Zimi,

If you end up in the Stan's let me know as I will be traveling in the area, maybe also on the roads north of Kazakhstan (wardj91@hotmail.com)

istanbul bisiklet motosiklet,

Because I've just started posting recently I'm not able to PM yet, (sorry about posting this here), but I need to fly home for a few days (on June 9th, return June 12th) from Istanbul during my trip (Germany-Tajikistan-Germany) and was wondering if you could recommend a place for me to leave the bike in Istanbul?

Thanks guys

Hi, I'm not sure now if I will come back trought turkey or Romania, it will a bit depend of my mood and the timing, as it's at the end of my trip. Thanks for the invitation, for sure I will contact you if I come to Istanbul.

wardj91 ok I'll concact you, I will be there normally around july 2011.

Hi, i unfortunately must agree about not particularly enjoying the Ukraine, between Moldova and Oddessa we saw many speed traps although we rode slowly and never got stopped, also the roads are very boring. The 'Arabat Spit' in the Crimea was the exception being 140km of fun dirt, this ends less than an hour from Kerch, the ferry to Russia. I am also looking at a Mongolia trip 2012 and see the Pamirs as the highlight. Andy B

Hi everybody, my planning is quite finished now, I still have a bit more than 1 month to go. Hope everything will be ok for my visas:

here is my plan:

departure from switzerland: beginning of april 2011
entering Russia from Finland: beginning of may 2011
entering Mongolia from Russia : beginning of june 2011
entering Kazakhstan: beginning of july 2011
then I habe 2 months to do Kyrg, Tadj and Uzbek and go back to Kaz to exit in Russia again
In beginning of september coming back home from Russia trough Romania and the rest is not defined yet.

Hope I will meet some of you on the road

Thanks for all you help and advices!

Hi,

I'm planning a similar trip.
Can you make a summary of all the LOI and visa process. Where are you going to ask for the LOI? Are you going to pick up the Central Asia visas on the way?

Hope everything goes well with your trip

PB

Maybe catch you in Kazakhstan, Zimi!

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Paul "Every county of England, every country of Europe and every (part of every inhabited) continent of the Earth" 94% done! What's left? Central America, East, Central and West Africa, Australia & New Zealand

Hi everyone, so I'm on my way, I started 2 week ago, I'm in Latvia at the moment, will cross border to russia begining of may, enter Mongolia at latest on the 3ofjune, then july and agust for the stans, and 1 month to go back home from Ukraine.

here is my webpage: zimiontheloose.ch | Rock'n'roll Motorcycle Adventure!
you can find the page on facebook as well, zimi on the loose

for now only in french, if I have time (but doubt it) will post in english maybe later..

Thanks for all your help for my planning and special thanks to Sakke!!!!

I hope you have a fantastic trip!

Keep in touch, maybe we will meet somewhere.

Paulo

Hi Paulo, I did every visa before I left, all trough Stantours.

To Wildman, yes could be nice to meet us in Kazakhstan!

Hello everybody. I started my trip from Switzerland to Mongolia one month ago, all good so far, I'm having a lot of fun, I'm in Moscow now for 2 more days and I want to ask you some advices about the route to go to mongolia. Here is more or less my route, but I have no idea if the cities I choose are reachable in a one day ride (8-10 hours). Because sometimes if the roads are bad, I can take 2-3 times more time. So if you have some advices to give me I would help me a lot.

Here I have 12 days riding planned, and I still have a reserve of 7 days, because I want to enter Mongolia on the 2 or 3th of june. So you can suggest where I can take a day more. And do you have some address for servicing the bike in the case it's needed?

So I will leave from Moscow:

Nizhiny Novgorod 410km EASY ROAD, NOT TOO BAD
Kazan 393km EASY ROAD, SOME PARTS BUMPY SOME VERY GOOD
Ufa 515km (what is the best way to go to UFA trough M5 or M7?)

I'm thinking now going to Ekaterinburg instead of Chelyabinsk (600km)
Then the ride to Osmk is quite long, were is a good place to stop in the middle? (1000km)


Novosibirsk 650km (should I take 2 days and stop in the middle, like in Kuybyshev?)
Krasnoyaesk 526km
Achinsk 570km
Tulun 700km (probably too long as well, should I do it is 2 days?)
Irkutsk 370km
Ulan Ude 414km
Ulan Ude – Ulaan Bataar 536km (here I'm not sure as well, how are the roads? Is there a city near the border where I should sleep and cross in the morning?)

Now I can tell, all of these roads are quite good! No problem at all, even with a street bike

by the way, here is my blog, it's in french but google translator works well, I tried.
Www.zimiontheloose.ch

my trip is finished since 2 months, total of 34'000km in 169 days.

If anyone needs help for a similar trip, I am willing to share my experience

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Congrats on finishing your trip! I am planning to go to Mongolia next summer and once I've done a bit more research I would like your thoughts on route selection, difficulty, timing, etc.

Could you please send me your e-mail address via PM?

Nicely done Zimmi. I've been there 5 years ago and it was amazing. That's a lot of riding in just 4 months, but probably one of the best one can do from Europe.

How are the "roads" in Mongolia, are they building new ones ? that would be a pity. The attraction of the country is that aren't any.

Ciao,
Laurent

A ride to Asia
Clodo Africa

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2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

Hi Ibendel,

I took 6 months not 4!

the Gobi is amasing, no road at all, but the middle of the country, from UB to the west, there is 500km of paved road (in more or less good condition) and then the road is in construction for a few hunder kilometers more. Otherwise there's nothing.... which is good! If it doesn't rain! :-)