Our Overland trip from Europe to Japan via Central Asia!

So we started our trip as title says. Just left Moscow, we are heading for the *stan countries. Then over Mongolia to Japan.

All is being done with our Hiace campervan.
It has been doing fine so far but we havent reached the though parts yet.

This sounds brilliant, please keep updating with pictures.
I really want to be doing that type of thing before too long too!!

Funny you driving to Japan, a good chance to get a service and any of those difficult to source accessories - like the window covers you were after!

Sounds like a great time!

Have a great trip! Sure the HiAce is more than up to the task.

Greetings from Uzbekistan where it is a bit hot haha, and internet a bit poor. Will share pics later

Well done keep us up to date post some pics will be touring West Aus for 12 weeks from sep 7th have second Toyota camper over there.

Nice!

We are actually hoping to go to friends in New Zealand at the end of the trip, they also have a Hiace there
But not sure if time and money permits.

(Mountains on the right are Afghanistan, the road is Tajikistan)

Fantastic mega pictures are you enjoying it any bandits dont forget the return journey we are of to Aus in 5 weeks have had to hire a camper, our old van died last week both Toyotas of course, 12 weeks on the west coast including Perth, happy traveling keep the posts and pics coming.

Great photos, thanks for posting, good to see you are doing well.

Have you had to use the 4wd option at all on the journey?

Well, for the main road you don't need 4wd, but high ground clearance is important. Sometimes we take a detour 4wd track so then yes. And 4wd is ideal for just driving into nature and finding a place to sleep.

But we also went into high altitude, we crossed over 4600 keters! And the car is struggling with the low oxygen. So this meant I sometimes used low gearing to have better selection in gears.
Our Landcruiser did better in the Himalaya, but still the Hiace manages without turbo and all.

Had a small coolant leak, just a hose clamp, and broke the stabalizer bar holder because the roads were so bad!
But all was fixed easily.

No bandits but corrupt police is a possibility. Already got some nonsence to pay for, but when they see we are a family with young kids they don't push through amd.leave it.

Awesome

Have you got an internet blog as I would love to follow your expedition?

You can follow our blog on http://www.lovetheworld.nl but it is in Dutch

I have much more cool photos of the Hiace but havent uploaded them yet.
Just one for now.
We already went through Mongolia and now on our way to Vladivostok

We just put a new blog online on www.lovetheworld.nl, as always in Dutch but you can look at the pictures

And this clip about Mongolia, starring a Hiace

Hi Roland,
Fantastic trip, pictures and videos! I'll be following you and enjoying every picture. Blog shared on Hiace Hobo of course! Safe travels, Chris

Great video, could you note the drone you used for us? I suspect you are finding the solar cells super useful.

Some great pics there too, I also note someone backed your van into something . Interesting you have the barn doors at the back, much better for the spare wheel and gear attached to the doors.

I pasted your blog url into Google Translate but unusually it didn't show any words. so will paste sone text in later.

Interesting that your air-filter still got blocked even with a snorkel, must be dusty there, definitely 4WD terrain!!

@Chris, thanks! I can definetely recommend you to go in this direction too!

@GPW it is a DJI Mavic Pro. It needed to be foldable
But a Spark would also do nicely.

What do you mean somebody backed into us? The rear bumper was not so straight anymore, we got it reinforced in the capital. The bad roads and the vibrations were destroying it.
It is not attached to the doors at all, that would be destroyed even much faster on the washboarding roads and the potholes. The hinges won't take that lind of abuse with extra weight.

Well I didnt take care for the air filter enough I guess. I put a new one in in Tajikistan and the Pamir highway can be dusty. Then some offroading in Kyrgystan. But Mongolia added a whole lot of dust more.

The original air intake location is quite bad, and the sticker says inspect every 2000km in bad conditions. The snorkel improves it probably, but still it needs more servicing.

I was referring to the tiny crease on the back door on the RHS near the back door window.

Interesting the items don't hang on the doors, was forgetting the washboard roads

Ah yes that has always been there, I bought it like that.

I would only hang something on the doors of the big vans, with big hinges but only for European roads.

Probably you checked already, but that plastic item just in front of air filter housing is part of the air intake system - water trap/noise reduction. Mine had deteriorated and cracked/bits falling away on the bottom. I removed it, cut away about 30-40mm and glued a new piece of plastic on to seal it completely. Otherwise it was drawing air straight in from ground level! bypassing snorkel! Not by-passing filter thank god!