Date of Border Crossing | 14.9.2006 |
Point of Entry |
Torugart Pass coming from Kyrgyzstan |
Passport and Visa | Passport has to be valid for at least another 6 months and you need a visa to enter China. See Additional Information on how to get a visa for China in Ankara, Turkey. |
Insurance |
We did not have a valid insurance for
China. I am not sure if insurance was part of the paperwork they made
out for us. Could very well be.
|
Drivers License |
We were issued our very own Chinese
driver licenses. They were valid only for the duration of our stay.
In order to get them we had to hand in a copy of our International driver
license as well as a copy of our Swiss driver license.
|
Motorcycle papers | We were issued Chinese vehicle registration papers. These were only valid for the duration of our stay. |
License plates |
We were issued Chinese license plates.
They looked quite cool. Unfortunately we had to hand them back in on
leaving the country.
|
How it went |
Getting into China over Torugart Pass turned out to be easier than we
had thought. But then we had arranged for all the paperwork and the
guide beforehand and we showed up on a Thursday when the border was
open! |
Point of Exit | Kunjerab Pass to Pakistan |
How it went |
Whatever you do, show up early! And
keep in mind that everybody else is doing the same thing. So show up
even earlier!
We thought we had gotten an early start when we showed up at 08:30. Well the line was already incredibly long! It took forever! We had to take off all the luggage from the bikes and stand in line at the Customs building. First as when we entered was the Health Check. Same obscure one as on entry. Luckily the machine did not object to us. Then the luggage was x-rayed and we had to get in line for the passport check. Passport gets scrutinized thoroughly which takes forever! Finally we get an exit stamp and are allowed to drive the bikes to the back of the Customs building. There we retrieve our bags, load the bikes up and were about to leave. No such luck: they want the license plates back and generally just all have a good look at the bikes! Finally around noon we are on our way. It is a great ride up to Kunjerab Pass. The road is a newly paved two lane highway that puts a lot of the pass roads in Switzerland to shame! Stunning scenery and easy riding. Once at the top the Chinese check the exit stamp in the passport and that is it: We are on top of Kunjerab Pass at 4'690 meters! |
Getting a visa for
China: We ended up having Caravan Cafe (greg@caravancafe.com) in Kashgar arrange for all the paperwork and guides. For the whole trip with two people and two motorcycles we paid USD 1500.- . They needed 30 days advance notice. The guys at Caravan Cafe are sometimes a bit slow in answering e-mail, but I have to admit in the end everything worked out great. According to Caravan Cafe it is not possible to do Inter province travel with your own motorcycle inside China. Which was fine with us, since we wanted to go over Kunjerab Pass into Pakistan anyway. However I have another contact who says it can be done, however at a price and with at least three months advance notice. !!!!!!!!!! ATTENTION !!!!!!!!!! Do not use the following contact to set up your paperwork. This person is a trickster and has left various travelers stranded at the border! This contact is Janet
Coming into China at Torugart: Leaving China over Kunjerab Pass
to Pakistan: |
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