Blogs from Kashgar, Xinjiang, China, Asia - page 2

First day in China, we went to vehicle testing centre, for bike checks & permits to drive. Buying fuel for a bike is tricky especially in city, only possible at the 3rd service station, which we drove 100m up wrong side note dual carriegway to get too!. The fast pump flow rate is considered a risk, so attendants fill a kettle then we can pour fuel into bike away from pump, I would suggest this is quite risky too. Kashgar is a city of 1million people, so are there 1000 cities like it in China?. Estimate 200,000 electric scooters in this city - they are everywhere, have own special lanes between pavement and main roads, but seem to just move randomly with purpose, 1 in 30 would carry 4. Police and army are very visible here, ... read more

After a long but reasonably uneventful train ride, we finally arrived at Kashgar Railway station, which surprisingly was just on the outskirts of the city. Trip started with a bit of a drama when on entering our already small 4 bunk sleeper compartment to discover that a family of five had already made themselves home. Two yelling toddlers completed the picture ! We squeezed ourselves into the tiny space and heaved our large packs into the even smaller space between the bunks and the standoff commenced. "Get out of our compartment" was 'our' position, while "we were here first" was there's. We finally resolved when the husband and one child reluctantly agreed to leave our space, and return to their (we assume ) allocated compartment. So we only had the Mum and one yelling child and ... read more

KASHGAR SUNDAY 6.7.14 Weather: fine, hot. Went with others to the famed Sunday animal market, really a livestock market, for the sale of sheep, goats and cattle. A dusty, busy market,bustling with animals, motorcycle utilities carting a few sheep or goats and trucks carting bulls. Have seen goats and sheep in paddocks but no cattle, so don't know from how far they have travelled. The land here doesn't grow grass, so they must either be hand fed or come from a distance. The sheep are quite tall and large and are of a different variety to any I have seen before. They have large protruding bums, like baboons, but are wool covered. Must be where they store fat for the hard days or weather. Pity my camera battery was flat!! The sheep / goats are trussed ... read more

Hey everybody! This is my first blog entry, so it is not perfect, photos will follow soon! I am right now still in Kashgar at the extreme west of China, and it seriously doesnt really feel like the good old China back in Nanjing. This is Central Asia in all but name. Turkish population, desert landscape, islamic prayer calls all over the day and dont even try to get your get your Gong Bao Chicken around here! But i am staying at this lovely Hostel just across the street from the main mosque, which offers an amazing rooftop perfectly fit for engaging in late night disussions about the capitalism, happiness and virtue...if you know me well, you will understand I find it hard to leave! The Road to Och in Kirgyztan will be a little bumpy, ... read more

I am still in Kashgar. I hope to cross into Kyrgyzstan on August 5. I will ride to Sary Tash and then head south to enter Tajikistan through the Pamir Highway. I haven’t met anyone who has done it or is planning on doing it this way. Chinese cyclists stay in China and foreign cyclists all seem to come from the West into China. I expect to be going uphill (up to 4000m again) for a couple of days. I know the view is going to be amazing with lots of 7000-meter high peaks but I expect to suffer physically with the heat and the sharp incline. I should probably also get ready for a bumpy road… Can it be worse that the beautiful but difficult 216 Dirt Road outside Urumuqi? I wanted to cross into ... read more