Amsterdam to Sydney
 

Hi,

I'm planning a motorcycle trip from Amsterdam to Sydney. Originally planned for 2019 or so but I might (if still feasible) already want to start next spring/summer due to (maybe) changing job situations etc. At first I wanted to drive to Cape Town but over time driving to Australia caught my interest more and more :-)

Anyway, I'm still unsure about which route to take through the middle east and east Asia.

I'm inclined to somewhat follow this guy: https://www.imoff.to/my-route/ (Larger Map) as in Europe to Turkey to the Middle East.

The part I'm worried/unsure about is getting from Turkey to Thailand. Do I go through Iran, Pakistan, India or do I go around it and go to Russia and "The Stans". After The Stans, do I go through Pakistan into India, Nepal and Myanmar (is Myanmar even a smart option?) or should I go through China?

I've heard others say China wasn't that great, also because of the (expensive) guide they force on you but it looks like it's pretty much unavoidable on a trip like this.

I'm struggling to find up to date information about getting from Europe to Oz so all help is welcome bier. Also people who have done this in the last 12 months, do you have links/maps/stories/videos about the route and/or border crossings you took?

Cheers!,

Bento

Have you been to the Middle Kingdom before? China is really a very fascinating and diverse country to ride through out west and down towards Laos / Thailand (skip coming in via Mongolia/ enter via Xinjiang). Experience the culture, sounds and smells of China and do take your time, but one needs to choose the China route and China travel agency (guides) very wisely as most are just after fast $$$$’s... Enjoy your trip either way, travel safe!

Which ever way you go .. you going to have to ship the bike to Australia.

You could ship from Cape Town to Australia...
Or India, or Turkey, or Vladivostok .. the are lots of way.
Not all of them involve Iran with its high carnet charges.
Any number of routes available .. while shipping costs might be higher for some, so are the route costs higher for others.
Chose your route to suit what you want to see?

Well yes, it can't swim or fly sadly :P

I'm driving through Asia to get there. Just not sure what do do between Turkey and India. Would like to visit Kazahkstan, Tajikistan etc. and don't mind China but I don't like taking a very expensive guide who tells you where to go and sleep.

Pakistan seems a no-go area for 100km zone from it's border with India right now.

I've read about the Wakhan Corridor but can't find any up to date information if you can safely cross from Tajikistan into India through the corridor and the rest of Pakistan / Jammu and Kashmir.

This question has been fascinating me, this is what I've managed to uncover so far:

Here's a map of taliban activity in Afghanistan, so the good thing is they don't seem to be active in the corridor
Interactive map of new from Afghanistan - Taliban and Islamic State - afghanistan.liveuamap.com

the second thing I've found is a list of border crossings in Afghanistan. Unfortunately it looks like the only border crossing open to foreigners heading into Pakistan is Torkham pass, but that information is dated, and looking at the other map it's right in the middle of ISIS controlled territory. I'm not sure how accurate the rest of the information is, you might have to call up your local Pakistan embassy to try to find out the border crossing situation.
Afghanistan border crossings | Caravanistan

Heh yeah, been looking at that site too. I guess China is inevitable at this point, that Taliban map doesn't give me a lot peace of mind so to speak :P

Or maybe I'm just not adventurous enough? :mchappy:

Did it the other direction 2 years ago. Afghanistan was too "adventurous" for me, although there are areas that are fine and people who've done it. In the end we did the KKH through Pakistan, then a 4 day crossing of China and into Kyrgyzstan.

Loved northern Pakistan, particularly the Hunza Valley, loved Kyrgyzstan. Hated China - way over the top border guards, expensive guide, and it was sad to see the ancient silk road city of Kashgar almost totally bulldozed.

Be aware that the KKH is only open at limited times of the year, and can be closed with short notice - we got stuck for a week and missed our entry date into China (thus had to redo the permits, more $$$) because a storm washed part of the road away.

Check out The Path Less Ridden – Two-wheeled wandering… to see our trajectory in that part of the world. Don't miss out on Central Asia, it was by far our favourite part of the trip.

Cheers, will take a look at the site. I'm now contemplating another option which is riding through Iran to Bandar Abbas and take the Ro/Ro ferry to Dubai. Spent a few days there and have the bike shipped to Mumbai.

That will cause me to miss "The Stans" but also China and northern Pakistan. China I can't really be that bothered about but it's a tough choice picking either Iran or the Stans.

We crossed Turkmenistan between Uzbekistan and Iran and thus did both, but the Turkmen transit visa is completely luck as to whether you get it - 50% chance it'll be refused for no reason. Check Caravanistan for the most recent updates.

That leg is the most difficult to organise in terms of visas, route etc, but there's always a way. People we travelled (same East => West direction) with included:
- A couple who couldn't get Iran visas (UK citizen) so took the Black Sea ferry from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan
- A couple who couldn't get Pakistan visas so shipped the bike from Mumbai to Dubai and took the ferry across to Iran

Bento, there is another couple willing to cross China in September 2018.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...n-2018-a-93261

Best, Lukasz

If you take the Iran, Pakistan, India route, you can go up north, up the KKH as well and simply return. That is what we did. In December, so it is still possible to drive the KKH in that season (but we had a Landcruiser). But you can't go into all the valleys because of snow etc.

I haven't been following any late updates, we did our trip in 2011-2012. I guess if the lake is still there on the KKH then that is a good turning point (that was what we did). Otherwise a bike is easy to get over with the boats.

I'm not sure what you mean that the border area between India and Pakistan is not safe. In the south it is only desert, and in the mountains it was never so safe I think? But it is more important if you can cross the Lahore/Amritsar crossing without any issues.

South of Pakistan will be with police escort, assuming nothing changed. If you don't want to see anything of Pakistan, you could just cross it in 5 days or so, but it would be a shame. At least stop shortly in Lahore.

The Stans should be nice, although annoying with visas. Would love to go to Tadjikistan. China could be nice if it wasn't so annoying or expensive to arrange. From what I've heard, Myanmar is possible now, much in the same way as China.

Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry says it's unsafe for travel. Now I now you should take some advice with a grain of salt but it has me a little worried.

https://www.nederlandwereldwijd.nl/b...4-2016_620.png

https://www.nederlandwereldwijd.nl/b...6-2017_620.png

Same for the UK Foreign Affairs:
https://assets.publishing.service.go..._Iran_jpeg.jpg

Thanks for all the information though!

When we did the trip in 2011-2012, these red areas where also the areas where we got police escort. So in Iran you got a military escort from somewhere between Bam and Zahedan. And then in Pakistan you also get police escort from the border to Quetta, and down to Sukkur. From there it was a bit random if you got escort up to Multan.
Basically from Quetta you want to move away from the red area and to the orange area, where you always stay in the vicinity of the Indus.

So I would think it is safe enough if you are constantly under police/military escort. And sleep in places they recommend. Of course it is not the nicest way of travelling, but it makes it possible and relatively safe.

However, please try to get some more up to date info, if it is still that way. Maybe some people did it this year or last year.

More in general, when we did that, we also checked the MinBuza (we're also Dutch) and it was also "Alleen noodzakelijke reizen". I just can't remember if they had these kind of maps, and if they would have the red areas as "Alleen noodzakelijke reizen" or "Niet reizen". I think they may have raised the bar a bit and put it do "don't travel".

Also read this topic, should be useful to you, there is a guy still mentioning biker are taking this road.
Also info about Thailand! This may be one of the harder parts, because they are not so open to motor vehicles as before.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...thailand-92693

I read an ex diplomat's blog a few years ago and he mentioned the no go "advisories" put out by the UK's Foreign Office - his claim was that they were areas that diplomats were forbidden from travelling to/through and hence there would be no consular assistance for citizens if you were in those areas and got into trouble. It was more about protecting the diplomats than protecting the citizen.