Originally Posted by adaml

hi

hi adam, i have commented in your note below.
Good luck with your trip.

I'm planning a trip from warsaw (pl) to kyrgyzstan in august this year. I will have only 3 weeks for that (22-24 days max), so i'm considering one-way trip. Bike will be probably transported back by truck, i will take a plane from bishkek.



I don't have experience with visas and border crossings for that region - that is the most scary part of this project for me, so i'm hoping for some help from more experience travellers



my initial idea is to go through



1) ukraine (transit only, 2 nights max): You can cross at xarkiv/belgorod border. Be at the border very early morning to save the day. It can take several hours to cross.

2) russia (transit only, 2 nights max). Would be a shame to miss volgograd. Go then to astrakane (nice kremlin there). From there easy ride to kaz. There is an interesting route going from voronej to volgograd cross country. Allows you to stay away from the long very boring highway. I rode it on gs and it was fine if you have a good open source map on your gps.

3) kazakhstan (abandoned shipwrecks of aral sea, 3 nights max): You may need to consider your fuel needs carefully. It is quite a long sandy ride from the main road.

3) uzbekistan (gas fields in derweze, 3 nights max). Don't miss the silk road cities unless you have a passion for gas fields. You might consider spending a bit more time in uzb. Also border crossing in and out of uzb is time consuming...

4) tajikistan (karakul lake, mountains, around 7 nights)

5) kyrgyzstan (issyk kul lake, mountains, around 7 nights)



i will be travelling by ktm 990 adv, so gravel/unpaved roads are welcome
sleeping during transit in hotels, in stans wild camping.


Questions (for now):
A) which border crossings would you suggest for such travel?

B) is above schedule doable?
C) what should i know about needed visas, permissions, passport stamping, etc. Before i go?

Originally Posted by Lovetheworld

Sorry, what do you mean by gas fields in Derweze? When I google that I get the door to hell in Turkmenistan.

And you can also visit Aral lake from Uzbekistan (so going over Beyneu directly into Uzbekistan)

Anyway, if you guys see a blue 4x4 van, just wave
We're going the same way and also over Poland first of course.

@truecolors, could you point me to that road between voronej and volgograd?
I use OSM maps
(I'm assuming it is also doable with 4x4)