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