Nice to see health & safety taken so seriously

Left about 9am, and as we exited the hotel car park, it seemed like the Pedestrian Police had brought in reinforcements overnight ...

Not sure what the perceived trouble was going to be  ... maybe a mass protest from the Mothercare shoppers over the price of nappies ! Who knows.

So, after the Toll Booth routine, we shot down the Highway.... straight into a Police Check...

But strangely enough, they had a word with the guide, looked at a few Passports, then waved us on..... not a mention was made of the fact we were all illegally on a Toll Road !
Ok, so we push on..

And then it was fuel time.  We thought that maybe out of the cities, the rules might be a bit more relaxed towards motorbikes.

So pulling into the only station for miles, we didn't see any signs banning bikes, but I suppose they didn't need any, given we should not have been there in the first place.

It was a nice modern station, and clearly Health & Safety had got involved in the risk assessments... we will make the staff wear all the right safety gear, and ensure they only fill authorised vehicles on the forecourt....

Then 7 Motorbikes turn up ... well there wasn't a procedure for that, so they improvised.  Grab an old kettle, make us park just off the forecourt, and ferry the fuel from pump to bike.



Well that's China .... work round the rules, but don't break them !



We carry on .... mountains on the left, desert on the right...

Until finally we reach the outskirts of Bayingol...

Checked in the Silver Star, and this seemed to be the room layout for the majority of the tour ... two single beds.

I had declined an upgrade to a single room, and with the Swiss lads totalling 3, it meant that one of them got the short straw each night.

Guess they worked out a rota in the end !

Mountains to the left, desert to the right.

Interesting breakfast, then let battle commence .... with the Toll booth operatives....

Leaving Kashgar, thats the Old city high up.

 Most of todays story is really told in pictures ... nothing of note happened...

Onto the well groomed Toll roads.

Mountains on the left...

... desert to the right.

Roads so quiet you could park in the centre and take photos.

Max ... an Irishman, from Switzerland...

... and Ken, a German from Switzerland.

Get to a Police check.

Ever so friendly...

... except to our guide !

But soon back on our way.

Arriving Aksu, I found I was in the lead.

Tried to take the boys down a Pedestrian street .... think not!

Eventually find our hotel.

And even a Pizza place to eat.

It was a good day, with excellent, albeit, slightly boring riding.  The evening meal made a change from noodles, and heading back to the room, 3 of us decided to stop at the mysterious fourth floor, labelled as "Entertainment" on the lift button.

The lift (elevator) doors opened to a chorus of young ladies singing "Velcumb"...

Curiosity got the better of us, but after negotiating something down to 500 Ruan, we began to realise we didn't know if it was for the room, a beer, or a lady !  Time for an exit & bed.

All day .... staring at a wall

Now what did I do with that breakfast coupon .. oh, they never ask for it !  

Wrong ....

Never seen an entrance to a hotel restaurant like this before.  Had to blag the waiter to open the electric gates for me.

Checking our itinerary, on the first day, this was the day we had to have the bike officially cleared into China, and get our temporary driving licences  

But first, it was strongly suggested we get local mobile phone cards .... another procedure that took forever and involved many passport checks.

Once that had been accomplished, and numbers exchanged in the group, we were told to follow our guide in his car to yet another Government office about 40km away.  But with some of us now running on fumes, we though a quick fill-up would be in order...

Not as easy as you think... all stations have barriers and security guards present, and for reasons that were never explained, did not allow bikes on the forecourt.  Luckily our Guide blagged us in, and using his permit to buy fuel, got us filled up.

Then onto the Toll road, and as we approached the booth, about 3-4 officials came scurrying out, arms waving frantically, and blocking our path.

Yes, motorbikes were not allowed here either.
Again, our guide to the rescue, with many words being exchanged (and possibly money) and we were told to use the lorry lane to slide by the barriers (being slightly wider) and wait the other side.

Hmmm, I was beginning to get a bit of an inferiority complex now.  But onwards to the "Vehicle Inspection Office", where we were all told to line up against a wall in a particular order, being that of our positions on the "official permit"....

And we waited, and waited and waited.... Then went for lunch... well some us, anyway.  The menu was simple ...the waiter just pointed to a pot.  Noodles, or .... noodles. That was it.

After lunch, back to the wall and more waiting, until very close to 5pm, Mr. Policeman arrives, takes a rubbing of the bikes VIN (Engine & Chassis) numbers, sticks them to a paper form, and signs the lot off.

6 hours of waiting, 5 minutes of work, and we were free to go.  In fairness, there was other "stuff" being done by a fixer in the background, but nevertheless, apart from being necessary, it didn't seem very productive,

Fried things with yellow stuff

Back to the hotel, where we enjoyed the local culinary delights again, ready for the real start of the adventure the following morning.

Green beany looking things with something that was very hot.

Entering China

Jeremy had set the alarm for 6am... no bloody need, I think the frostbite woke me way before then...

Yes, that's snow on the bike.

The Yurts are heated with a small stove, that burns dried Yak dung .... seriously ! The hosts light it 20 mins before bed, and hope you fall asleep before it goes out.  I think Jeremy smuggled some more dung in and kept it stoked most of the night. Thanks Mate, much appreciated ... but hope no offence, because I would not eat that bit of bread you passed me at breakfast time!

Got on our way about 8am, and after the gravel track back to the main road, it was back to amazing tarmac, and quality scenery.  The most surprising thing was that considering this was one of the few entrances to China, there was no traffic... so why build such a good road ?

After an hour, got to the first of several check-points.  As with all police, army & immigration checks, cameras are strictly prohibited, so excuse the distant shots...

Then more beautiful backdrops as we drive many more km to the actual border.

Get to the Kyrgyzstan final c/p after a couple of hours, and strangely, no queue to speak of.  Got ushered into the building, and had the various documents checked, paid a $30 (I think) "environmental" fee which none of knew anything about, and then rode the final 8km up to the actual spot on the map where the border is (the Tourgart pass itself).

There is a gate there, and we are lucky because the border closes for lunch ... this takes from 11am, to whenever the lazy buggers have finished stuffing their faces and slept it off .... 3 hours are usually quoted. Guess thanks are in order, because Max's BMW refused to start, making us about 10 mins late, but they graciously waited for us, where our Kyrgyzstan guide, handed us over to the Chinese guide.

The tourist group were doing a similar transfer, which included a change of bus.

Passports were checked and checked again, then once in China, we made our way past the queuing lorries to the Customs post, roughly 5 km from the border gate.

The truckers were so pleased to see us, they kept suggesting we rode two by two (at least that what I think they meant)

Last pic before I hid the camera...

The check itself was strange ... they selected a few bags at random from the bikes, passed them through an X-ray machine mounted in a scrapped Transit van, then handed them back.  They did not seem to worry whose bag was whose, or to check the bikes with "fixed" panniers, so presumably lip service is good enough.

And once through, we rode one of the worst potholed roads ever...

But after 50 km it steadily improved and the mountainous scenery soon made us forget the dust and potholes of the previous hour.

And then another customs check, but this was probably more like a "disease prevention point" ... there was a bit of a hold up as all cars and lorries pass through a mechanised water spray, which wheels itself out on a track, then emits a mist as they drive through.

Evidently they had never done motorbikes before !! So visors down, the first of us rode through ... but then some of the group decided it could not just be water and hesitated.  In the mean time, the officials had decided that the mist clearly wasn't even touching the small bikes, so just waved the remainder of us through....

Next was the "proper" immigration check (now 100km from the border), which resulted in some delays as despite having our documents & route submitted it to Beijing 3 months prior, it had not been sent back the nominated entry point. So we waited in the baking sun for 2 hours while the paperwork slowly worked its way down the chain...

Had to smile at this ... comfortable indeed ! You should have seen inside !

 And then with the sun setting, we completed the last 50km onto our first night in China ... Kashgar.

Stayed at this rather posh hotel...

... and eat in their rather post restaurant.

And as I forgot the introductions earlier, (L to R) we now have "Big John" from Canada, Jeremy from the UK who I have been riding with since Turkey, and Alan ... a Brit who last year, actually rode from Thai to the UK.

There are also 3 lads from Switzerland with us now, but I think their tolerance level for strange food was not as high as ours, as the empty "pot noodle" containers in their room would suggest !