Right, so it seems that people either get in piece-of-cake with no extra papers, and have little PSB trouble, or they try at all 5 borders, and no dice.

So far I know of many failures, plus a handful of people who have had no problems:
1) From Kyrgystan - Goetz, August 2004 (website?) (But struggled leaving)
2) From Kyrgystan - Bashishi, August/September 2004 (http://www.bashishi.com/)
3) From Russia (through Mongolia?) - Norbert Berentz, August 2004 - Can we have details, please, Norbert or anybody?
4) From Mongolia - LoMo expedition, January 2004 (http://www.lomo-expedition.de/intro-en.html)
5) This Czech Aussie biker in Vientiane travelling on a KLR650, 2004 (http://www.travelledaround.com doesn't work for me :-( )
6) In at Laos, Out at Vietnam - David Unkovitch, November 2000??? (http://www.gt-rider.com) (small PSB problem, according to his site, situation went downhill since then)

According to Butch, the official line is still the same - Chinese registered, guide, and possibly not interprovincial.

However, the number of reported (and yes, unconfirmed, but I trust them) successes I've seen have rocketed up (and off David Unkovich's site and this one I read of people even getting into and through most of Myanmar) - does anybody know of any more success stories not listed above?

Regardless of my chance of success, I will be trying in March 2005, from Vietnam, or Laos. I will have a carnet and International Driver's Licence, for what it's worth. Any suggestions as to other papers, bribing items, or fancy dress to double my chances from 10%-20% would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Anton