So, 11 years later......

2012, the year of my attempted London to KL via Tibet bike trip. Now, 11 (yes, count 'em, 11) years later, I am having another crack at it. BUT, the route into western Tibet from Xinjiang is currently closed to travellers (an ongoing border dispute between India and China??). Also Golmud, the gateway to the alternate north to south route to get to Lhasa is also currently closed to foreigners. So a China transit, minus Tibet, but a China transit none the less: from Kyrgyzstan to Laos. The map is the planned route through China. This section has taken up so much time and energy that the bits before and after China have been somewhat neglected. I'll have to make it up as I go along 

This time I am freighting my bike direct to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The original plan was to freight  to Almaty, Kazakhstan, but that proved to be an unfeasibly complicated process; of the few customs agents that responded to my enquiries in Almaty, "no, impossible" was the gist of the replies. The reasons for freighting this time are mainly time saved. It does feel like cheating a bit, but I don't really fancy Russia at the moment........🤔

So, starting in Kyrgyzstan, into China (at the Irkeshtam border crossing) and on to Laos, Cambodia and Thailand (and maybe Malaysia??). Had hoped to get my bike into Vietnam, but that has proved to be more trouble than it's worth (I'll do the Top Gear, Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi on a local rental another time).

I took on the laborious and frustrating task of finding fellow riders to join for the China section myself. Months (years......?!) of researching and negotiating with Chinese tour agencies ended with signing up with Jah from RideChina, based on his excellent reputation, track record and competitive price. I eventually found 5 riders (+myself) to join, fewer than the 8 required to trigger the attractive quote I was offered and no 4 wheeler to carry the guide. However, Jah had another, smaller group due to do a similar trip a couple of weeks or so later, so a merger was proposed to keep the good price. Upshot is, the entry date is little later than originally planned, BUT the trip gets to go ahead for the same duration and same cost. 

Another big change is the bike. The mighty XT has been retired from its overlanding duties and its younger sibling, the mighty T700 has taken up the role. Awesome as the XT is, I never noticed the vibey nature of the engine before getting the twin T7. My eyeballs no longer vibrate out of my head at higher speeds. At this point, my XT has more sentimental than monetary value, so holding on to it. Tedious bike prep. posts to follow......

Soundtrack: "Invincible" - Tool