Driving across Continents

[Risteard]

My first venture onto this forum and I'm unsure if anyone can help me but here it goes.
I'm in (very) preliminary stages of planning this but am determined to do it.

Basically, I want to fly to Bangkok, buy a lovely new set of wheels, and drive it home.

Will probably put aside two months minimum to do this (I'll try to get a few derbies in).

Whatever about the route, could anyone here give me an idea about what sort of costing problems i might incurr along the way whilst crossing borders.

Obviously i have to turn this (http://www.licenseplatemania.com/fotos/thailand/thailand92.jpg) in to something closer to this (http://www.olavsplates.com/foto/irl_00-g-4501.jpg) but would i require special visas or re-registration of the car at each border.
ie. Will i also have to endure this (http://www.licenseplatemania.com/fotos/china/china4.jpg), changes of registration from country to country?
This is my main worry due to the difference in symbols of national languages in Kazakhstan, Russia, Thailand, Myanmar, China, and former soviets to western Europe (alternative route through Indian subcontinent and the Middle East).
Thus far, I'm only aware of Russia being a particular problem in requiring a translation of my drivers license and some sort of itinerary card which I assume customs provides upon entry.

Anyone done anything like this or just driven across Asian borders?
It'd be great if you could point out other difficulties aswell that I'm likely to encounter.

[shedite]

We tried to do something similar a few years ago. Main problems to our plan would have been the pirates aong the road who would basically stop you, and not let you pass until you hand over $100. Insurance would have been another problem. Pick your route and email the embassies of the countries along the way.

[paul_oshea]

ya shedite i was going to say the pirates too, for countries in the former russian bloc and north asia......you would really want to be doing this with a few more people to be honest. Having said that I would love to do something like this as well. Basically safety and security is your main issue, going on backward country roads would not be the smartest thing.

Why do you want to buy a car in bangkok?

[Risteard]

Went there and loved the place.
+ I think you'd get a good 4x4 for about €12,000.
Its more the idea of the road trip than the car really though.
Apparently, the big Kazakhstan roads are like smooth dirt tracks across the desert.
Would be a great experience.

You sound like you looked in to it a good bit shedite, did ya hear of that happening?
TBH, if something like that was to happen, I'd be fearful of a lot more than 100 euro.
Safety in nuimbers so?
Come along lads.

[shedite]

Well my plan was going the other way, driving from Ireland to Australia, and a lot of the "stan" countries said that if pirates saw a western car they would definately stop it. They told me that people are generally happy with about $100 - it's probably a lot to them, but not enough for us to kick up a huge fuss over. Of course, your car wouldn't have a western reg.

Have you looked into the route you would take? From what I remember, Myanmar and Bangladesh are pretty impassable, and then there's the Himilayas. I think the safest route unfortunately is the most boring - across a lot of China, a lot of Kasakhstan, and then a lot of Russia.

[paul_oshea]

why would bangladesh be impassable? mountain range? sure it has to be possible to get from one side of the country to the other somehow. Not everything can be transported by plane!!!

Have to say it does sound like a savage idea. Shedite i read about 2 guys that drove their car over to australia for charity. They didnt incur any pirates and were going along the routes we mentioned. However they did have to make loads of changes to the car along the way......is it a right hand drive in bangkok or left hand drive?

[strangeirish]

Well my plan was going the other way, driving from Ireland to Australia, and a lot of the "stan" countries said that if pirates saw a western car they would definately stop it. They told me that people are generally happy with about $100 - it's probably a lot to them, but not enough for us to kick up a huge fuss over. Of course, your car wouldn't have a western reg.

Just don't drive through Ballymun and you should be ok!:D

[SkStu]

lol StrangeIrish.

not much help here but vaguely related - you should read The Long Way Round. Its the story of Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregors trip from London to London on BMX motorbikes. Great story and is also a tv documentary. The biked from London through europe, ukraine, russia, kazakhstan, mongolia up into russia again, ferried to Alaska and drove to new york and caught a flight to london.

finished the book about a month ago - great read. Plus you might pick up some tips. Lots of visas required and plenty of pirates and dodgy customs officers and cops.

[endabob1]

Skstu, you beat me to it. I was going to recomend that as it's a great read, they filmed it all for Sky and I'm pretty sure there's a box set on DVD although I preffered the book you might get more of an idea on the state of roads etc.. from the DVD.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ewan-McGregor-Charley-Boorman-Special/dp/B000B5KEEQ/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/026-8694152-5804445

They're currently doing Africa, Here's the website for what it's worth
http://www.longwayround.com/html/longwayround.html


It's a tricky one because you either have to pick your way through the Middle East's more passable countries or you brave the Mountains of Bangladesh/Nepal and the grief & Bureauacracy of China & Russia..