,900 meters (Phou Bia, Laos). The sun was shining, it was overcast sometimes, and sometimes I went through flooding and heavy rain. Most of the times, however, it was dusty and dry, my lungs are rich in the local red dirt.)

Of course one could ask whether I would do it again, to ship my BMW from the U.S., instead of renting one. This is a questions I was asked sometimes. I thought about it, about the significant complexities of the shipping, customs clearance, and last but not least, the expense involved.

The answer is a clear "Yes! Of course I would do it again."

There is simply no comparison between riding on your own, very capable machine, versus enduring a ride like this one on an old, beat-up 'war horse' motorcycle one may find to rent somewhere. (BTW cost is a considerable factor: The cost for renting can be significant. I was on the road for approximately seven months, which equals to: 7 x 30+/-days x $49.00 (in Thailand, for a larger bike, maybe a HONDA Transalp or Teneree = Total about 10,000.-. Compared to this, my expenses related to the motorcycle riding were a BARGAIN! And you won't be able to rent a bike like mine.)

Besides, a very important consideration is the fact that borders can only be crossed on self-owned vehicles. That would limit the riding of a rented bike to one country only. (Maybe flights to other countries and renting locally could solve this to a degree, however, try to rent a larger motorcycle in Laos, for example. Impossible.)

The own motorcycle, especially a machine like mine, is in all of these countries also a true conversation starter. It is impossible to not get in contact with folks on the road, foreigners or locals alike, motorcyclists or not.

Tomorrow will be, maybe, my last blog entry, the crating of the bike, a Good Bye! and some low-key 'final remarks'.

Here are the last images from yesterdays ride into the capital of Thailand.

Wonderful, hand-made spirit houses.
I should have bought one and ship it back with the motorcycle.
They are usually erected at the edge of a building site and provide a new home for the spirits of the land after a new building went up.

She reminded me of my mom, sitting in the wheel chair in front of the TV. 

Bar Beer Ghosts

There is the somewhat true saying that, if a foreigner wants to make a small fortune in Thailand, he needs to bring a big one. This seems to be the general consensus among 'farangs' in the know, and it is true especially for running a Bar Beer. (Adjectives or pronouns are put behind the noun in Thai, therefore it is not a Beer Bar but a Bar Beer.) This is in essence a small, open-air place which has a few bar stools and sells beer. One can find them almost everywhere.

I added a few pictures of the many failed Bar Beers, one can run into; I call them the 'Bar Beer Ghosts'. And yes, some of them are really scary, too.

I don't think that anyone makes any money on a bar like this, no matter what the design of the business plan looks like.

But it is part of the Thai popular culture and that is why I appreciate the risk takers opening, and/or running one.

Tomorrow Bangkok

My great trip through three Asian countries comes to a close soon. It is just a mere 130 km to Bangkok now. What a difference to my motorcycle experience last year, and the year before. Then, I immensely enjoyed the freedom to plan my itinerary as I went along, that freedom of time allowed me to stop where ever I liked the scenery, the food, or the people (or everything above). Now, I am under the pressure to fit into a strict bureaucratic schedule, find a customs broker, a shipping company, a crating company, a bonded warehouse, a trucking company, all while trying to negotiate the less than understandable English competency of most of my partners, and stay sane at the same time.

Eventually, it all will work out just fine (I hope.)

For Good Luck I went to the local Wat (Monastery) and asked the monk to give me a blessing for the remainder of the road. I wear my Buddha amulet from Wat Thepthidaram Worawihan (Wat Thepthidaram) on Mahachai Road which I bought two years ago.

Only a few remaining images here, the next bigger blog entry will be when the bike moves into a crate, and my nerves are recovering.

For now just a few remaining impressions from the road.

"I don't like to have my picture taken!"

The catch of today. Look at the eyes: It can't get fresher than this.

FRom New York to L.A., with a sort of Thai Chihuahua.

The head monk who blessed me and my Thai amulet for Good Luck on the road.

Quiet Seaside Towns in Chantaburi Province

I continue my ride up along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, final destination Bangkok. The shipping arrangements are still up in the air which makes me increasingly nervous.

But today I just pretend that everything is fine and I stop for the night in a small, quiet seaside town in Chantaburi Province. This is still far enough south from the hectic and incredibly traffic intensive commercial, shipping, industrial and logistics heart of Thailand which starts around 30 km south of Rayong, some 160 km north of where I spend the night..

Here, everything is very quiet, no tourists, the coast and the little towns remind me a lot of my childhood vacations with my parents in Normandy, France. There are the same little shops selling the same beach gear, the colorful air mattresses, swim gear, towels, fishing roads like 50 years ago.

Seafood restaurants everywhere: Crab, prawn, fish

The restaurant where I decide to have dinner has set up the tables in the sand, the fishing boats are already out with their strong flood lights turned on, they can be seen 20 to 30 km off the coast.

Coming home with the daily catch for self-consumption.

My nice beach restaurant, I am one of the five customers, all Thai, except me.

Sand art

The fishermen are out to sea, their boats like a string of green pearls

The food (Chicken with fried cashew nuts, vegetables and rice) is delicious, but despite the two mosquito coils the waitress places under my table in the sand, I get eaten alive. Too bad, I can't enjoy the tasteful dish. It's the first time on this trip that I get bitten by mosquitoes so much. I can't help to think of the little girl at Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital in Kampot, Cambodia who was treated for Dengue fever. The Deep Woods DEET is safely packed away in the panniers of the motorcycle. Oh well. But despite the little critters, it is a wonderful evening at the beach.