I went from Honk Kong to the border with Mongolia with a RTW tour 4 years ago and the cost was about 4,000 Euros, which is still expensive compared with the local cost of living.

I wouldnt do it again. The pleasure of motorcycling is about freedom. There i felt like in a train : guide in front, guide and military in the back, programmed stops of a few minutes, programmed visits in chinese touristic places where you feel like...a tourist (a wallet on feet). The only time i felt a taste of adventure is when i got bored of the routine and fled ahead of the guides near Urumqi in Inner Mongolia. They decided to avoid the town and i was alone without being able to read chinese signs. I stopped at a police station in the center of the town to ask my way north and soon there were 100 people around, which i found embarassing, but one of them could speak some english, which solved the problem.

All in all, as a westener in China, it s very difficult to melt in the surroundings. You get always noticed and granted a "iiElloww" greeting, which makes it impossible to observe local people. Riding is China is perticularly stressing in the South East. You can t go over 50 km/h average speed and need to stay focused all the time because of the density and diversity of the traffic : cars, trucks, people on feet with bamboos on the shoulder, buffaloes, dogs, bicycles... all mix in an appearant total lack of attention for others. The only law applying is the bigest gets priority, but animals and pedestrians don t seem to understand that law. So as a motorcyclist you are the one who needs to care for all others and yourself. Add to this that asphalt roads can be very slippery while wet and pollution near big cities seriously reduces the visibility. There are even invisible borders that seem more difficult to cross than natural ones. One of the roads was once blocked due to works. So we had to change route, which made us loose hours, since an authorisation and bribe was needed through each village we had to cross to contribute to "maintainance costs". We arrived very late at destination.

North of Beijing the picture changes totally. Roads are faily new and very well maintained and nobody there except truckers going to Russia. The wind can blow very strong but it s more fun than stressfull.

I don t know how you can enter the country illegally and not get noticed, since there are tolls to pay very regularly and police making sure that nobody escapes without paying. You need to show your papers each time there.

I saw a blog of an american lady in her 40s that did it with one of her friends motorcycle illegally since she didnt pay for her local driving licence. It was very tough since she didnt speak mandarin and had to avoid main roads but well, at least she lived an adventure. She didn t risk to loose her own motorcycle tho.

So yes it s possible to travel independantly in China but i m unsure it s really worth the pain.