Departure Point: Midhurst (my present living place), W. Sussex, England
Route: Midhurst - London - Dover - Calais (Fr.) - Belgium - Amstandam (Holland) - Boxeemer (visit Boom's) - Hamburg (Germany) - Cophenhagen (Denmark) - Goteborg (Sweden) - Stockholm - Turku - Espoo (meet another bike partner Jukka) - Helsinki
Distance: about 2,500 km, 1 month and half (20th April - 1st June)
*1. Almost free borders. I need the Schengen visa as a holder of Chinese passport.
*2. Need to take ferry to cross English Channel, cross Helsingor of Denmark to Helsingborg of Sweden, and cross Baltic Sea from Stockholm to Turku. (Ferry Companies: www.cross-channel-ferries-france.co.uk, www.scandlines.dk, www.vikingline.se, www.silja.com.
Route: St . Petersburg - Moscow (see Mathias, Baggio) - Ural Mountains - Omsk - Semi - Xinjiang (try to choose the quite roads)
Distance: about 5,000 km, need 2 months and a half ( start in the beginning of June in Helsinki and enter into Xinjinag in the middle of August)
*1. We will apply 3-month business visa for Russia and 2-month tourist visa for Kazakhstan.
*2. Borders between Russia and Kazankhstan are quite open. So we will choose the border according the valid of our visas for Russia and Kazakhstan. The Passes D & E sounds much more chance.
*3. People are quite friendly in Russia and Kazan, althouth I was warned the potential dangerous of road gangs, drunken drivers etc. We will be on alert always.
* 4 Most of roads are ok, not extremly bad. Information are from Mathias, Coraz, World on wheels.
Route: Shihezi - Urumqi - Turpan - Dunhuang - Hami -Yumen - Zhangye - Yingchuan - Baotou - Hohhot - Beijing - shanghai (I will carry on cycling with Stephen to Shanghai, cause he continues his world around bike trip to America)
Distance: about 4,000 km, need 2 months more (start in the beginning of August and be in Beijing in the beginning of November)
*1. Borders: there are 13 borders in Xinjiang. The Major ones are from Pass A to Pass E. A. Torugart Pass (Central Asia's most exciting but unpredictable pass), B. Zharkent - Korgas - Yining, C. Dostyk, (Pass B & C open year around and eay to pass. We would choose those two, 'cause it would be easy for my international friends to cross), D. Bakhty - Tacheng, E. Maykapchigay - Burgin, F. Chita - Manzhouli. If one of us could not get visa for Kazakhstan, we will choose Pass F via Lake Baika, and avoid entering Mongolia.
* 2 Xinjiang - West China. The west China is amazing and mysterious to people. One relative in Shihezi can supply shower for us after a long trip from England. I plan to take a week to see some places in xinjinag. I wan tto my steps to be everywhere, the hostile an dshifting Taklamakan dersert (Go-in-and-you-won't-come-out), the remote salt lake of Lop Nur, the Jungar Basin, Tianshan Mountains, Kunkun Mountains, Kashgar Market (Technicolor sea of people, animals and pony carts), Kazhagar Old Town (the exotic easter feel of the fabled silk Road oasis), Turpan ( a desert basin, the lowest and hottest spot in China), Sayram Lake (beautiful lake set on the grasslands between Yining and Urumqi), Heavenly Lake (alphine scenery that looks like a Swiss postcard), HOtan (traditional Uyghur Old town), Karakul (stunning turquoise lake), Hanas Lake (gorgeous in the autumn and inhabited by semi nomadic Kazaks ) etc.
*3. The roads are quite good in China. Near Dunhuang, We will come cross the west end of 5,000 km long of the Great Wall. Cycling with parts of the Great Wall to Beijing will be another highlight of this bike adventure.
*. Thanks for Loney Planet tourist books information and www.lib.utexas.edu/maps for maps.