Yesterday picked up the visa and crossed into China. Went to the bus station. Given limited time decided to skip on giant metropolis Guangzhou, and head towards guilin area, to start the trip from there. All the buses went already so went to kfc , planned the route for the trip with the guidebook and spent the night there sleeping on the soft seats.. we weren't the only ones, no problem apparently!

This morning bought a bus ticket to Hezhou, leaves in 30 mins, will look for a bike there and get a bit sorted out. The plan is then to head west, via guizhou province into Yunnan, then north as far as Xining. There perhaps put the bike on the train to around urumqi, according to the frenchies (cyclists) that stretch was not so interesting, then head west to kashgar. Will post the route as a photo when I get the chance.

Even with the train.. it's a long way, probably 6000km, so will look for a motorbike I think, used at first.

The plan is to avoid driving in any cities (will park the bike somewhere and get a bus into town. Get the bike docs in order as best I can, other than the license. Hopefully the insurance isn't nullified. If stopped by the police present what I have with a smile. I don't know if 'small gifts' are an option in the countryside (?), and without Chinese can't think it's a good idea.

First impressions of China very good, it seems friendly and people are accommodating to the fact we don't speak Chinese. I think I will visit again later to study the language at some point.