UK to Thailand possibly Australia Iveco 7.5t race truck
 

hi there i am just checking thoughts on the possibility of driving to thailand and further if possible, depending on how finances go.
what do i need in regards to carnet ?
any special insurances required
routes?
expecting to have to go through Georgia and transit Russia into Kazakhstan then down through top of India i think into China and around Myanmar into Vietnam way to avoid the spicy bits !!
thoughts ? is it possible ?
then on to AUS, island hopping indonesia, are RORO ferrys possible ?
final ferry into AUS and import duties? costs ?

thanks in advance

You don't need a carnet for Thailand.
You might however need to use an agent to get your vehicle in, on motorcycles its a bit hit and miss, I'm not sure about trucks
I don't believe there are RoRo's from Thailand to another country.....I could be wrong. There is a RoRo from Kuala Lumpur to Koto Kinabalu and possible other places.

Wayne

Start by looking at a map. With a UK passport, you would find it hard to go through Iran, otherwise Turkey-Iran-Pakistan-India-Nepal would get you close.

Myanmar is not open to overland travel from the west at this point - and probably dicey on the eastern border too, since there is something of a civil war going on with some ethnic militias.

Vietnam is almost impossible to enter with a foreign-plated vehicle. (But very easy to buy a local motorcycle...)

Moral and security aspects aside, Turkey to Georgia via Russia and into Kazakhstan to reach Kyrgyzstan, then take an expensive guided tour convoy from Kashgar across Tibet into Laos is a clear possibility. There is a ferry from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan, but Azerbaijan has closed land borders to incoming tourist traffic - would be an interesting question whether a race truck would get an exemption as a cargo vehicle...

Not only would shipping to Australia be quite expensive, but they are famously very strict about any incoming vehicle being absolutely spotless down to the last crevice - budget extra for an expensive fumigation service...

i think Thailand or Malaysia is going to be end destination, i have friends there for storage of camper truck for a bit and i need to be in Australia by feb for work,
that puts us crossing China into Laos via guided tour in dec
cold but possible i think ?
this is the plan so far ..
need the Russian transit visa, we will apply in George? what do you think about that

If you get chance you're more than welcome to stop by for a brew and a natter or pitch for the night at the coffee shop.

Wayne

In a truck, you could do the China crossing in December, but you would be quite unlikely to find other tourists to join a caravan and share costs. Of course, in a truck you might not need an escort car and just have a local guide/minder ride with you. Best to contact the companies doing these tours and ask them directly - it's very much an edge case.

For visas, I would recommend applying in your home country.

In a truck, you could do the China crossing in December, but you would be quite unlikely to find other tourists to join a caravan and share costs. Of course, in a truck you might not need an escort car and just have a local guide/minder ride with you. Best to contact the companies doing these tours and ask them directly - it's very much an edge case.

For visas, I would recommend applying in your home country. Georgia MIGHT be possible, but the consular staff may not be as comfortable with English, and generally not particularly geared up for dealing with tourist edge cases.

does any body have any other companies they can recommend for the guide? a cheap one! driveChina is who I've been looking at and they are wanting around 6000$ for a guide from Kazakhstan to Laos

I can't help you with other agents however, start a thread on the travellers page to see if anyone else is crossing China around the same time also look at that part of the forum to see if anyone is already asking for someone to share the cost
Also have a look in the Northern and Central Asia part of the forum

Wayne

any other important documents or things i need to do before i leave ? what about this carnet thing ? visas? i think we should be right from what I've researched but better to check.