Interestingly one of the town we had to pass through on way to Turpan, we were again stopped by the police, this time we were also escorted by them and for part of the journey by a squat car to the police station – all very exciting.

Another Intresting Inspection CLICK HERE TO WATCH

At the police station there was ID inspection of vehicle and passport done. All very courteous, sometimes it feels like the stoppage is more about curiosity. You can see the officers sometimes getting really excited when they see the Land Cruiser approaching, they seem to then let the local cars go through, so they can get to us.

Full days driving today to Turpan, almost 400 km but thankfully travelling mainly on the ‘Express Way’. Scenic in some parts, mountainous and then suddenly flat land.
We reached over 450 feet BELOW Sea Level, Turpan is one of few cities that lies so far below sea level.

In the evening we went to a local Chinese restaurant – the food was delicious. Had a glimpse of their kitchen, which is always a good thing. Total cost of meal for five plus 5 beers £35.00!

Returning back to the hotel saw an excellent dance performance from local school kids.

Once we were back at our hotel, Peter was getting ready for a riot – no, false alarm  - no riot and he’s smiling.

Click – here – to – see – school – children – dance – video 1

Click – here – to – see – school – children – dance – video 2

We were then in for a real treat at the local park / square. Went to see what was going on with the gathered crowd and music.
It was local people performing their traditional dance, in this case they were from the Uyghur community – they were graceful, and synchronised and the music addictive. The temptation was their to join in and once the invitation came from a local to participate, it was only a matter of time.
It was great fun, and as you can see we had a little following, all keen to have a conversation with us, it almost felt as if we were celebrities!

Three girls feeling shy and giggling away, because Kirit was trying to take their photo.

Click – to – watch – Dance – Video 1

Click – to – watch – dance – video 2

Click – to – watch – dance – video 3

Had an interesting experience visiting a pharmacy, our first in China. The staff were lovely, very accommodating and friendly. We were all snapping away, they just giggled away. In fact a couple wanted to take photos with us.
Apart from the traditional drugs, that we also have in the UK, the interesting section was the Chinese herbal medicine – deer’s horn, dried turtles, a tail of something or another.
A really pleasant experience.

Korla seems fairly modern with very wide streets.

Passed a little street market, fairly busy, lots of vendors with their vehicles come shop. Bought some boiled corn – felt like a real treat.

Saw an unusual Police golf buggy cart patrolling the streets.

Met the famous actor from Karate Kid – unfortunately he was sleeping after a training secession – ‘wash on, wash off’, I think that’s how it was said in the movie.

Drove 350 km to Korla on the express route.Petrol stations in China not well stocked with chocs ,crips etc but the one we stopped did have riot gear on display – it wasn’t for sale!

Partially scenic route,with different coloured mountain layers and in the distance snow on the tips – very pretty.

Went through a sand storm – looks more dramatic then it was

Reached Korla and we were all determined to get out as quickly as possible,after checking into our hotel.The normal tendency is for all of us to get on the internet and then not get out for hours.Riot gear again visible at the entrance of the hotel

Just shows how versatile the Land Cruiser is, it also carries an air pump facility.
Pumped up, started to make our way to Kuqa.
For the locals, petrol filling Chinese style from the kettle – for security reasons the petrol had to go straight into the tank of their vehicle, not allowed to put it into a separate container. The guy was sternly told not to do so, by the petrol attendant. Over the last few years there has been some communal tension between Muslim community and Ham people (who are the Chinese majority). The young lady sitting at the petrol pump, had riot protection gear on the table, and Kirit had to see that it was in working order.

Unfortunately soon after leaving the petrol station, travelling behind a lorry a fair sized pebble hit our windscreen and cracked the glass, even though the road surface was pretty smooth – never mind, we will have to see how the cracks develop.
Driver behind the wheel- Kirit!

On our way to Kuqa, in the Kuqa Gorge (also part of the Silk Road) we visited a Buddha Cave site, numerous caves that housed some original murals dating back almost 1200 years. Interesting that the Chinese have preserved this site so well.
Continuing on our way to Kuqa, stopped at a couple of check points. We will have to get used to this routine especially when we are in Tibet. There is just a curiosity factor and our awareness suddenly increases when we get stopped – and that urge to take photos!

Reached our hotel in good time, thankfully not a frantic, manic day like yesterday.
Have not had much interaction with Chinese people so far, but those we have met to date are polite enough and helpful.

34th day Thurs 15th May
Our man Bing, yesterday evening suggested a Chinese massage and Kirit and me not having had one took up the challenge of a back, feet and shoulder Chinese massage – as you can see my experience was somewhat unusual. Although I have had cupping done on my back in England, this was a bit more intense, probably language communication was the barrier, before I knew it I had a dozen cups on my back. What an experience, surprisingly not painful at all, but no more Chinese massages for me. By the way, no burn marks on my feet – but I can walk on fire now!

Left at about 9am to go to the car registration place again, on the outskirts of Kashgar. At the hotel before leaving, met a German couple who have been travelling for almost a year. Look at the monster they were driving.

By the time we arrived it was heaving with vehicles and the main gate was closed. We wriggled our way to the front; Bing and I walked to the main administration block, only to find a number of people congregated at a section of the main building. A big truck had just gone into a post, this telegraph pole had internet cables connecting it to the main building and these cables were now dangling inelegantly. Therefore without wi-fi connection and we knew we could possibly lose another day.
The purpose for this lengthy process, was for the officials to also check the road worthiness, register number plate of the LC and photograph it. All this information would then be uploaded, so where ever we travelled in China, information would be readily available to the authorities.
The extent of bureaucracy regarding this has been quite incredible, considering most of the official paperwork had already been completed by our agents long before our arrival to China. Again we did get a bit of movement after Peter did a Mr Angry on one of the officials, it comes naturally to Peter and as I mentioned, it seemed we were making good progress, with the vehicle checked and photographed. Now the final bit of getting the documents stamped, for which we had to go a short distance to another building. Their dreaded lunch time was not too far off, but we were told we had plenty of time. Not true, we missed the lunch time deadline and were once again in ‘no mans land’, until the officials came back. Another hour and a half wait – that bit about letting things flow was starting to wear thin.

We finally left the vehicle and driving registration place at 5pm – almost 18 hours since the start of this saga, from the previous day. We now have documentary evidence that we and our Land Cruiser can legitimately and legally drive on the roads of China. We also got our very own Chinese Provisional Driving Licence.

Finally left for Aksu, destination time 11 pm and destination 419 km. A bit precarious driving in the dark, with a lot of on coming and sometimes reckless drivers. Although it was surprisingly still quite light at 9.30 pm.
After a long time we have a decent hotel – still only £18 per person, great to have our Chinese guide Bing travelling with us. It saves a hell of a lot of time finding hotel accommodation etc.

Chinese Foot Massage CLICK HERE TO WATCH

33rd day Wed 14th May

Sending some more photos taken in during our long wait in China customs yesterday.

Spent a day in Kashgar ,we needed to get our car registration, insurance and have our car inspected, before we could get going with our China trip. I had my first experience of driving in China and the urban roads of Kashgar on route to this particular place.
It was a fair distance from the town, when we reached it appeared not to be very busy – but appearances can be deceiving as we experienced yesterday.
We also had our guide to help us, because without Bing no progress would have been made.
It started with a lot of activity and thought this is running smoothly, car inspected, car insurance issued, only registration left to do. After an hour of waiting we were told that their internet connection was down and at the same time the mandatory two hour lunch break was about to start. They actually get picked up to go to lunch and with it follows total shut down – no replacement staff.

Whilst the Land Cruiser was parked in the forecourt, we had masses of people who were really inquisitive about the vehicle and whenever we opened the door the numbers increased dramatically – just being nosey, nothing else.

We had two hours to kill, so the genius in us decided to played target with a plastic ball, we also had a ‘frisby’ and played a bit of cricket – by the end of this, I was a bit hungry, it was now 2 pm and I hadn’t had any breakfast. The guide said there is a local place we could try. I needed to go to the loo, and as per before the stench was unbearable, however on this occasion when I walked in, their were four guys squatting in a row, having a chat with each other (no partition or separation) all doing big jobs. I almost twisted my neck, reversing my direction to get out as quickly as I could. I still needed to go, and the ladies loo was next door. Someone came out and I indicated is it occupied she said no, and I also shouted “Hello” – no one in there and on the great odds (I thought) these will be cleaner as I was about to go in, this guard shouted out to say, not this one. Stuffed had to wait a bit longer and his lunch break was my chance – which I took!!
The local restaurant standard was not very good either, had some fried rice but hoping I don’t get upset stomach. Apologies, but have to go back to this toilet topic again – now Manvir wanted to go for a leak, he came back with another gruesome story, he didn’t bother going either – people were taking water from a large metal utensil when they went to do their business – we felt that this same water was also being used in the cooking – in addition the ‘site’ he went to was a box, with NO hole in it! Anyway enough of this, but one thing we were all agreed on that no one can call themselves a super power if there is not even basic sanitation.

I had visited Burma a couple of years ago, technologically and in other modern ways it’s way behind the rest of the world, however, never on our three week trip there did we come across a filthy toilet – even when we visited the remotest villages
Kirit the brave wanted to take a photo next to this icon outside the restaurant – so from pharmacy purchasing, he is thinking of diverting his attention to writing a book on toilets of the world. Good luck!

We back to see if the officials were back from their extended lunch break – yes they were, but the bad news was the internet was still down and was unlikely to come back on today – so we would have to come back tomorrow. When we left Chinese customs yesterday, there was a very clear notice which read – Enjoy your stay with super fast internet. Big gap between super fast and no internet. Unfortunately a day wasted, possibly, but slowly getting used to it, situation is not in our control.
Decided to go back into town and get some sight seeing done in Kashgar whilst there was still some light. Noticed there is a predominance of Muslim community in Kashgar and poverty quite apparent. Visited people’s square, which also has a large statue of Chairman Mao Tse Tung – took another great selfy. Played ping pong with one of the local kids – what skill, not me but the kid I was playing with. Used some random plastic bit to hit the ball.
Oh yes, one more minor incident – will I ever learn? So, army guys were guarding a little patch on the People’s Square, fully armed, on guard and had an armoured vehicle with them – I had to take a discrete photo. Not so discrete, he spotted me came over and deleted the photos – but for some reason left a few of them. Surprisingly he was very good about it, after all I am a tourist in a foreign land. Security will increase, no doubt, as we travel further into China and in particular Tibet.

Although a slightly frustrating day, still did quite a bit. Plan for tomorrow is to complete the vehicle paperwork and leave Kashgar.
Destination planned for tomorrow is Aksu which is a 490 km / 9hr drive – long day.