Table of contents
Pichler
25th pictures
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The Austrian adventurer Joe Pichler on his 27,000 km journey through Asia.
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The long way to the east.
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Attraction: The Darwaza gas crater has been burning for 41 years.
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A fantastic campsite: Khoton Nuur in Mongolia.
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Horse breeding is an important source of income for the Mongolian nomads.
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The desert monitor in the Karakum desert is up to 1.50 meters long.
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In the loneliness of Siberia one is happy about every other vehicle.
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Traditional wrestling matches are the highlight of every Naadam festival in Chowd.
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On all pass heights of Mongolia: piles of stones called obo.
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Idiosyncratic way of expanding living space in Susuman.
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Three days with nice truck drivers on the ship across the Lena.
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Even in summer there can still be snow on the Pamir Highway.
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Gobi Desert: Mongolians live here in yurts called ger.
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The drive through the Wakhan Valley is one of the highlights of Tajikistan.
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Wild expanse: In sparsely populated Siberia you need a tent.
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Final reward: smoked salmon at the market in Magadan.
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The Kazakh men hunt eagles.
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The Kazak people live in western Mongolia.
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No motorcycle traveler has ever reached the Damla oasis before us.
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In Moinaq on the dried up Aral Sea with a macabre aftertaste and a real Gobi desert ship.
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Dreamlike scenes in the sunset.
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Bukhara is one of the most beautiful cities along the Silk Road.
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Meeting on the legendary “Road of Bones”.
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Salmon caviar in the Magadan market.
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It doesn’t matter if it rains: after 27,000 kilometers, finally in Magadan.
to travel
Motorcycle trip Asia
On the way: Transasia
With the motorcycle all the way to the east
Magadan is the name of a port city at the eastern end of the world. A place that becomes a destination for the Austrian adventurers Renate and Joe Pichler. Neither bad slopes nor mountains, deserts, swamps or bears can stop them.
Josef Pichler
11/24/2011
It is to be crazy. Why can’t you just drive off, why does all the administrative stuff leave your nerves on edge even before you leave? I want to go to Magadan, one of the easternmost cities in Russia, want to cross the Asian continent and almost fail at home because of the necessary visas. I’m as annoyed as I mean KTM 990 Adventure R can finally start that I don’t notice much from the first stage via Hungary to Romania through the Ukraine past the Black Sea into the Caucasus, so my skull is smoking. My wife Renate comforts me from the pillion seat.
The adventure begins on the border of Uzbekistan: rains have turned the area into a huge mud hole. Buses and trucks got stuck, only a motorcycle can get through. We reach Moynaq, once the largest port city in Uzbekistan. Of the Aral Sea, however, nothing can be seen far and wide. Once proud fishing trawlers lie in the sea of sand and rust to themselves. The word desert ship gets a macabre meaning here. The former port city is now 150 kilometers from the shore, and the proud Aral Sea has shrunk to a tenth of its original size. Sandstorms are the order of the day and the consequences for the people living here are fatal. Asthma is common and the rate of esophageal cancer is highest in the world. It is understandable that we literally make a run for it.
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When we arrived in Turkmenistan, we now have a guide and an escort vehicle in tow for the next nine days. In the totalitarian surveillance state, it is not allowed to stay longer than five days without an escort. As if it weren’t already hot enough in the Karakum desert, in the morning we also visit the gas crater of Darwaza, which the locals call the gate to hell. Our driver Valodia can’t believe that I want to continue my motorcycle to Damla, an oasis in the heart of the Karakum desert. I’m supposed to ride with him in the Land Cruiser, it’s more comfortable and safer. All motorcyclists who have tried so far have failed because of the extreme heat and the soft sand dunes. Not surprising, because the company is tough: After initially still good slopes, the route leads 90 kilometers through sand dunes, and then there is merciless heat of over 40 degrees in the shade. After five hours of brutal toil, the small oasis finally appears between the dunes. We are the first motorcycle travelers to reach Damla. In honor of our arrival, a sheep is immediately slaughtered, and of course there are also a few glasses of vodka.
“You have high temperature, will you bring the swine flu to Uzbekistan?” I can’t believe it, the guy in the white coat holds a thermometer, which looks like a toy gun, to my skull when I leave Turkmenistan and records the high temperature . Explaining to the doctor that I have just driven 200 kilometers at 45 degrees through the Karakum Desert, that it was pretty hot under my helmet and that I don’t have swine flu is not that easy.
Pichler
Wild expanse: In sparsely populated Siberia you need a tent.
We continue to Tajikistan along the legendary Silk Road. In order to be able to visit the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhshan in the south of the country, we obtained a special permit from the embassy in Vienna before we left. The region is a sensitive border area and the numerous military patrols keep checking our papers. The road to the south leads along the Panj River through a narrow gorge right on the border with Afghanistan. At Iskahim the narrow valley widens and we have a breathtaking view of the snow-capped mountains of the Hindu Kush. An important branch of the Silk Road once ran through the fertile Wakhan Valley. Only a ruin remains of the mighty Yamchun fortification. The legendary trade route is already history, drug trafficking is the main business today.
The Taliban and unscrupulous warlords finance their war in Afghanistan with drug trafficking. 90 percent of the heroin that reaches Europe goes through Tajikistan. The Silk Road became a drug highway.
There is bad news in Murgab: the border to Kyrgyzstan is closed due to unrest in Osh. For us this means that we have to bypass extensively on the Pamir Highway back to Dushanbe and Kyrgyzstan. A detour of over 1000 kilometers lies ahead of us. The drive through the desolate steppe landscape of Kazakhstan is not necessarily one of the highlights of the trip so far.
After days on monotonous tar roads, we have now arrived in western Mongolia. A country in which asphalt is still a foreign word. We drive towards Olgiy on dusty, stony slopes. Orientation is not easy. Signposts are practically non-existent. In order to be able to visit the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park on the Chinese border, quite a lot of bureaucratic effort is required again. But it’s worth it more than ever: On the banks of the Khoton Nuur we find a wonderful place to camp. With our big one KTM Adventure, we are a huge attraction for the nomads living here that they will talk about for a long time. After they first thoroughly inspected our bright red tent and had a lot of fun with our sooty gasoline stove, we now have to visit their yurt. There is salted milk tea as a welcome drink and we are also invited to dinner. The tea takes some getting used to, but it’s not that bad. But the fat mutton soup that follows is a real challenge for our taste buds. The fattest pieces of meat all end up on my plate, they are considered a special delicacy by the nomads. Thank goodness I still have a small bottle of vodka in the tent, which I will drink afterwards as a prophylactic measure …
Pichler
The Kazakh men hunt eagles.
After five weeks in Mongolia we are back in Russia and have reached the most beautiful part of Lake Baikal with the island of Olkhon. And they still exist, those blank spots on the tourist maps. There is next to nothing in my travel guide about the 5500 kilometer stretch from Olkhon to Magadan. We depend on the information from the locals. The hotel owner in Zigalovo then draws our attention to the fact that there is no longer any supply option for the next 300 kilometers to Magistralny. That means for us to fill up our tanks and take enough water and food with us. From Ust-Kut the only way to continue for 1000 kilometers is by ship, because there are no longer any roads in this remote part of Eastern Siberia. The Lena, with 4400 kilometers one of the longest rivers on earth, is the only traffic route in summer. The freighter is filled to the last place with containers and trucks. But we can still find a place for our KTM right next to the loading hatch. As soon as we are on board, we are immediately accepted into the truck driver community. First of all, of course, there are several glasses of vodka and raw fish. While I have to seal the Austro-Russian friendship with a lot of vodka, Renate organizes a booth for us. So, as feared, we don’t have to spend the night in the open air. After three days on board we reach Lensk and can then finally continue on two wheels towards the Arctic Circle. Along the Viyuski route we drive on corrugated iron tracks through the Siberian taiga and after four days we reach Yakutsk. An important supply point before we set off for the last stage, along the legendary “Road of Bones” to the east.
Kolyma Highway is the real name of this 2000 kilometer long road from Yakutsk to Magadan. It was built by slave labor in the Stalin era to supply labor camps in the most inhospitable part of the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands did not survive the inhumane working conditions and were buried right next to the road. This is how the name “Bone Road” came about. The adventurous piste leads through untouched tundra and taiga landscapes, along raging brooks through deep gorges in the far east of Siberia. It is a wild, breathtakingly beautiful, but deserted area. The distances between the villages are up to 500 kilometers, and hotels are a rarity. But we have our tent with us, and the bears supposedly living here will hopefully be driven away by the noise of the exhaust system. Even a number of punctures on the stony track cannot stop us, and so after 138 days we finally reach the 100,000-strong city of Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk in pouring rain.
After a hot shower, the spirits return and we celebrate our arrival at the end of the world with salmon, caviar and tons of vodka.
Info
Werel
Travel time: 138 days. Distance covered: 27,000 km
A trip that is only for people with pronounced adventure demands: bureaucratic hurdles, extreme climatic conditions, driving challenges, enormous distances and in the end the “Road of Bones”.
Arrival and entry:
A valid passport, national registration and national driver’s license are required. A temporary import permit is issued at the border, a Carnet de Passage is not required. We organized the return transport in Magadan with air freight to Moscow. There is also the possibility of taking the bike to Vladivostok and from there on to the home.
Climate and travel time:
The best time to travel to Trans Asia is from May to September. Nevertheless, the temperature fluctuations are enormous. We experienced unimaginable heat in the Karakum desert and, in contrast, snow fields on the Pamir Highway.
Motorcycle and traffic:
Outside of the big cities, the volume of traffic is rather low. A range of up to 500 kilometers is required here, and gasoline is sometimes only available with an octane rating of 76. It is essential to take appropriate precautions on the motorcycle to avoid engine damage. The KTM Adventure is equipped with a switchable ignition box as standard.
Money:
ATMs can be found in all larger towns, with Visa and Mastercard being the most common. Euros can be exchanged almost anywhere, but you should definitely take dollars with you in emergencies.
Communication:
Basic knowledge of the Cyrillic script and a few chunks of Russian are essential. Public telephones can be found everywhere. The cell phone network is well developed and most GSM providers in Europe have roaming partners in their respective countries. But be careful: It is essential to inquire about the call charges beforehand, otherwise it can be expensive. There are internet cafes in all larger towns.
Literature and Maps:
Maps for most countries are available from Reise Know-How Verlag. They are waterproof and unbreakable, making them ideal for motorcycle use. The OSM maps are recommended for the GPS. Detailed travel guides for the individual countries are available in German from Reise Know-How Verlag and in English from Lonely Planet.
Hotels and Camping:
Hotels of all price ranges can be found in major cities and tourist centers. In the country it is simple accommodation that you have to make do with. Campsites are rare, but you don’t need them in the sparsely populated areas of Asia anyway, you can pitch your tent anywhere. The meeting point for all Mongolia travelers is the Oasis Cafe in Ulan Bator. Here you can also find the best “Kasekrainer” in Asia (smoked boiled sausages with a portion of cheese), information: www.intergam-oasis.com.
To eat and drink:
The food supply is sufficient everywhere. Well-stocked supermarkets can be found in all large towns. Mineral water in plastic bottles is available everywhere. The selection of local specialties ranges from “plov” (rice dish) in Uzbekistan to smoked salmon and caviar in Magadan. Beer and especially vodka seem to be a staple food in almost every country.
Addresses / dates:
Information on the net at the following pages: www.horizonsunlimited.com, digital maps worldwide: www.openstreetmap.org.
The author inspires with multivision shows in Austria and Germany.
Program and information: www.josef-pichler.at.
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