When is the best time of year to begin travel from SE Asia to Western Europe?

I have seen a lot on riding from Europe to SE Asia, but not vice versa.

My plan would be to ship my dirt bike from the USA to Singapore, ride around SE Asia then Northern India/Nepal, Pakistan, Himalayas, KKH, etc. then onto Eastern Europe via Iran/Turkey then Western Europe. The Himalayas/KKH would probably be my #1 priority. I would want to avoid the monsoon, extreme heat (if possible) and of course snow.

After Asia/Europe, I would like to continue south to Cape Town and then onto Buenos Aires and back to the USA, if time/funds permit. Total travelling Singapore RTW to USA in 1 year with a budget of $15,000 USD? And could the "stans" of central asia be included in this 1 year trip or is that way too much?

When should I start from Singapore???

Any help is HUGELY appreciated, thanks!!!

-Dave

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Dave McMillan
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/mcmillan/

I'm probably not the best help since I haven't done this route yet, but I am starting a similar trip in a few weeks (hopefully). We're going from Japan to England. We'll probably have to ship our bikes from Canada to Vietnam, and travel without them from Japan to Vietnam. Weatherwise we're trying to arrive in Vietnam in November, and plan on hanging around Thailand/Malaysia from December to February. Then trying to get through China in March. Down through Nepal and arrive in India around April. We were then going to ship the bikes to Turkey and fly ourselves to Istanbul (stopover in Cairo) and go through Turkey to Greece, Italy, France, maybe Spain, England from June to August. Weather seemed to be ok for that schedule when we checked arrive rain fall and temperature. But I haven't done this yet so don't trust this advice 100%.

We've budgeted for $20 000 US, but that includes the cost of the bike.

We are still dealing with a few problems right now, but once we pull it off I can tell you how we did it. We've done a lot of research so if you have questions I can answer them from the research we've done, but have no first-hand knowledge, yet.

Our big problems right now with trip organization is getting overland from SouthEast Asia to India, and finding an affordable transport for the bikes from India to Turkey. So if anybody out there has advice on those it would be much appreciated.

Tim

Hey Tim-

How are you guys planning on shipping your bikes into Vietnam? Word is that its nearly impossible to get bikes into the country over 175cc. Perhaps things have changed regarding bike entry into Vietnam?

I would imagine importing a bike into Vietnam would be a real nightmare...really curious what your plans are.

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Dave McMillan
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/mcmillan/

Hmmm... I hadn't realized that one. Shows my lack of experience. Lonely Planet had me thinking it was doable, but it most ceratinly is not now that I've looked around further. Maybe if we take smaller bikes... well, I'll have to look into that. We are going to be riding Honda xr250 or xr450s so maybe we could get the xr250s in as 175s...

Dear CaptainTim

Don't want to be a real smartass, but to me it seems that you haven't thought of all the realistic options yet...
I did a very similar route 2 years ago, from SE-Asia to Europe, via Thailand, Japanm, Siberia and central asia.
First of all, to my knowledge it is almost impossible to cross china on a bike. I'm quite sure there's a lot of infos on the HU site about that. If you really want to stick to this plan you will have to arrange yourself with the official chinese travel authorities, they will provide you with a guide and the whole show will cost you a pile of money. ( In 2000, when I informed myself about this route they would have asked something like 12.000 US$ for 60 days and 2 people. So.)
Second, it seems really unlogic to me that you would want to cross eastern asia overland (as it is- to my knowledge of course- equally impossible to enter Myanmar (Burma) by bike) and then ship the bikes from india to turkey. I understand that Pakistan and Iran might seem to be "hot" countries at the moment, ut at least until a while ago this route was really popular and easy to do. And you'd miss some fantastic landscapes and people as well, that's for sure.
Suggestion: Why don't you consider the norhtern route? Siberia, Mongolia, central asia (Kasachstan, Kirgizstan, Uzbekistan etc...) No shipping required, only a passenger boat from Japan to Vladivostok, the best people on earth (the russians!), and landscapes you won't ever forget (in central asia.). Not as much dope though as in India....

My final comment, then I'll stop being the smartie: Lonely Planet is great for the backpacker, but almost useless to the MC world traveller. They just don't have the information you need.....

You can read about our trip on www.transasia.at

Greetings, and feel free to ask, Patrick Lüth

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Don't worry Patrick, you definately don't sound like a smartass. This is great advice. My friends and me have spent 2 years planning this trip around backpacking advice and are now realizing how stupid that was. The friends I'm travelling with have done some motorcycle travel, but very little, and me no motorcycle travel at all. I discovered this site about a month ago and since then I've been spending every free moment I can here. The trip has been completely altered, and the route you describe is sounding more and more of a possibility...

patrick - what's up with Iran and turkey? i noticed that the two Belgium ladies, iris and Trui, did the trip from Belgium to India and back in both 1999 and in 2002 without much hassle. And the motorcycle club in Turkey have quite a bit of info on travel and touring in Turkey.

Of course, I've heard exactly what you indicated about China. And that is: forget it. And getting a bike into Myanmar, or even a backpack for that matter, is virtually impossible.

I'm planning extensive World Tour beginning in August 2004 and hope to spend time in both Iran and Turkey. So if you have further details or traveler accounts, I'd love to hear them! /allan

[This message has been edited by DigitalTavern (edited 07 August 2003).]

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Hey,
I traveled last year to India alone. I found Iran as one of the most safty countries I have been, I sew much more weapons in Laos.
Have fun,
Katharina

Forget China on bikes. Also Vietnam as of now but when we did Australia to Europe in 2000 and 2001 ( we spent 18 months on the road) it was possible. Seems they chane the rules while you are playing the game. Cambodia and Laos are great on bikes. As is Thailand. Freight the bikes between Bangkok and Katmandu in Nepal and then you can ride all the way to Europe. It is quite easy to freight from Thailand to Nepal. We think Thailand is a real bike friendly place and stayed there for 3 months. It went so quick and we could have stayed longer except there were other places we wanted to see. I was scared of Iran before we got there. Having to wear the veil and all that, but it turned out to be a real highlight. The people are so friendly and helpful. Would go back without a worry. Dont miss riding in Iran.