Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

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Vital Spark
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Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Vital Spark »

I thought that I'd post our experiences so far planning our trip back to the UK overland in May.

Our planned route is: Nakhon Pathom - Bangkok - Aranyaprathet - Siem Reap - Phnom Penh - Saigon - Hanoi - Beijing - Urumqi - Almaty - Moscow - Kiev (?!) - Warsaw - Cologne - Brussels - London - Ipswich - Wickham Market (Suffolk).

The first, and most important, issue is visas. We thought we'd start off with the Chinese Visa (as we'd heard that they can be a bit difficult). Went to the embassy with every piece of paper we could think of, but they refused the visa because we didn't have a letter of invitation for Urumqi (seemed quite happy for us to just go to Beijing). We've now got the requisite paperwork from a travel agent in China - so will have another bash at the embassy in the next week or so. In the meantime we applied for our visas for Kazakhstan. No problems - got it in a week. Rushed off to the Russian embassy. Sorry, no. We need originals of the train ticket (you can only buy them 45 days before departure), 'Why don't you fly there?'. The almost nice, but rather abrupt, man couldn't understand our crazy plan and told us to come back with tickets, and apply for a visa 30 days before our arrival in Russia. This would leave things a bit tight as it would mean applying for a visa two weeks before leaving Thailand. Problem solved (we think). A superb travel agent (called Natasha) has assured us that she can provide all necessary paperwork so that we can get our visa in the next couple of weeks. A quick phone call to the Russian Embassy (yes, they answer their phones, and are very helpful) confirmed that there should be no problem. I guess the guy we saw was just having a bad day? In the meantime, and with zero hassle, Mr.VS went to the Vietnamese embassy today and dropped off our passports for the visas. I didn't even need to go. We'll pick up our passports on Wednesday and have another go at the Chinese embassy with, hopefully, all the necessary papers. After that, we'll have another go at the Russian embassy.

All in all we need 5 visas to do the trip: Cambodian (easy on line), Vietnamese (in the pipeline), Chinese (to be got), Kazakhstan (got already), Russian (hopefully get after the Chinese one).

Planning a trip like this, not using the usual travel agent package, will invariably bring up some challenges. We're using travel agents in Vietnam, China and Russia to get our train tickets. This means we can get reasonably comfortable sleepers, and we don't spend half of the trip trying to buy tickets at train stations.

I'll post another update when we have all the visas safely stamped in our passports.

VS
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Chromeman
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Chromeman »

Sounds interesting! I hope you also plan to post at least an update after you arrive in Wickham Market! This could be an interesting travel diary to read. :D

Good luck getting the last visa stamps and I hope you get an exciting and enjoyable journey! :cheers:
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STEVE G
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by STEVE G »

Yes, good luck VS. I presume that some of those routes are a bit more affordable than European trains, I've been quoted almost 400 pounds just to do Luxembourg to London and back via TGV and Eurostar!
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Post by caller »

Sounds fascinating VS, looking forward to learning more about this.

How long are you planning it will take? I assume it's not just travel, travel, travel!
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Gérard »

Wonderful idea indeed !
I wish I could do that trip riding my motorbike...
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by dundrillin »

I look forward to following your fantastic journey. Good luck
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by margaretcarnes »

A great plan VS and I hope it all goes to plan (although part of the fun is the unexpected!) PLEASE update on it all when you can - maybe a Blackberry travel blog?
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by buksida »

Sounds awesome, looking forward to the trip report and photos. Insanely jealous here.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Terry »

Hats off to you both - you will enjoy.

I've sampled both Russian and Chinese sleeper trans (Back in the early / mid 90's) and they're full of life in their own right.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by richard »

Jealous as hell. Keep us posted please

Gotta be a major news item when you complete it. Good luck

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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by JW »

Awesome... but why you not taking your beautiful Alfa!!!
Please keep updating on this trip.. inculding thebest tipples you find on your way... u gonna take a stash of Chang just in case.
Enjoy guys sounds like a trip of a lifetime :)
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Parahandy »

Vital Spark wrote:Planning a trip like this, not using the usual travel agent package, will invariably bring up some challenges.
VS
Just to throw in my three ha'pence worth - when VS mentioned 'challenges' she was being extremely mild. Most of them aren't really challenges as such - more like flaming nightmares! The bureaucracy involved in each different country is manic, and every one is different. As VS said, the Chinese were happy for us to go to Beijing and look at the wall etc. and behave like everybody else - "Why don't you fly there and back like everybody else?" Because we're not like everybody else... This was confirmed by the Russian guy who simply asked why we didn't fly there. I looked at him with a sort of patronising smile and explained to him, as you might to a child, that we wanted to see his country, not just fly over it. He looked at me with a sort of patronising smile, and explained to me, as you might to a child, that I was a bloody idiot, or words to that effect.

Having called it a bit of a nightmare, it's really quite a fun nightmare at times. I have made three new girlfriends, but please don't tell VS. Firstly, as mentioned above, there is Natasha in Moscow. How can you not fall in love with someone called Natasha? Pure Dr Zhivago... Then there is my Beijing girlfriend, who is equally as helpful and efficient as the lovely Natasha, but possibly has one slight disadvantage. She's called Doris. Now, I have absolutely nothing against Dorises for a single moment, but, somehow, it's hard to let your imagination run wild and have sweet dreams about someone called Doris. Hmm... Then, in Hanoi, I have another lovely lady, in a manner of speaking. Her name is Miss Ly. As the more observant of you may have noticed, we are not yet on first name terms, but I'm working on it.

We will definitely try to keep you up to speed with what's happening, and I will try to write a blog somewhere about it all, and will post the necessary link here as and when it happens, so that when ultimate boredom sets in, and you've finished clipping your toenails, you could have a quick look.

Keep smiling. We're trying to...

P.

JW - we originally planned on taking the lovely Alfa (why not?), but then we had trouble trying to explain to the Chinese that we weren't travelling with a friend called Arthur (as in Daley?), and I couldn't find an English-Kazakh phrasebook that contained useful translations like 'Constant Velocity Joint Boot Repair Kit', so we rather gave up on that idea...
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by JW »

Love it,, cant wait to read your blog, plenty of pics too,,,,obvioulsy including any Natasha's u stumble onto.. I mean into...
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by STEVE G »

Most of them aren't really challenges as such - more like flaming nightmares! The bureaucracy involved in each different country is manic, and every one is different.
Yes, it used to be comparatively easy to travel by land, I've read many accounts of people driving all over the world in the sixties in old Land-rovers and surplus Bedford army trucks. Now the bureaucracy involved in getting vehicles across borders has made it not really worth the effort which is a pity as I would like the idea of driving the Hilux to Europe and back.
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Re: Nakhon Pathom to UK overland trip

Post by Bamboo Grove »

I've done the trans-Siberian four times but that was in the 80's. During my first trip to China I also took trains from Beijing to Shanghai, Hangzhou to Guangzhou and Guangzhou to Beijing. I've also done Beijing to Urumqi, Urumqi to Xian, Beijing to Chengdu etc. on train but again, long time ago. However, I've loved all those journeys, just can't beat the train travel. It will be very interesting to hear about your trip- When you get to Urumqi and if you have time, take some side trips to Turfan and Tianchi. Lovely places.
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