Kashgar to Beijing
 

Two riders on two bikes want to share the cost of riding through China next May-June 2011. We have an agent, we know who to contact, we roughly know the price and as you have already heard it does not come cheap. BUt much cheaper as a small group .We can organise it. If there were 6 of us it would be good.
Let us know if interested. It does take some organisation so no time wasters!
We will be going from London . We can all meet in Kashgar. You can ride from the border to there without needing guides!!

From which border?
If you can get that far without a guide, why would you want one at all.
I entered through Korgos and there was no chance of being allowed in to meet with a guide.

John

Maybe I have got that wrong, that you can get from the border, (in this case I was thinking of the Irkeshtam pass from Kyrgyzstan) to Kashgar, the nearest town.

Check out that everything you can. Kashi does not have a customs processing centre as far as I know. We exited to Pakistan and all the customs was taken care of in Taxkorgan.
Torgurat Pass is about 170km from Kashi

Which agent/guide are you planning to use?

John

I would be interested in looking into your trip..from the US..2 riders.."Significant Other" is Chinese and fluent in Mandarin..which would make the trip easier I think..would ride with you from London if possible ...bj

Thanks for replies. We have two agents on the go at the moment, I don't think there is a problem there.! Its early days. If anyone wants more private info then email is pmfarming@tiscali.co.uk. Could Bjorg with the "significant chinese speaking other" get in touch on that email address ....sounds good.

Hopes dashed
 

We are having to give up on getting through China. The expense is enormous on your own bike. The only way is in a big group like Globebusters but that is not cheap either.

Did similar last year
 

I'm interested to know where the expense is? In summer 2009 I bought a bike in Beijing and rode to Kashgar in three weeks (solid 5-8hrs a day on a 150cc bike and I swore never to buy anything less than a 400cc ever again)... but the trip was cheap!

I spent perhaps £500 on food, lodging and fuel. £700 on the bike (new), then sold the bike for £350 in Kashgar.

I never needed to bribe anyone (although I did get pulled over by police who wanted photos with me), nor pay for a guide on that route. I DID have to pay for a guide between Kashgar and the Pakistan border - there is a beautiful lake up there, for which you need a guide otherwise the police won't let you through the checkpoint.

I'd hate for you to miss out, China is ridiculously beautiful.

China
 

Thanks for your message. Would love to discuss further but currently travelling through mali and about to make an assault on Timbuctou. Internet not marvellous but just wanted to reply. Will be back in a week when i shall reply again. At the moment our China plans have been thwarted by the cost as perceived...the trip in that direction is happening though. To be discussed further......

.
Hi Pryd,

Beijing to Kashgar, quite a ride on any bike.
I think you must have traveled about 5000km ?

What time of the year did you do your trip?

I am in China now, Weifang, which is Shandong, East side of China.
Here there are many motorbike sellers.
I walk past one several times per week, we casually asked about it, it was a copy of a Yamaha DT125. It was new.
If I remember right, it was costing about 2400 rnb, aprox 240 UKP.
And this was a good expensive one.
It looked an absolute bargain, and felt great to sit on, nice and tall.
I was in 2 minds if to buy it or not, but decided not to.
Most of my travel is within the city, and taxi's are more safer I feel.
Taxi cost just 50p.
I have heard, from local people I know quite well, that I should just buy it, and get on and ride.
The police, will not take a great interest in a foreigner riding a local bike.

'vette

Hi Vette - Can you please give me the name of the the bike seller or any other informaiton on how to go about buying .. registering bike in China. I am in middle of organizing a trip for Jun-2011 to ride from lhasa to kashgar or vice versa. It does not look easy to get it organized. I have contacted few travel agents but there response has not be good. As I am by myself and I guess they are more interested in a group of people.

I would really appreciate if you can give more details about buying a bike in china, and what all we wold need to get things organized.

Cheers,
Imran

London Beijing dream
 

Hi Pryd, We are back from Mali! Re China...the expense with your own bike and coming in from the west is that you cannot get in to China without a guide, or so it seems. Whilst I hear what you say, our dream had been to be on our own bikes and go all the way across China. This seems a beaurocratic nightmare . Expense is the chinese insistance that we have a guide in front in a car at $150 or so a day. How can we get round that? At the moment we are planning to enter China from Kyrgyzstan, get to Kashgar and then do a loop via Urumqui and exit to Kazakstan and then ride all the way back to Europe via a more northerly route. This will apparently cost about 10 days guide time plus expenses!!Total time for trip about 11 weeks... as we do work!!!

Delayed response
 

Sorry for the delay guys. When I reached Kashgar there was a nice guy called Nathan ( Sydney Australia to London England on a moped. The adventure travel blog of Nathan Millward | The Postman ) who had just arrived from Kyrgyzstan. Sadly he was told the same thing at the border and had a guide "with" him. All this meant in reality was that a guy was taking his money each day, but let him do whatever he pleased, wander the city at will, drive where he wished, stay where he wished, etc.

However, in order to give you some hope, in 2004 I was backpacking in Tibet and met a group of 6 Italians on KTM's which they'd flown from Italy to Kathmandu... they didn't have a guide at all.

I recommend writing an email to info@beijing-easy.com they might be able to help you, or at least confirm the rules about guides. They help westerners get through the Chinese driving test (it's not very hard, but you DO need to study for it).

As mentioned by someone above though, generally westerners are not bothered by police, other than at major check points in trouble areas (XinJiang). I was stopped perhaps 15 times in 20 days, but never in cities, and usually they only wanted my passport.

'vette - yes it was 6000km in the end. No major problems, I had a 150cc QianJing bike, single cylinder, Harley Davidson lookalike. Really comfortable, but heavy and slow, so the mountains in Gansu province were a pain in the ass - 3400m high roads with a loaded bike and no power! I am surprised a yamaha DT125 was so cheap. In Beijing the cheapest bike I could find was 4500rmb - an air cooled 125cc Lifan I think. The 125cc Hondas were about 6000rmb, so I talked myself into a water cooled 150cc for 7000rmb.

That was July. No problems with weather, although the Taklimakan desert was stupidly hot during the day, with VERY strong winds at night. I feared for my tent on a couple of occasions.

'vette, you will not get a new bike for 2,400RMB - think double that an upwards.

I rode 8k around China in April / May 2008 on a locally purchased new Haobon 125. You can read my blog about the experience - Across the universe

.
Hi Imran,
Sorry for the delay in reply.
I am in Weifang city, which is in Shandong province, East side of China.
There aree many motorbike dealers, who will sell you a 125cc motorbile with registration plates.
Some bikes are brand new, and I am sure would need to be registered, as they will stick out like a sore thumb, especially with a foreigner riding.
I am sure the shop keeper will arrange to get registration, for a fee.
I would personally, look for a bike with is as new as possible, and already have number plates on.
The bike I asked about looked the image of a DT125, [i]I think it was yellow, but thats not the point.
When my Chinese girlfriend spoke to him, he told her 2400 rmb.
I can go back, and double check, and take a photo, if it's still there.
However I think they sell quite quick.
I will take a walk past there later today, it's only 10 minute walk away.
I will see what other bikes he has.

Look here on Taobao,
[url=http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9498441886]
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...yellowbike.jpg
This is a 400cc for 1188 rmb, Toyota engine,
In stock, 7 days delivery.
Price confirmed 1188. rnb, thats about £110 UKP.