Thanks a lot Pecha.

I will most likely take the south road through Iran > Pakistan > India. It is a pity as the Stans really attract me but such is life - the cost and patience to get my bike into China do not fit with my upcoming trip.

As you look quite knowledgeable about this region, which road would you advise from Quetta to Lahore? Is Peshawar advisable? And the KKH / Swat valley? Are they somehow doable too?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Sebastien.

Hey All...thanks for all the usefull info, so our start is UK...me mate has done overland pretty much every continent apart from this so whilst 3 months isnt long its part of the challenge

The preferred journey is as Pecha mentions so Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India and then either Nepal or Bangladesh and air freighting to Bangkok or KL (I've also read up so pretty much cheapest/fastest option to) and then zig zag from there a bit to see Laos and Vietnam as possible at the time and down to Malaysia onwards to Indonesia then East Timor (not sure if that is possible yet)...

Fully aware of Darwin weather, was stationed there for a couple of years it wont be pretty riding but we'll do our best situation pending..the other alternate and depends very much if we have the time is to go via Perth but thats only an option if we happen to run ahead of sched...(personally i think we'll be lucky to be on sched lol)

Thehappywanderer - mate no worries at all if you want to hook up with us, we probably wont want to risk China due to all the bs and the relatively shortish timeframe leaving it for another time to do it properly but regardless, we'll be fully loaded so wont be travelling that fast lol...and we'll also camp whereever possible

Cam Johnson - sounds awesome also, mate keep in touch would be great to catchup somewhere along the route

Overall we know of some of the issues with Baluchistan we'll try and keep south as possible but as Pecha says quite a few travel there and no major dramas...escorts will probably be, but hey all part of adventure...looking at maps, it is possible to go bam, and either across or down to gulf of oman and up again avoiding quetta but not sure yet....

anyways me email is tomdmx@ymail.com so do give me a shout over email....and obviously for anyone that would be keen to hook up and go we could catchup over a bbq weekend to meet & greet and discuss further plans, trips and dreams over a few (really) cold ones

+1 as to what Pecha said about Pakistan, it was our experience as well, just in the opposite direction.

If I could do it over again I would ride as far north as possible in Pakistan to see the KKH and Swat valley.

Also Vietnam is not possible with your own bike. Laos and Cambodia however are and they are excellent fun.

Safe riding!

__________________
TurboCharger + Francois (our BMW R1200gs) '07
www.riding2up.net, blog.riding2up.net

During our trip (Nov-2007), the areas east from Quetta were forbidden for foreigners. So we (and I believe everyone else, who didnt have a Pakistani passport) had to make a detour south, via Sukkur and Multan. To our surprise, we were not escorted at all between Taftan and Quetta. Between Quetta and Sukkur there were some escorts, but not many. And after that we were free to go all the way to Lahore and Wagah (Indian border).

At least during that time, Mir Javeh/Taftan was the only possible crossing point for foreigners between Iran and Pakistan. And the Makran, the coastal region west from Karachi, I was warned, that you´ll need special permits, the roads are almost impassable, and safety might be an issue (the region is pretty much in tribal control). i didn´t go there, though.

Also didnt go further north from Multan or Lahore, so cannot comment on those areas. But border regions near Peshawar are probably off-limits.

But keep in mind I haven´t been there in 3,5 years, so many things could have changed. I believe you might get more up-to-date info from this forum. To me, both Iran and Pakistan were great experiences. And very different from what I had thought about them after following the media.

Thanks Pecha for your advices. These are precious information for me even if they correspond to the situation in 2007. It anyway helps me to appreciate the evolutions and the differences which are in a way interesting to get.

I will look into more recent information but from what I have been already seeing, it was pretty similar recently. I will also try to get more information on KKH. Maybe the death of Ben Laden will make the situation evolve in Pakistan in general, hopefully in a good way.

Thanks again, all the best & safe ride.

So quick confirmation/update we're setting off mid october and see how far we get to by mid-december, ultimate aim is get to oz but we'll see what happens enroute...

in the stages of collecting all the info and drafting a proposed track, will probably create a blog/site of some sort so will post a link here when done...i'm seriously putting doubt into me mates head about this ktm and the amount of electronics/computers etc (i'm travelling on a 1990 dr 800 hence lol) but other than that all is going to plan though obviously early days...working on a couple of potential sponsors also but these things as as rare as ..... so not holding my breath

due to china our route is planned as follows:
turkey
iran
pakistan
india
nepal
bangladesh and ship/freight to thailand from there
thailand
laos
cambodia
back through thailand
malaysia
indonesia and either east timor or straight to oz

well...thats the plan anyway