Thread: A new adventurer!
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#1 A new adventurer!
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
- Location
- Brussels
- Posts
- 3
11-18-2010, 09:18 PMHi Guys!
Glad that I found this forum. I already read some very interesting articles. My plan is to travel through China on a motorbike. As I have read there are 3 issues to take care of:
1) Chinese driver's license: Not possible to drive with a international license. However, for me, this one might be relatively easy. Belgium (my country) is one of the few countries that has an agreement with China, in which it is stated that Belgian driver's licenses are valid in China!
2) Buy & register a motorbike in China. Because it appears that bringing a motorbike into (and out of) China is nearly impossible, I'll have to buy one in Kunming and have it registered on another person's name.
3) Get proper insurance. Very important as having an accident in China is likely and has severe consequences.
My route will start in Kunming and end in Kashgar going through Tibet (crazy, I know!). Period of travel: July 2011
Anyway, nice to be here and maybe you have some suggestions for me?
Thanks!
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#2 Re: A new adventurer!
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#3 Re: A new adventurer!
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- was in China. will be back
- Posts
- 654
11-19-2010, 04:36 AMLet me know when you're in Kunming, beer is on me. Andre555 another MCM member is based in Kunming.
For Q#2: 2It's not a big place, so I think I already know all the bike related shops by now.
For Q#3: It's easy if you're buying a new bike, but I don't know about getting a used one. What's kind of visa do you have?
Regards,
Slabo
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#4 Re: A new adventurer!11-19-2010, 06:22 AM
Hi and welcome! Glad you found the forum helpful!
Looks like you've done your homework and understand the difficulties of biking in china. The license thing is very lucky for you guys!!!
About crossing tibet, do you have a plan or some info that we don't know about; or are you just going to go for it and see what happens? Because there's a chance that your route from kunming to kashgar through tibet might end up looking something like this:
Also are you constrained to july for the trip? If not, april or may will likely have much less rain!
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#5 Re: A new adventurer!
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- mostly Shanghai, sometimes northern California
- Posts
- 3,222
11-19-2010, 10:15 AMFelix, are you suggesting with all those forays toward the T*betan Autonomous Region that asia_traveller would be rebuffed in every attempt to enter the TAR? It's probably true. Even if he does manage to enter the TAR, there are said to be lots of checkpoints where he'd be outed as a foreigner with no legal pass to enter, and sent packing on a truck to Qinghai, Xinjiang or Sichuan. I think RyanJPyle may have something to say about this itinerary, since he entered the TAR from the far west, and managed to ride a lot of the region before hitting a bureaucratic brick wall in Lh*sa. I imagine that yellow line along the T*betan border with India, Nepal and Bhutan describes much of Ryan's route.
I'll also be interested to see what a Chinese cop does when he encounters a Belgian driver's license, presumably written in Dutch or Flemish or French or German...
cheers!jkp
Shanghai
2010 JH600 "Merkin Muffley" (in Shanghai)
2000 KLR650 "Feezer Ablanalp" (in California)
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#6 Re: A new adventurer!
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
- Location
- Brussels
- Posts
- 3
11-19-2010, 04:27 PM
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#7 Re: A new adventurer!
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
- Location
- Brussels
- Posts
- 3
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#8 Re: A new adventurer!11-20-2010, 10:28 AM
Though Tibet is part of china, foreigners aren't allowed to wander in there freely. You must have a tour guide or be part of a tour group. There are (i'm told) big blocks at each main entrance where you will get turned around if you don't have a permit, as well as more blocks inside tibet itself. Some people have managed to sneak in before, but you have to consider the possibility that you won't get through.
It's a great source of dismay for all of us....
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#9 Re: A new adventurer!
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#10 Re: A new adventurer!11-21-2010, 01:31 AM
Yes, it's a lot easier for chinese people to go there...
I wonder how he was received by the locals with that on the back of his bike!
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