Mini Moto trip in XinJiang

Hello all, I posted a quesiton in another part of this forum and had some people who took time to help so thought I I would share the result of my inquiries. I was interested in renting or buyin a motorcycle in Xinjiang. I am on a tourist visa with no chinese license.

Long story short a friend in Urumqi put me in touch with a Chinese moto enthusiast who was willing to rent us a glorified 300cc scooter. We were able to pick it up in Kuitun and drop it off in Korla. Resulting in a truly fantastic 3 day ride. Camping each night. This is the route we did more or less with a few deviations: https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/im...061bc3e5a5bb15

It was amazing, Ill let some photos do the talking. But as for the logistic details....yes, there is crazy security in this area and interactions with the police were a regular occurance. We were a bit nervous about not having the proper license but our contacts in Urumqi and the guy who rented us the bike told us no one would ask. They were right. Lots of passport checks, bit of a pain int he ass to get gas since you have to have a china Id and go through all sorts of security, but we always managed. (Keep in mind we speak no Chinese). In general people were friendly, including the police for the most part. Mostly they just wanted our passports and took lots of photos of them or when they saw we were foreigners they just waved us through. Never once asked for the bikes papers or our license.

Sure we took a risk but it paid off. I have a feeling that in the cities the city traffice police might be more interested in checking for proper documents, but even there I imagine my international drivers license would have gotten us by. The police are not really interested in messing with foreigners around here. For the most part they want the interaction between you and the to either be as quick and painless (for them) as possible, or they want to shake your hand and take a selfie. But we stayed away from the cities so was no problem.

The guy who rented us the bike turned out to be a super stand up guy. He wanted a huge deposit of 8000 rmb but we got it back no problems. We paid 150 per day for the bike. I am going to contact him to see if he would want to try and do this more often and if he agrees I will share his contact info here for others who want to do this.

Here are some photos from the ride: https://goo.gl/photos/XNNQHA3zgdrJaB3b7

My only regret is that we couldnt swing it to spend more time.

Great pics, especially the last one, the Honda with cast wheels and a goat on a sidebag :eek2: Gotta love how rural folks make do with whatever bike they have :clap:

Well done Momo you compleated the ride without a problem.
Can't open the link to the pictures.
Can you post them here on MCM, please?

These photos are unbelievable! Great job Momo!

Well done man! looks like an amazing ride. China definitely has some great rides

Great photos. Xinjiang is a unique place on this planet. With so many mountain ranges with average peaks of 5000mtrs with Karakoram, Julun, Tian shan (which you crossed) Sarikol, Altai and Bodga shan just some of them. With vast deserts and multitude of ethnic minority groups and a history dating back to beyond Alexander the Great there aren't many places like it. I've been going there for close on twenty years and there is still so many things to see.

Momo did you see any fish in the rivers by any chance.