To the south, Andong & Busan

Taking a train ride south to flee Seoul from the typhoon, we first made a stop at Andong.

Vladivostok at last!

From our little detour to the pacific coast it was only a short hop down south to Vladivostok!


We had planned to ship our car from here, but weren't sure where to when we left home. The boys tried to convince us to share a container with their Land Cruiser and ship it back to Rotterdam. But we had other plans, Africa! 😎

At the Pacific Ocean

First glimpse of the Pacific Ocean

After a day and night of city life it was time to hit the road again. Having caught up with the boys we did reduce our pace and decided to take a little detour to the coast, the Pacific coast 😎

Driving around China

Stopover in Ulan-Ude

After saying goodbye to Tony and Andi we picked up the pace to catch up with the boys in the Land Cruiser. From our spot at lake Baikal it is around 3600km to Vladivostok, a bit more when venturing out to the Pacific Ocean. All this because it isn't possible to drive in China without an assigned driver/guide 🙄

Baikal - Part Two

With no hurry to leave the area yet we drove south along the coast of lake Baikal for some more relaxing days and nights. At least that was our plan, didn't work out entirely 😆

At lake Baikal

Back in the USSR

Leaving Mongolia we crossed our fourth time into Russia, which was a bit of a hassle as they wanted every document filled out twice. I guess to safe on photocopier costs? 🤷‍♂️

Goodbye Mongolia!

Turtle Rock™️

Sadly our time in Mongolia was coming to an end as our visa was running out.




Before heading north to Russia we did a short trip to the east of UB.
In the mountainous forest we did a quick stop at the turtle rock (quite the tourist trap) and then headed further into the wilderness.

Around Ulaanbaatar

After our venture in the south we turned around to Ulan Bator as our time was closing. We stayed in the lovely River Point run by René from Austria. He arrived in Mongolia 25 years ago and has witnessed the growth of its capital with all its problems, more on that later.
As a perfect host he has always time for his guests and a story up its sleeve. Also worth mentioning are his perfect Wiener Schnitzel! We couldn't believe it when we laid eyes on them on the menu and nagged René until he himself manned the stove for us!

🤤🤤🤤

Through the dunes

Following the route further south we soon encountered the mighty Khongoryn Els. This giant strip of dunes is an amazing sight! One moment there are bushes and even green patches along the tiny stream and then the sand rises to huge dunes!

Tiny-Planet 🌏

The strip runs east to west for almost 100 km and can reach heights up to 80m!
There is only one small kind of pass/saddle where you can cross the 6 to 12 km of sand to get to the south. But before crossing over we followed it for a while looking for a nice place to camp.


Fun Fact: If there are green patches amidst a huge swat of sand it is always used for grazing. Which in turn means its usually full of goat shit 💩🤣

Through sand and storm

Leaving the peninsula guess who we encountered? Our friends in their Defender 😆, together we drove further south east towards the Gobi desert.

First stop was at Muhartin Gol, a mighty dune where a spring emerges right at the edge of the desert.

To lake Khyargas

Shortly after leaving Ölgii we encountered a massiv thunderstorm, the sky turned black in mere minutes and it started to pour and hail as if there was no tomorrow. Pedal to the metal we raced on and could leave the worst of it behind us. The group of cyclists we met shortly before weren't as lucky. But I guess thats why you go by bike 🤷‍♂️

Not much later the sun was out again and everything was peaceful...

Western Mongolia

Mongolia didn't disappoint on its first morning. We were greeted by rolling hills under blue skies, dotted with some white yurts and the occasional sheep and yak herd. 😍

In the Altai mountains and into Mongolia

Our third time entering Russia went uneventful, knowing by now which forms to fill in and how the procedure works 😆

Welcome to Kazakhstan!

After we got our car on the road again we headed to Kazakhstan!

New skyscrapers getting built in Nur-Sultan

Car troubles!

Leaving Yekaterinburg in the pouring rain we continued east. About 200km later there was a bang and then some grinding noises when the left front wheel turned!

West of the Ural Mountains

Next destination was Kazan where we wanted to get some seals replaced on the front axle.

St. Petersburg & Moscow

After a cumbersome border procedure we were again in Russia!

Along the Baltic Sea (01.06.2019 - 17.06.2019)

After some hectic last minute packing and handing over the keys to our flat to the subtenants we drove off on the first of June.

On the first day we barely made it across the German border but kept heading north the day afterwards. This time crossing the old West/East German border continuing north all the way to Usedom at the Baltic Sea. Here we relaxed a bit and slowed down the pace by enjoying the beach, the famous sun chairs and the sea. Traveling along the coast we entered Poland and then Gdansk which we had skipped the summer before. Exploring the old Hanseatic city and enjoying its many bars and restaurants before driving east to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site at Malbork castle of the Teutonic Order.
Then it was time to cross into Russia, into Kaliningrad to be precise. Armed with our visa and speaking no Russian the crossing was no hassle at all and we reached the old city of Königsberg in due time. This exclave which is surrounded by Poland in the south and the Baltic sea in the west ist connected over the tiny strip of the Curonian Spit to Lithuania in the north-west. Over this land bridge we left Russia again without any problems.
Hugging the coast we drove up to Latvia with a short stop over in Riga, having visited the city a year ago. To the east of it we visited Leg&Go, a Latvian startup producing cool wooden balance bikes for kids. It can "grow" with the child and has multiple add-ons, even pedals. We bought one for my nephew, he seems to like it as he immediately started gnawing on the handle bar 😂
Close by are many lakes and woods where we relaxed a bit and enjoyed the scenery. Even tried my luck with fishing, alas no catch 😟
Next we headed north to Estonia and stayed again on the Baltic coast, meeting up with some fellow Swiss overlanders. We got our gear in order, swapped stories and relaxed by the sea before entering Russia again.

The Plan 🇷🇺🇰🇿🇲🇳…?

So after five (5!) years since our last long trip it was time for a bigger break again. Quitting our jobs and heading east this time, overland. Our mature Toyota will be home base, transportation and travel companion in one, but more about it in a later post.

The rough plan is visiting Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Moscow, then heading south into Kazakhstan with Baikonur 🚀 and Almaty before entering Russia again to reach Mongolia. Later we go up north to Irkutsk and lake Baikal before driving around China to Władywostok on the Pacific coast. We are not in a hurry but try to escape Siberia before winter hits 😆 

From there we would like to ship the car somewhere warm for the winter, maybe Africa? Stay tuned!

Rough and totally inaccurate drawing of our route: 

PS: Sadly Google Picasa is no more and Google Maps has changed as well, so no more pictures and route tracking for now. I try to build something similar again, just need more time 😉

What happend in the mean time....

After our trip to Malta in 2017 we also visited Malaysia in autumn. Sadly we never got around writing about our three weeks up and down the peninsula and now its a bit late ;)

Anyway, in the middle of winter 2017/18 I bought a lovely 1992 Toyota Land Cruiser. Hence when summer came a first version of shelves and drawers was installed and off we went!
On the first leg of the trip through Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark Alex was my copilot. From there up to Stockholm I had some relaxing days by myself before going out for camping and fishing with my little brother. Shortly later Melanie arrived by plane and the two of us continued up north. Taking the long way round we finally reached Finland where we started our way south again. After many lakes and woods we stopped at Tampere and Helsinki before taking the ferry over to the Baltic states. We quite liked Talinn but also Riga and Vilnius with their old charming city centres. Next was Poland and a stopover at the last primeval forest in Europe. Of course we visited Warsaw and Krakau but also the rather depressing Auschwitz. Next country was Czechia with Brno and Prague. But also stopping in Pilsen for the beer and beer spa (no joke!). A short stop in the lovely Bavarian Forest and we were almost at home.

So this a quick mashup of the last two years, more up to date post should follow shortly ;)