Russia & Kazakhstan. Is it worth pinning my hopes on 2022 ?
 

Hey everyone,

In early February of 2020 I set off from France on my bicycle.
My goal was to reach the Pacific Ocean somewhere in Russia or China, taking in most of Central Asia on the way over.
I was planning to be gone for a couple of years.
I had quit my job & sold my apartment the fall prior.

I made it as far as the Poland-Belarus border when the s..t hit the fan.
Since then, and as far as I know, the Russian and Kazakh borders have remained sealed off.
Some Central Asian States have reopened their borders to foreigners last summer, but not the 2 giants north of them.
I don't want to fly.

Considering the amount of preparation I have to do before resuming such a ride ( getting the 3 month Russian business visa is time-consuming, to start with ) and the uncertainties hovering around the pandemic should I already ' unpin ' the hopes I had on 2022 ?

Levelo.

All I can say is I share your frustration and am pencilling in plans for 2022 but thinking I still might not get any further than inside the UK or perhaps Europe.

There’s a lot of us here surrounded by the ashes of travel plans burnt by Covid. I had two substantial ones cancelled last year, and postponed one this summer just gone until next year on the basis ‘it must be over by then, surely’. Now I’m beginning to wonder if it will be. The new version has really put the cat amongst the pigeons. All I’m doing is making the plans but not spending any money on them until things become clearer.

I think KZ will open for this season but I seriously doubt china will. Russia is an each way bet but I wouldn't count on it.

It's impossible to say, as it depends not only on what effects Omicron has but also how the authorities react to it. Closing borders when the virus is spreading domestically like wildfire is pretty pointless but it looks good on the news. Like you I'm viewing the situation to see if my trip through that region will be viable, however I'm also making a tentative plan B which involves travelling in Europe (and even that's not guaranteed - but if I pick up the virus on the road at least I won't be stuck alone in nowheristan, a thousand kms from a clean hospital...)

Yes, talk about frustration...

The thing with cycling is that it is slow and you can't really make for lost time.
If you're not cutting corners and you want to ride all the way from Poland and reach the Pamirs before it gets too cold you do have to get an early start. Say mid-March at the latest. Which means making a decision in mid-January :innocent:

I still don't completely understand the rationale behind the closure of Russia's land borders. I mean from what I understand the pandemic there is as bad as in the rest of Europe so it can't be a health-related decision on the part of the Russians.

L.

It's worse than Europe - 810,000 excess deaths as of last week.

Central Asia Travel or NOt
 

Hi Volks

I understand you all. The question for save or realistic travels in 2022 is reasonable. (so far as I interpret it) closures "due to Covid" is at some countries political motivated, at least for KZ and RU. Europe-Russian conflict at the moment adds to it as well for border crossing between there.

There is obviously limited security for travel planning in 2022 especially for intercontinental overlanders, but in regions with many borders like Central Asia or Causasus you have to look how they create their own "micro climate" within their borders.

I lived for 6y. in Kyrgyzstan and am getting quite relaxed on uncertainty. If you're an experienced traveler you know about such countries with it's "in-the-moment-cultures" it's always now or never. I am used to say "You don't know unless you go - this is Central Asia". :-)

But there is good hopes with some legitimate reasons, at least within Central Asia where I used to live. Please have a look at my FB channel. I am not allowed to post sales adverts here but it should be ok to leave my FB link for the quest of this chat and border crossing: https://www.facebook.com/ZorroMoto

Hope that helps assess the case for Central Asia with the recent post. I am quite positive for 2022 with more travelers.

Let's keep good hopes up! :-)
- Dave

Thanks for your feedback ZorroMoto.

Kyrgyzstan appears to be the more open/relaxed of all the Central Asian countries when it comes to screening incoming visitors.
Last night I hosted a friend of mine who had just returned from a 3 week stay there. He found the overall atmosphere very laidback with very, very few locals wearing masks or behaving differently than before the pandemic.

He met a handful of ' island-hopping ' Westerners flying from one open country to the next. Supposedly they were about to fly en masse to India to escape the heavy snowfalls :innocent:

And I concur : Covid-19 and domestic politics in authoritarian States can lead to a pretty toxic mix indeed :(

L.

All hopes unpinned.

My last ride took me from the Caucasus to Western Europe via southern Russia and the whole of Ukraine, which grew on me pedal stroke after pedal stroke...

L.