The Route

The trip will start in the southern most capital city in the world, Wellington, New Zealand and finish in the northern most, Reykjavík, Iceland.The bikes will be shipped from New Zealand to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where the riding will start crossing the biggest continent in the world, Asia and continue into Europe. The first leg of the trip will cover south-east Asia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. We hope that those countries will be relatively easy and we will most likely not cover large distances on average each day since there is a lot to see in this part of the world. Next leg would be to ride north up China into Mongolia and Siberia across the Gobi desert. We expect the hardcore riding to start when entering Mongolia and Siberia where most of the roads were build some decades ago or there are no roads at all combined with some of the most weather extremes in the world. After driving west across Siberia, Russia will welcome us with better roads as well as Europe. We will decide on the way if we will drive across Europe or Scandinavia to take the ferry to Iceland were the trip will end some 3-4 months later approximately, well we really hope so ;-)

Malaysia

The climate in Malaysia is tropical. The north-east monsoon (October to February) deluges Borneo and the east coast in rain and often causes flooding, while the west coast (particularly Langkawi and Penang) escape unscathed. The milder south-west monsoon (April to October) reverses the pattern. The southern parts of peninsular Malaysia, including perennially soggy Kuala Lumpur, are exposed to both but even during the rainy season, the showers tend to be intense but brief.

The terrain consists of coastal plains rising to hills and mountains.

Thailand

Thailand is largely tropical, so it's hot and humid all year around with temperatures in the 28-35°C range (82-95°F), a degree of relief provided only in the mountains in the far north of Thailand. The careful observer will, however, note three seasons:

• Cool: From November to the end of February, it doesn't rain much and temperatures are at their lowest, although you will barely notice the difference in the south and will only need to pack a sweater if hiking in the northern mountains, where temperatures can fall as low as 5°C. This is the most popular time to visit and, especially around Christmas and New Year's, finding flights and accommodation can be expensive and difficult.

• Hot: From March to June, Thailand swelters in temperatures as high as 40°C (104°F). Pleasant enough when sitting on the beach with a drink in hand, but not the best time of year to go temple-tramping in Bangkok.

• Rainy: From July to October, although it only really gets underway in September, tropical monsoons hit most of the country. This doesn't mean it rains non-stop, but when it does it pours and flooding is not uncommon.

There are local deviations to these general patterns. In particular, the south-east coast of Thailand (including Ko Samui) has the rains reversed, with the peak season being May-October and the rainy off season in November-February.

Laos

Laos has three distinct seasons. The hot season is from March to May, when temperatures can soar as high as 40°C. The slightly cooler wet season is from May to October, when temperatures are around 30°C, tropical downpours are frequent, and some years the Mekong floods. The dry season from November to March, which has low rainfall and temperatures as low as 15°C (or even to zero in the mountains at night), is "high season" (when the most tourists are in the country).

Cambodia

Cambodia's climate can generally be described as tropical with seasonal monsoons. There are two distinct seasons, the rainy and dry. Temperatures during the rainy season, between June and October, average 27-35°C. The dry season is characterised by cool months, November to February, with temperatures averaging 17-27°C and hot months, from March till May, which sees temperature range between 29-38°C.

Vietnam

Vietnam is large enough to have several distinct climate zones.

• The South has three somewhat distinct seasons: hot and dry from March to May/June; rainy from June/July to November; and cool and dry from December to February. April is the hottest month, with mid-day temperatures of 33°C or more most days. During the rainy season, downpours can happen every afternoon, and occasional street flooding occurs. Temperatures range from stifling hot before a rainstorm to pleasantly cool afterward. Mosquitoes are most numerous in the rainy season. December to February is the most pleasant time to visit, with cool evenings down to around 20°C.

• The North has four distinct seasons, with a comparatively chilly winter (temperatures can dip below 15°C in Hanoi), a hot and dry summer and pleasant spring (March-April) and autumn (October-December) seasons. However, in the Highlands both extremes are amplified, with occasional snow in the winter and temperatures hitting 40°C in the summer.

• In the Central regions the weather is somewhere in between, only just to confuse things here the rainy season is in the summer, not the winter.

China

The climate is extremely diverse, from tropical regions in the South to subarctic in the North. Hainan Island is roughly at the same latitude of Jamaica, while Harbin, one of the largest cites in the North, lies at the latitude of Montreal. There is also a wide range of terrain to be found in China with many inland mountains, high plateaus, and deserts in center and far west; while plains, deltas, and hills are to be found in the east. On the border between the province of Tibet and the nation of Nepal lies Mount Everest, at 8,850 m, the highest point on earth. The Turpan depression, in northwest China is the lowest point in the country, at 154 m below sea level. This is also the second lowest point on land in the world, after the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan.

Mongolia

With only 4.5 people per square mile, Mongolia has the lowest population density of any independent country.
So, when is the best time to travel to Mongolia? The ideal Mongolia travel season starts in May and hits its highest peak in July, during Naadam Holidays, and in August when the weather is most favorable for traveling. This is the best time if you like the culture and bear the crowds of other tourists. Not a good time if you want to getaway from your busy lifestyle because you will hit the traffic, busy schedule, waiting in lines etc.

Siberia

Almost all the population lives in the south, along the Trans-Siberian railroad. The climate here is continental subarctic (Koppen Dfc or Dwc), with the annual average temperature about 0 ℃ and roughly −15 ℃ average in January and +20 ℃ in July. With a reliable growing season, an abundance of sunshine and exceedingly fertile chernozem soils, Southern Siberia is good enough for profitable agriculture, as was proven in the early twentieth century. The southwesterly winds of Southern Siberia bring warm air from Central Asia and the Middle East. The climate in West Siberia (Omsk, Novosibirsk) is several degrees warmer than in the East (Irkutsk, Chita). With a lowest record temperature of -71.2 °C , Oymyakon (Sakha Republic) has the distinction of being the coldest town on Earth. But summer temperatures in other regions reach +36...+38 °C. In general, Sakha is the coldest Siberian region, and the basin of the Yana River has the lowest temperatures of all, with permafrost reaching 1,493 metres. Nevertheless, as far as Imperial Russia plans of settlement are concerned, the cold was never viewed as an issue. In the winter, Southern Siberia sits near the center of the semi-permanent Siberian High, so winds are usually light in the winter. Precipitation in Siberia is generally low, exceeding 500 millimeters only in Kamchatka where moist winds flow from the Sea of Okhotsk onto high mountains — producing the region's only major glaciers — and in most of Primorye in the extreme south where monsoonal influences can produce quite heavy summer rainfall. Despite the region's notorious cold, snowfall is generally extremely light, especially in the east of the region.

Russia

Throughout much of the territory there are only two distinct seasons — winter and summer; spring and autumn are usually brief periods of change between extremely low temperatures and extremely high. The coldest month is January (on the shores of the sea—February), the warmest usually is July. Great ranges of temperature are typical. In winter, temperatures get colder both from south to north and from west to east. Summers can be quite hot and humid, even in Siberia. A small part of Black Sea coast around Sochi has a subtropical climate. The continental interiors are the driest areas.