Update Map
Hello Me Ol' China!
It seems the Great Firewall of China is interfering with Caroline and Bry's access to the website to publish updates so I'm posting on their behalf until they get access again, which may be when they exit the other side in a months time of course!
-- Andrew
Yep, we’ve made it to China! Those of you bored enough to have read the rest of the website will probably realise this is a major milestone in our trip. The paperwork, planning and agents’ fees have been a nightmare. Having to be at the border at a specific time and date has been a major concern, but we are finally here!
After our last update, we spent a few days chilling and even had one day on the beach, although it was a bit cold. We then travelled back to the west of Lake Issyk-Kol, through Balykchy (horrible place), then south over the 3030 metre high Dolman Pass. The road was bad and full of cows, goats and horses, but the scenery was stunning, when we could see through the dust from all the oncoming Chinese lorries. We spent one night in Naryn and the next four in Tash Rabat, the closest place to the border that we could stay, and here we’d meet the rest of the group we’d travel through China with (see http://www.supervarioworld.com/index.php/preparation/104-visas-and-red-tape if this is news to you!)
Tash Rabat itself is an old (between 10th and 15th century) caravanserai (truck-stop for travellers on the Silk Road). It’s about 10 miles off the current road, set is a beautiful shepherd’s valley and now has a load of yurt camps for trekkers. When we got there it was warm and we set-up camp still with our t-shirts and shorts on – we thought it would be an amazing place to while away 4 nights before heading for the border. Then, 3 hours later, as they say in all the best mountain-based stories, “the weather came in”. Freezing cold wind and horizontal snow, then our blown-air heater wouldn’t work. It was only 3 degrees inside the van when we woke up the next day, so this was spent defrosting frozen water pipes and sorting the heater (too much Kazak dust in it). The next days were spent in our winter clothes, chasing yaks off the campsite in lieu of camping fees, so the owner could go to market and look after the other guests. We fondly remembered being on the beach a few days earlier.
Monday 22nd we met the rest of our group. Richard and PooChian, a married couple from London and their friend Lawrence. PooChian and Lawrence are Malaysian, but also speak Mandarin which will be very helpful. They’re in a Mercedes Sprinter 4x4. Then there’s Rob, a Dutch lorry-driver in a good old Landy Defender 110. Only slightly jealous of the Landy until Rob had to sleep in his roof-tent in the freezing wind. A good bunch and we spent our first night drinking, getting to know each other and swapping stories of our travels so far.
Next day was the biggy – Tuesday 23rd September 2014 – a day we have worked towards since March. In reality, it was rather uneventful and although the longest border crossing in both distance and time, it was probably the easiest. Even driving over the 3770 metre high Torugart Pass was OK, if you ignored the snow and the fact the only 2 other vehicles we saw going in our direction were lorries crashed into the ditch. At the Chinese border we met our agent sponsored “fixer” Abdul, who whisked us through the various checkpoints scattered over the next 160 KMS, where papers were checked, checked and checked again, we had our temperatures taken and then we jumped the queue in front of literally hundreds and hundreds of lorries to have Mario “decontaminated”. This consisted of driving slowly through a spray, but because of the wind, it only sprayed one side, which all the dust then stuck to – we came out dirtier then we went in!
We then met our guide for the next month, Spring. A very small, very smiley, very sweet, recently married Han Chinese 30 year-old woman who looks about 12. She’s been a guide for 8 years and also has a Masters Degree in Chinese Literature. We’re looking forward to being in her care for the next month and picking her brains about Chinese society and culture.
Our first two nights were spent in a nice hotel in Kashgar, obviously popular with Chinese tour companies as we met many other foreign travellers here. One was a crazy Swiss guy, Guido, who had spent the last 6 months cycling from home. Others were on a Berlin to Beijing rally in various older Mercs, BMWs and SAABs. In Kashgar we needed to get the vehicles registered in China and also “apply” for our Chinese driving tests. These we really just a formality, but Mario did have to have a roadworthiness test and we were given 20 reflective stickers to put on him to comply with their laws. That night another fixer “Jack” arrived at our hotel with our licences and vehicle registration plates. All 3 begin with POO, so PooChian is happy! We are now officially the “Poo Crew”. Our reg is POO133, which is nice as 13th March is Caroline’s birthday.
Since then we have mainly been driving. Due to Northern Tibet being closed and some cities being off-limits for political or security reasons, we have taken a convoluted route through the Taklamakan Desert and are now in Korla, a big modern city. The desert was beautiful, lots of proper sand dunes, but the government have spent millions installing irrigation to support plants at the road-side to stop the sand shifting onto the tarmac. This includes over one hundred pumping stations where a worker lives, looking after his stretch of the highway. We spent last night camped on one of their drives, looking at the dunes and the stars.
It’s been a strange introduction to China – on every main road you are constantly having your photograph taken by overhead cameras and there are police check points about every 100 KM (we are grateful to have Spring with us as this makes things much easier). From what we’ve seen so far there are many contradictions – public squares playing loud music for the locals to get together and dance but they are watched over by armoured vehicles and police with guns. Lots of people smiling and waving as we drive through the streets, but then we see a convoy of open top trucks containing prisoners with their heads held back by guards as a display of public humiliation – it was quite chilling. We know there are political tensions in this area and it will be interesting to see if things are more relaxed once we head South East. In any case, over the next few days we should start doing some actual sightseeing and hopefully a bit less driving.
We will update when we can and hopefully put some photos up too!
TTFN or zaijian as they say here.
Pictures near this update:
