hey,
im looking for informations crossing about russia - kazachstan - turkmenista - iran. what kind of paper-hazzels do i have to expect, sepecily wehn border crossing

thanks

About Turkmenistan, check at the following report of the trip I made in 2003:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/cou...stan-italy.php

We were in Iran in 2001. We obtained the visa through an italian agency and we had also the carnet de passage. But my information about Iran aren't updated anymore, infact in 2003, arriving from Turkmenistan, we weren't able to go in Iran and we took the ferry boat to Baku, as you can read in the report.

Hi Dasna

I was a few weeks behind Pietro, and below is a cut and paste of a post I put on the Hubb back in 2003. The link is below.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000368.html

Central Asia Visas were expensive some requiring a letter of invitation, up to 50USD on top of the visa fee.

Kyrgystan ..they dont stamp your passport so you only need single entry, and embassy issues visas on the same day without invitation. I got it in London 80 pounds same day multiple entry..would have been heaps cheaper in Almaty. no need to register in the country.

Kazakstan ..need invitation Multiple entry I obtained in Berlin same day..no embassy Australia expensive 110 Euro or something.
Must register preferably done by those who invited you within 5 days of entering the country or you can face 160USD fine and hassles from the police when they check you documents.

Uzbekistan..50USD in Almaty issued on the same day, required Letter of invitation 50 USD. Have to get to embassy early as they stop taking applications after about 10 am even though they say they are open till 12.30pm I dont believe US citizens need invitation due to large airbase south of Tashkent.
Keeps reciepts from hotel stays as we had to show them when leaving Uzbekistan.

Turkmenistan..Obtained in Tashkent 31 USD took a week with some pressure no invitation, Transit visa only, Costs at the border approached 100USD in charges and bribes to speed up the slow tiresome process.
Leaving the country was not much faster.

Was told the border would close for a month from 10th October no reason given..I believe it may be constitution day..or end of cotton harvest celebrations..or Turkmenbashi felt indisposed to foreigners from that date?

Iran..Took about two and a half weeks in Almaty. Leave photcopy of passport and ring up or visit to find out when its ready, Vicki arrived with her vias and mine was given to me! 30 days 50USD. No invitation required, staff were polite and helpful. Border was quick and efficient as I had a carnet for the bike. No charges to enter Iran.

Also check out Vincent Danna's website, the link on the travellers links page or
http://vincent.danna.free.fr

Sean Howman is presently in Russia and has just come through the stans going north. His page is at
www.hotkey.net.au/~howmans

feel free to ask any specifics.

simmo

http://users.netlink.com.au/~asimpson

[This message has been edited by simmo (edited 07 December 2004).]

[This message has been edited by simmo (edited 07 December 2004).]

__________________
Close to Antarctica and a long way from reality

thanks guys,

the border between turkmenistan-iran seem to be a problem. if someone has new informatin about it, i would be very happy to know it.

thanks so far
safe travel
dan

I crossed Iran to Turkmenistan in September. I ran out of cash in Iran (with no access to funds) and didn't have the $63 the Turkmen wanted for the bike to get into the country (Fuel tax, road tax etc all legit) so they sent me back to Iran. The Iranians wouldn't let my bike back in so I camped the night in no-mans land. I was lent some mony by some Iranian businessmen the next day and paid them back in Ashgabat.
Apart from that, things went smoothly, although there is a lot of paperwork. I went through all the 'stans (except the Afghan one) and got them to stamp my carnet at each border even though they seemed to have never seen one before.
A tourist visa for Turkmenistan is only possible if you fork out for a guide and driver who follows you everywhere. A 5 day transit visa is the usual way to do it. Contact David Berghof of Stantours (www.stantours.com)for all things Central Asia (LOI's, visas, tours etc) a few other HUBB people have gone through David also, he comes highly recommended.
Sean

I'd just like to emphasize the importance of having a guide helping you into Turkmenistan. We had a Russina one (through David Beghof) and it still took him about five, six hours to get us in. The custom officials tried to negotiate a separate deal with our guide so that they would split the bribe he was to take from us. Our guide refused all such proposals (adding to the professionalism) of Davids's company, and in the end we made it.

We had assistance as well through David/Stantour, but only at the border UZ/TM and at the port in Turkmenbashi to get the ferry-boat to Baku.
In all our trip across Turkmenistan we were alone, without guide, and we didn't have any problem.
But at the customs and in the port the assistance of Oleg (the collegue of David) was really a great help and the price reasonable.

Hello all

I don´t think there´s a need for a guide to get in or out of Turkmenistan. My wife and I made it without one. I do speak some 300 words russian though.
Each border (UZ-TM, and the harbour at the Kaspian Sea) took us 3-4 hours. Don´t expect less.

Goetz


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ïóòü = öåëü

hello
i put some info on my website, i was in central asia russia mongolia iran pakistan in 2002, it may have changed a bit though :
http://vincent.danna.free.fr/infos/index.html

good luck, enjoy

__________________
--
Vincent Danna

* www.va-project.com
Sept 2008 - dec 2009 : Voyage et art contemporain en Amérique du sud.

* http://vincent.danna.free.fr/
2002 - 2004 : Un tour du monde en moto.

If you need anything in Kazakhstan relating to motorbike, you can contact the Silk Off Road Motoclub http://www.silkoffroad.kz/, Marat and Serguei are great, very friendly and thy khnow everything about motorbike in Kazakhstan. They can arrange tour for you, with Oural or Yamaha, or find THE spare part you need as they did for me.

You can absolutely trust them!! They are fantastic, I stayed 10 days with them. Good people. and professional.

__________________
More info? www.electaunavia.org (french)

thanks for all relpy!
Ja, we got through evry border and eveything was much more easier than we thougt, but maybe it was jsut because of our original thai-tuktuk.

if up to date informations (july/august 2005)are needed, please contact me: kontakt@grossereise.de

Daniel

We've just been touring Central Asia. EU-passports and a 20-years old TLC.

Iran
The only hassle we had is the number plate, we entered Iran from Armenia but the police in Tabriz had run out of transit plates so we ended up with ordinary iranian plates after two terrible days at the big Traffic Police Complex next to the new TV-tower in Teheran.
Leaving Iran, we just removed our plates and keep them as souvenir.
Diesel is still cheap, about $0.02 / litre.
Roads are very good, traffic... hm interesting. Drive carefully!
Carnet requested.

Turkmenistan
We got a three days transit visa for $31 in Teheran. It took seven days to get the approval from Ashgabat but then we got it in a couple of hours.
At the border we paid about $100 for the car (road tax, fuel tax and assurance) and $20 each person. We got a transit document that stated the exact route to take thru the country.
Leaving Turkmenistan at Turkmenabat we had to pay about $10 but got receipts, maybe for the bridge, I don't really know.
About 20 road blocks but no bribing.
No carnet.

Uzbekistan
They used the carnet (maybe just because I had it) but no fees. I did't pay the road tax ($20), and didn't have any problems because of that but probably it's a good idea to pay it.
Roads OK.

Tajikistan
I got the visa (with a LOI) on the spot in Tashkent.
Big problems at the border at Penjikent. I ended up paying $90 for some sort of road tax. Got a receipt but I think that the custom officer got a new mobile phone since then.
Small fee for disinfication of the car.
Thanks to some contacts, we where allowed to use the new tunnel between Khojand and Dushanbe. The pass was closed.
In Dushanbe GAI is everywhere.
It's illegal to:
-Have a dirty car.
-Use sun protection film on the car windows.
-Don't stop at a zebra crossing (even if there is no one to cross).
-Drive to fast (even if you drive at 30 on a 40 street)
Anyway I didn't pay anything.
There are two roads to Khorog. The eastern one is the easiest but the pass was closed. The other is very fine down to Kuylab, then its get bad. Partly very bad (you need a 4WD with high clearance). There are a new strech following the river Panj.
Pamir Higway is great and open. Some snow, some pot holes but not that bad.
No Carnet.

Kirgizstan
Got visa on the spot in Dushanbe, no LOI, $40, embassy next to the Indian embassy.
At the border they just checked the passports. I couldn't get a stamp. That caused some questions when leaving the country, but no problems.
Very bad roads up to Osh. Then very good roads up to Bishkek. The last pass before Bishkek was open but demanding and dangerous. Check situation before take off.
No Carnet.

Kazakhstan
Visa took two days in Bishkek (note that the embassy got a new location), $35. No problems at the border. Cheap diesel.
Road from Bishkek to Alma-Aty is very good, then OK. No problems at the border north of Semipalatinsk.
No Carnet.

Tobbe and Reje
now in Sibiria