John & Mick's BIG AdventureChina on my mind...
China presents one of our biggest problems as far as getting in goes, to say nothing of reading signs or talking to people!
China is not really geared up for travellers arriving by road. As everything is SO foreign, they put quite a few obstacle in the way.
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We are required to have permits from the following province authorities:
- Xinjiang Border Management Bureau
- Xinjiang Custom Department
- Xinjiang police Bureau
- Xinjiang military Department
- Xinjiang Border Transportation Bureau
- Xinjiang Border Security Bureau
On top of that we need a temporary Chinese driving licence and temporary licence plate.
As you can guess, all this costs money.
Strictly speaking, we should also have a guide while we are in China. We are supposed to have one with us at all times and have to pay for their hire car, accommodation and food. Plus their wage and no doubt a cut for the government.
Guides cost in the region of US$ 100-150 per day! For us, thats a non-starter. We don’t have that sort of budget, we are planning to be there for up to 2 weeks….
There are a couple of ways round all this.
You can enter illegally. That involves trying to enter at various borders until you find someone on duty that is not too clued up and lets you in. The smaller border posts are better for this by all accounts. Once in, they tend to leave you alone as it’s just too much hassle.
You can also join another group of travellers that already has a guide and pay them a share of the costs – the more people, the cheaper it is.
Or there’s the way we are doing it. That is to buy all the permits, license and numberplate through an agent in China and sign a contract, not to break the law and not to go to forbidden areas, of which we will be given a list.
I spoke to one guy thats already done it and he says the list is useless as you can’t read it. Just keep going until you get turned away at a checkpoint, of which we are told there are many.
The cost of these permits etc. runs to about €350 or US$600, depending on which agent you use. We have only found 2 that do this.
This makes me think that its not strictly kosher, but what the hell, once in…
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