Hi everyone, I have been very busy on the research front and am sorry I have neglected the blog. As mentioned earlier the Pakistan visa can sometimes be a bit difficult to acquire but I managed it here in Dublin using a visa agency Visa First.ie  They got this visa for me the following day, so many thanks for a wonderful service.

The only downside was in order to be sure of getting this visa I asked for and got 15 days. In hindsight I would have gotten the 30 days but I wanted to be sure. So this means I got to enter Pakistan before March 9th which leaves around 2,800km to be run in India in about 70 days so as my Pakistan visa doesn’t expire before I even get there! I should be able to cross Pakistan east to west in the 15 days as that distance is in the region of 560km.

On the run! Several of the officers ran with my during my Myanmar escort.

Also my passport is starting to fill up! I have only 6 unstamped pages. Most visa applications require the applicant to have two unused passport pages in order to process their one page visa, just to ensure the traveler can travel on and is not a liability. So effectively I have just four pages. This will suffice as I only need three of these full pages and have plenty of half pages for all the exit and entry stamps. Well after the Ukraine there will not be any stamps till I get to the port of Calais. I also ask immigration officers to not stamp a new page and politely ‘ suggest ‘ a location!

This reminds me of Indonesia when I suggested to a rude immigration officer a place for his stamp. He told me.

” Indonesia we have a rule”

” Whats that? ” I asked..

” You don’t teach me where to stamp the passport ” he said.

Early morning start. The Tourist Police make their calls to get another show on the road.

Ah Yes! I also remember my re entry to Indonesia in Jakarta airport after my ‘ visa run ‘ to Singapore.

I enter immigration. No other traveler there as I am first through because I am not carrying any baggage. I am overwhelmed by cigarette smoke. It’s a bit like the airport in the movie Midnight Express.

The immigration officer asks me to go over to the bank kiosk about 20 metres away to pay my $25 visa on arrival fee. I seem to be too much trouble for the bank teller who is annoyed at me interrupting his smoking session. I hand him $50 bill. He hands me back Indonesian change, I protest so he decides to be an A. H. and opens a drawer full of dollar bills and hands me 4 x $5 and 5 x $1.

These people are the first and last impressions visitors have of a country.

Young people of Myanmar... I love you, I couldn't help repeating those memorable words of pope John Paul!

Press HERE to see  the route I am now considering as my best option for several reasons as outlined below.

Initially I was thinking about running from Iran to Turkey.

Surprisingly EU citizens still need a visa for Turkey but I would imagine would also be easy to obtain.

However I am gone off Turkey for these reasons:

The classrooms emptied in seconds!

1. I cycled through there on my world cycle many years ago and even though I had a wonderful time I don’t want to have my whole Asian route from eastern India to be almost identical!

2. There is a problem running over the Bosporus bridge in Istanbul which does not allow pedestrian traffic (and no other way around it)

I am not getting anywhere with my inquiries  to the relevant government agents for an exception.

3. I really feel a world journey should include the largest country in the world, all be it only 450km of Russia between Georgia and the Ukraine (points E and F on my route map)

It's great fun!

Despite serious visa headaches I am going to try for a Russian visa which can only be applied for three months in advance to my entry date. BTW my Russian entry/exit dates are required when I apply for the visa. I can enter after my estimated entry date (June 6) but not before this date. I already have my LOI Letter Of Invitation which also lists the places I intend to visit.

Of course this also means I will have to maintain a pace of 50km per day from New Delhi to the Russian frontier for reasons outlined below. I tell you, I just cant seem to get a handy 1,000km per month month!

Even with the control.

I plan to apply for my Afghan, Iranian and Russian visas in New Delhi. Just like in Bangkok I will not sit around waiting for these visas. I will run on as I did there while applying for my Indian visa and return on an overnight bus to collect before submitting to the next embassy and returning to my route for a few more days and so on.

Iran is now my last remaining key visa. Many people get refused  Iranian visas, mostly the so called allies but not Irish.

It is a wonderful country and despite some problems I had there when I was effectively trapped in the country back in 1979. That was  due to the closed borders at the time of the Iranian revolution. I still have very fond memories of the country and look forward to my return. It is also a safe country which gets some unfair and bad publicity just like Mexico and Colombia. The Irish ambassador in Tehran talks very kindly about travel in Iran.

Near the end of a very tough day over dusty mountain trails, potholes and sand there is a 'handover.

After extensive research I eventually decided AGAINST this route  press HERE to view the route I decided NOT to run.

The reason for this change is I uncovered some unpublicized problems in Uzbekistan. According to a well respected travel agent in Central Asia I would have to stay in government hotels and that camping, home stays and couch surfing were illegal!   Ah yes! Where did we hear that before? was it in Myanmar? No thanks Uzbekistan!

And I am escorted out of another town with my newest friends.

I was then informed that in order to proceed with the required LOI that I would have to obey this rule so as he wouldn’t get into trouble, that I would!!!!

Then I got a much needed break in the Asian visa nightmare! Perhaps I should really withhold this information for a while but as readers know I have always shared and been transparent with my plans. If they don’t work out, okay I will find another, no ego here!

As mentioned before for a Russian visa the applicant has to apply for the visa in their own country of residence. Or a foreigner with more than three months of residency.

Well that breakthrough is… After sending a routine email to the Russian embassy in New Delhi I was directed to their visa outsourcing agency which informed me that my 6 month Indian tourist visa qualifies me for an ‘ Indian residency of sorts. ‘ I emailed a couple of times just to confirm and clarify and yes this has been confirmed. After some more back up research on travel websites it has been confirmed that this little known policy has been in place for at least five years.

Yes I can qualify to apply for my Russian visa in New Delhi

To be honest I wont be able to relax till I have it in my hand! What you mean relax Tony? You got to then run an average of 50km per day for three months so as it wont expire!

Believe me that will be the easy part!

And that I will do before my passport fills up! By the way for Irish citizens no visas are required for Armenia and Georgia.

There are other options open to obtaining a hard to get visa on the road for instance sending a passport back by courier to said visa agency in Ireland which would mean having to travel for a couple of weeks without a passport.  Easier said than done. Not sure if I would get away with this in Iran.

Not once did I have to show my passport in five weeks in Thailand to police or a hotel. Ah! Yes Myanmar, probably 5km!

I am reading a book at the moment by Shelby Tucker called “ Among Insurgents: Walking Through Burma, ” the story of his trek from China to India through the Kachin highlands and across what is now Myanmar to Thailand . And you know what he did the Burma/Myanmar part of the walk many years ago undercover and in disguise when the country was still off limits to foreigners! I just can’t imagine how he managed it after what I have just been through. Well done Shelby but I don’t think you would get away with it now! BTW when he tried recruiting a companion he was accused of being deranged!!

This entry was posted on Friday, December 13th, 2013 at 11:07 pm and is filed under jogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.