Cycling Europe to Indonesia

Surely you've seen [www.crazyguyonabike.com]

Plenty of inspiring rides.

We cycled Crete to Vietnam 2 years ago over the course of 8 months.
Plenty of wild camping and done on a budget

The visa situation seems to change regularly but the Stan section of thorn tree is good.

Does anyone have any information at all with reagrds to procuring a Chinese Visa in one of the Stan countries

Uzbekistan is your only hope (in Kyrgyzstan it used to be possible with the expensive help of a fixer, but even this avenue is now reported to be closed). Don't even try in Tajikistan or Kazakhstan.

We're currently on our way east....taking a route similar to what you've described but heading to Japan not Indonesia. We've been cylcling for over a year already as we've taken a very circuitous route (we started in Norway and cycled to Tunisia) in order to make it more interesting and visit new places. Regarding costs...that's really up to you, depends how much comfort you need....we've been free camping for most of the way and using Couch Surfing and Warm Showers too and taking the occasional room in cheaper countries (Tunisia, Albania). This way even Norway was pretty cheap, all we had to buy was food. We're in Macedonia right now but planning to be in northern Greece soon and then explore some of the Pindos region, Meteora, Peleponnese and the island hopping for a few weeks. We plan to be in Tajikistan for early next summer....it's one place where we want to be there at the optimum time. We've backpacked through the Stans a few years ago and found that getting all the visas took lots of patience (and cash). Kyrgystan has now become visa-free so that's one less to get!! We're hoping to go to Iran if we can get the visa.....being British there's some uncertainty and we'll do some research on the likelyhood of succedding before we apply. We've been ther ebefore and it's a great place to visit.
Definitley check out Crazy Guy On a Bike....it's a great resource.
If you're interested in our route our blog is:
www.slothsonwheels.blogspot.com</a>
Happy Planning!!
The Sloths

SJS cycles somerset has a good reputation and has a decent website,check it out. 'Other cycle shops are available'.
Regarding your trip; you,ll find plenty to focus on on that crazyguy site lots and lots. Stantours good for parts of central asia (L.O.I, VISA).
happy planning,life goes on while your making em!

Hi,

We are currently on a UK to New Zealand cycle trip and our route is France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey. We then flew to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan from Istanbul as we we unable to get an Iranian visa due to the presidential elections. You WILL be able to get a visa. I highly recommend however that you do not use iranianvisa.com. They took our money despite knowing that we would be refused and only acknowledged that we would be refused when we questioned them.

We then went from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China, into Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Regards visas, aim to use Istanbul as your first big visa stop. You can get your Uzbek visa there in 4 days with no LoI for $80. You can also get your Tajik visa and GBAO permit for the Pamirs for $50 in three days. You can also arrange to collect your Iranian visa there but make sure you apply at least one month beforehand. LoI agencies for Iran will help you there.

Kyrgyzstan is visa free. We got our Chinese visa in Tashkent in July 2013 for $60 (see caravanistan.com for ace info about central Asian visas and borders) but be warned that you will only have 23 days to get from Tashkent to the Kyrgyz/Chinese border at Irkeshtam. This is doable but tough. We were ill and had to pay for a jeep from Khorog to Murghab in order to arrive on time. This was also partly due to the fact that our visa expired on a Sunday and the border is closed at weekends so we effectively had 21 days to enter China.

You can now only extend your Chinese visa once and up to a maximum of the original visa as far as I understand. 60 is not long enough to cycle all of China and you will need to ship your bike by train and catch a train. This is hassle free and easy. It cost £10 to ship the bike from Kashgar to Xining. No box needed.

Laos and Cambodia you pay on the border. Thailand you will need to pick up in Kunming. You can only get 15 days at the border but you can get 60 days from consulates as far as I understand. Malaysia and Singapore are visa free for Brits. If you go to Vietnam, you can also get this in Kunming for about $80 I think.

As for insurance, you will need medical insurance for your Chinese visa. We used insureandgo.com. They do backpackers' insurance for up to 18 months and cycle touring is included free. You will very very much struggle to find anyone who will insure your bike and also you for personal liability and accident. We effectively have only medical insurance.

We too are Brits.

Hope this helps and happy cycling!

Hi,

It is worth noting the rumours are circulating that it is now virtually impossible to get a china visa in Central Asia following changes to Chinese policy in August 2013. Lots of travellers are having to either send their passports home or change their routes. This is easier to do if you have two passports.

If you can arrange your china visa in your home country before you set off it will save lots of hassle. In the UK I think you may be able to get a visa valid for 6 months until you first enter, which may be enough depending on how fast you ride!.

Hey guys, thanks for all the information you gave me, its really been a great help!

Great website too sloths, Im thinking of doing something similar but not entirely based on cycle touring, just travelling in general but leaning towards overland travel as this is what I love.

Replying to Ashleybob, you say you can get your Tajik Visa and GBOA permit in Istanbul in three days but I was just wondering how long they give you to actually enter Tajikistan? Is it 6/3 months or less? I was thinking about getting these visa's in Tashkent but I think if they give you at least 3 months validity in Istanbul Ill get it there. Any Ideas? Thanks also for the insureandgo tip? I was really looking hard for a suitable insurance company. Not going to take out insurance for the whole trip, just enough to get me through the countries where its required in order to get a visa although Im gonna give this some more thought.

Thanks also for the SJS cycles link, very handy! Although they seem to be on the expensive side but ill use these along with wiggle.com and a few dutch online stores as well as scouring the second hand markets.

Man it just seems almost impossible to get the Chinese visa in Central asia these days, Keep reading reports about it and none of them are positive! What to do........Maybe Kazakhstan? All seems a bit messy too if Im led to believe correctly. Failing that I guess I could travel through Kaakhstan and into Russia and Then Mongolia with the trains and cross into China from there. Anyone ever done this? I gess this would mean getting a Chinese visa in either Irkutsk or Ulan but Im not sure if this is possible. Ill get a Russia visa though an agency as this foregos the reality of going to a Russia embassy ( I have done this before and was very pain free but kind of costly) This is going to require some serious thought!

Just one more quick question to put my mind at ease, Im planning to give myself around 4500 euros for 15 months including south east asia as a rock bottom budget. so that's about 10 euros per day which im led to believe is a decent benchmark. Obviously this is low but with free camping and cooking my own meals I think this is possible, anyone agree? Ill have another 1000 - 2000 spare if I need it which I think I will but does anyone have any ideas as to how possible this might be? Anyway thanks again for all the information! This site is a godsend. Chow

but with free camping and cooking my own meals

Wild camping is impractical in much of eastern China, and SE Asia, as every scrap of occupiable land is occupied, and there are just too many people around. Few people will cook for themselves in that part of the world either.

You are allowing yourself more than 10 times as much money as Alastair Humphries got by on, which might sound like good news. But then he had an exceptional talent for charming free accommodation and food out of people. But also he had utter dedication to poverty of lifestyle when there were no suitable marks for his charm. He would eat his plain rice and not be tempted by chocolate biscuits or a glass of beer unless someone was giving it to him. Most cycle tourists are not so dedicated to their ride that they want to live like that. You'll get by on your 10 euros in the lower cost countries, without too much difficulty, if you are avoiding doing the things that tourists normally like to do, like seeing the great sights. But it requires a certain degree of dedication to a poverty of lifestyle to achieve it in Europe - most of Europe isn't like NZ in that regard - I was astonished how little money I spent when I was last in NZ, because temptation just wasn't there, and I could eat well for not much money. It's not like that here.

one more vote for SJScycles.
I bought a set of panniers (not Ortlieb) this spring and after having used it for 3 months ride in Japan some of plastic fasteners (hope it's acorrect word) just broke. After coming back from the tour I wrote to SJS cycles to ask what to do in this situation (sending back to would be costy for me since I'm in Poland). Believe it or not but in 25 minutes I had an e-mail form them with apologies and another one confirming FULL REIMBURSEMENT of the value of panniers, that is 100 GBP.

and another message about visas to China - yes, my freinds are stuck to in the middle of the route unable to get visas.. :(