When India into Pakistan into Central Asia?
 

Whats the best time of year to head from India into Pakistan, and then on into Central Asia (either Taj or Kyrg via China)?

I'm in India now, and plan on heading into Pakistan in perhaps late March. Will it be too cold/ will the roads still be closed. I'm pretty flexible.

The idea I have is Pak, Taj, Kyrg, Kaz, Turkmenistan (maybe) and a ferry to Azerbaijan, into Georgia, and then Turkey.

Ideally, I'd like to end up in Turkey one year hence, approx August 2014, so I'd have some summer months to explore Eastern Europe.

Thanks

it will be cold yess. snow yess !! crossing Khunjrab Pass 4700 meters will be fun in snow . better do Pakistan in April ;) . i am in Lahore, stay in touch and do link up ;)

I'd be interested the know about this crossing too, we may possibly be taking the KKH from Pakistan to China in 2014.

I understand that it can possibly be closed by snow from the beginning of November, can anyone confirm that it's unlikely to be closed before that?

Andy

KKH usually closes around 1st of January and opens around 1st of May (depending on weather).

You cant enter Tajikistan or any other Central Asian country from Pakistan directly. You can go to China and from there enter Central Asian countries.

Omar

Cool, looks like I'll shoot for April. Wow, lots of time in India :D I too will head for China when the KHH opens, then onto Taj or Kyrg.

Andy, how are you arranging your China travels?

Not sure yet - we have a bit of logistics to sort out still.

The current plan is to enter China from Mongolia around June/July time, then cross China to Laos/Thailand and try to arrange a crossing of Myanmar to India, cross northern India into Pakistan and get back to Europe before the winter sets in.

We have a tour company quote for a 30 day crossing of China from Mongolia, when we know about Myanmar we'll be asking them for a price for a 2 or 3 day crossing from Pakistan to Kyrgyzstan.

Andy

Interested in the price and touring co. please post.


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March is a bit early, I'd say late april would be better, but it will still be cold/wet in the North, with snow on the high passes. If you intend to enter China from Pak do you realise that you cannot do so independently with a vehicle ? You will need to book yourself onto an official Gov 'tour', where you will be met at the border by your 'guide' and accompanied the whole way. This is an expensive and time consuming process, and if you haven't allready, you should look into this immediately.
Logisticly, it is a lot simpler to cross into Iran and enter the Stans from there !
Good luck, UB.

Someone else in our group is organising the China section, the quote we have is €3200 per vehicle (based on 6 people with 3 vehicles). Company is Xinjiang Holiday China International Travel Service Co Ltd, contact: desert_roses (at) sina (dot) com

For Myanmar it's Myanmar Travels and Tours

They haven't come back with a price yet.

Andy

I've never heard of anyone crossing Myanmar in either direction. I know people have entered from Thailand, accompanied by GOV guide, but had to return the same way they entered back into Thailand. I've never heard of anyone being allowed to enter from Indian side, and know of several who've tried and ended up shipping their bikes, most recently earlier this year !
UB.

See these for a blog on a crossing of Myanmar from India to Thailand last year:

www.abenteuerosten.de/atw-2012/rec_029/
www.abenteuerosten.de/atw-2012/rec_030/
www.abenteuerosten.de/atw-2012/rec_031/

It has to be done as a group tour I understand, and all be pre-approved, but it does seem to be possible

Andy

Hi Andy, thanks for that, I don't read German, but as you say it does appear to be possible now. I wonder, just what, exactly the conditions. requirements might be ?
UB.

If you use Google Chrome as a web browser, it will give you the option to translate the page for you. Never a proper translation but enough.

China, not too hard or expensive IMHO
 

Hi

We did the KKH into China in May 2011. Yes, you'll need a guide but I don't think it was too expensive. $US2500 for 2 people, 2 bikes inc hotels, guide, car for guide etc etc. Newland travel was our agency. No upfront cash, just paid them in Kashgar. Also its not too hard. We organised it whilst on the road in about 6-8 weeks. Started process in Penang and picked a date that we'd enter China. This date is FIXED and SPECIFIC by the way, not like other visas which have flexibility. We rode on through Thai (got China visa in BKK when we produced the special paperwork send from Newlands), air freighted to Nepal, rode that, across top of India (too early in season for Leh etc), into Pakistan and up KKH. Bloody brilliant, can't recommend it enough.

Check www below for more details

Have fun now!

Cheers

Awesome. Good to know. Also, expensive is a relatie term. $1250 is about 40 days and nights of travel for me, all included. That said, that price range is still manageable if it makes the trip work. I budgeted for it and know that its coming. What can ya do?

Just got back from 2.5 months in Leh/Spiti. Amazing time.

As for Iran, I'd love to, and will look into it more, but having a US passport is not so helpful. Interpret that as you like hehe bier

As for Pakistan, I'm not too worried about Pak being coldish/ wet. I just wanna be able to get into Kyrg/ Taj/ Uzbek and pass through The Stans with as much time and ease as possible, even if that means shipping the bike. Or perhaps teleporting it. Whatever works.