Xross-Siberia2007
 

My first post, so HI to all!

My friend and I are planing trip to Japan. We plan to leave Belgrade, Serbia at 8th of July. Our route will go through Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Mongolia, again Russia and then Japan. We will travel by train from Vlad to Moscow on our way back.
If there is someone on the road there at same time we could meet. We will have satellite phone, so I'll post number here when we get one.

You can see our route at Xross-Siberia 2007 Allso, our reports and progres will be posted on this site!

QUESTIONS:

1. We plan to enter Mongolia from Russia trough Altai mountains. I heard that it is not possible to exit Russia at this border crossing. Have someone cross this border or know something about that?

2. Does someone know cheap accommodation in Japan, specially in Tokyo? This will help a lot since we are on limited budget?:helpsmilie:

Thanks for your answers!

In Japan you can camp just about anywhere. In big cities, like Tokyo, there are loads of homeless people living in the big city parks. Oueno park in Tokyo has a mini village of them. Just put all your gear in a subway station locker and take what you need to the park. Find a discrete place to set up your tent and you are done. Elsewhere, just set up your tent someplace that you are not bothering anyone. Generally speaking everyone is too shy and polite to give you any problem.

I was on a budget too and by never once staying in a hotel and not eating in resturants, Japan is a beautiful and affordable place to ride.

If you want to meet with other riders and maybe find a place to say, contact
World Touring Network-Japan
http://www.wtn-j.com/html/english/aboutwtnj.htm
Or the Horizons Japan community
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/com...tEnglish.shtml
Note that there are special procedures for entering Japan (carnet, etc.)
See this for details.
http://www2.gol.com/users/chrisl/japan/index2.html

Mongolia
 

Hi,
you can cross the border in the Altai. In UB try Oneway Guesthouse from Sabina. They have special prices for bikers and Sabina knowa where to repair.....
You can visit my friend in Tokio:
Ricarda Heubel
Please write me an mail at naadam90@yahoo.com

Thanks for answers.
I heard about Sabina, we will sleep there when we reach UB. I have GPS coordinates of that place :thumbup1:

Here in Japan embassy they told us we do not need carnets, just valid registration and international driving licence. The other thing is, there is no one issuing carnets here :(

Gursed I'm sending you email.

That is wrong.
The embassy probably does not have correct information (very few people come to Japan with their own vehicle).
You may have a very hard time without a carnet.
Last time someone tried on the ferry from Vladivostok, it took 3 days to pass customs with a Japanese person helping to find a way.
Maybe they will remember how to do it...
If you find a way without a carnet, please let us know.

We have CARNETS!!! In our AutoMoto Federation at call center they didn't hear about Carnets. But when I got answer from JAF (they answered next day) that our AM Federation issue them and showed it to them, they found out that they really do. The last one they issued was in 2002. The dark side is that we need to deposit 8 000 Eur for our bikes in order to have Carnet.
So, luckily we will not experiment with passing customs without it.

Can we have problems with fully opened loud exhausts in Japan?