2 months riding around in Central Asia Jun-Jul 2015
 

Hi all,

I work in AbuDhabi, ride a '10 KTM 530Exc and have a chance to take 2 months off work around June 2015. I would like to spend this time riding mostly off-road tracks in the Central Asian nations. The planned route is :

Turkmenistan -> Uzbekistan -> Tajikistan -> Kyrgyzstan -> Kazakhstan -> Russian Altai region -> Mongolia.

My intention is to fly myself and bike to Ashgabat in Turkmenistan and head towards Ulaanbaator, Mongolia via above mentioned route. From UB, i will fly back to Abu Dhabi.

I know i could easily take the ferry into Iran from Sharjah and ride on but i'm avoiding it because of Carnet headaches. Moreover, in June-July it will be Ramadan + peak summer heat and i don't want to be in Iran at that time.

Questions :
Turkmenistan - worth it or skip it ? If its only long straight roads, i'd rather skip it.
Altai republic - Russian visa sufficient OR special permit required ?
Weather - is June-July the wrong time to be in the region ? I checked a few weather sites and it looks like weather wise it will be good.

thanks for any inputs/advise and i'll be glad to know if you are planning to be in/around that aea during this period.

cheers
Vicks

Worth it?: yes
Straight roads: yes, but interesting
Visa stressing?: absolutely, not cheap and not easy, I would never try to ship a bike there

Russian visa is enough if you don't exit from the main highway close to the Mongolian/Kazakh borders

I think it's good timing

cheers

In that case, would it be better to ship the bike to Ulaanbaator and start riding back from there ? But i would still have to fly the bike out from Turkmenistan.

I wouldn't mind skipping Turkmenistan and start my ride from Uzbekistan. Any advise on shipping bike to/from UZ ??

thanks for your inputs.

I don't know anything about shipping from AbuDhabi, but I can tell you Tahkent, in Uzbekistan, has been a popular destination for people shipping their bikes to Central Asia from Europe: if you search this site, you'll find some more accurate info for sure...
Other option can be Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan...

Thanks for your inputs crisidsto :thumbup1:

I now have the possibilityof taking 2-3 months off work during June-August so i want to ride the stans, Pamir, Altai and Mongolia. So, if some one is doing any of the following countries, I would like to join you (in no particular order) :

Uzbekistan
Tajikistan
Kyrgyzstan
Kazhakhstan
Altai republic
Pamir region
Mongolia


I'm very flexible with the order in which i ride the countries as i dont have a fixed itinerary. I just have a start and end date, and o course the weather. I did some reading and found that it will be quite hot in Uzbek and Tajikistan during June-July so i'm thinking if i can plan my ride in another direction.

Hi,
i am currently in kyrgyzstan (japan, russia, mongolia, kazakhstan, kyrgyz) and will be heading towards europe middle of may - tajikistan, uzbek, kazakh, azerrbaijan, georgia, armenia turkey. Some company would be nice if our paths cross.

Hi,

I will begin my ride only in June 2015 so, i'm not sure if you'll still be in one of those countries by then. If you are, will be glad to eet up and ride together.

cheers

...cool, I'l keep an eye out for ya on the road (and in this thread). My plans continually change so anything could happen. Originally it was only going to be Turkey, but now I am thinking Morocco!

cheers,
regie

Heading to Turkey
 

Hi,

I'm back in bishkek kyrgyzstan. My plan is to go to china for 2 months, then come back to bishkek, organise visas, then jump on my bike for tajikistan, uzbekistan, kazakhstan, cross caspian to aserbaijan, georgia, armenia and turkey.

Will probably first ride to Osh and Pamir highway around end of May.

be nice to meet up somewhere and share some stories.

cheers,
regie