Chicago to London to Moscow to Bangkok
 

My first post here so I hope Im in the right place.
This is an initial enquiry regarding planning a trip which will start in Melbourne Australia to USA across Europe/Asia back to Oz.
My main focus is road conditions from Moscow to Bangkok via India.
Has anyone done this trip?
Can anyone give recommendations on how to find out about road conditions?
The roads I am considering at this stage are M5, P158, M32, M39, A1 to get me into India.
ANY help at all would be grateful.
Thanks in advance!!

Er, what countries might those roads be in? Riding in Russia is easy, and there are quite a few threads here and on ADVRider about Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries in the region; you don't mention what countries you intend to pass through?

I suggest that you do some research on relevant threads and come back with more specific questions...

Yeah....SOrry bout that. Ive spent too much time looking at maps :)
From Moscow (Russia) to Uralsk (northwestern Kazakhstan) to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) to Jalalabad (eastern Afghanistan) to Lahore (Pakistan) to Patna (Bihar/India) to Mandalay (Myanmar/Burma) to Bankok (Thailand).

This is in the very early stages of planning. This route has no real significance to me. It was the route that Google Maps shows when going from Moscow(Russia) to Bangkok(Thailand). It seems a reasonable route but I am definitely open to learning here. My 3 main criteria in order of priority are Safety, Conditions, and Price. For these priorities I have ruled out the possibility of heading from Moscow toward Japan then through China. China is WAY too complicated and costly.

I hope this helps you help me :).

Thanks for you reply.

Well I am sure that there are more qualified people than me to comment, but until they jump in I have a couple of responses:

1) Frankly your priorities do not seem to line up with your route. If your top two priorities are safety and conditions, personally I would not include Afghanistan, Pakistan, or India on my route (cue those who consider those countries to be the safest countries in the world, with wonderful riding conditions).

I have ridden in China with a group, and it kind of sucked. and as you point out, it is expensive and very bureaucratic. But if you want safety and decent riding conditions your best bet is all the way through Russia to Vladivostok then to Korea or Japan. Much of the route through Russia is rather tedious but "interesting" did not seem to be one of your criteria, and moreover the first time and alone you would probably find it interesting enough.

2) I think you need to do more research; from what I've seen in the past, it was impossible to enter Myanmar on a moto, although that might have changed recently, so you should check.

3) Not clear if Bangkok definitely needs to be your end-point?

If you're going through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanisan, Pakistan, etc., there are plenty of ride reports here and on ADVRider for most of those places (not too many for Afghanistan!), so you should really take a look at what other people have done.

Sorry, but this is one region of the world, where you can't just draw routes on the map, and expect to ride them just like that.

Afghanistan is a warzone, personally I'd stay out. If going from Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan, it means going via China, and the necessary arrangements. Pakistan&India will require you have the carnet. Burma is practically impossible, but airfreight Kathmandu-Bangkok (for example) is do-able.

There are great routes, that you CAN do, but I think you'll need to do a bit more research, to have a clearer picture of the area.

Some actual physical maps rather than googlemaps may help for planning on the road and should prevent getting TOO lost...

Iran 6903 Cartographia
Pakistan Pakistan Nelles Map
India 6963 Cartographia
Nepal Nepal Nelles Map
Thailand 0751 Michelin
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia 6476 Cartographia