It was another rough nights sleep; a combination of time differences (i think all of China runs on UTC+8, whereas Kyrgyzstan was UTC+6), and also thin walls at the hotel. I was awoken by yells at 1:30AM “喝醉了！！！”, loud voices and laughter…

My alarm was set for 8:00AM, and the plan was coffee (pre-made in the thermos from the night before), breakfast, pack, then go. A few of the others were there for breakfast, but it seemed like most were a bit worn from the time difference (effectively 6:30AM in Kyrgyzstan).

Early morning in Ulugquat

The first stop was the petrol station around the corner. This was our first time fuelling in Xinjiang, and I was curious as to how it might be different from my previous experiences. At this particular station, they were extremely strict on the “one citizen ID card per vehicle” rule, so as a result, our group of 7 sat waiting outside the gate of the petrol station for almost half an hour (blocking incoming customers), before they decided to open the gates to let us in.

Access denied!

Then there was a further negotiation with the staff (who insisted on calling the local police station to get the green light), before they would reluctantly allow us to fill up using the guide’s ID card. It was definitely a case of process following over exercise of personal power however (the staff felt bad about it afterwards, and gave us some bottles of water as gifts). Funnily enough, the family from Guangzhou showed up again at the petrol station! This was the nth encounter (border, traffic stops along the way, and then same hotel in Ulugquat, and now the same stops on our way to Kashkar!)

Eventually we hit the road. Our itinerary for the day was to visit first the traffic police station to register our bikes for import and get our temporary drivers licenses, and then to head to our hotel in Kashkar. I asked the guide that, since I knew the waypoints, if it’d be okay for me to just go ahead…and instead she decided to appoint me to lead the motorcyclists in the day’s riding (definitely not what I was going for; I wanted to stop and take photos, and ride at my own pace rather than to be tied to a group…but I could see how it would have been helpful, and decided that it was the right thing to do).

The first thing I noticed was that the clutch issues that I had been facing for the last few days was … just gone. It might have been the return to warmer weather (although it was still cold in the morning), or just the clutch hydraulic fluids being temperamental, but either way this was a nice way to start the day.

Today’s route in blue

Then, I took off, with the other riders following behind. I think they were all a bit cautious to speed (as I was too when I first entered China) - so I did the reasonable thing, and stopped and waited for them before toll gates, turns, and police stops so that I was able to help translate / ensure everyone could pass smoothly.

The first police checkpoint of the day

Waiting for the toll gate with the gang

The temperature varied wildly throughout the day; in the morning it was a bit chilly, then quite cold on the highway, and by 10:30AM when we had reached the traffic police station on the outskirts of Kashkar it was boiling hot (my bike said it was 35 degrees).

Southern Xinjiang rocky mountains

+ the bike!

Since I had not been paying much attention to the itinerary / the process, I actually had no expectations for the day and what we would be up to. During stops along the highway, some of the group members spoke of “medical tests” and so on, which I was extremely confused by. It turns out that they were talking about the process to obtain the temporary license plate and drivers license. This was doubly confusing for me because the experience I had in Laos was so simple; apart from the police officers being out for lunch for 2 hours, it seemed like a 10-15 minute process where the police officer checked your passport, and then read out a memorised script on being safe on the roads and Chinese road rules as quickly as possible as possible.

The process here in Xinjiang is extremely different. First of all, it involved a “frottage”of the motorcycle’s VIN (or chassis number), where a special sticker would need to be placed on the frame itself, on top of the embossed chassis number. Then we were each individually tasked with rubbing with an object over the sticker, until the chassis number was embossed clearly onto the sticker.

The tour guide doing it properly after I failed 3 times

Then, the sticker would be placed on the vehicle documentation that had been prepared for us by the tour company. I am not 100% sure why this was necessary, but I guess it helps add “evidence” that the frame of the motorcycle actually being imported matches the ownership documentation of the motorcycle registered with the police station.

peak compliance

Then was the vehicle inspection. One by one, the police officer went to each of the bikes to check function of the brakes and the indicators.

Then was the recital. There was an extremely thorough read of the road rules, in Chinese and then (poorly) translated into English by our guide. There was a brief reunion with the two Irish chaps who had been driving the Land Rover were also at the police station with us for the same process; however they seemed to be extremely hung over (you can’t outdrink German hitchhikers), and seemed to have quite a deficient tour guide, so we adopted them into our group.

Then finally, we finished the process and were free to leave.

Jukka, Florien and myself were staying at the same hotel near the ancient city, so we headed there together. It was our first time in Kashkar, and wow is the driving here aggressive. I get the sense that the proportion of Han people in Kashkar is much lower than in Urumqi, and you can tell from the similar driving style to those in Turkic and Arabic countries (I get a blend of Kyrgyz / Dubai Nissan Patrol / Egyptian driving). Cars do not respect lanes; will drive in left turn only lanes, only to go straight (yes, this means that if someone is at the front of the left turn only lane at the traffic lights, they will hold up the entire queue until the green light to go straight appears), and generally lane changing is less of a “negotiation” as it is a “get out of my way”. Like Urumqi, there is no love lost for motorcyclists. It seems like drivers will be upset about lane filtering (in Urumqi they actively tried to block lane filterers with their cars; here they just try to drive aggressively to catch up and overtake you).

Mr Zhedong greets the city outside the hotel

For me, after checking into the hotel, the afternoon was filled with errands. First up was laundry (quite expensive; 90 yuan for a few days worth of washing from an independent laundry shop. whoever accuses China of having cheap labour is now sorely mistaken). Then I went to take my bike to the mechanic to get the clutch issue looked at, and for some TLC.

Once more for the garage

While the clutch issue had gone away in the morning, if it was an air bubble, it would probably resurface at some point and I strongly prefer that not to happen when I am on a mountain in Pakistan! Finally, it was to get some high altitude (traditional) medicine in anticipation of the Karakorum highway.

Then I was free to explore, so I spent the next two hours at the ancient city.

Interesting fruit i do not know the name of

Gigantic rockmelon slices (very yummy)

This is the first dog i have seen with their eyelashes done

Kashkar’s ancient city gates

Not sure why but this guy was working iron in the old city

details

Dinner was with the motorcyclists (the van couples all did their own thing; I suspect that travelling in a van is more like a very long honeymoon/a lot more routine compared to travelling on motorcycle which seems a lot more conducive to exploring), and we had bites at the night market. They were all surprisingly up to try new things; and we ordered a sheep’s head (Jukka gets full credit for being the instigator) to share in the evening.

Who wants some heads?

We did…

After carving it up, we ate about half of it before moving on to other things. Jukka went for one of the eyes first, and I had the other (I felt like it would be face losing to be Chinese and NOT to accept the other eye).

Ancient city in the evening

After dinner there were a few brief interactions which reminded me of the 热情 of Chinese people; conversations between strangers are very natural and people are generally kind and friendly: (i) while riding my bike back to the hotel after repairs, I had a conversation with a family of three at the traffic lights (their kid was staring so I offered up a fist bump; they asked me about my trip thus far and wished me safe riding), and (ii) in the lift at the hotel, I was asked if I was a soldier (LOL). This is the second time I have been asked this question (although the first time by an adult).

Tomorrow I have one more day in Kashkar before I continue on (alone, with just a tour guide) to the border with Pakistan.

Some stats: ⁃ 11.6L fuel added ⁃ 30g coffee consumed ⁃ 129 KMs traveled ⁃ 13 unique interactions

Part 2 route to date

Complete route to date