Hi again

Have contacted Newland travel in kyrgystan for passage to pakistan via china, was quoted $1900 Us, !!! Expensive .... He mentioned two different passes : tourgat and Irkeshtam.

Now roughly how long does it take to reach kyrgystan from Uk, as I need a entry date and hopefully try to find people to share the guides with. I am setting off in August .

Have attached the price list received from Kashgar New Land Travel.
1. Have anyone used them recently?
2. I have heard of a caravan cafe , but do not seem to find any detailes about them.
3.Is it possible to get a chines visa, and at the border load the bikes on a truck and get the bike to pakistan that way?
Has anyone tried crossing Afganistan via tajiskatan in to pakistan , souds suiicidal ,but things has changed .


Price list received from Newlandtravel
Day1
Fri
Arrive from Osh to irkreshtan meet our guide and driver ,declerae all customs paper work drive down to Kashgar . check in
Qinbagh Hotel
B

Day2
Sat
stay at kashgar prepare rest ..
Qinbagh Hotel
B

Day3
Sun
Visiting kashgar famous highlights Sunday bazzar, with Abak hoja Tombs which is built 1640, Old town , Idkah Mosque one of largest mosque in China …
Qinbagh Hotel

Day4
Mon
Kashgar to Tashkorgan , on the road visit Karakul lake , mountain views of Mt.Mustaghgata , Kungur
Ben Lei Xin Hotel
B

Day5
Tue
Tashkorgan Exit Pakistan to Sust . service end

Kashgar New Land International Travel Service Co. ltd
Price :
Permits : 800USD$ / per Motorbikes
Customs declarations: 200USD$/Enter/ Exit total.
Guide : 45USD$/ per day X4days=180USD$
Guide Car transportations: 180USD$/per day X3days=540USD$. (During rest , not serve)
Hotel: 45USD$/ per night/per room X4nights=180USD$
Total : 1900USD$

Price Include : mentions above permits…..Enter / Exit Border registrations , Vehicle registrations .driver registrations , Insurance fee . Chinese Number plates , driving license …etc…
English speaking guide , guide transportations , hotel Accommodations, Kashgar/ Tashkorgan.

Price not include : Oil , Petroleum fee, High way tax , laundry service , Hotel Minibar tipping local stuff …..etc…."

__________________
www.uk2sydney.blogspot.com

Hi there,

We are thinking of going the same time and have had 4 different quotes. There are 3 of us definitely, me and my wife Jenny in a Land Rover, and a friend on a bike. A 4th guy from the HUBB is also going to confirm his dates and possibly come with us. We are open to more travelling with us at this time.

We are aiming to get to China fro 25th August and enter Pakistan on 1st September, taking about a week. By the itinerary we got it would seem that a week is more than enough time to do it.

The last I heard the Caravan Cafe was closed down, although Steve who used to run it did reappear at one point, but he didn't answer my last few emails.

The quotes I got were quite varied, but if you PM me or email me (email address on our website, see link below) I will email them to you and we can chat. I will try and get them into something logical and put them up here, or on my similar thread, at some time.

Cheers

__________________
Ollie

www.jollyfollies.com

Land's End to Sydney 2009

We looked into the Afghanistan crossing, but everyone warned us off it. Apaprently if you could just pop across the Wakkhan (sp) corrider then it might be OK, but there is no path across there, and you would end up travelling much further than it looks on the map, and you would also be straying into much more dangerous areas ..

__________________
Ollie

www.jollyfollies.com

Land's End to Sydney 2009

Below are the details of the quotes we got. We are undecided at the moment. Obviously the cheapest is appealing, but Stan Tours is highly recommended and we are using him for our 'Stans visas.

The middle ground is Wayne (or July Xie) who came highly recommended from Steve at the Caravan Cafe ......

See below:

Stan Tours
-----------

Ollie and Jenny USD 950 each (1 car, twin room)
Russ USD 1,680 (1 bike, single room)
Then maybe a saving of $1-200 dollars for an additional bike

ZZ Tours
---------

Aug25 Kyrgyzstan-Torugart pass-Kashgar o/n Kashgar
Drive to Kashgar visa Torugart pass,our guide will meet you at the
boarder,then drive to the customs,our guide will help you check
in.and then continue driving to Kasghar
Aug26 sightseeing in Kashgar o/n Kashgar
Visit the Id Ghar Mosque,the Apark Hojha tomb(also called Fragrant
Concubine tomb),excursion to the Old part of the town,and Handicraft
street.
Aug27 Kashgar-Dawakun desert(a part of Taklamkan desert) o/n camping
Drive to Dawakun desert,enjoy the magnificent the desert view,you
also could stay overnight on the dedert.
Aug 28 Drive back to Kashgar. o/n Kasghar
Aug 29 Kashgar-Aoyitak glacier o/n yurt or guesthouse
Drive to Aoyitak glacier part,you could enjoy the glaciers.
Aug 30 Aoyitak-Karakul Lake o/n Yurt
Drive to Karaul lake along Karakarum highway,on arrival,enjoy the
magnificent Muztagh-Ata(7546m in altitude)--"the father of
Glacier",and Konger mountains(7719m in altitude).then overnight in
the local yurt along the lakeside.
Aug 31 Karaul lake-Taxkurgan o/n hotel
Drive 100km to Taxkurgan, visit the Stone City,Golden Valley,and
experience local Tajiks living style.
optional: there is a new best hotel in Taxkurgan,it is Crown Inn,managed by Singaport hotel management.it is a 4 star hotel ,and the room rate is also not expensive.
Sep 01 Drive to Sust(in pakistan)
Our local guide will see you off to Pakistan.and end of your wonderful and charming trip in China.
the quotation: 1350usd
service included:
1.All permits to China for 2 motorcycles and 1 Land Rover.
2.English-speaking guide from Torugart pass to Taxkurgan 3.China temporary driving licence and temporary car plate.
4.transportation for our guide from Kashgar-Torugart pass,Taxkurgan-Kashgar
Service not included:
1.All meals
2.Sightseeing entrance tickets
3.Accommodation

China Exporation
-----------------

The cost for your trip with 1car 2 motor bike, 4 driver or travellers making 7 days trip in China, the cost is US 3950.00. It include the cost for all of the government paper works, temporal driving license, temporal plate, guide service, guide's meals, accomodation, vehicle insurance for the third people's killing. Not include your oil, vehicle maintenance, reparation work, toll gate fee, accommodation, meal, tour site tickets


Julie Xie/Wayne (who used to do the tours for Caravan Cafe)
------------------------------------------------------

To drive your vehicles to China, you have to provide us the following information as.
1/ photocopy of each vehicle, which was taken at an angle of 45 degrees, by which we can see clearly the provinonal plate number.
2/ Photocopy of drivers licence
3/ photocopy of vehicle registration certificate
4/ Vehicle serial number
5/vehicle frame number
6/ Engine number
7/ Vehicle make, model, year, engine size & type
8/ Uploaded vehicle weight
9/ Vehicle colour
10/ Specify right or left drive
11/ vehicle test report
For each person:
1/ Name
2/ Citizenship
3/ Passport No
4/ Male/Female
5/ Occupation

The cost for your team will be 1980US$, which includes the permit, driving license and the guide to meet you and send you off at the border.

__________________
Ollie

www.jollyfollies.com

Land's End to Sydney 2009

Thank you very much. I wish I could join you , but can not leave until late july and aim to reach the chinese border late september or october.

__________________
www.uk2sydney.blogspot.com

Just quick question, have you got all the visas in place? specially the chinese one, or are you going to get it on route

__________________
www.uk2sydney.blogspot.com

Kash to Tash and up to the pass is a great ride but 1900£ does sound a crazy price!

3.Is it possible to get a chines visa, and at the border load the bikes on a truck and get the bike to pakistan that way?

I have heard this done and for a quick KYR to PAK hop it makes sense. This is our Plan Y (will be running out of letters soon...).

A quote received today:
crowninntashkorgan. com
truck for the bikes from Irkestam to Kashgar to Khunjerab Pass:*RMB 5,700
4WD for you:***RMB 5,400
Permits (2 motor bikes):*RMB 2,000
Guide (2 days):**RMB 600
Total costs:* RMB 13,700
or about UK£700 per bike

Quite a lot really.

Quote 2 from Tibet-tours.com. to cut a long story short:
Truck for bikes, van for us.
Irk to Kash (hotel),
Kash to Tash - (hotel)
Tash to border
$770 per bike including 2 nights hotel - or UK£550.

A bit more like it. One month required to organise this + full bike VIN details and photos.

[A few weeks later. Never got a final price from TT so I've given up on Tibet fot this year. May try again next year]

Has anyone tried crossing Afganistan via tajiskatan in to pakistan
Thin tho it is, Wakhan is not the way to go unless you're a smuggler. We met a cyclist in Gilgit who did it last summer. Down via Mazar to Kabul was fine - from there he was advised to take transport to the Khyber and so to Peshawar (itself not a tranquil spot at that time - we flew round it). OK for bikes and motos, a bit harder in a car.

btw:
Great place to eat in Kashgar is Altun Orda. Just down from the Seman. Pimped-out Uighur joint - like Turkish food. Cant wait to go back!

Good cheap place to stay in Tashkurgan
Sheng Yu Guest House
On the KKH, east side on a corner, blue sign, just before bus stn/Customs over the road. Cant recall the price (£20 a twin en suite for us?) but is was cheap new clean friendly and not hideous. The meal we had in Tash was...

In Gilgit the Medina GH is still a place if he hasn't closed down yet. Room for motos inside, cars park in the lane (may be room in the yard).

hth

Ch

__________________
Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Hi,
I used Newland Travel in July 07 and know somebody that used them in Aug 08.
See here for details of how things work:
China Guide
I had booked them through Caravan Cafe, who I understand to be agents. I beleive that the guy who ran Caravan had certain political views that he liked to voice and that the Chinese shut him down. I may be wrong but this was the word on the street when I was there (Caravan shut up shop around a month before I entered but still sorted out the arrangements as you have to book 3 months in advance).
Charles
p.s. good place to stay in Kashgar is Quini Bagh (not sure how that's spelt!)

__________________
UK to Australia 2007
www.planitearth.co.uk

just having caught up with this thread....I have some questions.
How is the planning coming CornishDeity - which company did you decide to use in the end . Are your dates still fixed for Aug 25th?

My husband and I are traveling on 2 motorbikes and are trying to figure out the best way through from KYZ to Pakistan. Our route was going to be through Afghanistan when we originally started our trip - but things are way too volatile there at the moment. So we are having to research new ways round. At the moment it looks like we will be heading off to Uzbek - Turkmen - Iran -Pakistan.....

any information on any other route will gladly be considered.
regards

__________________
Lisa
www.2ridetheworld.com

Hi,

I'm the guy Dotcaf mentioned. Me & my travel partner crossed through China. Originally booked via July Xie / Wayne, but because of political problems (borders closed after the bomb attacks in Kashgar prior to the Olympic Games, paper work frozen) he couldn't get us through. Newland Travel was able to help very(!) last minte and got us through perfectly fine.

Contact at Newland Travel was a guy called Taher. Perfect service. Unfortunately I can't tell you the price as it was a little 'off the radar', but perfectly fine. (The MD of Newland Travel knows someone at immigration in Urumqui, and so made the impossible possible for us).

You'll need 1 day from Torugart to Kashgar. Then 2 days from Kashgar via Tashkorgan to the pass into Sost.
By the way: Apparently they do a visa on arrival for Pakistan at the Sost border station. (I specifically asked them, because at the time of travel planning, I had difficulties getting the Pakistan visa in London. EVentually I got it though...)

I don't think you'll need a guide for your time in Kashgar. Just grab a taxi to go & see the Animal Market/Sunday Market. Bikes are very safe in Quiny Bagh hotel. And as long as you don't use the bikes, you can stay in Kashgar without having to pay a guide.

If it hadn't been for political/border problems, I'm sure Wayne would have been fine and I know a few other people who went with him, all OK. But as soon as China closed the borders to Kyrgyzstan, things got very difficult and the only ones who could help us were Newland Travel. (It's all described in-detail on my blog).

Hope this helps
Bjorn

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__________________________
http://www.panomoto.com

I am also considering in taking that route (Iran - Turkmenistan - Uzbekistan - Kyrgyzstan - China - Pakistan), however the 25th of Aug is also too early for me. I have no final dates yet, but it looks like entering China around mid/late Sept (2009). Is there anyone else planning on crossing China around that time, so the costs for guides and information could be shared? If so, please get in touch via PM/email. I already tried contacting some of you in this thread, but haven't gotten a reply yet.