Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(p295) is also increasingly well linked via
İstanbul, Dubai and various Russian cities. Both
cities have lights to China via Ürümqi.
For airline listings see p247.
LAND
To/From China
There are two land routes to Kashgar in Xinjiang,
China, where the oicial time zone ('Beijing
Time') is gMT+8, though unoicial 'Xinjiang
Time' is gMT+6, ie the same as Kyrgyzstan in
summer.
Both routes are iddly and essentially take
a very long day so start early and bring food
and drink. Both are scenically inspiring (the
Torugart route more consistently so) and cross
high mountain passes. Beware of intense cold
and potential road closures when snow-bound
in winter.
Both borders close at weekends and public
holidays. Be careful if travelling on Fridays in
case there's a delay or road closure (landslide,
unexpected holiday) meaning you're stuck until
Monday.
On the Chinese side, both routes involve cross-
ing well over 100km between inner and outer
frontier posts through a restricted border zone
within which bicycles must be put on a vehicle.
Irkeshtam Route
The main route is via Irkeshtam and Sary Tash.
A twice weekly Kashgar-Osh sleeper bus cost-
ing 580Yuan (around US$90) leaves Kashgar's
International Bus Station at 9am Beijing Time on
Mondays and Thursdays arriving between 2am
and 6am the next morning in Osh (don't worry,
you can stay sleeping on the bus til dawn if it's
early). The bus returns from outside the Pekin
Hotel in central Osh on Sunday and Tuesday
nights around midnight. Buy tickets one day
ahead.
Doing the trip in sections works out much
cheaper - typically under US$35, albeit highly
variable depending on how many other travellers
cross that day and share the taxi or van cost
between Chinese border posts. Crossing inde-
pendently you get the added bonus of a night in
Sary Tash, with its beautiful clear-weather views
of Alay Valley mountainscapes, plus the views
between there and Osh which the through-bus
typically passes at night.
From Sary Tash hitch or share a taxi (per per-
son/car 300/1200som) for 73km to the main
Kyrgyz border post. Either leave around 7am
to reach the border just after 8am or start the
afternoon before and sleep at one of the basic
cafe-wagons (bed 100som to 200som) right
beside the border compound. Either way walk
past the queue of trucks and get your passport
stamped, then after that's checked, arrange a
ride with the next passing truck for the follow-
ing 7km. Leave your bags in the truck for the
irst two passport checks, but say goodbye at
the upper Chinese customs station. Here your
passport is checked but not stamped while your
bags, camera, computer, iPad, topics etc are
very extensively searched for anything suspi-
cious (ilms watched, photos checked, iles
opened).
Once a decent number of travellers have been
thus checked, their passports are collected and
given to an approved taxi driver who will drive
you the whopping 140km to the
main Chinese
border station
(Heiziwei;
h
10.30am-2pm &
4-8pm Beijing Time, which is two hours ahead
of Kyrgyz time). This costs 100/160 Chinese
Yuan per person in a four-seat taxi/10-seat van,
but if you're alone you might have to pay for the
whole vehicle. This cost should reduce once the
excellent new highway is opened. For now the
old road runs tantalisingly alongside the new
highway for a gruelling ive hours' of seemingly
endless bumps.
You get stamped into China at a big, airport-
style complex. There's no bank but there is usu-
ally a moneychanger lurking just after customs
ofering a not unreasonable US$1=Y6. A taxi
to Wuqia minibus/shared taxi station costs 5
Chinese Yuan. Or walk 3km - down a long grand
avenue then right on Yingbin Lu. Minibuses to
Kashgar (23 to 30 Yuan) currently take 1¾ hours
but this too will reduce once the new highway is
oicially opened.
You'll be dropped at the Hua Hue Hotel from
which the Id Kah Mosque and Pamir Hostel
(backpackers' hangout) is 1.5km straight ahead
(bus 8). In the opposite direction, minibuses to
Wuqia leave from an indoor stand tucked into
the south (river-facing) side of the same block as
the International Bus Station, beneath a big sign
misleadingly suggesting a bowling alley.
Torugart Route
The Torugart Pass to Naryn is used by Bishkek-
Kashgar and Bishkek-Artush sleeper buses, but
foreigners are not allowed to take those services
and can only use this border by using agency
transfers on both sides. Your name needs to be
on a stamped passenger manifest (Chinese side)
and a passport copy must be sent to the Kyrgyz
agent. Such bureaucracy makes this route dis-
proportionately expensive - the cheapest ofers
we found for groups of three/seven people were
around US$110/85 per head. Alone you'd be
asked nearly US$500. There are several ways
to ind other travellers or pre-arranged groups
to join:
¨
in Bishkek, consult the notice board at
NoviNomad (p245)
¨
in Naryn, ask CBT (p281) or Kubat Tour
(p281)
¨
in Kashgar, seek out fellow travellers at the
Pamir Hostel
(www.pamirhostel.com; Nuo'er
Beixilu, facing Id Kah Mosque, Kashgar) or
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