Riding in China
 

Sorry if this is answered elswhere but I am new to this site. I am currently working in Vietnam and and when my contract experies in June 2009 would like to ride back to the UK on a Vietnamese registered Ural mc/sidecar.

I am a little confused about the current situtation regrding riding unnaccompained in China. Any update on this would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

Officially, you cant. Its that simple.
Read through the threads in this forum: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/northern-asia/

Contact a few of the agents and see whats what. After the Olympics it may ease but I doubt it.

John

Yeah...what he said.:funmeterno:

CC

Not quite what you are looking for but maybe these peeps can give you a little insight. drive china at the very least they may be able to inform you about the driving license part if you mail them. Let us know what response you get plz.

also on the self driving tour to overland china with temporary driver license licence and vehicle driving permit I found this:-

From 01Jan 2007, for short term visiting China, foreign vehicles and drivers can take self driving tour or trip in China by application Temporary Import Vehicle Plate with its Driving Certificate, as well as Temporary Driver License (Licence or Permit, TDL or TVDL) . Of course foreign vehicles temporarily entering China must be covered by automobile liability insurance and automobile safety & technical inspection certificates, and also must drive in designated area and routes which marked in Driving Certificate.
To apply for it, usually needs about 90-150days in advance to arrange it, in fact, it is still very difficult to apply the Self-driving Travel Permit in China! Diver License Application Procedure Temporary Driver License Application (Temporary Visit Drive Permit, TDL, TVDL) Temporary Import (Enter) Vehicle Plate & Driving Permit Application Procedure Tips to Drive in China

you may also try Tibet Tours,Tibet Tour,Tibet Travel,Tourism in Tibet,Package Tours of Tibet :- Off road and Self-driving tours with vehicles prepared by tourists

again plz post feedback if any :)

Fastship, the problem is not with the self-drive part but with the guide... No mention of that in your links.
The cost of permits/license/insurance, while not cheap, is bearable, but for one or two geezers on bikes the guide costs are stupid.
When we got our permits and stuff last year, 6-8 weeks was good.

Cheers,
John

True enough John - as I said those links are not quite what he was looking for but getting you and your vehicle into the place is a start; as someone somewhere or other once said "the longest journey starts with but one step".

It will be a year or two before I make it that far but if I was going now I would accept a guide for say Erenhot-Urumqi then take my chances and head south alone but then I would be in a truck with my bike on the back.

You did actually get the licenses for you and your bike for China though John?

Thats the whole rub. We negotiated to have a guide from the point of entry, Korgos, to Urumqi and we then to be "let loose". However, the person we dealt with took the $1500 for the permits/docs and the guide to Urumqi and then was nowhere to be found. Another agent that she "worked" for told us to stump up another $3000 for the rest of our intended trip. 2 days later we checked out of the hotel at 06:00 and legged it. There was only one flaw in this plan... the agent had the import docs for the bikes and when we tried to exit at Tashkorgan we were refused because we did not have the bike import docs. It cost us another $1500 to get a guide to process the export at Kashgar and accompany us to Tash, from Kashgar to process the export of the bikes.

Why would you want to have your bike in a truck and miss riding the very best part of your trip through or around the Taklamakan??

Even if your bike is on a truck, you will have to have it processed out at Kashgar, before you get to Tashkorgan

Yep. All the permits/licence/numberplate card/bike insurance/liability insurance was all sorted AOK, though it took 6 days at the border to get it sorted.

John

A big part of my trip is traveling to the Russian Far East up to Pevek from St. Pete. in winter - lethal on a bike!

The idea of taking a bike is in certain country's I can use the truck as a base from which I can strike out from or simply park it for a few months.

Ahhhhh I see........ Going by truck with a bike in the back.... Best of luck with that one in China:w00t:

John

I e-mailed this company and got no reply. However, I did notice an increase in junk mail from china. As ever when this happens with Chinese companies you have to then assume they are con artists. Apologies.

Going to Hong Kong
 

Hello
I'm going to China in July I won't have my bike but I would like any info on what to do there and if we can go from Hong Kong to Shanihi how long will it take and would be renting a car be good also
Thanks

Biker Babe ... As a foreigner, you cant drive in China proper without a chinese licence. They do not recognise foreign licences and are not a signatory to the International Driving Permit thing.

So you wont be able to rent a car, unless you also rent a driver.

One thing you will be able to do in July in both Hong Kong and Shanghai (did you mean Shanghai?) is to sweat a lot. And its free. Very muggy that time of year.

There are some nice canal towns just a day tour out of Shanghai, between Shanghai and Hangzhou ... the one where Tom Cruise filmed MI3 is probably the cutest.