I will tell you the reason for that. My initial plan to go to Japan from here was... Assalam-o-Alaikum everyone and welcome back to the channel from Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia. I have been here for the last 2-3 days and today is a very important day for me. My journey from Pakistan to Ulaanbaatar was very rough and tough.
It was very interesting and I hope you liked it. Now I have to decide how the journey will proceed from here onwards. There are a lot of complications and it is not that easy due to the relations between Ukraine and other countries.
So it's difficult for me to plan and execute all things I had initially planned and left Pakistan. So today I have to apply for a country's visa and I will share all the details with you. I will also tell you which route I'm taking from here onwards.
I will try to explain all the issues. Because people think that when you sit on a motorcycle, you have a passport and visa. It is so easy that you can easily cross the border. This is how it is normally.
But there are some regions where it is not that easy. And this area is one of those regions. Anyway, today I will try to explain all these things in detail.
I will apply for a visa and get the motorcycle serviced. Because it needs to be serviced. Hopefully, when I leave for my next destination, my Rangeeli (the motorcycle) will also be fit. I have just had breakfast. I just have to pick up the documents for the visa and go to the embassy. (prayer for journey) May I have a safe and blessed day ahead.
I am quite nervous today. Because this visa is very important for me. Things might worsen without it.
I have to go to Adil's office now. I have to get the printouts of the documents from him. I had sent all the documents to him yesterday. So it was easy. Otherwise, I had to look for a place early in the morning to get the printouts.
As you can see, the weather is quite pleasant right now. It is quite cold. But it's possible that the weather may change anytime soon. Just like the last few days. I used to start the ride in a pleasant weather.
And it would change later on. I have heard that the public transportation here is quite good. That's why a lot of people use it. There is another rule here. You cannot take your car out for a day in a week.
When you get your car registered, you have to tell them which day of the week you will not take your car out. If you have to go to the office, which is quite far away, you can share the ride with your colleagues. Or the other option, which is usually chosen by most of the people. If the husband wife has two cars, they choose their days accordingly. The city is congested with cars.
The traffic is always jammed here. I have reached the center of the city. All the government buildings and the plaza over there. I forgot the name of it. I will show it to you later. Assalam-O-Alaikum.
How are you? Yes, it's cold. That's why I sent you a picture. Thank you very much. I am thinking of parking my motorcycle here. I don't want to tell them that I have come on a motorcycle. I will give you a small bag with a helmet and jacket.
You can take it upstairs. I went to the Chinese consulate to apply for a visa to China. You must be thinking, however, that I had no intention of visiting China. How did I apply for a visa to China all of a sudden? Let me tell you the reason. Initially, I had planned to go to Japan from here. When I reach Ulaanbaatar, I will go to Russia.
I will take a ferry from Siberia to the last city of Russia, Vladivostok. It will take me to South Korea and Japan. But unfortunately, this process is a bit complicated. I think it is impossible for me to follow this route. Let me tell you the reason.
There is a rule in South Korea and Japan. If you want to bring a foreign number plate vehicle, and you want to ride it there, the country where the vehicle is registered, should be a member of the Geneva Convention for Traffic. Most of the countries are members of this convention. I will tag a link in the description. You can see which countries are members of this convention.
But unfortunately, Germany is not a member of this convention. Why? I am not sure. What benefits are they getting? Because most of the European countries, and all the people I know who are traveling, their countries are members. This is the first time that I am facing this issue on a German registered bike since I have been traveling.
I already knew about this issue. Even when I left home, I knew that Germany is not a member of the Geneva Convention for Traffic. But there is a rule in Japan. When you bring your motorcycle through a ferry, you get a temporary registration for a year and a Japanese number plate.
You can use that number plate to travel in Japan for a year. So I decided that when I reach Japan, I will get a temporary registration, and explore the country. After South Korea, when I will go back to Japan, I will cancel my temporary registration, and will get my motorcycle shipped to another country.
But now the problem is that since the Ukraine war, the relations between Japan and Russia have deteriorated. I can take a ferry from Russia, but not a motorcycle because Japan has imposed some sanctions on the imports. Most of the travelers nowadays go for an option. Since nothing is going there directly from Russia. You can take something to a third country and form there to Japan. Mostly travelers go to South Korea, after exploring it, they load their motorcycle or car on the ferry and go back to Japan.
There is no such rule in South Korea based on which I can get my motorcycle's temporary registration. I have tried to talk to a lot of agents. I was eager to spend money on it. But it's impossible. So I can't follow this route and take my motorcycle to South Korea and Japan.
Earlier people used to go but unfortunately you know situations change with time. This route is impossible for German registered motorcycles or cars to go directly to Japan or South Korea. So I thought a lot about what options I am left with. The best possible option from Mongolia is to cross China and go to a country in South East Asia. It may be Laos or Thailand. I am planning for Laos but I will give you all the details when I get my visa.
I will tell you the story as when I reach there. Japan is an island. There is no road from any country. So you have to take a ferry or a shipping company. So when I reach South East Asia I will have an option to go to Japan. Now when I have applied for a visa to China I have two German passports both are the same.
In Germany it is allowed to keep two passports. God forbid if there is any issue during the journey. If you lose one passport, you have a backup and you can travel. Now the passport I traveled from Pakistan to here has Afghanistan visa. and all the border crossing I've done using that passport.
I don't want to apply for China's visa on that passport because China, Pakistan, Turkey and Afghanistan these three countries and other countries if your passport has their stamps or visas, then it's a big problem especially Afghanistan's visa. They don't refuse, they send your passport to Beijing. It takes 1 to 3 months for your security clearance and it's impossible for me to hand over the passport and wait here. I have to move on as soon as possible.
When I entered Mongolia, I gave them my second passport without any visa but the Mongolian border agency told me that I have to enter on the same passport from which I exited Russia. So I had to give it. Now when I went to the Chinese embassy they also told me that I've to apply for visa on the same passport on which I entered Mongolia. Now I have only one option.
Either I apply and get visa in 3 days probably. or I fly out of here and go to another country. Come back and apply on the other passport on which I will enter. There is a possibility of getting it.
Or I may go to Germany and apply from there. So the process is getting difficult, video is also getting long. Normally I don't talk this much in front of the camera but I wanted to tell you because during the journey these hurdles especially in this region are enough.
As soon as I travel more, I will share more things with you but now let's have coffee and relax and see what I will do next. Whether I apply here or go somewhere else. So I will share all these things with you.
Now let's have coffee and take my motorcycle to a mechanic. And see what I will do next. I have searched but I didn't find any BMW workshop here. I came across a few mechanics and KTM. So, I decided to visit the KTM. Let's see.
I came across more issues in the cities where I intended to spend less time. I have to spend more time there. In Almaty, I had no idea that I'd need to wait ten days for Russian visa. Now I am here. Let's see how long it takes. China has a lot of issues, one cannot travel independently you will need a tour guide and that too is quite expensive.
At least in this tour, if I go through China I will see something new, in just one tour Central Asia, Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan. What a journey this is. You can say this is the most interesting region in the world for adventure travel and if you talk about culture and history. Let's see if I can find someone who speaks English. Today I almost spent the whole day here.
It's evening. Their workshop is about to close but they have done a lot of work. Let me summarize. I came here to get the clutch plates changed.
He opened the clutch plates and told that there is no issue in the plates. There were some minor issues. The old plates are perfectly fine. You don't need to change. Apart from that, the front tire's condition worsened. I got that changed.
engine oil and the coolant were also changed. Few other errors like in the motorcycle's gear shifter, side stand's sensor error. Need to replace the gear shifter's sensor. I don't have side stand's sensor too and the air filter. As last time I changed it in Olgi, it wasn't a new one.
I cleaned an old one and fitted in. So, now I need a new air filter. I won't get it here but at least something is done. If I stay here for a few more days because of visa I will get the rest of the stuff for Rangeeli. I have paid about 270 USD today.
150 dollars for the front tire. Apart from that 40 USD for 2 liter engine oil. 4 or 5$ for the coolant, that's it.
and the rest of the service you can guess 50 or 60 USD. The guy was good. Let's see how the bike performs. I will ride it in the city a few days and try to get the rest of the stuff from India or Europe. Let's go, I am very hungry. I had breakfast only. There is a Turkish restaurant nearby, let's go there.
The mechanics seemed to be good, let's see. Normally when mechanic what was that. The tire ran over something.
These are peak hours. I want that when I leave from here, the motorcycle should be flawless for the next 7,000 or 8,000 km. All the issues must be resolved here.
Let's see. As soon as I get the parts, the motorcycle will be perfectly fine. All these errors you see in front of me are due to the faulty sensor of gear shifter.
One is always nervous that something is wrong with the motorcycle. Earlier it was due to bad fuel. Now the gear shifter's sensor also malfunctioned. Let's hope it works. I am happy with it.
I think it's ahead. Let's park the motorcycle here. Let's park it in front of the restaurant.
There is no one near the Turkish restaurant. Let's park it on this side. The food is here. Today I have mixed plate.
Along with Ayran. I thought to enjoy Ayran, since I am in Turkish restaurant. It's been a while since I had buttermilk. Turkish buttermilk. Let's have lunch. I am very hungry. After that, I will go back to the apartment.
I hope you liked the vlog. Remember in your prayers. Let's pray that this process gets completed as soon as possible. All the issues with the motorcycle, visas, route finalization etc. I will try to share all these issues with you. You may have to face these issues.
I used to ignore a lot of things. When I get a lot of comments and messages, I realize that these things are very interesting and important for the viewer. I think I have paid $8 or $9 for this. Let's have lunch.
Remember in prayers. Don't forget to like, subscribe and share. Bye
2025-01-28 14:41