The Planned Route
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The countries we plan to visit are:
Germany Austria Slovenia Croatia Montenegro Albania Greece Turkey Iran Turkmenistan Uzbekistan |
(Tajikistan) Kyrgystan China Pakistan India Nepal Myanmar Thailand Malaysia Indonesia Australia |
It was a little overwhelming trying to work out where to start in preparing for such a trip, so we just started with the easiest things and worked from there. We have mixed feelings when we think of what it would've been like to organise a trip like this pre-internet. On one hand, we've found the web to be an endless source of information which has provided the basis for most of the decisions we have made to date. On the other hand, it is just that - an endless source. Just when we think we've made a decision on something, whether it be picking a border crossing location into Iran, which bike to buy or how many pairs of undies to pack, we find another source of information which turns it all on its head. We've quickly learned that in many cases there is no right or wrong answer, and although it is good to arm yourself with as much information as possible, keeping it simple is usually the best answer.
As nice as it sounds to just "pack the bike and go", we realised that there were a few things that had to be organised before we set off. A couple of the big ones - crossing China and crossing Burma.
At present, you can't just turn up at the Chinese border from Kyrgystan, visa in hand, and ride on in. So we had to organise to join a group of other travellers (to keep costs down) and pay a tour company to "escort" us , along with a government official, down to Pakistan over a 6 day tour down the Karakorum Highway.
Until recently, it has been nearly impossible to cross Burma in/on a private vehicle. So when we read recent reports that a few groups have been successfully crossing the country on their own bikes, we were pretty excited. Similarly to China, we needed to be part of an organised tour, and we have teamed up with another bunch for a 12 day crossing in October.
One of the biggest headaches has been and will probably continue to be visas. As most visas that we need to apply for in advance are only valid for 3 months prior to entering the country, we had to work out when was the best time to apply for each one, and this turned out to be an extremely tight schedule, with extended periods of breath-holding and finger-crossing. Prior to departure, we have organised visas for India, Iran, China and Pakistan. The rest will all have to be sorted en-route.
Another source of severe frustration in the lead up to our departure has been the lack of a workshop and tools. Working on the bike on the footpath out the front of our apartment building has been interesting. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to do maintenance on a vehicle in public places in Germany, which the public have been ever so kind to constantly remind me of. Then there was the time I dropped a sump full of oil on the pavers - the resident cleaning lady loved that. I always pictured setting a bike up for such a trip to happen in a warm garage with some good tunes on and a fridge full of cold beer, but it's mostly been a case of running down 5 floors of stairs to tighten a bolt in between the ridiculously frequent rain showers before realising I left the spanner in the apartment.
As nice as it sounds to just "pack the bike and go", we realised that there were a few things that had to be organised before we set off. A couple of the big ones - crossing China and crossing Burma.
At present, you can't just turn up at the Chinese border from Kyrgystan, visa in hand, and ride on in. So we had to organise to join a group of other travellers (to keep costs down) and pay a tour company to "escort" us , along with a government official, down to Pakistan over a 6 day tour down the Karakorum Highway.
Until recently, it has been nearly impossible to cross Burma in/on a private vehicle. So when we read recent reports that a few groups have been successfully crossing the country on their own bikes, we were pretty excited. Similarly to China, we needed to be part of an organised tour, and we have teamed up with another bunch for a 12 day crossing in October.
One of the biggest headaches has been and will probably continue to be visas. As most visas that we need to apply for in advance are only valid for 3 months prior to entering the country, we had to work out when was the best time to apply for each one, and this turned out to be an extremely tight schedule, with extended periods of breath-holding and finger-crossing. Prior to departure, we have organised visas for India, Iran, China and Pakistan. The rest will all have to be sorted en-route.
Another source of severe frustration in the lead up to our departure has been the lack of a workshop and tools. Working on the bike on the footpath out the front of our apartment building has been interesting. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to do maintenance on a vehicle in public places in Germany, which the public have been ever so kind to constantly remind me of. Then there was the time I dropped a sump full of oil on the pavers - the resident cleaning lady loved that. I always pictured setting a bike up for such a trip to happen in a warm garage with some good tunes on and a fridge full of cold beer, but it's mostly been a case of running down 5 floors of stairs to tighten a bolt in between the ridiculously frequent rain showers before realising I left the spanner in the apartment.
