Xinjiang figure of 8

[futianshenzhen]

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Hotan's main square at night


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[futianshenzhen]

2

Left at 9.20 after a very long queue for petrol, those stupid teapots really slow things down, from there it was a very straight boring road through the desert. The dunes were cool but the novelty wore off pretty quickly and I stopped for lunch and fuel after 200 kms. The guys in the service area were pretty mean looking and the stares ice cold, maybe something to do with spending you life in the middle of the Taklamakan Desert! I stopped again for a piss after another 50 clicks and was taking in the endless dunes and thinking about what a terrible place this would be to break down, and when I got back on the bike it wouldn’t move!! The front brakes had probably got sand and dust in them and had seized up. I released some fluid and did the next 400 kms with very little brakes! I stopped again for fuel and the teapot was filthy, I pointed this out and they said they clean it sometimes but the sand just keeps getting blown in. Filling up from the pump wasn’t an option either so I used my jerrycan, that’s actually a major reason to carry one in itself.


I stopped at a bike shop in Nu'erbakexiang to bleed the brakes and add fluid. The boss was a nice guy, all for free and free fuses! He couldn’t believe how far I'd ridden. Later, on the gaosu past Kuqa there had been a huge truck fire that had even melted the barriers. I rode to the front of the queue of cars and was forced to pull up next to a traffic cop, I played it cool and had a chat about the accident then he waved me through way before anyone else so I had the gaosu all to myself for a while. 50 kms down the road there was yet another police stop, these guys had blocked off the road and were stopping everyone in a lay-by. The main guy must’ve been worried that I’d try and skip past because he levelled his AK at me, new underwear required! The vibe changed as soon as he saw I was a laowai and after a quick look at my passport I was out of there.


It was one of the most boring days ever on a bike, I don’t think there was one interesting corner! I arrived in Luntai at 7.30, 820 kms, 3940 total. I checked into the very posh sanbao hotel for 300 quai.

[futianshenzhen]

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Dunes of the Taklamakan

[futianshenzhen]

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Taklamakan - I couldn't have picked a worse spot to break down

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A filthy teapot


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Jerrycan to the rescue


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Noodle shop


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Amazing looking chili sauce being prepared

[futianshenzhen]

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A cool water dispenser, the next must have for every office



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A skip fire in Luntai - one way to get rid of the rubbish!


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Coal for a giant's barbecue in Luntai


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Every self respecting bike owner in Xinjiang has at carpet on the seat

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[futianshenzhen]

3
Left 8.40 after enjoying a reasonable Chinese style buffet breakfast at the sanbao. The whole day was spent on the gaosu and was mind numbingly boring especially when combined with yesterday’s straight desert roads. There were yet more heavily armed police stops but everyone was their usual polite friendly selves and I wasn’t held up much. There were more filthy teapots and a station who’d mislaid theirs so my jerrycan was put to more good use. At one point, in a rare area of twisties, I’d flown past some heavily laden bikers who then caught me up at a petrol station where I was playing a take a sly photo game with the pump girls. They were riding from Beijing through Tibet, Xinjiang then back to Beijing. Pretty impressive on taxi bikes!
Some gaosu tolls didn’t seem to bat an eyelid at my passing, others went mental! One woman came running out of her booth “motuoche bu nan shan gaosu…..” but I was too fast for her! Apart from those brief moments of excitement I entertained myself by running the tank completely dry – 365 kms if anyone’s interested.

I arrived back at the yingang shop in Urumqi in the early evening and there were yet more police stopping and confiscating illegal bikes right outside the shop! They gave me some long hard looks but didn’t actually come over. Most of the locals were just ignoring their pleas to stop and would dodge past them…the whole road was laughing and one of the coppers took a swipe at a guy in frustration! I think I had contact with some form of the police everyday which has never happened anywhere in China but is very understandable considering the recent troubles in that area. The police were on the whole charming and although it’s always shocking for us Brits to see firearms I got pretty used to it by the end.

[bigmonkey]

nice, so did you have a permit for the karakorum highway or you just slipped through the barrier?

Is that road worth it, even if you have to backtrack?

[futianshenzhen]

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You take a photo of me, i'll take one of you


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One of the guys doing a Beijing - Tibet - Xinjiang - Beijing loop



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Pretty impressive on taxi bikes

[futianshenzhen]

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Dinner with the yingang team in Urumqi

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The mosque / grand bazaar in Urumqi

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Packing the bike up


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Next stop Dongbei!

[futianshenzhen]

nice, so did you have a permit for the karakorum highway or you just slipped through the barrier?

Is that road worth it, even if you have to backtrack?

Permit? Oops! I didn't realise I needed one! I set off pretty early from Kashgar and the road block at the bottom of the mountain didn't give me a second glance. I wasn't looking to stop and just rode on through, or maybe they were just setting up or something....

Is it worth it? Sure if you have the time, but it's nothing that special really. The highlight for me was the Tian mountains....