Overlander's Handbook
Trip Reports

Lada ~ Caspian Sea

Who	Rob Soetewey ~ email ~ website
Profession	Geographer
Born 1974	Nationality Belgian
Previous travel experience	Backpacking in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Algeria, trans Africa.

This trip	Around the Caspian Sea (well ...)
Departure date	August 2008
Number in group	2
Trip duration	3 Months
Distance covered	20 000 km
Cost of trip (not incl. vehicle)	a bit below 2900€ per person

Best day	Arriving in Samarkand after being stuck at the border for 4 days.
Worst/ hardest day	A headache day in Yazd, Iran.
Favourite place	Both sides of the Aral Lake, the steppe in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan
Biggest headache	Literally, that day in Yazd. Otherwise nothing really.
Wish I hadn't	-
Most pleasant surprise	The lada's off road capabillities. People showing
Any illness	Nothing really
Other trips planned	Shorter trips. Iceland and Cambodia on a motorbike
One overlanding tip	Plans are there to change, trust your gut.

Type of Vehicle	Lada 2104
Age/ mileage on departure	13 years, 45 000km
Modifications	Zebra stripe interior, home built anti-theft, removed the rear seat, added some fixing points
Most useful accessory	BP light 5kg gas bottle
Mods you wish you'd done	Nothing really
Tyres used	Don't recall, a HD 130 80R13 tyre
Number of punctures

Vehicle's weak point	Ground clearance with catalytic converter in place. It didn't brake down at all :-(
Vehicle's strong point	You're past the roadblock by the time they find out you're a foreigner.
Vehicle problems	Nothing
Same vehicle again?	No. I've sold it after the trip.
One driving tip	Don't fight the ruts!