What are the options to get from Turkey to China?

I know this is a big open-ended question, just hoping it will provoke some discussion that will help me settle on a couple of more concrete options for this part of a RTW trip.

Having some trouble getting my head round the Middle-East/Indian subcontinent/Central Asia/East Asia thing. Obviously a huge landmass. From my reading and research, it seems that heading east after Turkey, most trips either go via Iran/Pakistan/India, or through Central Asia directly into Tibet. Now I'm a little confused because I've on several occasions that one cannot cross overland from Nepal into Tibet on a bike. Obviously this is a problem since there doesn't seem any other way besides Bangladesh/Myanmar (which I have heard tell of being done, goodness knows how they got into Burma overland on a bike though). But it must be possible, surely...? I don't want to get to Kathmandu and find out I'm stuck...

The other option, Central Asia and straight into China (Tibet), involves a few mad dashes and even madder visas from what I've gathered; I'd like to see Central Asia but it sounds as though in many parts it's a big difficulty being on a bike and only being able to travel relatively slowly. It also misses out a good chunk of the Middle East/fertile crescent, not to mention the Indian subcontinent and the Indian Himalaya. I'm keen to visit Syria/Lebanon and possibly Kurdistan, as long as I can cross into Iran via the new(ish) overland border - not heard any reports of that being done yet. This would probably be my choice of route if it were feasible to get into China from Nepal.

Can anyone point me towards some resources/blogs covering a route through this part of the world, or some basic route suggestions? I don't have much of a preference between the two basic routes - at the end of the day I'm curious to see everything the world has to offer and take what I can from the experience, whatever form it comes in.

The time-scale for this is to leave the UK in June and get to Turkey for autumn-time. After that it will be dictated by the climate! Is India a good option for the winter months, and how soon is it possible to tackle the mountains in spring? Alternatively, would the Middle East/fertile crescent be an option during winter before Central Asia in spring?

Thanks again (this forum really is invaluable and I hope I can be as helpful once I've actually gone and done this for real!)

Quite possibly no help whatsoever to you but mb, or for other RTWers. Or just of general interest.
23 + various type cyclist are now starting from Beijing to Paris by various routes. May get ideas, or just interest to follow mb.
So, know they go different direction to you.
cycling beijing to paris

Link doesn't seem to work. Try this instead.
try this one

There have been quite a few threads about the Nepal/India to China 'problem', including this one. A few people seem to have done it, but specifics seem to be lacking - I suspect that those who have done it have skipped a lot of the journey by bus-ing through with a tour group.

There are no crossing points to China/Tibet available to tourists between Pakistan and Burma, apart from the Kathmandu one. The road south from Shigatse (second city in Tibet) to Sikkim was recently opened for local traffic, but not yet for tourists - if it is opened soon its likely to be only from China south. Marija Kozin has recently cycled from Europe to Beijing - in Beijing I believe she was told that the Sikkim Road would be open if she wanted to return that way. Remember that the Beijing Olympics might change things - there are rumours of a crackdown in Tibet (there always are), but on the other hand they might loosen things up in a show of openness, but your guess is as good as mine as to which way it will go.

So far as i know Burma does not give transit visas. A couple of years ago i met two German tourers who had gone to Thailand via India and Bangladesh, but they flew over Burma - I think their motivation was as much not breaking the tourism boycott as it was visa difficulties.

You don't say what passport you have - If you are British, then i imagine Iran wouldn't be too easy or desirable (but hey, your sailors seemed to enjoy the stay). So far as i know, Turkmenistan is the only real problem in Central Asia, they only give 5 day transit visas I believe.

Last year i spent a bit of time on here researching the Central Asia Pakistan India Tibet Nepal thing. (I didn't go alas) Nevertheless, what i saw was a lot of people heading across from europe towards india and CA and also china. And I read a few blogs, journals etc. So, because i can't recall any website addresses off the top of my head, try doing searches for each and any of the countries you want to travel through (rather than turkey to London for example) so that you see those threads (if some are still here). Look in people's profiles and check them all to see where they've been or what route they planned to take.

I am reluctant to say who has been where even though i probably could make some suggestions.

also, you do know about crazyguyonabike.com don't you. You should find some journals there that take this on.

For more details on gettting from india to tibet or china, try asking questions about this on the indian subcontinent branch. make sure its a general, all areas question, not just Nepal. Wait until after easter before posting though as no one is there now. They won't know anything about cycling but they should know what borders are open, about tours and other regulations.

yes, Winter will be perfect for India. It is cool in the North however, but if you want to go touring down south, you will find it ok. If you only want to stay in the North, perhaps get there October November. But if crossing over Pakistan into China, you won't be doing that in the winter.

In Yakety Yak, the author flew from India to Shanghai. You could fly from india to bangkok and on from there.
Anne Mustoe in A Bike Ride went through Iran, Pakistan, across India (skipped china altogether) and flew to Bangkok. She seemed to be doing the straight line route round the world.

if you had time and money and were healthy and maintained enthusiam, you could do all of them with backtracking hither and thither to cover the busy area, or go around twice with a different route each time.

But what you also might find is that wtih a bit more reseearch some countries might start to become more interesting to you than others. Iran seems to be popular and although there are visa difficulties, people seem to get them. I know it was 1996 or earlier but see what Anne Mustoe had to say about her visa experience from A Bike Ride. (she's english). You get the visa in Ankara. It should be in a local library.

Funnily enough #4, I have Anne Mustoe's book already. I'll get round to reading it soon!

Iran does attract me quite a bit. I'm not worried about being a British citizen, the governments can play their games but the people in rural Iran sound extremely hospitable (reading the Cycling To India blog)! You are right though, as my research progresses I suppose a route will evolve from that. It's good to know that the overland crossing into Tibet is possible from Nepal in some form or other. The Himalayas are something I don't really want to skip out. Still as you suggest, maybe I'll go round twice :)

well i am not saying it is possible. what i am saying is that i know you can get to tibet from nepal, i am not sure you can keep going on into china. and I do know its a pain in the rear; that you probably have to take a tour and not be able to ride it, and so on. But things were changing a bit even last year as I was watching so who knows what the situation is now.

The iran difficulty was always about getting the visa, not about the people. Once you are inside, you will be right, according to all the reports i read, at least.

If your thinking of going through Central Asia, you may want to go directly through Eastern Europe rather than down through Turkey and then back up again.

I did:

France - Spain - Austria - Hungary - Romania - Moldova - Ukraine - Russia - Kazakhstan - Kyrgyzstan - China (Xyngjian&Tibet) - Nepal - Thailand - Lao - Vietnam - Cambodia - Thailand.

I flew Spain to Austria, then acrossed a chunk of Kazak (short Visa time), then from Kathmandu to Bangkok.

I trained acrossed most of Hungary, a bit of Ukraine and a bit in Russia (short visa time for my Russian Visa).

I hitched/bused a lot of Tibet (too darned cold for me).

Also watch your season/time if thinking of cycling Tibet/Xinjiang simply due to the weather.

~Cheers from Bangkok, soon to be back in Beantown!~

What would be wrong with going through Turkey and across the sea, if not through iran to Pakistan. Turkey is a fantastic country to travel through and cheap.

What's your verdict on the alternatives.

I'm still totally undecided, but I think the best option for now is to plan/research for both routes, i.e. a route from Turkey > 'Stans > China, and another via Iran > Pakistan > India. Now at least I know that both are possible.

Thanks for all the information!

#9. I agree Turkey is fantastic. I cycled a bit of it a few years ago, and definitely would go back for more. My thinking regarding going north would be to get a taste of even more countries/cultures.

Going through turkey MIGHT make it a bit easier to sort out visa's for countries further on though. ie wouldn't have to get them from home and worry about timetables as much. Not sure on that one though.

I heard about people going Turkey-Russia by ferry and then on straight through Siberia to China.

You would have to investigate cycling in Russia in the middle of nowhere for this route of course - meaning taking along food supplies and water/filtering systems. (Or cheating and taking the Transsib.)