Greetings,
I am new here and found this wonderful blog through my research.
I and my daughter are planning to drive around the world in small car in May.
we will be shipping the car from Los ANgeles to Shnghai and drive thorugh China, stans then ferry to Baku.
By the way being students in college we have only 90 days to finish this trip.
My questions are:
is it easy to get AZ visa in Turkmenistan?
is there any phone or email for ferry timing from TM to AZ side?
I 've been hearing lots of not so good stories about this ferry.
any information will be appriciated highly.
Best
arun

The ferry is fine, easy to find, regular (every 12-24 hours or so) and cheap (at least it is for a bike)

You might have severe problems however with China, it is practically impossible to cross China in your own vehicle (for EU residents at least), there is one road that is permitted through the torugart pass via Kashgar (CaravanCafé:HOME will help you with this but their service has been disrupted recently, not sure why). Normal entry and exit for this route is Pakistan/Kyrgyztstan

The 'stans are generally easy, if a bit beureaucratic, act poor, smile and shake hands and everyone is amazingly helpful, even the police when they're going through your papers are up for a laugh-this helps as it might happen 30 times in one day.

90 days is probably not enough time to skirt China to the south but you could go to Vladivostok instead. From Russia your options include -Ulan Batur (Mongolia is not to be missed, but exiting to the west is hard going in a small on-road car, so could return North)-Kazakstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan via China (Kashgar). If time is too short or the car is not up to the terrain (TKJ and KYRG are very mountainous areas) you can go straight through Uzbekistan then Turkmenistan to the ferry, fantastic places - I would recommend leaving at least few days for Samarkand and Buchara, just jaw-dropping, don't rush through Turkemenistan either - some of the greatest people on earth live in that desert!

Will you be going across the Cuacasus into Europe?

Well, the ferry from T-bashi to Baku departure time can be a bit interesting. You see, its a rail car ferry. Leaving Baku to T-bashi, is regular...BUT you may be stuck in the T-bashi harbor waiting for days, for an opportunity to dock.
See my post below for details.


http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...hi-ferry-29768

You will be denied a tourist/transit visas WITHOUT a visa from a bordering country for exit. So will have to get your Azeri visa before entering T-stan.

HTH

__________________
edde
93 BMW K75s
www.motoedde.com

Hi HenryUK,

Can you please advise!
If I was to travel from Pakistan-(via China)-to Kyrgystan, which route would be the quickest, and how long do you think it would take, to travel on to Vladivostok.
Also is this route only suited for the BMW type off road bikes or is there a route that I could travel on with a HD Roadking type bike. If there is, how long do you think that route would take?

Your help and advice would be greatly appreciated?

regards

Right - this advice may not be that great, but here goes

From PK across China to the Torugart pass will take about 4-5 days. TJK and KYRG should take about 4 days each (mountainous and bad roads - may be tricky on an HD but you can go ANYWHERE on ANY bike! Just go for it, fully commited and balls to the wall, you will be fine)
Crossing KZ to get into Russia will take about 4 days, then another week should be enough to get to Vlad, but only in summer!

If you want to stick to tarmac you can do Russia-KZ-UZ-TM on some GREAT roads. I was wishing I had a Fireblade on the road From Shymkent to Almaty, fantastic new road. The road to Vlad should be pretty good too as it wasn't finished that long ago

p.s. IMHO the 'BMW type off-road bike' would be pretty far down my list. Spares are available for japanese singles and Urals but nothing else....

Canceled the China as we are not getting our permit in time. instead going through Vladivostok, mongolia (croos the fingers for my small car) and stans.
and europe and USA.
Hope I don't waste lots of time for ferry.
Best
arun