Talk me out of even considering Route C

As far as I know, non-Chinese, non-Mongolian tourists can only enter the Russian Far East through a specific set of entry-points, most of them airports.

A: the civil war in Myanmar. You’re not gonna get through (or you’d be tingtong crazy to try, in my opinion).

C: hmm?

Route A doesn’t exist any more due to the conflict in Myanmar. I’d say if (big if) the junta collapses and the various opposing forces win there’s an outside chance that in 2 years the situation would be peaceful and both Indian and Thai borders open, but I doubt it. I could even see a situation where the war is over but the Indian border, at least, still open to foreigners.

If you can get to Mongolia, a variation on route C is possible: from Mongolia into China to the part around Beijing (could always take the trans Mongolian Express if you’re not fussed about cycling every last inch). From there you can take a ferry to Seoul, cross S Korea to Busan then get a ferry to Japan. To avoids Russia which I suspect might be complicated.

A couple comments:

– Myanmar is impossible as mentioned

– I would personally give Russia a hard pass at the moment but with my passport it’s unlikely I’d get a visa anyways.

Well, I rode (or hiked) some distances in at least 20 countries among those through which your red lines run, so let me opine here. In principle, Route C is not impossible, and is in fact quite interesting. Unlike Route A it at least avoids attemps to cross hard-to-cross borders such as Pakistan/India and india/Burma; unlike Route B, it does not attempt to enter some areas in Western China that the local authorities may restrict foreign visitors from entering.

* The most **real** problem with route C, at this point, is accessing your money while in Russia. Starting 2022-02-24, the USA and EU responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with weaponizing access to the Visa/MasterCard/SWIFT networks, which means that your ATM cards won’t work in Russia. This likely will continue at least for the duration of the Russia-Ukraine war. For a short trip to Russia, one can just bring enough foreign cash and exchange it to RUR as needed. But as you intend to ride along at least half of the Trans-Siberian railway, you’ll be in Russia for at least 2-3 months I reckon, what with stopovers. Russia is not a particularly cheap country, especially for a tourist, so at a $30/day you’re looking at having to carry something like $2000-3000 in cash with you… and no way to replenish your stash of cash in the case of an emergency. This probably can be handled if you have some reliable contacts in a few cities you’re riding through (like, you bring an equivalent of US $3000 across the border, give it to a trusted person in, say, Barnaul, and he gives you a Russian debit card in his name, or wires money via a Russian bank to other trusted persons in Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Chita, and Khabarovsk…). But if you don’t have such contacts already, it may not be easy to arrange.

* There are obviously political considerations. Not that the Russian authorities intend to harass all visitors from “unfriendly countries” (in their parlance); but there is always a small chance that you, say, accidentally stray into some prohibited military area near the border or a defense plant, and some major at the local office of the KGB (or whatever it’s called know) will see an opportunity to make news with a spy case, and get himself promoted to Lt. Col. Of course, that’s not unique to Russia; it can happen in Armenia / Azerbaijan, or in a some Middle Eastern countries too.

* Going half the length of the Trans-Siberian, you’re likely to cross a few depressed company town with crime problems. Think Gary, Indiana, or some banlieues of Paris or Marseilles. Probably not a huge risk, i.e. not any worse than some other places you will pass on your route; but considering the fact that you’ll have to carry a lot of cash on you, it’s somewhat of a consideration.

* Nights in Siberia may be quite cool even in the summer, and sometimes it may rain a lot; so one needs either to carry heavier camping equipment, or to have a “credit card tour” without a working credit card. Depending on the weather I suppose you can skip some of the least pleasant sections by hopping on a train; I understand that Russian railways have fairly sensible provisions for transporting bicycles.

* A Russian visa, AFAIK, is not a major problems. I think EU citizens may even apply for one online now; if you’re a North American, you may be able to apply for a Russian visa in some of the countries on your route (e.g. Georgia or Azerbaijan or Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan) where fully-staffed Russian embassies still operate.

* Am not sure about the Russia-Japan ferry. It certainly used to run in the past, but now, who knows… You may also need to look to ferries from Russia to South Korea as an alternative. At worst, you may end up having to fly from a Russian far eastern hub to Japan via Beijing. Or you can cross from Russia’s Transbaikalian region (Zabaikask) to China (Mazhouli), and ride to some Chinese port (Dalian? Qingdao?) which has ferries to Japan.

* There is no ferry between Taiwan and the Philippines, and I am not sure if there is one between Japan (Ryukyu Islands) and Taiwan. But I suppose you can ship your bike on a plane, or just sell the old bike and buy a new one on the other side of the water.

* There is indeed a ferry between the SW corner of Mindanao (Zamboanga) and the NE corner of Kalimantan; not sure if there is one from Mindanao to Sulawesi.

* Indonesia to Australia and Australia to NZ has to be by plane, of course.

Anyway, good luck, and may the international situation change to the better by the time you reach Almaty!

Is there even a ferry that’s running on the Caspian sea currently? Thought I heard that the one from Baku to Kazakhstan not running