Howdy!I'm currently on Whidbey Island Wa. riding North from Tucson to Vancouver B.C. and looking for advice on an arrival city in Asia to continue my nominally western course.I've been thinking of landing in Osaka and riding to Nagasaki,then taking the ferry to Shangahi.From there South! Then WestAnother option is going easy and just landing in Bangkok as it's such a touris friendly destination...Anyone with any better ideas?I'd like to ride clear across Asia and am only waiting now for cyclone season to end in East Asia...
Thanks!
Lewis
Headed West across Asia
Tue, 2012-07-10 16:41
#1
WS Member
Headed West across Asia
Hey,
I cycled with my friend from Beijing to madrid. First things I would consider are the VISAS and where you will be in winter....
Similarly, I was cycling SE Asia this past winter and in the northern parts of Thailand, Laos etc...are all cold in winter so...In my mind, I always think of cycling again going west, but I think of doing it more southerly and through the Himalayas but starting in Spring from western China....Anyway, just some thoughts.
Visas are horrendous in Central Asia, so you're bets off to have a game plan!
good luck!
corinne
No Central Asia for me,most likely. And starting in the West wouldn't work,seeing as I'm much closer to China than Turkey...thanks anyhow...
I'm with Corinne on the visa thing. I did from Seoul, South Korea to London a few years back and the time and money wasted on visas was the most annoying thing. Korea is an easy place to started from as there are ferries to different ports in China.
With regards to Visas here is a post I wrote about it
http://www.brakingboundaries.org/bishkek-the-visa-vortex/2009/07/31/
Also consider if you are heading towards Turkey, which as a side note is an awesome country to tour (I just got back from a month there) you have limited options to get past the Iran, Turkmenistan area. If you are not an American you can get visas for these countries, but it costs a lot of money and can be a right hassle to organise. The other option is to cross the Caspian Sea, and that comes with a whole lot of other headaches and expensive visas and LOI's. You can read about crossing the Caspian here.
http://www.brakingboundaries.org/azerbaijan-consulate-aktau-kazakhstan/
http://www.brakingboundaries.org/information-for-aktau-kazakhstan/2009/0...
Hope this helps with your route planning.
Regards,
Jared
I agree,visas will be the most costly aspect of travel.I'll probably start in Japan though,as I have good friends there to see...The Nagasaki Ferry is intriguing as well.
I heard the five day travel visas were available for Americans until recently for Iran,but with recent events I'm not counting on that.Fortunately I'm not a micro-manager in my travels and also have an extended timetable.West Asia is a lot of pedalling away...
Thanks for the comments,
L