Hi Seb
interesting option. Karen, my wife, liked Kg best. It was the central country in our trip this year.
Btw, in Nauryn we saw 2 bikes with dutch licence plates left in Kg.
If we should decide to go back to Kg on a "short" holiday we´ll contact U

Regards
Goetz

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ïóòü = öåëü

G'Day,

seems Harley Owners Group Hong-Kong plans another event in Mainland PRC during 28th.Nov.--6th.Dec.2004. as long you apply as a group and have all the permits and pay the $fees$ your good to go but individuals crossing the border and flying under the radar is nearly impossible or lets put it; very rare.

"...1st. Asia Harley Owners Rally (AHOR).Having planned for over six
months and liaised with Harley Riders from Malaysian, Thailand,
Singapore and mainland China, the first AHOR is finally decided to
take place from 28 November 2004 to 6 December 2004 (9 days) at
Kuming, one of the most beautiful city in mainland China..."
more info via: http://www.h-o-g.org

Best Regards, Seeya in the pub or on the road somewhere....
BUTCH
www.butchshanghai.com

Does anybody know if its possible to come to China by ferry from Korea (with the bike) and start the China trip from there?

------------------
email: petze @web.de

Right, so it seems that people either get in piece-of-cake with no extra papers, and have little PSB trouble, or they try at all 5 borders, and no dice.

So far I know of many failures, plus a handful of people who have had no problems:
1) From Kyrgystan - Goetz, August 2004 (website?) (But struggled leaving)
2) From Kyrgystan - Bashishi, August/September 2004 (http://www.bashishi.com/)
3) From Russia (through Mongolia?) - Norbert Berentz, August 2004 - Can we have details, please, Norbert or anybody?
4) From Mongolia - LoMo expedition, January 2004 (http://www.lomo-expedition.de/intro-en.html)
5) This Czech Aussie biker in Vientiane travelling on a KLR650, 2004 (http://www.travelledaround.com doesn't work for me :-( )
6) In at Laos, Out at Vietnam - David Unkovitch, November 2000??? (http://www.gt-rider.com) (small PSB problem, according to his site, situation went downhill since then)

According to Butch, the official line is still the same - Chinese registered, guide, and possibly not interprovincial.

However, the number of reported (and yes, unconfirmed, but I trust them) successes I've seen have rocketed up (and off David Unkovich's site and this one I read of people even getting into and through most of Myanmar) - does anybody know of any more success stories not listed above?

Regardless of my chance of success, I will be trying in March 2005, from Vietnam, or Laos. I will have a carnet and International Driver's Licence, for what it's worth. Any suggestions as to other papers, bribing items, or fancy dress to double my chances from 10%-20% would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Anton

G'Day,

"...According to Butch, the official line is still the same - Chinese registered, guide, and possibly not interprovincial..."

yes, as a visitor you can go PRC interprovince riding with a pre-approved route and all the PRC documents, travel permits and PRC government guides (escorts) but as stated many time before..$$$costly$$$....

SEASONS GREETINGS!

Best Regards, Seeya in the pub or on the road somewhere....
BUTCH
www.butchshanghai.com

Hi Anton,

Let me know what you find out. I'm planning on New Zealand Feb. 18, 2005 until late March or early April when I go to Japan. I hope for a job teaching English in Japan or Korea, and I figure after a year of working, I'll have enough money to try to ride to Italy for the Motogiro. I'd love to ride through China, but if not, Southeast Asia. Burma is also a hit and miss country.

--Dave

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Trying to ride (and work) my way round the world on a 1965 Ducati 250cc. Australia, New Zealand and Japan are first. http://nokilli.com/rtw/

Hi Olaf
trying to answer a question.
Norbert Berentz contacted me once. He had support from the Iron Tigers in Vladivostok coming into China on a truck (thus hiding the bike like the LoMo expedition did).

Another explantion. The chinese paper you can see on bashihsi.com is NOT the allowance to enter China on a motorcycle like "bashishi" presumed.
My wife and had the very same docoment at the very same border before. Actually it´s a toll declaration form. And where the licence plates of the bikes appear there´s usaually written something like "one suitcase".
It took us an hour to talk to the lady who had to fill in the form. Very difficult hardly any english spoken. She had a dictionary.
But coming from western dualism in mind sometimes the chinese (i.e. confucian or tao like translations) may not come appropriate.
But who are we to complain about a countries millenium old wisdom.

Goetz

------------------
ïóòü = öåëü

For those who haven't seen, Jun (Bashishi) updated his section on entering China with more details and pics a few months ago.

http://www.bashishi.com/report/2004/...to-kashgar.htm



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Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius - William Blake

Hi all, and thanks Goetz for the clarifications. It was also interesting reading the details on Bashishi's trip.

The current update is that I left New Zealand on February 15 on my Honda XL250. After successfully travelling through Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, I was allowed (just) into Vietnam, at Chau Doc.

Although I have only a 250cc, it is still over the legal 175cc limit, but size didn't enter into the discussion at all. I will post a report of the crossing on my site in the next few days.

I have been happily riding in Vietnam for 8-9 days, with no problems with the law - I am presently in Hanoi, and will see if they let me leave again in a couple of days.

Heading of course for China. Yes, of course I'm a fool, but what have I got to lose? Of course, even if they let me in, I need to leave at a different border, as I am heading for Japan.

I'll keep you posted.

Does anybody know whether there's a chance that failing all else, they might let me put my bike on the train to Shanghai?

G'Day,

doubt they will let you put motor vehicles on trains in China. we tried several times over the years in Shanghai but failed. truck transport is the only way up to today.

we are trying to airship some bikes this year, should be an interessting task...

in case you ever make it to Shanghai send an email to shanghai_biker @ yahoo.com (put email address together!!!)

Best Regards, Seeya in the pub or on the road somewhere....
Butch
www.butchshanghai.com

Sorry Butch, I never doubted you, and I still don't doubt the facts of the official laws - just to clarify, if it seemed like I was disputing what you said, a few replies ago. More just quoting sources.

I have over the past few days found out for myself exactly what the official line seems to be, at least from the Vietnam side, and it agrees perfectly.

Still, I wanted to make a good attempt, because, as we both know, 1 country, 1000 systems, and also the left hand does not know what the right is doing, or even what it is allowed to, mostly.

It must be partly this that allows me to report, not only successful entry, with said illicit vehicle, but a stamped carnet and "Declaration Form" to prove my "legality".

Hoo-rah! This is not something I ever intend to boast about, as it was surely not of my doing, except maybe my persistence. Certainly I did a lot of praying.

But regardless of the reason - hoo-rah! I am about 330km north of the border, hoping to arrive in Shanghai before the weekly Osaka ferry on Saturday morning, assuming the countries aren't nuking each other by then.

I will post more details and answer any questions when there aren't 15 Chinese kids peering over my shoulder.

G'Day Olaf,

your talking about Shanghai arrival on / before 30th.April? mate, regret to inform you that we have big events during the first PRC MotoGP. might not be able to catch up with you during 28th.April -- 1st.May due to other commitments. our Shanghai bike club takes of for a ride as of 2nd.May till 7th.May.

send an email to adress listed above.

best regards, seeya in the pub or on the road somewhere....
Butch
www.butchshanghai.com

[This message has been edited by butchman (edited 23 April 2005).]

A pity - I owed you a beer, plus another one on behalf of horizonsunlimited.com for all the helpful posts "from the inside" over the years.

Hope your MotoGP goes fabulously.

Olaf

G'Day,

most of our club members will be out at the MotoGP race circuit as of 29th.april till the actual race on 1st.May. as stated above, we going for a ride on 2nd. May during PRC National Day.

our Red Devils MC Shanghai meets every wednesday night for some beers, in case your in Shanghai this coming wednesday send me an email.

answered your email this morning.

Best Regards,
Butch

Hey Olav- I'm now crossing into Lao from Thailand and heading for Viet Nam via Cambodia. I too want to ride north into China. I am riding a 650 BMW Dakar and am aware of the VN size restrictions and complications for China entry. Can you please advise how you've done this?
Thanks
glen
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email address removed - see the icon above for email.

[This message has been edited by Grant Johnson (edited 06 May 2005).]