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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Patrickneedsfood: I will be travelling through Tibet on my trip. I see the route you have outlined in the link goes a different way. Are you set on that route, or do you fancy Tibet?
Cheers.

Just a few words of advice about some details. Not to be taken too seriously but still...

Going through China from the west Kazakhstan/Kyrgizstan/Tadjikistan in September is from my knowledge a good time to cross. Not too hot through the Xinjang deserts and most of rainy season will be gone in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces of China. And you will arrive SE-Asia in October just at the end of the rainy season and you will have the cool and dry season to ride SE-Asia.

However planning to spend only 1,5 months to ride through SE-Asia is a bit shocking to me. For example I spent 3,5 months in Indonesia and felt like I could really get a tiny glimpse into the country and I could easily have spent 2-3 times as much time there. Yes you could ride through Laos in 2-3 days, Thailand in 4-5 days, Malaysia mainland in 1-3 days but riding through Indonesia is a slow affair, a really slow affair. A 300 km day in Indonesia is most places a looong day. Because the roads are very narrow, heavily traffic congested and generally quite bad! Ferry schedules between all the different islands are a bit uncertain, for example from Flores to Timor there is only 2-3 ferries pr week and they are easily cancelled due to bad weather, mechanical problems etc etc.
Also in Indonesia the weather is a bit opposite compared to most of the rest of SE-Asia as most of Indonesia lies south of the equator and the rainy season starts October-November and runs to March-April (with geographical and yearly variations of course)

If I were you I would have spent plenty of time in SE-Asia. Beautiful areas, cheap in general, great food, lovely beaches, friendly locals etc. I would have spent time in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and possibly Vietnam and Malaysia from October to March or so, then shipped the bike to Indonesia in March-April and spent a few months there. Maybe aimed at arriving Australia in August-September.
But of course - Im not you and you have other priorities and time limits.

About Carnets - when my Carnet expired I just got a new Carnet from my Automobil organisation. It coated around 100 €, soit wasnt that bad. Another option is to extend the Carnet. I have heard about several travellers who have done that.

I also notice you plan to arrive Australia (presumably ship your bike from Dili, East Timor to Darwin) mid November. Remember the shipping schedule Dili to Darwin also are a bit uncertain and that the ship goes from Dili up to Singapore and then to Darwin. This means the shipping takes around 20 days or therearound.

Also do some research about the weather in northern Australia in November-December and further to February-March. Its a moonson season there and it can really poor down there and flood the roads totally and make them impassable. Maybe our aussie mates in here can conform these information and elaborate.
Anyhow - arriving Darwin in November-December will not be the best time to get there and travel on imo.

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