it appears that tibet is currently closed to travel, but the company i have been emailing says that we should still be able to go through Xinjang - and that there is the potential for this to be longer than the quick KKH trip. Would other riders be interested in a longer trip through Xinjang, or just the KKH? we are al but at enough bikes to make a longer trip affordable

@david - glad to have yu. when do you plan to cross in to china? i'd love to get the vietnam contact from you

We could do a longer Xinjang trip though we need to be mindful of the time as we need to be back in Europe by the end of July. Shame about Tibet...

Another change in Chinese policy is that organised tour visitors need a letter of invitation that is only issued one month before the start of the tour. Because of this we were not able to obtain our visa before departure from Canada and will now get it in Ulaanbaatar. I guess we'll need to budget some time in New Delhi to obtain all the necessary visas for China and the 'Stan's though Kyrgyzstan no longer requires one.

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Ekke Kok

'84 R100RT 141,000 km (Dad's!)
'89 R100GS 250,000 km (and ready for another continent)
'07 R1200GS Adventure 100,000 km (just finished Circumnavigating Asia)
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

www.ekke-audrey.ca

The man I communicated with is - Anh Tuan of Voyage Vietnam Mototours. He meets you at a border crossing, organises the permits, etc., and guides you for the duration of your visit. He also does Laos and Cambodia guiding.
info@voyagevietnam.net

Have you knocked up a proposed route map for your trip. Keen to have a look.

Since my last post in August we have now done our China tour. We used China Overland (china overland |china driving Travel |china self-driving) and communicated with the owner, Paul Bys prior to the tour. I'll post a separate thread with a full report on their services.

For this discussion I'll just say that they handled all the paperwork efficiently, both entry and exit from China. They also arranged shipment of the bikes from Shanghai to Japan. We did end up paying for both the driver and guide's accommodation (they stayed in the same hotels as us) and food. Fortunately China wasn't too expensive. On the downside the tour guide really was a very poor guide, with limited knowledge of tourist things to see and do. We found it much better to read Lonely Planet. The driver was also quite poor in navigation skills, relying entirely on the GPS (hey, I can do that!) and he drove rather erratically (in other words, like a local) so it was tough to follow him sometimes.

A real challenge (at least in Eastern China) was that motorcycles aren't allowed on the expressways. Normally that's fine by us but there were times that we would rather have paid a toll and taken the expressway. We were forced to ride through a city of 9 million people because the only way around was on the expressway so we had to ride 1.5 hours in the dark that evening. An experience I would rather not repeat. At one point the national highway was closed for construction from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and there was no feasible detour yet we weren't even allowed to try the expressway.

To get to the point, I don't think we would be terribly keen on spending another 3 weeks in China. At this point we would prefer to do the short hop from the KKH to Kyrgyzstan as quickly as possible. A short hop from Katmandu to Everest and back might also be possible.

We would probably use China Overland again as they were reliable but we would ask for a different driver and guide.

__________________
Ekke Kok

'84 R100RT 141,000 km (Dad's!)
'89 R100GS 250,000 km (and ready for another continent)
'07 R1200GS Adventure 100,000 km (just finished Circumnavigating Asia)
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

www.ekke-audrey.ca

Which company are you in contact with? We used a company which promised the moon and gave us dirt!

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www.travellingstrom.com

Hi Sanpedro,

I want to go back to Europe from India in Summer 2013.

So I am interested in the KKH option (One Sidecar)

Can you PM me an update about the actual status and plans?

Greetings Heiko

Hi Beemer,
not sure if Sandpedro still has the same plans.
But we are still on track ,aiming around June to traverse the KKh route ,it seem to be the cheaper option ,unless we get an influx of people wanting to do the Nepal/China option then were happy to go that way.
We will be in Malaysia from the 4 Jan.
Cheers Clive and Chris

The border at the KKH with China opens on May 1. Is anyone interested in going through at that time? We can't go any later as I need to be back at work in August.

__________________
Ekke Kok

'84 R100RT 141,000 km (Dad's!)
'89 R100GS 250,000 km (and ready for another continent)
'07 R1200GS Adventure 100,000 km (just finished Circumnavigating Asia)
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

www.ekke-audrey.ca

Hi Ekke,
were up for it in June
cheers Clive and Chris

Brisbane2Bristol

in what may be a world first, we've ended up saving up more money than we were aiming for. i really don't know how this happened

this has meant that wwe've changed our plans somewhat and now intend to take twice as long to complete our trip. as such, we're no longer planning on crossing china as per my OP

pirate63 is still going to make the crossing, so i've sent him the info i'd collected. i'd suggest people get in touch with him to team up

keep me in the loop Kayjay,as we are getting ready to firm up plans soon ,we are in KL Malaysia at the moment and will be in Nepal end of April.

cheers Clive and Chris
Brisbane2Bristol

Hi guys

We (2 persons with 1 bike) have planned to ride the KKH and cross the Chinese border in the beginning of May. But Tibet sounds like a great option if it´s really possible.

Rami & Minna

keep in touch with your plans Rami,if we cant join a trip to go across china from Nepal we will be going up the KKH if you want company
cheers Clive and Chris
Brisbane2Bristol

.
Guessing that extortion was via with Navo?

Vette

Hello,

We are currently planning to go from Nepal to Kyrgyzstan End of April or early in Mai. This seems to be exactly the route you are considering.
We are traveling with an old Mercedes (4x4) and could take the guide with us. We have a first offer of a travel company called Navo of 5500 Euro (18 days), however the 28 days route through Lhasa seems to be more exciting.

What is your current status of planning?

Let us know,
Fabian and Marlies

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