Sharing costs to cross China from Mongolia to Laos, June/July 2014

[daveandles]

Hi everybody,

My wife and I are planning a trip from UK to Thailand and are looking for other vehicles to join us crossing Mongolia and then sharing the cost of the guide across China, leaving China at the Laos border. The only thing is that we can not go with motorbikes as bikes are not allowed on the Chinese motorways/autoban and we are in a Merc truck/motorhome and need to use the motorways some of the time.
Our outline plan is to take about 14 days crossing Mongolia then taking about 30 days to pass though China, however, we are not tied to any these times, longer or shorter is no problem.(shorter and the Guide price would come down)
I have looked into the cost of the guide and it comes out at 4950 euros for 1 vehicle with 2 passengers then if there is 2 vehicles with 4 passengers it is 3800 euros per vehicle the guide would be with us for 30 days and for that would do all boarder paper work arrange temporary driving licences for all etc,the cost of the guide go's down per vehicle with more vehicles in the party so 4 or 5 vehicles would be ideal,some friends have only just completed this trip with the guide we have been talking to and have been a great help in our planning,visa enquiries etc.
So if there is anybody wanting to join us please contact me ASAP.

Dave

[daveandles]

Hi Everybody,

Could change and enter China via Kazakhstan/Kyrgyzstan but must leave China at Laos then into Cambodia or go straight into Thailand from Laos.

Dave

[MAN G90]

Hi Dave,
we're also looking at going through China about the same time next year, crossing from Mongolia and ending in Laos. We hope to visit Vietnam and places south to Singapore too.
We're still early stages of planning, but are recent owners of a converted Man G90 truck which a couple drove to Singapore 2011, so it will be on familiar ground some of the time - although we won't be!
Just spent lots of time (and money) jumping through hoops to convert it back to German registration, it's a LHD.
However, our top speed is unlikely to be as high as your Merc camper.

We're based in France, but I'm English and my husband German.
Happy to discuss further, feel free to PM me (though not sure how that works here!)

Paula

[daveandles]

Hi Paula,

I have PM'ed you hope you have received it.

Dave

[daveandles]

Hi Paula,

Have you received my PM as I am experiencing problems with my internet connection here in South East Asia.

Dave

[Andy_C]

Hi Dave & Paula,

We had been planning a China trip, entering from the west and exiting to Mongolia.

However so far we have been unable to get anyone else to share the cost of the guide in China.

So we are now considering a change of plans, we do want to see China but would consider exiting south to Laos, the thing is we are not sure about the options for a return route overland via Myanmar > Northern India > ??

Andy

[MAN G90]

Originally Posted by daveandles

Hi Paula,

Have you received my PM as I am experiencing problems with my internet connection here in South East Asia.

Dave

Sorry for delay Dave,
have been too busy socialising to be online - but situation back to normal now!

Paula

[Lisa_Ann]

Hi Dave, Darren and I are a couple of Australians who might be able to help; we are a little flexible but are keen to cross China sharing costs July ish. Mongolia to Laos was our preference. I would be keen to discuss. Kind Regards Lisa

[daveandles]

Hi Lisa,

Yes we are and have booked a guide, there are 3 converted trucks/vans in our party and we will be sleeping in the vehicles most of the time, we are well into the planning and in the next week or two we will be paying a 50% deposit for the guide. if you would like to join us I would first have to consult with the others in the other 2 vehicles, our itinerary is that we are meeting on the border of Russia and Mongolia on the 14th June then crossing Mongolia and the Gobi together and arriving at the Mongolian/Chinese border on the 29th July (this is where you could meet if you didn't want to do Mongolia with us) to take the trip across China with the guide then exiting China at the border with Laos on the 1st August.
Let me know as soon as possible about the above itinerary and if it fits in with you and if so I will speak with the others,

Kind regards

Dave & Lesley

[daveandles]

Hi Everybody,

Unfortunately Lisa can not join us (problems with doc's for vehicle) so we are now looking for another vehicle to join our three Motorhomes to cross China from Mongolia we will be at the Mongolian/Chinese 1st July 2014 and exiting in to Laos on the 1st August.
We have the Guide already booked

Dave

[larryken67]

Hi I am Ken Holmes I live and work in China,going on 7 yrs, new to the HUBB, cannot navigate my way around the HUBB but ride a 1200 ADV GS and own a CHIANGJIANG 750. I am very annoyed at people taking advantage of other like minded people who wish to travel through or in China by motorcycle. Cannot offer all the answers, peeved at people in China wanting to make money out of bike riders because it is apparently difficult to organise everything. Open to like minded riders, annoyed I cannot make the first meeting in Shanghai but open to all comms. Attended my first gathering in Dayboro, QLD, Australia last September and loved it. Have ridden many roads, know many good places, have many good friends in China who ride bikes and treat riders with respect. If I can help in any way please contact me on larryken67@gmail.com

[b0nsai]

I know it comes quite late, but we are looking for a way to cross china around that time! Do you still have one spot available?

Andreas

[BikerT]

Hi
We are the road and heading through Russia, Mongolia and China ending up at Laos or Vietnam. We will be in Mongolia mid to late September as our entry to china visa expires on 30th September. We are a couple in our 50s on a motorbike. We are currently trying to sort our route out via Navo Tours recommended on this site. The costs are high because of the number of people crossing at this time. our email is sally.david@hotmail.co.uk if you need extra people. 1 thing though motorbikes are not aloud on Chinese main highways.
David & Sally

[sparks101]

Hi Dave and Les,

I have been reviewing your post and the subsequent threads, I would be really interested in an update now that you should be through China. I am planning a similar venture in the future and would like to know the issues/problems you may have had, including any "must do" experiences.
What do you estimate was the total cost of the passage through China?

Hope it all went well,

cheers
Andy

[daveandles]

Hi Andy,

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your request but we have spent a lot of time preparing to return to the UK (flying not driving), we are in the UK now for a short visit before we return back to Thailand and Plodd next month.

We were a party of 4 vehicles crossing China and we all had very different agendas, for example were was traveling from our home in UK to our home in Thailand in Plodd, another couple were traveling to Australia in a converted Sprinter, another were at the end of a one year trip that had taken them through the Stans in there Landcruiser and was ending there trip in Thailand before shipping the Landcruiser back to Germany and the last couple were traveling to South East Asia in a Man 8t Overlander truck before returning to Europe next year. Some wanted to look at temples some wanted to be in the cities some wanted to use highways and others the mountain passes, this caused a little bit of friction from time to time but we always manage to find a compromise on these few occasions. Unlike what we were told by other overlanders the guide did let us do our own thing to a point and one time we left the convoy for 3 day/nights to avoid the mountain passes and enjoy other sites, and on another occasion the couple in the Landcruiser left the party for 3 nights, so the guide was far more flexible than we were lead to believe was possible.

Well the must do's are endless but I will try to come up with some of the things we enjoyed on our trip.

On our travels we bumped into many other overlanders in Mongolia and China and some of them were not too happy with there guides, we met one couple that were with a Dutch/Chinese based company that were very very disappointed with their guide. Our guide was excellent and helped with any problems that any of the party encountered, she also spoke very good English and was very knowledgeable in all areas of China, which helped us to choose our route and stops through China.

We visited most of the known sights (Great Wall,Panda's, Terracotta Army, etc).

The total cost depends on many things, accommodation being one thing. If you stay in hotels or the camper or a bit of both, also roads that you use, highways or small roads, we used the highways a lot and the cost of the tolls was about £500 for the 30 days. Other costs were the entrance fees to the many sights we visited, you pay to see everything in China whether it be a museum or a lake and some sights are quite expensive, saying that, most are worth the fee charged, for example The Tiger Leaping Gorge was about £20 per person, Lake Lugi about £20, Great Wall and the Panda's around the same.

One place you don't need to visit is Shangri-La, just recently they had a terrible fire where most of Shangri-La was destroyed. Lake Lugi was nice to spend 2 or 3 nights at and if you like cities Beijing is very interesting but again you pay to visits all the sites of interest.

Eating the street food in many of the cities with the guide was good fun. The best (but very expensive) restaurant on the whole of the trip Temple Restaurant Beijing in Beijing.This restaurant had the highest standards of western food and hospitality we have ever seen anywhere in the world, If you go, tripadviser it first.

Crossing the border from Mongolia into China we were informed that we would not be allowed to take any food products into China, we had no problem the Chinese Customs Officer just came onto Plodd and opened one cupboard then left without a problem. Our Guide was talking to the officers long before we arrived at the border explaining who we were etc and I am sure that helped a great deal in our speedy exit, also exiting at the Laos border the same the customs officers seemed to know our guide very well and we past through with no problems.

I hope this helps and if you have any questions or need any help in your planning do not hesitate to ask. If you would like to ask Spring our guide for a quote, I would be more than happy to forward your details to her and then she could contact you in due course.

Kind regards and good Luck

Dave
Plodd - A Trip of a Lifetime

PS when are you planning to do your trip ?