Hello!

I am on the first stages of a RTW trip and I am currently in Ulan Bator.

I had a big breakdown here and I was stuck while the bike was repaired, but now I am ready to leave.

My original plan was to go to Magadan from here. After that, my plan was to ship the bike to Vladivostok and then to Vancouver via Corea. but I don't trust the bike so much after the breakdown and I would like to stay on a more BMW-friendly route (BMW r1200gs) just in case I have more problems.

So after eliminating Magadan from my plan.. I find myself with an extra couple of weeks and some extra money in the budget and I am starting to think that I should do something different and I thought maybe going through Japan for a couple of weeks (with the bike) and then shipping to Vancouver from there.

So I see that there are two ways to get to Japan via ferry, one from Vladivostok and the other is from the Shakhalin island... and I think I like the second option better. Because once in Japan, I will be in the north of the country and I could travel from north to south and also visit Hokkaido which is perfect for motorcyclists.

Does anyone have some information about this route? Specially about how to get to Shakhalin from mainland Russia? How are the roads from the main transiberian route to the ports with ferry connections to the Shakhalin island? How are the roads in the island? Places to stay? How is the weather normally? And any other think you think may be interesting for a lonely motorcyclist in a remote area

Once in Japan... any advice on how to make it not so expensive? What roads to ride? What places to visit?

Also... any info on how to ship from Japan to Vancouver?

Thanks a lot!

Regards,
Teo.