How Feasable To Travel Through China To Mongolia

[whiterussian]

Anyone have any idea how easy it would be to cycle through China to Mongolia or Harbin?

- How long is a Chinese visa, and would they allow this sort of thing?

- How would I carry cash?

- Insurance for such a trip?

anyone else had these thoughts? If i have to leave Thailand after the next non-O visa, i might as well go back to the UK the roundabout way

Cheers

Edited January 4, 2009 by whiterussian

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Anyone have any idea how easy it would be to cycle through China to Mongolia or Harbin?

- How long is a Chinese visa, and would they allow this sort of thing?

- How would I carry cash?

- Insurance for such a trip?

anyone else had these thoughts? If i have to leave Thailand after the next non-O visa, i might as well go back to the UK the roundabout way

Cheers

Not sure about the CN Visa but I have heard since the olympics they are more restrictive for security reasons.

This couple from Arizona US did the trip and it's well documented. Would certainly help you select your route and do a better job planning it.

Cycle Trip blog site

[whiterussian]

Thanks Cobra, i will start my research!

There is an old guy out in San K that has cycled round the world. I will try and chat with him as well.

Ive got a year to think about it..

will post any rules/regs i find out about it here.

[bjohn34]

Visa restrictions have been relaxed back to normal now that the Olympics are over. I got a six month multi entry visa at the China consulate in Chiang Mai last week.

I lived in China for several years and I thnk it would be no problem riding the cycle across China. However, I do not know about crossing the border into and out of the country on a cycle. Might be OK or might be a problem. I don't know. I would suggest talking to the people at the consulate, after getting the visa and ask them.

About cash, either just carry it at your own risk or, after you enter China open a bank account at a major bank, deposit the money, and get an ATM card to use for witdrawal. Bank of China or ICBC would be good choices.

I have no idea about insurance.

Edited January 4, 2009 by bjohn34

[russianrobert]

Post your question on lonelyplanet.com

Go to Thorn Tree Forum and post it in the relevant section. Perhaps the biggest and best travel forum on the web.

You will get some aanswers there.

Good luck

[Rasseru]

Anyone have any idea how easy it would be to cycle through China to Mongolia or Harbin?

. . . . . If i have to leave Thailand after the next non-O visa, i might as well go back to the UK the roundabout way

I was in Mongolia once late in December. It was bloody cold. As in, as I recall, some ten or fifteen degrees below zero. When I commented to some locals on the cold, they laughed, said it was still quite warm and suggested that if I wanted cold I should come back in January or February. I did not take them up on their suggestion.

I advise you to time your bicycle trip to Mongolia well.

[Ricardo]

I recently watched some documentaries, about a small group of people who did 'Peking to Paris' in 2005 by antique-car, to commemorate the 1905 challenge-race. They camped along the way, and it certainly looked pretty cold at times, but I didn't see anything which a determined cyclist could not have coped with. Good Luck !

[ChiangMaiFurnishedApts]

Funny question but then I remembered a guy I met 2 years ago who did the opposite trip entering Thailand from Laos. He had bought one of the generic Chinese black bikes for a 50 quid or something and peddled his way from Kunming. Now he would tell me stories about his experience entering Thailand and the immigration and customs form he filled out. He put down that he arrived in Thailand by bicycle and this caused a bit of confusion to say the least. No one arrives in Thailand by bicycle at least not from Laos. He insisted that this was correct and stood his ground until they finally gave up.

I think the old bike is still around and worth a mere 40 quid now.

So its possible the other way round. If I can find the guy I will hook you 2 up .

Now that you have perked my interest, how about flying to Madras/ Chennai in S. India and buying a couple of old Enfields from the factory and taking them up through India and into China that way ( via laddakh ) or into Pakistan and then into China from there.

I could do with a few months holiday especially when it gets hot here.

Edited January 5, 2009 by ChiangMaiFurnishedApts

[whiterussian]

Thanks for all the info!

Banks in China, great idea, i had romantic notions of no banks in rural China

ChiangMaiFurnish... awesome! That was my idea, get a really crap bike ( the guy in San Kam' has a crap(ish) bike with a comfy leather saddle)

Be interested in the Enfield thing, but i saw a documentary on some english hi-so kid doing that... and it looked like trouble, plus i know nothing about maintenance of bikes.. so no thanks, unless they are dirt cheap and you reckon the chinese can fix 'em...

Be up for buying a crappy chinese motor scooter and driving it to Tibet though!? Or just having a jolly driving around China? Be nice to have a destination. Have rels in Hong Kong, could aim for that?

The Harbin idea was to hook up with the Trans Siberian (which my grt grt grandfather see avatar.. built as minister) and go up through Mongolia to Russia and along back to boring old UK.

Laddakh sounds nice, but no way am i going near pakistan! China is what i want to see!

Im also in the market for a meanoy

Cheers

Edited January 5, 2009 by whiterussian

[Familyonthemove]

Good luck with your trip ...... I've done a shorter trip from from Bangkok to Saigon by mountainbike (as part of a small group) and one unexpected problem was getting enough food to fuel the 100 km per day on very rough roads. You need to double or even treble your normal calorie intake, but this can be challenging when you're eating street food from stalls along the way. We would decend on a hapless Cambodian village like a swarm of locusts and buy up all the fried rice, chicken on sticks and bananas we could find. And yes, the border police struggle with the concept of foreigners arriving on bikes.

The option of getting a local motorcycle would be worth looking into .... quicker and you'd need to eat fewer bananas!

Also - plan to travel in daylight only - so 100 km per day is likely to be the max range on roads, much less if you hit mud and floods.

[ChiangMaiFurnishedApts]

Im also in the market for a meanoy

Cheers

If that is the case I suggest you look into buying a tandem model so you can take her back here with you. Dont bank on her doing any of the peddling though unless you hook up a TV to a bicycle run generator, sorta like a carrot on a stick.

I also suggest you look into hospitals in the area that do genital re-attachment cause if your current Fan reads your posting about wanting a gick, you might need one.

Im all game for a South to North trip up India starting in April and ending up in Ladakh when the snow melts and the roads open in May(ish). Check out Enfield Indias website and look at the bikes they offer on the British and American market.

Of course in order to keep this thread relevant, this trip would have to start in Chiang Mai.