Which route to take for my journey home?

Two weeks ago Bianca & Florian, who I met in Ayutthaya during the Southeast Asia road trip, informed me about their plans driving through from Laos to Mongolia via China. They asked me if I want to join their convoy of 2 cars and 2 motorbikes. I welcomed this opportunity because I’ve got worried more and more about the sabre rattling between Iran and Israel/USA. Unfortunately, this option became very unattractive after getting to know more details about their itinerary. First, they are going to enter China mid of May. That means I will have a gap of two weeks after my final exam at NUS. I have a time frame of about 10-12 weeks for the whole journey only. Spending two of them in Southeast Asia would shorten the available time for countries I haven’t been before even more. Second, I was somehow assuming their route will lead towards North/Northwest, e.g., Xinjiang province, but in fact they will head to Beijing as you can see below. Almost two weeks of their itinerary (the whole trip is supposed to last 25 days) is dedicated to cities and attractions I visited during my stay in China in 2008/2009.

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At the time I came up with the idea of my journey home (more than a year ago), I tried to estimate the distance with Google Maps and thought it would be some 20-25k km. The route below shows what I had in mind initially:

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Meanwhile, I figured out it isn’t that far at all. So here’s my new favorite route:

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I still haven’t applied for any visa. Both these options have in common that they go through Iran. Actually, there aren’t that many other routes I can (theoretically) take.

Maybe this one?

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Ignore the part that leads through Afghanistan; it’s due to Google Maps routing. Yet, I’m not sure if there’s a way to go from north Pakistan directly to Tajikistan without transiting Afghanistan (would that be better than Iran?).

Or make my own way through China, which would not only be very expensive but also cause a logistic problem: Where should the tour guide who has to accompany me by law take his seat. There’s actually no space for a pillion on my motorbike.

I haven’t applied for any visa yet, because I really don’t know what to do. Try it via Iran and just hope for the best? Get visas for all other countries as well, in case Iran closes its borders? Find people to go with me through China via Xinjiang?

Any suggestions from your side? Let me know…

My Southeast Asia road trip is over, the review begins

I returned to Singapore safe & sound on Monday evening.
After my BMW Xchallenge was serviced at BKK Motorcylce last Friday, I parked it at my friend's place at Pattaya. It will be waiting for me there till I start my journey home end of April this year.
A selection (104) of the pictures I took during this trip can still be found at my public Google+ album. Well, there's still a lot more to come: During the next couple of weeks, I'll work on the post-processing of the videos I shot, mainly while riding my motorbike, and on the design & structure of this website. Stay tuned!

Back on the road after holidays in Sihanoukville

Happy New Year 2012!
I spent the last couple of days together with friends from Singapore at Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. At the latter we celebrated New Year's Eve together and had a relaxed boat trip the day after.
Yesterday, I hit the road again and rode all the way from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap. This is the last touristic destination of my road trip through Southeast Asia.
Unfortunately, I couldn't discover Cambodia as much as I wanted because my rear tire and my front brake pads are (almost) used up and thus, I had to reduce the mileage. All attempts finding a on/off-road tire in size 140/80-18 at Bangkok, Pattaya and Chonburi - thanks to Kitty, a Thai motorcyclist who helped me a lot - were in vain.

Merry Christmas!

I added some more pictures to my album Southeast Asia road trip 2011.

Pictures of my road trip through Southeast Asia 2011

There you can find all pictures I uploaded so far: Southeast Asia raod trip 2011

Half time résumé

Yepp, my road trip started 3 weeks ago and there are only 3 more left. The past 7000 km have been awesome - most of the time.

Positive
+ rode almost every day
+ had the opportunity to ride off-road
+ met friendly & interesting people - locals as well as other globetrotters
+ visited some well worth seeing sights/cities, e.g. Melaka, Chiang Mai (walking street on Sunday night)
+ had some awesome drives, e.g. Fraser's Hill

+ enjoyed cheap & delicious food
+ enjoyed good weather (sometimes even too hot): needed the GORE-TEX layer of my motorbike suit only 3 times so far

Negative
- stung by a huge (unidentified) insect while riding resulting in a badly swollen thigh for more than 3 days
- run over a dog
- crashed my motorbike in a slippery curve 2 days ago resulting in bent handlebar, bent gearshift lever, broken left hand guard and broken clutch lever
- front breaking pads & profile of rear tire almost used up; no spare ones with me and supply impossible/not found en-route yet
- too less time for all the things I want to do & see, e.g. edit & upload videos

The longer I think about it, the more I could add; mostly positive experiences. Well, I'll think of curiosities next time...

Going to Laos tomorrow

I intent to go from Thailand to Laos via Chiang Kong/Huay Xai border crossing tomorrow. Possibly, I'll meet Peter there for the first time; he's riding a rented Kawasaki KLX250. I was introduced to him by Phillip, the friendly owner of Rider's Corner in Chiang Mai (Thailand).
I haven't planed anything for Laos yet. Because of that, not only my first post of this blog is quite short but also the blog is lacking anything else like a proper design, photos, videos etc. All will follow soon(er or later)!