China (3 days)

A few weeks before i entered China there has been a successful huge drug smuggle passing this border, for that reason the customs guys at the first checkpoint were crazy rigorous, they even found my secret $$$ hiding place in the bike (had to unscrew some stuff!). Funny side note, the guy that found my ~600$ looked at me with a 50$ note in his hand and was about to put those into his pocket (the way he looked, he really thought it would be okay to take a bit), but before i could say anything, one of the other guys (4 soldiers were searching my bike) slapped his hand and told him to put it back.

After about 3 hours of waiting and checks at about 0 degree @4700m (air is so thin up there that they bring oxygen pillows for the older people) i could finally continue to the immigration which was still another ~100km away.

My china guide was already waiting, after we finished my immigration, my guide tried to get the bike in, but customs closed already, so i had to park the alp in a warehouse for the night. Not a big deal, next morning we left for the last hundreds of km to Kashgar where the KKH ends.


Landscapes still nice, but perfect tarmac too, very enjoyable, wouldn't there be the fact that you have to stick with your guide...
...but seeing it from a positive side, i finally got some pictures from a third person perspective.





my stay in China was too short to say a lot, but compared to my first time in China (Yunnan), people in this province seemed to be a lot more friendly, i even got invited for dinner from a young waiter!

I guess you guys are interested in the following facts for my China crossing:
Time needed by the Guide to organize everything: 1.5 Month
Visa: I got my Visa in Islamabad, was not that easy, you have to show a lot of stuff and they made some mistakes in the beginning, but finally i got it (never say you cross with your own bike)
Guide: stays with you all the time when driving, but sometimes they might give you a bit of distance. I say "they", because apparently it's not possible for a guide to be a guide and drive a car at the same time, so i had to pay a driver too.
Company used: newlandtravel, in general i can't complain, but i think there are cheaper one's (not a lot cheaper though).
One thing i really did not like was the included visit to some big Jade shop. This was pure advertisement (they get their commission), but i got free food and internet and didn't buy anything, so i probably shouldn't wine too much. It's just that i really really hate having a Guide ...and being carried to partner shops is one of the 1000 reasons why.
Total cost: For the 3 days including hotels (no other bikers to share the costs with): 1700$

I understand everyone who thinks it's crazy to spend that amount of money for a 3 day crossing, but it was key to my planned route, no alternative ways exist. I don't regret it, it's quite a unique route that I've done on this trip, allowed me to see Mongolia too


Kyrgyzstan (7 days)

After exiting China without too much hassle, i arrived at the gates of Kyrgyzstan. This border was fun, i arrived in the middle of nowhere, not having seen anyone for the last 30km, at a locked wooden gate.
Hello? Anyone there? *honk, scream, jump* *silence*

30 minutes passed until i saw someone in the distance slowly walking in my direction. He opened the gate, not saying anything, pointed out that i should follow him to a old soviet-style building, he took my passport and 1 minutes later i was free to go, "Welcome to Kyrgyzstan" were his first and last words.
I think that was my fastest border ever.

Nowadays most counties don't even need a visa for Kyrgyzstan anymore, but i was there about a month before they waived the requirement.
Which is okay, because i had a great time with the Kyrgyz Ambassador in Islamabad. Before handwriting my visa, for ~2 hours he told me stories about prostitutes,alcohol and some lake that magically looses water.


The weather seemed like it wanted to give me a nice welcome too, but 100m before the thunder started (i could see it), the road turned right and i was in dry nice sunshine




the bike was not running fine for the last few hundred km, on neutral it often died, i thought it might be a problem with the carb, so i let some friendly maintenance guys clean it, apart from an ant there was nothing noticeable wrong. Problem wasn't fixed, i asked then if it could be bad petrol, they laughed and answered "Kyrgyzstan no petrol, only donkey piss".
Good, problem understood, so we could continue having some booze.






Nice park near Bishkek

Kyrgyzstan is for most people in the world (not the HU crowd...) a totally unknown country, but it's beautiful, full of mountains, people are great and food is delicious. I really had a good time there (supermarkets had three big fridges full of different , quite a difference to the Islamic countries i crossed before)

That was not my last time in Kyrgyzstan! Highly recommended!


so long...
Moritz


Kazhachstan (8 days)
Russia (6 days)
Mongolia (15 days)
Russia (11 days)

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