Statistics of month 4: July 2017
China to Laos
Distance: 3948km
Countries: 2
Fuel costs: 125 CHF
Cheapest fuel: Laos (0.89 CHF/l)
Category Archives: China
mountain passes in Tibet
no, I didn’t go back to China, I’m still in Laos!
these are some photos of the mountain passes in Tibet we crossed. some bikers may find these interesting 🙂
my personal record: 5231m
I need to count them all on the GPS track, because we didn’t take pictures on all of them. but I think we did three 5000m passes and about twelve 4000m.
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- 3699m
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- 4768m
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- 5231m
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- 4475m
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- 5130m
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- 5010m
exiting China
basically, China has been a pain in the ass and I’m glad to be out of this country! maybe I’ll write some blog entries about China later, but for know I just want to close this part of the trip with this one.
The Yunnan province in the south is not so restricted as the other so we could finally enjoy some nice cities there. Shangri-La, Lijiang and Dali had pretty nice and old town centers to explore.
We’ve also got the car out of the truck in the last town just short of the border and it got out of China without any issues! (the car with the failed vehicle inspection).
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- China
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- 5010m
China war mühsam und ich bin froh, aus dem Land raus zu sein! vielleicht schreibe ich später noch ein paar Artikel über China, aber momentan möchte ich dieses Kapitel mit diesem hier abschliessen.
Die Yunnan Provinz im Süden ist weniger eingeschränkt als andere, daher konnten wir ein paar Städte endlich ein wenig geniessen. Shangri-La, Lijiang und Dali haben schöne, alte Stadtzentren zum Erkunden.
Den Wagen haben wir auch wieder aus dem Truck holen und über die Grenze nach Laos bringen können!
Border crossing China – Laos (Boten)
The Guide will help you getting out of China with your vehicle.
We parked on the separate parking space on the left and went into the big building on the right by foot. We needed to fill out some additional papers, which they missed to give to us when entering China (the small pink paper and it’s yellow copy. there’s also a green copy of it, which they keep at the entering border to China).
After stamping the passport we could get our vehicles and cross the border, where they wanted the small papers and checked the passports again.
They didn’t check our vehicle or motor numbers to get out.
On the Laos side you have to go to the building on the left side first.
They want a 2$ ‘tourist’ fee (I guess that’s fake). Then find the table with the papers for your Visa application and arrival form. Ask at the counter if there are none left.
As a Swiss citizen I would not need a Visa for up to 15 days, but I wanted 30 days, which was 35$. The Visa price depends on your nationality, some paid only 32$.
They didn’t want a photo, although it was required on the application form.
If you don’t have an international driving license, you need to get a temporary drivers license for 4$.
Don’t go to the passport control, but instead outside to the booth and get your stamp there, showing your vehicle papers (no carnet needed). Then you can get your bike and drive through the border.
BUT your are not finished yet! The customs is 5km AFTER the border! (GPS 21.150190, 101.669980)
Make sure to stop there and get your green temporary import paper!
We missed that and had some arguments getting out of Laos!!
Statistics of June 2017
Statistics of month 3: June 2017
Kyrgyzstan to China
Distance: 6709km
Countries: 3
Fuel costs: 228 CHF
Cheapest fuel: Kazakhstan (0.47 CHF/l)
Highest mountain pass: 5231m
Chinese security
There’s security everywhere here in China. At least here in the Xinjiang Chinese petrol station province, we’ll have to see if the other provinces are the same.
Every shop has a security guard and most do have metal detectors and sometimes even scanners like on the airports. It seems to be by law, because even the smallest mini shops do have at least a helmet, shield and baton ready nearby. But they don’t seem to be trained how to use all this: the detectors beep all the time but nobody gets really checked afterwards.
The most annoying thing are the petrol stations! They are protected by a fence with barbed wire and there’s a barrier with security guards at the entrance. The Chinese can open the gate with their ID card (seems to be an RFID chip). But our temporary IDs don’t have the chip and look different. So we always have to convince the guards that we are indeed allowed to get petrol. Sometimes the bikes are not allowed on the station’s area at all! We then have to fill the petrol into big tea pots of about 6 liters and carry them to the bikes!!
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- Every shop and restaurant have these helmets and shields ready
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- Security guard in a restaurant. He's also the cashier
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- Chinese petrol station
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- Chinese petrol station
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- Chinese petrol station
In China gbt’s überall Sicherheitsbeamte. Jedenfalls hier in der Xinjiang Provinz. Mal schauen, wie’s woanders dann sein wird.
Jeder Supermarkt, Restaurant und Hotel haben Sicherheitsleute und meistens auch Metalldetektoren. Manchmal sogar Scanner wie am Flughafen! Aber sie wissen nicht, wie man die Dinger bedient! Es piepst andauernd, aber niemanden interessiert’s es wird nicht kontrolliert. Die Taschen muss man wie am Flughafen auf’s Band legen, aber niemand schaut auf den Monitor… und in jedem noch so kleinen Laden haben sie einen Helm, Schild und Schlagstock! Scheint per Gesetz vorgeschrieben zu sein.