I am planning a southern crossing of Asia next year on my bike and I am formulating Plan "B" in case I am refused an Iranian visa. The Iranian visa sounds like its going to be tough to get as an American.

An alternative route appears to be through the Central Asia "Stans" to Kyrgystan and through a few hundred miles of China to the top of the KKH in Pakistan. I have corresponded with David at Stantours and it sounds like Central Asian visas can be obtained sucessfully (with a bit of work).

As indicated in the following thread, a couple of folks make it into China from Kyrgystan sucessfully but there are still issues:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000189.html

It appears that I have the following options:

1. Attempt to get myself and the bike into China from Kyrgystan with a Chinese visa, carnet, international driver's license and hope for the best. If its been done before, maybe I have a chance, but how would I know until I try it?

2. Hire a guide to take me and the bike across the short distance of China to Pakistan, I would think this could be done at a reasonable cost, since the amount of time in China would be short. But what about the licensing requirements even with a guide?

3. Hire a truck driver to load the bike onto a truck and drive it through China to the top of the KKH. I would think that plenty of goods are shipped on this route, so maybe this is feasible? If I wasn't "riding" the bike, would the same regulations apply that are typical for bikes in China? How realistic is this option?

4. Ship by air from Kyrgystan to Pakistan. This would be a bad option, I would think.

5. Ride all the way back to Turkey the way I started originally and figure out Plan "C" before the winter sets in. The worst option.

Any comments on which of the above options would be feasible? Options 1, 2 & 3 are really the only ones I would want to consider. Is shipping the bike the short distance through China via truck a realistic back-up plan?

BTW, I would be shooting for crossing into Pakistan in September or October of 2005.

-Dave

[This message has been edited by davidmc (edited 21 December 2004).]

__________________
Dave McMillan
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/mcmillan/