4 bikers needed | me: support camper \ the ultimate drive...
 

Route : Brussels to Sydney. Only 1 flight, the rest is cruising! :-)

I am planning a trip with a camper in 2011 from Brussels, all the way through europe, eastern europe, kazachstan, mongolia, china, vietnam, laos, thailand, malaysia, singapore. (yes you can drive 'till there!!!!).
Singapore hitch a ferry to Indonesia (it's just a jump over a pirate-infested canal.. :-)
then drive as far as possible (east timor if it is safe) and then ship to Darwin. Drive further to Sydney... and from there, who knows..

I will drive a camper, and it would be fun to drive along with some 3-4 bikers. You will have support (trailer behind camper), shelter if needed, etc.. I will have company. I'm a cook and photographer, so I will cook as often as needed! :-)

So if anypne plans to do that drive, let me know. I live in Brussels.
:welcome::cool4:

The Ultimate journey
 

Hi, I am a biker and would love to travel with you through Mongolia and China...Have you any idea of how long you would like to travel for and when you plan to travel..

Jimmy

I may have got this totally wrong and I don't mind being told so... but I don't think you can take your UK bike into Vietnam. I know that we were looking into this a year or so ago and it was a non starter.

Anyone else know ?

Re entry into Vietnam
 

Hi, you are dead right as of this moment Vietnam is all but impossible, however Laos is simple and smooth...The respective border crossings China Vietnam and China Laos are only a good days ride apart. I am up for exit into Laos..Erwinmaes gives a route including Laos and Vietnam...just shuffle the order a bit lol

Jimmy

Hi Erwin,
I'm driving through Poland and Ukraine, entering Russia on the 20th of May.
Then on to Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Plans to do Road of Bones in Siberia, if possible. Got fully equipped 4X4. When will you be heading off?
Might be going through Belgium the first week of May, to see a mate in Holland.

Whichever way the route goes the trip sounds good. I will be on my own trip with my mate Mark. We are going East to West RTW northern hemisphere starting in April 2011 so we may meet somewhere along the way. We are arriving into Vladivostock from Japan and making our way back to Blighty.

KEEP ME POSTED
AM RETIREING DR
YOUR TIME FRAME MIGHT WORK FOR ME
ONE OF MY RIDING BUDDIES IS CURRENTLY IN MONGOLIA AND HE HAS ME STOCKED
GREG

Hi Erwin, let me know when you get some dates sorted, I might be interested, it sounds like a pretty good trip. Ride safe.

The situation may have changed but..... when I was in north east KZ I couldn't find a way to get into Mongolia directly as their is a massive &*^&ing mountain range in the way. The options would be

going south and then through the Torugart pass into China (expensive guides needed in China unless you arrange it as a Rally event and it sounds pretty unstable around their with the slaughter of Uzbeks by Krgyz and the like), or

go slightly north into Russia and then drop into western Mongolia which looks absolutely amazing but would be the most remote part of your trip by a long way, good if you want proper off-road with some technical sections. or

go up into siberia then across to Irkutsk or Ulan-Ude then south to Ulan Batur before picking up what I guess is your planned route to fringe the Gobi to the south-east and enter China

My two-cents, hope there was something useful in there! Would love to come but am still paying off the last trip!

acrossasia
 

Hi Erwin,

I'm wanting to ride to Japan from the UK in Spring 2011,
when are you thinking of going ?

I could come with you as far as Thailand and then take a left ???

Although I could probably be bullied into going to Oz if your cooking is any good :)

cheers sarge

UK to Japan
 

Hi,

I'm thinking of doing Uk to Japan on a motorbike, and wondered what you think is the easiest route ??

Thinking of going April 2011

cheers sarge

Sarge looks like the easiest route from the UK to Japan is straight through Russia to Vladivostock, tarmac all the way according to latest reports.
USA is a bit more tedious with paperwork and flights/shipping in and out, and we have still not found an agent that can get us to Japan from USA.
By the way i am Mark Going with Martin next April RTW, see you in Japan or Vladivostock, keep posting would love to meet up the other side of the world for a beer !

Hi Erwin and all other thread contributors. I will be leaving Norway on June 10th 2011 heading for UB via Russia and Kazakhstan and then on from there. I am travelling solo but will follow this thread and hope I can meet some of you along the way for a beer or some travelling company if our schedules match.

Chris

Looks like Erwin hasn't been back since he started this thread back in April; not logged-on at any rate. For anyone interested, there's a small group (currently three Brits with others showing interest) starting out from Germany, Whitsun weekend 2011, heading for Mongolia and Central Asia. More details of the proposed schedule here although, despite the level of detail, it's all very open to change.

Hi Bushman (Mark),

thanks for the reply (what happened to Erwin ??)

I'm definitely not going via the USA, would like to take in India and Thailand and yet still avoid the war zones ?? (and the himalayas ??)

Will end up in Vladivostok at some stage and some beerchug and beerwill probably be much needed by then :thumbup1:

Have you thought of getting shipped to Hawaii and from there to Japan ??
no idea if its possible or not but may be a chance ?

Will keep updates on here as plans progress,

cheers Sarge

China crossing
 

Hi Erwin
I'm planning on setting out in a similar route, would be interested in joining a crossing through China, if the timing and route are suitable. Could you give me an idea of when you plan to go through China and if you're interested in joining forces for that section of the journey.

Les K

Hi Les K , Erwin has not posted since he started the thread. Not sure if that means he is no longer going. I have been trying to go through China for two years, the closest I got was last year. I was joining [url=http://www.overlandwithkids.com]Overland With Kids |

China
 

Hi Les K, Just to let you know Erwin has not posted on this thread since his initial post, not sure if that means he is no longer going...Re China I have been trying to transit China for two years but not managed it so far. I was going to tag along with www.overlandwithkids dot com. Anne did a huge amount of work on getting quotes for guides etc. As part of a group that included a 4x4 with room for the guide it looked like costing £1500 as my share of guide and fees. Unfortunatly they had to change the dates and I could not travel on the revised dates. I am still going to transit China ..I am looking at 2012. I would be interested in talking to anyone else who is serious about China...especially if you are planning to go in a 4x4...

Thanks Jimmy (xt600)

I hope you have the budget and time for China. Expect to pay anywhere from US$150-250 per person per day for the tour agency to get you through China not including the paperwork. Also all the paper work will take 3-4months before you get to the border. If you're serious start preparing now.

I consulted about 1 year ago over 5 agencies working in China for self drive/ride tours and none of them wanted to combine cars and bikes in one group because motorcycles are banned from all freeways and motorways in China. So the position was that the group would have to be separated, hence another group another travel agent/translator. It works out more expensive per bike then per car as well as groups of bikes would need to pay for the expense of a car for the travel agent/translator to travel in. If your group has a car and you'll be doing ALL the minor roads together then you can save by having the travel agent/translator ride with you.

China sounds great but the budget for China will put a big hole in your wallet, be warned. :nono:

Vietnam is pretty much out of the question with your own vehicle short of getting a letter of invitation from the government and a police clearance. :frown:

Try to avoid SEAsia in the wet season or be preapred for the worst doh

I would also not recommend Singapore as it is expensive to get permits to drive/ride in Singapore and there are other ports that are more accessible and cheaper.

I've mailed Erwin and he is changing his plans. It will probably be for 2012.

It seems a very cool trip to me... Support, shelter and cooking... It's almost not adventuring... :-)

I'm from Hasselt, BE and driving a V-Strom (as of januari next year ;) ). Keep me posted if your planning to go in 2012.