Chinese border closure w Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan - 2016

[Aleco]

I'll need to cross into China from Kyrgyzstan as well in September...if anyone have done it recently or anyone will do it, I'll be happy to read about. Would be nice to understand the best point from where to cross into. I have already my Chinese visa !

[mpkz]

Ill be trying Irkeshtam in a week. Will report here...

[roro]

Thanks!

RR.

[mpkz]

Just got to Kashgar via Irkeshtam. Border is open. Apparently it was also open August 1st, which was listed as a holiday somewhere.

Details:

Started out in Osh. I went to the Staryii Avtovokzal at 12:30 and was directed to underneath the bridge by the bazaar where marshrutkas leave from. I was initially asking for Sary Tash and the marshrutka there was leaving at 2pm and charging 250 som. A shared taxi was also leaving at 2, charging 400 som. Soon some guy pulled me over and asked whether I'm going to Irkeshtam, turns out there's a marshrutka there as well for 400 som which was supposed to leave at 1pm. In reality we left at like 1:15 and about 15 minutes out of Osh turned around to pick up one more passenger who had called the driver.

The marshrutka made it to Sary Tash at about 5pm and Irkeshtam around 6:30. One document check near the Irkeshtam border. At Irkeshtam, the border is obviously closed after 5, so you can sleep in the wagons there. Most wagons charge 200 som. I stayed at "Uighur Ashkana", a gray two story building (it may be the only one in town) where a bed in a four bed "dorm" was 100 som. Some local truck driver paid it for me, along with my meal, in the end I gave him the rest of my small som to try to compensate. It wasn't the most comfortable sleep and toilets there are disgusting (tip: use the ones near the mosque) but I had a good time chatting with people there and their food (some sort of cow meat) was delicious.

Next morning wake up at 8, head to the border 8:30, am let through early . Kyrgyz passport control was easy, then hitched a ride with a truck until Chinese customs - there are two passport checks before then, one Kyrgyz and one Chinese. The trucks stop in a long line so I had to walk like a kilometer from where I was dropped off to the actual customs check. Customs was semi-thorough, bags were opened but not properly checked, iPad was checked for photos but computer and phone weren't. I finished all of this around 10am. Then we get in a taxi, I meet some foreigners but I ride with locals. The price until the Ulugqat customs point is 400 yuan per car, or 100 yuan per person. The drive takes about 1.5 hours.

We made it to Ulugqat at 11:30. Unfortunately, Chinese customs staff were already on their lunch break. You wait in a small building with a restaurant and some hotel style rooms, the restaurant serves quite generic laghman and rice dishes for under 20 yuan. We had to wait for freaking 5 hours until 4:30 local time to finally go through border control, which also involved handing over your passport to way too many people for it to make any sense.

From border control all the foreigners banded together to get to Kashgar. We rejected the offer of 200 yuan per taxi (as should you) and instead started walking to the bus station. A minibus picked us up and drove us there for free, and from there we got 33 yuan per person (note: 50% cheaper) shared taxis to Kashgar. In Kashgar, they drop you off at some demolished bus station just north of the river, about 15 minutes walk from Id Kah Mosque.

[Fiestje]

We are two Belgian citizens and cyclists.
We crossed the Kazakh-Chinese border in Khorgas the 16th August. We didn't have any problem at all: a few passport checks and a luggage scan at each side, but we could pass with the bicycle, no need at all to take a bus or pay something. It all went smooth and easy, in any way better than expected

[entransat]

Hi

We heard that the border between China and Kirghizistan will be close between the 1rst and the 10 of october because of chinese national holidays. Someone has informations about that ?
Thanks !
Alice

[olmo]

Wow. And it is apparently also closed September 10 to 20 just now. See here:

[Aleco]

Wow. And it is apparently also closed September 10 to 20 just now. See here:

Thanks for this info. I need to cross the border before 23 sept. I hope when it will be open on 20 or 21/22 max!

[Boocat89]

Having failed to read this thread, I tried the Irkeshtam road this morning and was told by the solider on guard 10km from the border that it was opening again on 19th September. I feel this is probably quite a credible source, but I would like to have it confirmed before trying again!

[IsaOlof]

Does anybody know when the Kazakh-Chinese border in Khorgas is closed in October? We are in Kyrgystan now and are trying to plan ahead..

Cheers Kristian and Isa