The route to Thailand

Route Overview

If you draw a straight line between UK & Thailand, you'll find there are a couple of big bits of water in the way - The Black Sea & the Caspian Sea. So first decision to be made was over, under or across? I opted for an under & over approach, mainly as this allowed me to take in Turkey & Georgia, both of which sounded great. The next big decision is south or north of the Himalaya's, which essentially boils down to 'China? yes or no?'

I chose to go through China, as I had only visited Beijing before and (apart from the main tourist sights) wasn't very impressed. That didn't seem a fitting impression for such a large country, so this provided a great opportunity to see the other side of China, so to speak.

The thing with overland travel in China is, however, that it's complicated & expensive. You need lots of permits and, in the main, you need to travel with a guide (for whom you have to pay salary, food and accommodation). So to keep the costs down most people go as a group.

I found a small UK based outfit Motoexplorers to take on the admin work of setting the China section up. They offer much more including fully escorted tours, but the 'light touch' approach suited me better. Importantly going this route gave me an important stake in the ground - 'be on the Torugart pass at the Chinese border with Kyrgyzstan on 8th September'.

The Chinese leg then, whilst far from being what the trip is all about, provided a much needed cornerstone to plan the rest of the adventure around, and stop things drifting.

So, the overall planned route is shown below. Using Mr Google's driving routes & times, this is just over 20000km & will take about 75 days (that's allowing 4-6 hours riding a day and a day off once a week) - no pressure then!

 

In reality I expect the distance to be further & time a bit longer, due to not following the 'fastest' route, getting lost, sightseeing & other diversions and of course unforeseen problems (or opportunities as we like to say at work!)

The planned route will take me through 17 countries, hopefully in this order;

UK, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China (including Tibet), Laos and Thailand.

Section 1 - UK to Kazakhstan

 

Until entering Russia, this is the easiest & probably most likely section to vary due to the more open borders & relaxed Visa rules. In essence the route is planned around a few key milestones;


- Meeting up with some friends in France

- France to Italy via the Alps

- The Croatian Coast & Dubrovnik

- Meteora in Greece

- Cappodecia in Turkey

- The back roads to Tblisi in Georgia

- The 'Military Highway' over the mountains into Russia

There are a number of built-in shortcuts available if time is running tight.

Section 2 - Kazakhstan to China

 

My route through Russia avoids the Chechnya region and exits into Kazakhstan between Astrakhan & Atyrau.  I will then head south east and into Uzbekistan following the old Silk Road.  According to reports this will be a bleak couple of days - but lets see.

In Uzbekistan the highlights I want to see are the Silk Road towns of Khiva, Bukhara & Samarkand, hopefully I will have time to sip for a day or so to look around.
From there its north east into Kazakhstan again and head for Almaty, where I hope to do a half way service & fit some new tyres.

From Almaty I plan to go further East and explore the Charyn Canyon before crossing the border into Kyrgyzstan.  The mountains, lakes & plains of Kyrgyzstan have a reputation of being one of the high spots of central Asia.  I will then head up into the mountains to get to the Torugart pass & join with the rest of the group to cross China. 

 

 

Section3 - China to Thailand

 

The route through China has been mapped out by Motoexplorers in conjunction with the Chinese guide agency, so I have researched this section far less & am happy to take it as a surprise.  It will take 25 days to cross this massive country alone!

One of the things I am really looking forward to (government permits permitting) is to ride through Tibet & up to Lhasa, before tracking round into Southern China.

From China we will head into Laos, where I hope to spend a day or two resting in Luang Prabang, before the final push into Thailand.


I know Thailand very well, having lived there for 10 years, and have ridden some 50000km on its beautiful roads - my final week or so will be a circuit of some of my favourite roads & sights as well as catching up with old friends.