We left Naryn at 5am in the morning. There was nobody on the streets of Naryn except two drunk (and not very stable) Kyrgyz men who still did not have enough and bought some more Vodka at the gas station. The drive up to the Tash Rabat caravanserai, which is basically on the way to the border, was nice. Tash Rabat is famous for its complex structure. While almost everybody calls it a caravanserai (from the 15th century), which makes sense as the traders followed the Silk Road over the Torurgart, the scholars still have another theory: it could also be an early Christian monastery from the 11th / 12th century. Whatever it is, it unique position in this beautiful mountain valley at 3.500m is amazing and the structure itself as well. Just a pity that Gulnira told me that I would only have 20 minutes there in order not to come too late to the border. To visit and take some photos, it was of course enough as it is quite small, but I would have liked to profit a bit more from this serene location and sit down as have a tea in one of the the surrounding Yurts. On the way back from the side valley to the main valley, there were literally hundreds of marmots hopping around in the grass and - when they saw us - trying to get back into their hole or hide behind a rock somewhere. But i managed nevertheless to take a relatively close-up photo... ;-) I really like those animals.. They look really cuddly... ;-)
On the Kyrgyz side, there were two controls: one checkpoint before the long drive up the pass, where you have to show your permit and your passport before a gate opens and the car is let through and then the actual border check about 10 km from the pass. Both very quite unproblematic. Interestingly, one guy from the border police told the driver (who with the car went a different way without customs control) to leave my big backpack in the car... At the customs control, they gave me a form only in Kyrgyz and Russian, I which I understood absolutely nothing... But a friendly Kyrgyz traveller filled it in for me, without asking anything - except the number of bags and the same policeman who followed me through all the way indicated the number without the backpack in the car - in front of the eyes of the customs official. So I signed a form which was not true at all, but the customs official could not care less... I showed my passport to a friendly and smiling lady, got my "exit" stamp and off I went ... ;-)
After we had driven the abou 10km through the noman's land before the actual pass, I realised that Gulnira, the lady from tourist office in Naryn actually had made a mistake when she told me that the Chinese driver would meet us on top of the Torurgart pass at the border at 11 Beijing time.... It was in the end 11 local Uyghur time (which is 2 hours behind). So we had left far too early in the morning (6am would have been more than fine ...) and I rushed without any reason when visiting the Mountain caravanserai. Instead, we waited for almost two hours on top of the pass, just in front of the closed entry-gate to China (which - it appeared only opens at 10.30 local time anyway!!!). We were the first ones, but soon one truck after the other arrived and there was a line of about 30 trucks (ehm, lorries ;-) ) in this deserted mountain landscape... Surreal somehow.... Just before the border opened, two other cars with tourists arrived: one with a group of Czech hikers (what's with all these Czech people around here?? Any idea, Honza?? ;-) to be precise: there was one Slovak in that group and he was the only one talking to me... ;-) ). In the other car was a British couple in their fifties...
Once the border opened, at least there was some activity: I watched how the customs officers very carefully inspected all the Kyrgyz trucks (the Chinese went through almost without any checks...), much to the frustration of the Kyrgyz drivers... Our Chinese driver finally showed up with a half-hour delay at 11.30, showed a paper to one of the border guards, briefly looked at my passport and here I was in China. I waved my Kyrgyz driver goodbye and we started our descent towards Kashgar. After about 120km, we got to a first checkpoint, where I had to have my luggage screened. The most suspicious item in my luggage was not my drugs, ehm I mean "medicines", but my books!!! I had to take any printed material out and everything was carefully inspected. I later heard from travellers that their China guidebooks / Lonely planets have been confiscated / the Tibet / Dalai Lama related pages ripped out, but fortunately, my printed guidebooks are very art / architecture related and in German and the lonely planet in electronic format on my iPad, which they were - strangely - not interested in at all... Anyway, with about 5 minutes, the inspection was very efficient and we continued. A few kilometres further, we arrived at another checkpoint, where I needed to get out of the car an show my passport, but it was enough to wave with it and the guy did not even look at it properly. After a few now kilometres (about 200km from the actual border !!!) we finally arrived at the Chinese immigration, which was on lunch break for 1,5 hours, which meant more waiting... (Very inefficient, as nobody can make it to here from the opening of the actual border gate before that lunch break, so everybody has to wait... I chatted a bit with the British couple, really passionate travellers, who did the same trip with their kids 20 years ago!!!
Thanks to the guide who came with the Chinese driver (it seems that having a guide is now obligatory for this border crossing for Westerners as they facilitate in case of communication problems... ), also here, everything went very fast and smoothly once the Chinese officials had finished their lunch. No customs forms to fill in, no questions, only an electronic baggage screening and no further searches.. Within 15 minutes we were through.. ;-). Now more driving to Kashgar, but as I was so tired and it was quite hot, I did not see much, as I was sleeping most of the time.
All in all this border crossing broke several records: it was so far the most spectacular in terms of landscapes, at the highest altitude, but also the most expensive, the longest in terms of time spent, with the most controls / checkpoints but regarding the nature of the checks on both sides in the end the least problematic.... Still, after a long day of more than 10 hours, I was very glad when the driver dropped me at my hotel in Kashgar in the late afternoon ... But I made it! ;-)
Photos at: https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A6GQOeMmyRHI8
On the Kyrgyz side, there were two controls: one checkpoint before the long drive up the pass, where you have to show your permit and your passport before a gate opens and the car is let through and then the actual border check about 10 km from the pass. Both very quite unproblematic. Interestingly, one guy from the border police told the driver (who with the car went a different way without customs control) to leave my big backpack in the car... At the customs control, they gave me a form only in Kyrgyz and Russian, I which I understood absolutely nothing... But a friendly Kyrgyz traveller filled it in for me, without asking anything - except the number of bags and the same policeman who followed me through all the way indicated the number without the backpack in the car - in front of the eyes of the customs official. So I signed a form which was not true at all, but the customs official could not care less... I showed my passport to a friendly and smiling lady, got my "exit" stamp and off I went ... ;-)
After we had driven the abou 10km through the noman's land before the actual pass, I realised that Gulnira, the lady from tourist office in Naryn actually had made a mistake when she told me that the Chinese driver would meet us on top of the Torurgart pass at the border at 11 Beijing time.... It was in the end 11 local Uyghur time (which is 2 hours behind). So we had left far too early in the morning (6am would have been more than fine ...) and I rushed without any reason when visiting the Mountain caravanserai. Instead, we waited for almost two hours on top of the pass, just in front of the closed entry-gate to China (which - it appeared only opens at 10.30 local time anyway!!!). We were the first ones, but soon one truck after the other arrived and there was a line of about 30 trucks (ehm, lorries ;-) ) in this deserted mountain landscape... Surreal somehow.... Just before the border opened, two other cars with tourists arrived: one with a group of Czech hikers (what's with all these Czech people around here?? Any idea, Honza?? ;-) to be precise: there was one Slovak in that group and he was the only one talking to me... ;-) ). In the other car was a British couple in their fifties...
Once the border opened, at least there was some activity: I watched how the customs officers very carefully inspected all the Kyrgyz trucks (the Chinese went through almost without any checks...), much to the frustration of the Kyrgyz drivers... Our Chinese driver finally showed up with a half-hour delay at 11.30, showed a paper to one of the border guards, briefly looked at my passport and here I was in China. I waved my Kyrgyz driver goodbye and we started our descent towards Kashgar. After about 120km, we got to a first checkpoint, where I had to have my luggage screened. The most suspicious item in my luggage was not my drugs, ehm I mean "medicines", but my books!!! I had to take any printed material out and everything was carefully inspected. I later heard from travellers that their China guidebooks / Lonely planets have been confiscated / the Tibet / Dalai Lama related pages ripped out, but fortunately, my printed guidebooks are very art / architecture related and in German and the lonely planet in electronic format on my iPad, which they were - strangely - not interested in at all... Anyway, with about 5 minutes, the inspection was very efficient and we continued. A few kilometres further, we arrived at another checkpoint, where I needed to get out of the car an show my passport, but it was enough to wave with it and the guy did not even look at it properly. After a few now kilometres (about 200km from the actual border !!!) we finally arrived at the Chinese immigration, which was on lunch break for 1,5 hours, which meant more waiting... (Very inefficient, as nobody can make it to here from the opening of the actual border gate before that lunch break, so everybody has to wait... I chatted a bit with the British couple, really passionate travellers, who did the same trip with their kids 20 years ago!!!
Thanks to the guide who came with the Chinese driver (it seems that having a guide is now obligatory for this border crossing for Westerners as they facilitate in case of communication problems... ), also here, everything went very fast and smoothly once the Chinese officials had finished their lunch. No customs forms to fill in, no questions, only an electronic baggage screening and no further searches.. Within 15 minutes we were through.. ;-). Now more driving to Kashgar, but as I was so tired and it was quite hot, I did not see much, as I was sleeping most of the time.
All in all this border crossing broke several records: it was so far the most spectacular in terms of landscapes, at the highest altitude, but also the most expensive, the longest in terms of time spent, with the most controls / checkpoints but regarding the nature of the checks on both sides in the end the least problematic.... Still, after a long day of more than 10 hours, I was very glad when the driver dropped me at my hotel in Kashgar in the late afternoon ... But I made it! ;-)
Photos at: https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A6GQOeMmyRHI8
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