"The impression of Russia that will remain with us forever will be how strict the traffic police were! Everybody was fined for the slightest offence, like crossing white lines, exceeding the speed limit even by 1 or 2 kph in towns (where it was 20kph to 40kph)," Choong said.

He said they spent most of their time in Central Asia covering Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan over a period of 19 days and driving some 5,000km.

And the contrasting landscapes ranged from beautiful snow covered mountains and fertile valleys to barren deserts.

"We drove along the Silk Route and through Atyrau, Nukus, Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, Bishkek,and Almaty.

"These ancient cities are so beautiful and have been painstakingly restored by the governments of Central Asia and should never be missed by any traveler," he said.

Their next border crossing was the Korgass Pass between Kazakhstan and China's north western Xinchiang province.

The 14-day and 7,000km China drive drive took them through Urumqi, Hami, Xian, Chengdu, Yibin, Dazhou, Kunming and Mengla.

"The impression that will remain with us are the toilets that are unbelievable and so disproportional to the modern cities there. The drive through Laos and Thailand proved familiar as the participants have been on this route before and the border crossings were smooth and hassle free," Choong explained.

The 65-day expedition covered extremes of temperatures of 2°C in Russia to 45°C in the deserts of Kazakhstan.

"All the people we met along the way were extremely friendly and helpful but were very curious and interested as to where we were from and where we were going," said Choong.

He said the expedition, which took a year to plan, was a great success. There were no vehicle breakdowns except for two tyre punctures. Choong said the next expedition being planned for next year was a Siberian - Mongolian adventure.

--The Star/ANN