Cycling in Xinjiang

[Robinosaurus!]

Takashiken to Urumqi and Khorgas: notes from the last few days:

I cycled the 600km from Takashiken to Urumqi in 4 days, you could do it in 3 if you're really going for it. Five or 6 days would be comfortable. I went S320, S228, east on the Z917, South on the G216. The Z917 was full of trucks, but the G216 from where it meets the Z917 is newly paved, still being painted and not open to vehicles yet. Makes for a really nice quiet 70km without police, trucks or cars.

A policeman told me I should have taken the sightly longer route and used the G216 all the way as there are fewer trucks. Not sure if that's good advice, or just the route with more checkpoints.

Police checkpoints were leaving Takashiken, entering Ertay, halfway down the S228, then not again until 60km from Urumqi where there are lots of them. So averaging every 100-200km away from the cities, depending on route. Lots more checkpoints along the G30 route heading west, but you'll avoid them if you're on the G30.

Each stop took about 20 minutes. One took 90 minutes, but I realised a week later that's because I had turned up at 7am, not realising that even though officially they use Beijing time they actually run on Xinjiang time, so I'd turned up at 5am equivalent, so had to spend an hour waiting for the right person to (presumably get out of bed and) turn up. All asked the usual questions, except everyone does ask where your stayed the previous night and where you will stay that night. No bag searches at any checkpoints, but I'd keep your Leatherman/multitool out of sight in case they peer into the top of your bag.

Police don't have any real understanding of how long is a reasonable day by bike, or which hotels accept foreigners, or any knowledge of towns outside the immediate area. So if you're camping just have some towns with hotels bookmarked on Baidu maps to show them. There was no checking with other checkpoints or confirming with hotels, so you can be vague and they will be satisfied. They will often ask if you need help so getting them to point out hotels on your map is good. A few filled up my drinking water, some offered a hose for or a wash on hot days. All were polite, some were more friendly than others.

I camped the first 3 nights until Urumqi. My only big mistake was to camp 15km North of Ertay, making it difficult to explain where I had come from when arriving at a checkpoint after 30 minutes, at 5am. I just said 'near the previous town' and stayed vague, claiming not to have recorded the name. I think they knew what was going on. They also knew there were no towns with hotels within 235km South...so I just said 'oh well, long day for me then' and pretended like I was going to make it that distance anyway. It was an uncomfortable stop, but survivable. I guess make sure you pass any towns or potential checkpoints before setting up for the night. Obvious in retrospect.

I didn't ask any hotels before Urumqi if they accepted foreigners, so they may do. It's worth checking, probably by getting a Chinese speaking friend to call ahead if you want to avoid difficulty.

Very few water stops on the S228 and Z917. Prep for a couple of days without restocking. This isn't Mongolia and there aren't hamlets/nomads/etc everywhere, just big expanses of desert. That said, multiple times per day people would stop their cars and hand me water - your mileage may vary, maybe I just looked particularly sweaty and pitiful.

Aside from permanent checkpoints I've been stopped by passing police around twice per day when near towns (not at all in the countryside). Stops are quick, usual boring questions.

Lots of hotels in Urumqi, you'll have no bother. No police hassles after the checkpoints on the outskirts.

Cycling to Khorgas, the Wuyuang Holiday in Hutubi is apparently OK for foreigners and I was told that Hutubi is not off limits, but was told that as I was being driven through Hutubi to the next county by the police (not mandatory, but 'a very good offer' that I 'should definitely accept'). Advised by police that it's OK to camp after Shehezi, but I'm sure that's not true and I think they just wanted me out of their county. Next checkpoint gave me a lift the rest of the way to Shehezi.

Shawan is indeed off limits, was driven from 10km before to about 30km after. Police say that no foreigners are allowed.

Huochzhan Hofon OK for foreigners, and so is one more hotel about a block north. Both ~400/night. Neither listed on Baidu or maps.me. Apparently the place listed as accepting foreighners on maps.me does not (?anymore).

Road through Wusu is "being repaired" wink wink so police gave me a lift through the town. No sign of road repairs taking place. So also off limits. Advised by 2 sets of police officers that bikes are not allowed on the G30, and there is a 'national road' running parallel that's about 70% paved. Later on the police at a checkpoint put me on the G30, the toll booth people later seemed surprised but just waved me through. Kept using the G30 next day without issue.

Stayed at a hotel in NE Jinghe, near the station (288/night, didn't investigate other options much but all looked pricey). Lots of good places to eat dinner in town.

Was trying to decide between cycling to Sayram lake in one go via the G30 (145km), or taking 2 days via Bortala and the smaller roads. At the decision point I had a tail wind and some clouds to temper the sun so decided to climb the whole lot while conditions were good. 60km all uphill, nothing much to see on the way, no shade so hot as when the sun is out. The other way might be more interesting, but it's about 70km longer. Stayed at a motel just before the lake (120/night and very basic, you can do better), pretty sure he snuck me in and they're not licensed. Motel owner said camping at the lake isn't allowed anymore, but that may not be true.

Lovely ride down to Khorgas with some stunning views, after the downhill got directed to the G312 instead of the G30. Many places to stay, very easy, could make it to Zharkent same day if needed. Lots of places to stay in Khorgas (Chinese side).

New port is hilariously oversized on the Chinese end. Crossing by bike no problem at all. Port opens at 11am (Beijing time) and the staff take a good half an hour or so to warm up and get to their desks. Don't bother to turn up early thinking you'll get a headstart, I'd just wait until after lunch. Expect the same level of searching and questions that you got going in to Xinjiang, maybe even a more thorough search of electronic devices. There is a little snack shop, or just bring your next meal, this border takes a while.

Leaving was the first time anybody really looked very hard at my passport, inc under UV light. It had gotten wet nearly 10 years ago and the ink from some European entry stamp ran, looking gross under UV. This caused several hours of delay while they worried about it.

There were a few other foreigners trying to cross at the same time (Japanese, not sure of other nationalities). Mysterious delays meant their bus left without them. They tried to walk to the Kazakh border but were told that's not allowed. The next bus picked them up instead - seemed to be common.

A couple of police and border staff had stories about grumpy westerners who was fed up with the questions and quick to anger at the intrusion. Their attitude was 'why would we help when the foreigner is being rude?'. So keep relaxed and calm, try and have a chat when appropriate and let all the searching wash over you, then you'll be done quicker and have more fun.

And that's me out of China!

[Road to Frame]

Hello,

My girlfriend and I have recently crossed Xin'jiang by bicycle. We entered at Khorgas on the 18th of October and left at Xingxingxia on the 3rd of November.

Before we entered we had painted a picture in our heads of Xin'jiang where police constantly harrased us, helicopters and spot lights tracked our every move, big drooling dogs snapped their jaws at us and locals accused us of thought crime!

Thankfully I am happy to report that none of this was true.

We entered the border control at Khorgas and after a quick passport check we were each taken to a separate room with our bikes. The border staff had no interest in searching any of my bags, they just wanted to see my electronic devices. They checked my GoPro, Mac and phone. They were only interested in photos on the Mac and checked photos and WhatsApp messages on my phone. I had moved all but about 20 photo's from the Mac and phone onto an external HDD so it took less than 5 minutes and they were done.

My girlfriend was taken to another room and had 3 of 4 panniers searched. We think they got bored before opening the 4th. They took our Robinson Crusoe book to be checked but it was quickly returned to us. Her phone was full of photos so the check took about 20 minutes. They were unhappy that her UK sim had automatically connected to a chinese carrier and it was difficult to explain to the staff that it was a UK sim. I would recommend removing your sim card while you cross just to save time. They messed around with it a bit, trying to make/receive a call which wasn't possible as there wasn't any credit. They did all this as we watched. No issues, just time wasted.

Next all of bags were x-rayed and we were allowed to leave. The crossing took less than 1 hour.
The only things that were confiscated were fruit and vegetables. Our knives were not taken but we only had a small sandwich knife and a small pen knife.
::
The staff at the border crossing were polite and friendly and at least 2 of them spoke good english.

There are mandatory police check points for all road users when entering a town. At these check points our passports where photocopied or photographed sometimes up to 20 times and a few basic questions were asked. Usually "where have you come from" and "where are you going". If it was early in the day we could always get away with being vague and just saying we were going to a distant town, as others have mentioned they dont really know how far a bike can travel or how far away towns are. If it was late afternoon they would wont to know which hotel you were going to. Basically, if to them, the likelihood is that you will leave their town/area they're really not too fussed. If you are likely to stay in their town/area they'll need a few more details from you.

The police check points took anything from 2 minutes to 1 hour, but they were mostly on the shorter side. As far as we could tell there is no concrete procedure and every check point has their own rules, but it's all quite similar. Communicating with the police is usually straightforward as the Chinese have an excellent translation app. Their app had no problem translating our voices despite our Shropshire accents. The checks can be very frustrating as some check points are clearly more experienced than others. At times we were left sitting there for long periods of time with no explanation of why.

We found that we could use the police presence to our advantage, firstly this felt like the safest place we have ever visited; we left our bikes unattended more times here than any other part of our trip (18 countries) so far. Secondly if we needed help with anything we just asked the police, they were always happy to help and they're always close by. We appreciated that a lot.

About half way through the province we discovered that if a hotel does not accept foreigners the police can register you and thus you can actually stay in that hotel. However the police had to be informed that we were leaving before we got our passports back. This worked out well for us on a couple occasions as we ended up in really cheap hotels!

For the first few days the police seemed to tolerate us being on the G30 which is good news because there are no other roads.

After Jinge we were stopped by police and asked to use the G312 instead. After this we were not stopped again by police (except at check points) until our final day where they stopped us several times and followed us for most of the day.

We were allowed to cycle almost all the way but were taken a total of 160 miles by police car during our final two days in the province, both times because we were cycling on the G30 and there was no alternative road.

We have added all of our overnight stops and many cafes to the iOverlander app.

To see more or if you have any questions you can find us on instagram (@road_to_frame) and facebook (/roadtoframe).

Happy cycling!!

[Road to Frame]

Where does this information come from?

Which information exactly? Our reply was personal experience.

[Tepezcu]

I have recently cycled from Tashkurgan (coming from Pakistan) to the border with Mongolia (Takashiken/Bulgan). From Tashkurgan to Urumqi I mainly followed the national road G314, excepting between Aksu and Korla, where it merges with the express highway (bicycles not allowed). There, I took the S307 via Baicheng and, after Kuqa, the country road through Lunnan. After Korla, I had planned to take the G216, but in two of the last police check posts I was told to cycle the express highway G3012 instead. I wrote down the phone numbers of the policemen in case I had been stopped by the police on the highway, but I didn't and I could cycle it (several trucks but with enough space on the shoulder, excepting inside the tunnels). Finally, I left Urumqi direction Fukang and then, followed the G216 and S320 till Mongolia.

Along the whole route, there were many sections with long distances (>80km) between places, where water/food was available, but planning accordingly I had no problems. In case of emergency, the highway runs very close, so I could have asked for help.

I could cycle all the way and crossed the police check posts without issues. A few times I was stopped to check my passport but it rarely took more than 5 minutes and the police was always friendly and helpfull in case I needed something. Some check posts didn't even stop me. I did have escort only the last 10 km before Takashiken. Two times before Urumqi, I noticed been followed by white cars with stained-glass. I talked to them, and after insisting, they let me continue alone (probably, I left their district). One of them did not even mention they were policemen (they said the car broke down).

I could camp several times outside the urban areas, just hidden somewhere not far away from the road. I tried not to be noticed and had no issues. There are several nice spots to camp along the route. In the cities, it was not so easy, and at the end, the best for me (if I didn't know which hotel accepted foreigners) was to ask directly to the police (there are police stations everywhere in the city and small towns). These hotels were normally the most expensive, but the police understood that my budget was lower and we always found a solution. Some hotels just didn't want to take the time to register me and I had to insist, and some others, which were not allowed to host foreigners, hosted me because the police itself registered me. I had to be patient even if I was tired after the cycling day, but I have now good memories about these encounters with the police, the hotel employees and others guests, discussing, normaly all in a very good mood, and trying to find a place for the tourist. Several times I ended up being invited for dinner.

Xinjiang went clearly over my expectations: beautiful landscapes, nicely paved wide roads and traffic only close to the cities. Cities itself are very quite and safe, since trucks are not allowed and two/three-wheels vehicles are electric. People rarely hunk, so I had to be very carefull while changing directions. But the best part was for sure the people. Almost every time I went into a shop, hotel or I met people on the road, I was welcoming. Several times people offered me something to drink or to eat, or invited me for a meal (specially in small villages).

Buen camino

[steven]

For those who don't want to cycle, a report from people who sent their bicycles on the train to Beijing: viewtopic.php?p=48937#p48937