Doin' the Silk Road

Hey everyone
My wife and I !! are looking for any info on doin' a trip on the Silk Road...

Any bit of info is appreciated

Planners, fixers, personal experiences...

Thank you all

start here:

http://www.globeriders.com/tours_pages/tours_gsr09.shtml

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/
http://www.advrider.com/forums/
[on these two, register & then Search "Silk Road" under Ride Report & Trip Planning forums]

WOW that sounds like a cool trip!

CourtFisher said:

start here:

http://www.globeriders.com/tours_pages/tours_gsr09.shtml

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/
http://www.advrider.com/forums/
[on these two, register & then Search "Silk Road" under Ride Report & Trip Planning forums]

Click to expand...

Silk Road

My son and I did a portion of it with Edelwiess last year. I didn't have enough time for the Globerider version. You can find pictures from our trip at:
www.ryanwerks.smugmug.com

Rich

Will help if I can

Dirtmedic said:

Hey everyone
My wife and I !! are looking for any info on doin' a trip on the Silk Road...

Any bit of info is appreciated

Planners, fixers, personal experiences...

Thank you all

Click to expand...

Are you planning on doing all of it (Turkey to China) or just parts? China is the long pole in the tent with their reluctance to import foreign plated vehicles.

The Globeriders tour is the easiest way, but VERY, VERY expensive ($50,000+ for the two of you). You could stay on the road for several years for that amount of money.

Given all that, I did the Silk Road in 2007 from Istanbul to Xi'an, China, as a guide for GlobeRiders, so I have a bit of experience. Would be happy to help out if I can. The routes are not difficult, the people in central Asia are wonderful, but the visas and administriva will be time consuming. You'll most likely need to get all your visas done before departure because they cannot be done at the borders of most of those countries.

Lastly, the "Silk Road" is actually a web of interconnected routes acros central Asia. You'll have to decide which one you want to take, which could be a lot of fun.

PM me and we'll exchange home emails so we can talk easier. I live on the east coast so we might even be able to meet and exhange ideas. Some of those countries might actually be easier for a Canadian to access than an American.

jeff

Candian eh!

Definitely easier for Canadians than Americans. The visas are cheaper for us too. While everyone was extremely friendly, I noticed slightly broader smiles when they found out I was Canadian, perhaps because when I was in Beijing in late Dec. the Americans I was with were dying of the cold and I was quite happy as it was warmer than home. I had picked up a cheap dress and t-shirt at Zellers in the post Olympic sell-off of Olympic clothing. They had Canada spelled in both English and Chinese. You wouldn't believe what an effect that had! People commented on it constantly and seemed really pleased that I had gone to such a effort. Any chance your wife is a size small? I'd be happy to donate them for your trip.

Be prepared to use cash rather than credit cards, and be prepared for the banks refusing to change perfectly good bills because they were slightly used.

My pics: http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/6996912_35ASP#447882171_vJqsA

Holly