My Travelling Experiences

Sieam Reap Temple   When I was Denied Land Entry at Mayanmar border from Thailand earlier and then at Laos-Thailand border too, I got frustrated. But since I had Cambodia e-visa,  I thought I should give a try and enter Cambodia from Thailand. (Reason of denial for Myanmar:- No land crossing for foreign passport holder since 15 May 2023 and for Laos:- I can enter but no bike allowed without written permission for less then 350 CC engine capacity. They showed me some permission letter examples to contact for permission, I am sharing below if anyone need) Cambodia visa can be applied online and usually it comes within three days (So was Laos Visa, which came on second day). In Cambodia e-visa, they clearly mention that ports of the entry for the e-visa is valid. So that's a good thing. I checked that Krong Poi Pet entry was on the list. I drove 550 kilometers to Poi pet Land border from Thailand-Laos border (Nong Khai, wonderful town, I will write in Thailand blog) M...

  This is approximate route of my driving in Malaysia about 1500 Km  Google Map For Kualalumpur, here is the Kuala Lumpur Tourist Guide map and Metro system Map guide  Link I started from Kuala Lumpur and stayed first night at Seremban which is around 80 km from Kuala Lumpur. It seemed to me a historical City and like all the other Malaysian cities, there are same typical colonial time buildings that confirm the downtown of the city.  Seremban city street view  I stayed in variety of places like downtown of the big city, small  towns/villages and on Highway motels during my driving in the Malaysia. Only avoiding tourist places because I think Tourist places are mostly artificial. They just want to show what they want to show and you do not see what is the reality as a life of a common man. Anyway the benefit of this also is that normal places are quite cheaper in every terms like food, stay or even any other services. City Entrance or Muar Hotel...

There are two location of High commissioner of Bangladesh in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), out of which one near Masjid Jamek area (Downtown) is exclusive for Bangladeshi citizens so another one which deal for the visas is at the below link location.  Bangladesh High Commission (In Case the above link doesn't work, Postal Address is : Plot No-5, Lot 9 & 10, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, Malaysian Police Training Centre, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur) and below are the requirements given by the High commission to me in which mostly are easy to fulfill. Application form filled online and printout to be submitted.  Bangladesh Online MRV Portal Original letter of employment from your employer Deposit visa fees at May Bank counter (they mention that they do not accept the online receipt only at the counter you have to deposit)  Bank statements (Last 3 months) Photographs (white/ blue background) Incase you that have Invitation letter from Bangladesh, sub...

Malaysia allow to convert many countries' driving license to Malaysian driving license without going for any test.  I did convert my Indian driving license here. Below are the steps. These may change over the period of time, depending upon when you referring this post. So its just a reference. 1. JPJ L1 Form click here or google (if link changed). 2. JPJ Appendix B-2 form (Click here) . 3. Photocopy of Passport First and Last Page (Normal copy, No zoom in, Portrait orientation) 4. Photocopy of Visa Page  (Normal copy , No zoom in, Portrait orientation) 5. Photo copy of your country Driving License Front and Back  6. Print out - ‘Extract of Driving License’ status. Make sure to print the whole page including 'Notes' section. Don't crop and print this page. Ensure that the print out is showing date / time / url path at the footer or header. Print India license from- https://parivahan.gov.in/rcdlstatus/?pur_cd=101 Now here is the catch. Simply taking printout of...

I drove in UAE when I was traveling on my silk route tour in 2017. I reached Sharjah (Near Dubai) by ship from Bandar Abbas, Iran and it took me a full day to get clearance from the Customs for my bike.  In that process, overall I understood that basically I am importing the Bike into the UAE and it costs total 175 Dirham as a custom fee, out of which some value ( About 25 Dirham) is refundable if I take out my bike from country within a certain period of time (and I was sure that I am not going to come to this office again for such a small amount of Refund). I was happy that this port was operated (Workers) mostly by South Indians and I was so relaxed, happy to see 'My people' after landing from the ship and I was not in a hurry to finish the formalities for bike clearance and get out from this port. I told the guy 'Ramanathan' " Sir, I am not in hurry. I need to eat first. Please tell me where to get 'Food' and later we will start again with procedures fo...

Everyone says Neemuch but Railway station signboard says "Nimuch". I don't know which one is correct but coming to a Grade C city is such a peace. It's like I went to my childhood, 30 years back in time. I am staying, I guess, most costly hotel and it's Rs. 1000 per day. Agoda says Rs. 1400 per day for me as their VIP customer but I got lucky. Booking did not reach to the hotel and when I reached the hotel, we started on Hotel tag price of Rs. 1299 per day.  Railway station nearby is people-less, but markets are full as expected from a grade C city, which is on my comfortable level of crowd, just like any other A-grade city was 30 years ago. Food is so cheap and in good quality. You just need to identify the correct one (A little farther from bust stand or railway station, should have decent crowd compare to other shop and as per the time of the day, and no fancy decoration is my identification marks for a tasty food shop, " Food shops cant fool locals , so f...

I travelled to Bundi when I was around 11 years  old. My Tauji (Father's elder brother) was posted here in a school as a teacher. As he had to do his duties at school, he freed me to walk around on my own (he tried to fix it up with some knowns there but I refused). I roamed in the city and reached the palace called "Garh". I was disappointed when I saw a big lock there.   ( see , this is open now )  It was closed . I tried to find some "chor raste" (hidden entry) as I was highly motivated due to  my recent exploration of Jaipur's Amber fort with my another uncle (we got lost there and tried hard and came out in 2 hours so it was like a victory).  I found a dark entrance. I stepped in a few meters, I guess. But it was too dark. I didn't have courage and turned back. I went down, purchased a match box and came back with with it. And I succeeded to reach in a room at the end of the passage and then suddenly I saw so many Bats hangin...

Driving in Oman I lived for four and half year in Oman and it was a bit difficult to get the driving licence initially but finally when I got the driving licence or you can say learning licence (The Green book), I purchased my first bike and went for tour in Oman (you can read my another blog for how to purchase motorcycle in Oman ) First of all I would like to tell about my experience in living in Oman was much better than living in any other GCC countries. (The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprises six Middle Eastern countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.) Omani people are more humble and helpful compared to the other GCC nationals. Muscat is the capital and the biggest city which is really not as big as like other capital cities. Even though the city is well maintained but still the one of the biggest building was HSBC Oman (The bank I hate - The Chore bank). A Side road view ( Well maintened pavment) in Muscat City Arial view of Musc...

Driving permission in any country is different for a tourist then for a resident (non-citizen but long term visa holder). Since most of the countries allow tourists to drive the vehicle with their home country license up to a certain period time (usually 3 - 6 month) but may not beyond without that country licence, like in Oman. So Far I drove in many countries (About 20 countries: 5 in South America, 6 in Europe, 7 in Asia) but have never been asked for Driving License on road. Have been asked for Bike papers, Insurance and Visa etc. but never for Driving License and that was surprising as it was for the first time that I did get an international driving License from My home country. I took two times earlier (since it is valid for one year only) but was never asked by anyone. So I thought that it's just another method for the  Governments to make money or for show-off or might be asked in USA where I haven't driven.  Moreover, international driving licence is not an authori...

My Driving Route through Iran in 2017 I drive around 7000 km in Iran, and it was quite a different experience than driving in Europe. I entered Iran from Azerbaijan ( Bileh Savar بیله‌سوار) border, and we can say that it was only by the grace of god that I got entry inside Iran without having proper documents for my bike ( Carnet De Passages ) or may be due to the ultimate hospitality of Iranian people. At the entry point of Iran border, they took me in a room and my bag was so thoroughly searched that I myself was seeing many of my things after a long long time ( "Oh, so its here. I didn't lose this. Oh, that is also there etc. 😅). Every bit of my bags was on the table and when I said that "I know no liquor allowed in Iran, so don't worry, I didn't buy anything like that" then the young security personnel thanked me for respecting their culture and law and concluded the search.  After the bag search, they took me to a room and I was interviewed like 30-45...