Alloow me to introduce myself...

HI, I am new on here and just want to say hello. I have never ridden in China, though I would very much like to. I have ridden in Lao and Thailand and journeyed from Uk through europe into Ukraine..transited Russia to Vladivostok and caught a ferry south to south Korea and crossed South Korea ( put the bike on a Ro Ro ferry from Incheon to Southampton). My holy grail...of journeys is to ride from home here in England to Lao...through China. It seems that the Chinese goverment are not out to make this easy...I will admit..I did consider smuggling my bike in on a lorry..and smuggling it out at the other end and just winging it while in China. I must be getting old cause thats not appealing quite so much...So the alternative is to stump up the fees for a guide and be escorted through. Has anyone any experience of the routine when transiting with a guide?. Will I be one motorcyle length behind in his car tracks all the way?. Can anyone suggest how I might keep the costs down?. My prefred route would be in at Khazakstan...I do not want to travel through to many big cities (I realise bikes are not allowed in many cities and banned from some roads. Has anyone on here travelled any part of this route any suggestions..anyone want to share part of the trip?. ( or can anyone get me a set of plates and rego document, driving licence and bill of sale receipt..lol) All information greatly received...Hope to meet some of you one day soon.

Jimmy:riding:

Jimmy,

Welcome to MCM. Adventurers are certainly welcome here! :thumbsup:

Getting a bike or vehicle into China that's not escorted or part of a Rally is basically not worth it. Have you considered getting something in China and heading to England?

CC

Hi Carl, I have spent the last year reading about China...some people have made it in and out ..errmmmm without official sanction. I am not prepared to ride from home to the Khazak border and get turned back, hence I have now resigned myself to the idea that if I am going to do it...it will have to be the escort guide solution. I am currentlu trying to find at least one other to travel through China and share the guide. I have started a thread on the HUB. In the ideal world I would team up with a 4X4 and another bike. I would like to exit China late July very early August. I am here to gather info on suggested routes and guide/escort experiences knowledge. Perhaps even meet up with a few board members...

Hope to see you soon Jimmy

Jimmy,

Good luck on finding partners... have you collected any info on how much an escort would cost? If you smell around MCM for a while, I believe someone mentioned a name and number for a guy in Kashgar who could arrange you to get into China via Kazak. IIRC, the guy provided temporary license and escort and the contact info was pretty recent.

You'll be able to get plenty of route suggestions here but when you apply for an escort it may or may not happen the way you want it to. I'm not saying it will never happen, only that they may "strongly suggest" a safer more direct route across the country. :mwink:

CC

Hi Carl, Thanks for the quick reply, I have seen several posts re costs...it looks to be $100 per day for the escort...with very little savings for increases in numbers. I just have this desire to ride all the way and ...well if and until it all falls apart will give it a go. Guess I just want to ride as far as the land goes...Singapore lol. I can leave the bike in Chiang Mai.

Thanks again jimmy

Jimmy,

I can understand why you'd want to take your bike the whole way but if it's not possible (or not reasonably possible) then sometimes we have to be a little flexible. It's a tough call though and we all have to draw our own lines in the sand. :thumbsup:

Cheers,
CC

P.S. - A bloke from Ireland (Wheeee! is is screen name) just posted wanting to ride in to China. May be worth getting in touch with him.