Timing in Russia: Vladivostok to Irkustk, plus customs etc in Vladivostok - 1 month?

[robbie.gray]

Hi everyone
In late April 2010 5 of us will be heading from Vladivostok to London on Suzuki DRs. I'm interested to get peoples thoughts on how long the first Russian leg of our journey may take us.

Ideally, we will get a Russian business visa, in which case we can take as long as we like with the first leg. If, however, we can only get a 1 month tourist visa, I want to make sure we will have enough time to travel through Russia.

We will have our bikes shipped to Vladivostok before we arrive. We also have friends in Vladivostok (both Russian and New Zealanders) who could potentially begin the customs process for us before we arrive.

Once in Vladivostok, we are setting aside a week to complete the customs process and get our bikes sorted out.

That leaves 3 weeks to travel Vlad-Kharbarovsk-Chita-Ulan Ude-Irkutsk-Mongolian border.

Does this sound do-able to you guys? It will be the first time all 5 of us will have ridden together (we will have done week-long trips with 4 of us), first time all fully kitted up on our bikes, first time driving in Russia, etc.

I'd be interested, if possible, in getting a sense of realistic timeframes between each of the major cities/towns on this leg of our route, so we can start properly guaging our timing too.

Mint, cheers!

Have a great New Years.

Rob