Hi,

We are going to be doing an overland trip from KL (Malaysia) to the UK and would like some advice.

We're a married couple and my wife is fair and blonde, which is a concern for some of the countries we're aiming to travel to. Any tips, advice, knowledge etc that anyone has around the following would be greatly appreciated:

- Visas - how easily accessible they are, etc.
- Travel route - advice, whether or not it's safe and suggested route through the country (from a safety and scenic point of view)
- Advice on difficulty of travel, finding somewhere to stay (and whether or not camping is a possibility) and anything else you may have knowledge of.

The route we're thinking of doing is:
- Fly from Melbourne to Singapore and do a loop - ride up through Malaysia, into Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, back into Thailand, the Malaysian peninsula and back into Singapore. We've both travelled through Asia before, so not worried about this leg, but more than happy to take advice. We need to be back in Singapore by 3 July and were thinking that it would take us about 3 months from 1 April.

If anyone knows a good shipping agency from Australia to Singapore that would be much appreciated.

- Ship the bike from Singapore to New Delhi or Kathmandu - we're not sure which way to send the bike as we've heard stories that shipping (via air) things to Delhi is a bit of a nightmare and Kathmandu may be the better option?

Again, if anyone knows a good shipping agency from Singapore to India advice would be great!

- Spend from mid-July travelling around India. We're not sure how long we should spend there, but were thinking it would take 6-8 weeks to travel around to a few places. Can anyone offer any advice about where to go, how safe the routes are etc? Also, is it worth going into Nepal on bike?

- At the end of that trip we've been trying to work out how to get to Europe. We've heard that the easiest way to do it is through Pakistan and then into Iran and into Turkey. We're looking for ANY advice on this leg. We're a bit nervous about the trip given that my wife is coming along and we're a tad concerned about the security levels there... Has anyone done this trip? What's it like? Is it safe?

If not, what are the other options - it looks like going up the top of India isn't an option either - Afganistan, Pakistan or China all seem like really bad options for up north in the Kashmir area.

Is there a good train route that's reliable for the bike if crossing through these countries is not an option? What about shipping to bike into Turkey from India?

- We think that we've got the rest of the trip worked out - into Turkey, Greece, etc through to France and the UK. We're assuming that Bosnia is relatively safe these days?

Anyway, if anyone's done this trip and has advice, tips, information that they can send us that would be great. We're planning on leaving in the 1st week of April, so it's not too far away and we're keen to get things organised. Any information on the carnets would be great as well.

Look forward to hearing from people!

Cheers,

Overland Wanderers

Wow, that is quite a list of questions, but I am glad you have that last bit sorted out!!
BTW, Bosnia is quite OK nowadays - that's one question out of the way.

I strongly recommend that you read into the threads that are in the various sections in here: I think that just about all of your questions are answered in here already and your reading would save those guys and gals from typing them all over again - just a personal view.
Once you have a few answers from a bit more reading, you will have a half dozen more lined up in any case!

Good luck with the planning, it is nearly as enjoyable as the travelling,

In the meantime, welcome to this site

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Dave

Thanks Dave!

We've started reading through the threads and are very interested to hear from people who have recently done any of these border crossings and those who are considering doing it next year.

Judging by what we've read, the Iran situation seems to be relatively safe.

Thanks again for your help.

Look forward to sharing our stories when the journey begins.

Kylie

Some time ago this webpage was posted on here:-

The Man in Seat Sixty-One...

It appears to have all you could ever want to know about trains!

"Is there a good train route that's reliable for the bike if crossing through these countries is not an option? What about shipping to bike into Turkey from India?"

Historically, the Russians built large rail systems to move around their empire; so you may find rail systems to go through the "Stans" for example.

But, I reckon you won't want to sit on a train when you can ride!!

Cheers,

__________________
Dave

I just rode through Iran and I must say it feel very safe. The Iranians are hospitable beyond belief. Remeber to get a petrol card at the border though as you can't buy petrol otherwise.

I opted out of Pakistan due to the current security situation there. Instead I took a boat from Bandar-E Abbas in Iran to Sharjah, a city north of Dubai, UAE. From here I will ride to Muscat, Oman (rode it already and it's a really nice ride) where I intend to catch a boat to Bombay.

Marcus
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