Kazakhstan to Mongolia through China : Oskemen - Altay - Khovd.

[benjaminroux]

I just did the journey from Oskemen, Kazakhstan, to Khovd, in Mongolia, through Altay, in China.

There are no reviews of this road on this website, so I wanted to share my experience with you. Overall, this route is extremely little used, isolated, and very far from the tourist trails. Nothing will be made easy for you, and nothing is simple. But I've had a lot of help, and people will always reach out to you.

It took me 4 travelling days, 6 days in total.

The travel plan is the following : Oskemen - Zaissan - Jeminay - Altay - Fuyun - Takashiken - Bulgan - Khovd.


1st part : Reach Zaissan, Kazakhstan.


I arrived in Zaissan by hitchhiking from Katon-Karagai, quite easily, in 8 hours. To reach Zaissan, there are buses, and it is possible to take shared taxis from Oskemen, with the Indrive application which works well in the area.

Arrived in Zaissan, the hotel I wanted to go to was closed, so I went to the Zaissan hotel. 5000 T per night (10€) but the quality is really mediocre : almost no water in the shower, very hot in the room, and a smell of sewage, but it does the job for those who are not demanding.

The only way to reach the border is to take a bus, which leaves at 7am. The lady at my hotel reception told me that the bus left at 9am, so I went to the bus station around 8am the next day, in the hope of getting a ticket there. The ticket office is located in the main and only building of the bus station. My level of Russian being very low, I had difficulty understanding what the lady at the cash desk was telling me, but apparently it was impossible to get a ticket here. While trying to translate with my phone, she rejected it and yelled at me to refuse.
I turned around and went to ask for help at the hotel next door, called "Aray".

Here, at reception, they got me a bus ticket for the next day for 6,000 T (€12), and a room for the night for 10,000 T (€20). I didn't have the faith to negotiate this time, but it certainly would have been possible.
It is better to get the ticket the day before, the 2 buses the next day that left for the border were completely full.

The next morning, the bus arrives around 6:45 a.m., but does not leave until 7:30 a.m. There are 2 buses leaving, ask which one you should go on, even if they go to the same place the seats are allocated.

The journey to the border takes approximately 1h30. Arriving in the border area, on the Kazakh side, several soldiers come up at regular intervals to check passports.
We were stuck for 2 hours on the Kazakh side waiting to cross no-man's land, I didn't know why.
Crossing the Kazakh border is quick and easy. Passport, baggage and stamp control.
We then took the bus to reach the Chinese side.

On the Chinese side, the process is more complex.
You have to fill out a document, do a saliva test, check temperature, and go through a longer passport check, with fingerprint verification, scanning, etc.
I was lucky to come across a Chinese officer who spoke a little English, and who helped me a lot.
I also spent 20 minutes explaining to them that, as a french, I had a 15-day visa-free period. They didn't know about it.
The Chinese check passports several times, and I came out last.

I left Zaissan at 7:30 a.m., and I finished with control on the chinese side around 4:30 p.m. (add the 3 hour difference with China). That’s 6 hours total.

On my way out, the officer who had helped me also found me a taxi to Altay town. 4 hours drive, ¥100 (€12).

In Altay, I slept in the hostel called "Unscrupulous Xueye Youth Travel Service", located here : 47,8381584, 88,1389395 (be careful, the location is not right on Google maps).
The price is very decent, one bed for 50¥ (€6,5).
The hostel is not located in the main street, you will have to enter in the interior courtyard, and find exterior stairs that go up to the first floor. Very hard top see, be patient.


2nd part : From Altay to Khovd, Mongolia.


I left Altay, where I took a train to Fuyun for ¥23 (€3). There are two or three trains per day and the journey takes 2 hours. The train station is clearly outside the city, bus easy to reach by public bus for 5¥ (60 cents). They took my knife when entering in the train station, be careful the maximum length of the blade is 6cm (mine was 7cm).

From Fuyun, there are several options.
I took a shared taxi with people I met on the train from the station to the city center for ¥10 (around €1) per person.

Arriving at Fuyun bus station, I found a shared taxi to Qinghe for ¥50 (€6), and asked the driver to drop me off at the intersection between S228 road (which leads to Qinghe) and the S320 road, which leads to Takashiken, the village before the border.

From there, I was planning to hitchhike to the border, but I saw some police officers and I though that it was safer to go see them and explain what I was doing. Super nice, they suggested me to go to Qinghe where I could find a shared taxi to Takashiken. They found me a car for Qinghe.
In Qinghe the taxi drivers told me there were no taxis going to Takashiken, certainly since it was already 6pm. I found myself without a solution, with no one speaking English.

Finally, a taxi offered to take me to Takashiken for ¥150 (€20), original price ¥400.
They wore me out, and because I had no other solution.

I thought I was going to be alone, because of the price, but in fact the taxi was full and dropped people off on the road, all the way to Takashiken. I realized that they had lied to me about the fact that there were no more taxis, and when I looked at what people were paying, I realized that I was paying 4 times more than them.
Very upset, when I arrived in Takashiken, I refused to pay the ¥150. The guy being extremely firm and not wanting to leave, I had to agree to pay ¥120 (€15), more than twice the normal price.
Be really careful not to be fooled, as everywhere in Central Asia, taxi drivers have no scrupules.

In Takashiken, I stayed at this hotel for a night (46.1955699, 90.8035493) for ¥100 (€12). Clean, nothing crazy but ok.

The next morning, the bus leaves from the grand bazaar, at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., for ¥50 (€6). Arrive around 9:45 am to get a ticket (same day reservation). The buses are already on site, so easy to spot, and the ticket office is right in front of the buses.
The bus was not full at all, but it is an opportunity for Mongolian families to come to China to do their shopping, so there is a mountain of suitcases and luggage per person. Carve out a place for yourself in the middle of this mess.

The journey to the border takes 20 minutes, and going through customs is quick and easy on both sides. The bus drops you off and picks you up at regular intervals between the different checkpoints, and finally takes you to Bulgan.

I arrived in Bulgan around 2 p.m. Khovd time (1 hour less than in China).

In Bulgan, you can sleep there, or go to Khovd by shared taxi for 50,000 tugriks (€13.50). Taxis are in the same parking lot where the bus arrives. The journey to Khovd takes approximately 4/5 hours.


Please let me know if you have any questions.

[iviaggidiclach]

Thank you for your report

[nata on the road]

Hello Ben!

For what I understand you took this road on foot right? with public transports etc...
Do you have any idea if it would be possible to do it with my own motorbike for example? Does it look doable from the state of the roads and paper wise? let me know your thoughts!

And thanks a lot for sharing this infos!!

Nata

[benjaminroux]

Hello Ben!

For what I understand you took this road on foot right? with public transports etc...
Do you have any idea if it would be possible to do it with my own motorbike for example? Does it look doable from the state of the roads and paper wise? let me know your thoughts!

And thanks a lot for sharing this infos!!

Nata

Hello !

The roads are totally fine enough, but the border between Zaissan, Kazakhstan, and Jeminay, China, cannot be crossed with your own way of transport.
The no-man's land has to be crossed with a bus, and i'm not sure that you can put your motorbike in it.

If you can manage to find a solution for this part, it's totally doable !