Book - Eastern Tibet - Sichuan

We made a book of our journey through this part of Sichuan. Specifically we cycled through the Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures of Aba and Garze. There are maps and some route information. We didn't make it for anyone else. Just for us, but you're welcome to have it. If you want to buy it then you can get it as a pdf with the link below.

The book should be previewable here: (be patient)

Eastern Tibet

By Simon Taylor & Isabelle Bedard

If you want the book for free the whole book is downloadable by clicking here.

Route and GPS Files for Eastern Tibet

Here's our route and all the places we stayed.

Here's also a folder containing all the fantastic maps that we used:
The fantastic maps from Gecko Maps - Eastern Tibet have also been scanned and their are some copies there if you need to print some out. Make sure you print the key I was too lazy to join them up.

Eastern Tibet Route

We flew to Chengdu, stayed with the lovely Sarah and Scott, two English teachers and then set off by bus to Songpan. From there are after a detour to Jiuzaighou to see the lakes we headed up and West into the Tibetan Autonomous Zone around Aba and across the high grasslands.
We then rode to Ganzi / Garze and then across towards the Southern Tibetan highway. From there we rode back to Kangding before heading back to Chengdu. Our journey was around 1700km and involved huge amounts of time spent between 3000m and 4500m. We camped most of the way, although hotels were also easy to find and cheap to stay in in smaller towns.

Heading West from India towards Europe overland

If you need to travel west from India you are faced with a few choices although you are restricted by security issues, visa availability and time of year:

Southern Pakistan to Iran – if you are cycling, this isn’t a lot of fun as you will have to be in a police escort for about 15 days as it is considered too dangerous. Each day the police drive along with you and stay outside your hotel or you have to cycle from police station to police station. You can get a Pakistani visa in India and you can pick up an Iranian visa organised through a travel agency (Iranianvisa.com) in Pakistan or in India.

Northern Pakistan and into China via the Khunjerab Pass – This is a great choice as long as the Khunjerab Pass is open. (May to November). You can get a Chinese visa in Pakistan and the Pakistani, Indian, Kyrgyz and Kazakh visas in Delhi. If you are already in China, you can enter Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan with a visa that you can pick up in Urumqi although for Kyrgyzstan this involves a 2000km detour round the edge of the Taklamakan Desert.

Don’t cross from China to Kyrgyzstan via the Torugart Pass, use the Irkeshtan, less cost and hassle and also it’s easier to get from the Irkeshtan to Osh and then Uzbekistan unless you need to go to Bishkek. The only reason to go via the Torugart pass is if you have to go to Bishkek and you want to see Lake Issyk Kul or spend time in the Tien Shan mountains near Karakol. East Kyrgyzstan is beautiful but the Torugart is a pain because the Chinese don’t let you cross the border independently, only in organised transport that costs lots

You can get all the rest of the onward visas for the Stans in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan if you haven’t already got them.

In Pakistan it’s wise to get transport from Islamabad to Chilas as the Hindu Kush is a bit dodgy for cyclists, too many stone throwers. Once in Chilas the place is superbly friendly and easy to cycle around although it does head up hill a lot.

Nepal into Tibet/China then West – this is impossible at the moment but for the last few years has been OK. It’s unlikely to be allowed for a while as both Tibet and Xinjiang are a bit sensitive. we were quoted $3500 to be escorted from Nepal to Ali by a Chinese guide taking three weeks. You can’t get across any check point without all the people on your Group Visa (the only visa available in Nepal) If you enter Nepal with a Chinese visa it can’t be used to enter China from Nepal. And in any event newspapers are reporting that no tourists are being allowed into Tibet this spring and I suspect that these restrictions will continue all of 2009 (20th anniversary of Tianemen Square, 60 years of China, 50 years since the Dalai Lama escaped)

There’s oil in the desert of Xinjiang province so the Chinese are a bit tense at the moment. We could only travel through much of it because we had a HK ID card so don’t expect to be able to cut across the Tien Shan mountains, you may be forced to cycle all the way around. You can also enter Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan from China and pick up your Kazakh or Kyrgyz visa in Urumqi. These don’t need a letter of invitation if you are from one of 28 countries listed on the Kazakh website. You can also do this in India.

Flying Over Pakistan / Tibet to Uzbekistan – you can fly from Delhi direct to Tashkent in Uzbekistan with Air India/Uzbekistan Airlines (Code Share) for about $400 one way or $500 return. You may need to have a return ticket to Uzbekistan to actually be allowed into the country even if you have a visa. If you get a return ticket you can cancel it when you arrive, but you can only get your full refund in India although you do have 2 years to do so.

Several countries don’t need an LOI (UK and most European Countries but NOT Canadians) If you need an LOI then contact the Uzbek embassy who can advise you – they were really helpful when we went there. It’s next door to the Bangladesh Embassy which is in the Lonely Planet. Stan Tours can sort you out any letters of invitation that you might need for the Stans and are very efficient and quick to respond to emails. You can pick up your Iranian visa in Tashkent quite easily although it must be pre-arranged with a company like Iranianvisa.com

Flying Over Pakistan / Tibet to Kyrgyzstan - If you want to go to the fantastic Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Air, Turkish Airlines and Aeroflot fly via Tashkent to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. tickets range from $700 to $1200 dollars. Most nationalities can get a visa on arrival for Kyrgyzstan. at the airport The Iranian embassy in Bishkek is rubbish so don’t arrange to pick up your visa there.

Payment to travel agents in Central Asia / Iran normally involves getting a MoneyBookers account because they can’t accept Visa or PayPal because of various restrictions. You can do bank transfer but this takes a lot longer. If you organise your Moneybookers account at home it will be much easier as you have to wait a few days, check your credit card statement for a payment amount and then enter this amount on their website before you can use the Moneybookers account. Once you’ve done this you can pay by entering an email address in the Moneybookers website and it’s all done. Check Iranianvisa.com or Stantours for their payment email addresses.

Useful addresses and information:

Stan Tours: www.stantours.com    email: stantours@gmx.net

Iranian Visa: http://iranianvisa.com  email: info@iranianvisa.com or iranianvisa@gmail.com

MoneyBookers: www.moneybookers.com

 

We’ve chosen to fly to Uzbekistan..we’ll let you know what happens in the comments.

Excess baggage is about $2 / Kg

China - Contents

Culture
Finally getting into China - a miracle 
Being given advice about the route
The corn harvest - a use for all the new roads
On the route to Yining
We start to attract some attention
Hotels who don't want foreign tourists
Some useful Chinese symbols
Chinese brands of car
People on the streets of Kashgar
Getting the runs in Kashgar
Fake trees 

Landscape and Nature
Cycling up the Ile valley
The road less travelled
The incredible Bayanbulak Grasslands
Byanbulak Grasslands - Snow makes us turn back
Retreating by bus
Incredible geology in the Ghez valley and Canyon
Camels
Ghez Canyon
High valleys and sand dunes above Karakol
The Tajik Autonomous zone

Development of Xinjiang
Mao's legacy in Xinjiang
The development of Xinjiang province

The Karakorum Highway 
Incredible geology in the Ghez valley and Canyon
Camels by the road
Ghez Canyon
High valleys and sand dunes above Karakol
The Tajik Autonomous zone

Border Crossing
China to Pakistan from Tashkurgan

Visas
Getting a visa for Xinjiang and onward travel
Chinese visa problems in HK
Chinese Visa Information

Crossing into Pakistan from China - Our Journey over the Khunjerab Pass

The Tajik Autonomous Zone of Xinjiang

Karakol Lake and Muztag Ata Mountain

The High Valleys and Sand Dunes below Karakol

Ghez Canyon - Xinjiang

Humps on Bumps

Geology in Action

Mao's Legacy in Xinjiang

Fake Trees

The Kashgar Runs

11am – Day 2

These are the ramblings of someone suffering from 'Man-Diarrhoea', a particularly dire illness (signified by my capitalisation) that women seem to be only vaguely aware of. This can be the only explanation for Isabelle's relaxed attitude towards my predicament. Ever since the mountains before Korla I've been a bit run down and ended up catching a really annoying cold which I only shook off a couple of days ago. Getting caught in the snow wasn't exactly good for it but hey...these are the trials and tribulations of a long distance cycle tourer.  The one thing that I didn't expect was 'the shits' – I haven't had it since Africa in 2002 despite travelling all around SE Asia and India and always drinking the tap water and trying to build up my immunity wherever possible. I am now going through the recovery stage of a really vicious attack. I started to run out of energy a couple of days ago as we travelled by bus round the Taklamakan desert and just put it down to that thing where you always get ill at the beginning of a holiday. Why is that? - it's as though your body switches off your immune system for a few days because it needs a rest from looking after you on the road or at work.

 

2pm: I write this not because I think anyone really wants to know the details, but because it's damn boring lying here burping and farting, waiting for the next urgent trip to the toilet, whilst drinking copious amounts of flat coca-cola, rehydration salts a couple of times a day, and knowing I should eat but not wanting anything to go into the maelstrom of my digestive tract. I wait breathlessly for the magic drug Ciprofloxacin to kill all the aggressive little bastards multiplying in my intestines. Without going into too many details I haven't urinated for 48 hours but still need to drink constantly...I've had a fever of 38.5ºC for the last 24 hours, thankfully that's now subsided and I can stop breaking out in cold sweats in my 27ºC hotel room. I'm sick to death of lying down but every time I sit up, the gurgling starts again so I lie there watching endless CCTV5 repeats of the Chinese Olympic triumphs, table tennis and weight lifting being a couple of the less riveting favourites. The worst bit is the endless segues between segues advertising more of the same later in the day. I've discovered XJTV10 which is just Premier League football, although I'm even getting bored of that now. I have this dream that if I watch the TV for long enough I will eventually be able to speak Chinese fluently, although I also had this dream about French when I met Isabelle.

6pm: My biggest problem is that after a couple of days of lying here I'm getting crabby and uncomfortable, I'm not really tired but I feel exhausted, I'm hungry but don't want food, I want to go out but can't face it, I watch TV but I've seen it all before and I really need a shower but water frightens me. I'm not even ready to wear pants yet which says something about my state, so I sit here typing this with all on display, hoping the cleaning lady doesn't use her key-card to get in without knocking first. It must be tremendous fun for Isabelle, who kindly buys me the things I desire and then sits there looking as bored as I feel. At night I've been watching films on our impossibly small laptop sent out by my friend Rob in the UK. Janette, who chose the films, has excellent taste, but why are today's offerings all about death and loss!? I need cheering up not constant crying and blubbing.

 

7pm: After no visits to the toilet for 4 hours, I've just had to rush, I'm disappointed but I'm still hopeful that tomorrow I'll be much better. My sense of self pity is beginning to piss even me off. I'm bored of it now. And worst of all I'm sick of Isabelle saying 'Does that mean I'm stronger than you because I didn't get ill?' I have no answer, which bugs me,the question is so obviously irrational and makes no sense. It's like her other questions - 'How many ants do you think there are in the world?' or 'How many blades of grass are there?'. I try and explain using complicated scientific gobbledygook how only strong immune systems can face such harsh bacterial infections but she sees through me almost immediately. I end up muttering about the things that I ate that were different to her while she sits there and grins smugly.
 

8.40pm: I've now reached the stage where I am embarrassed by the state that I am in. The hotel room is a shambles with rubbish everywhere, there are plates of barely eaten rice and Isabelle says that I smell of illness. 'Nature' is clever, I now want to clean everything, a sure sign that I am ready to look after myself again. I've just had a shower and brushed my teeth, I even cleaned the outside of the toothpaste tube and used bottled sterile water rather than the tap water (which Isabelle seems to use with impunity). At this moment all dirt seems to disgust me. 
 

10pm: Another landmark, Cipro number 3 is now inside me. I am absolutely confident that I will be completely better tomorrow. I might even leave the hotel room. Now it's time for another film, I will not be watching one about illness or death. 
 

I think we'll watch 'Run Fatboy Run' or is the title a bit too reminiscent of my predicament? (not the Fatboy bit)

People on the streets of Kashgar

Are these the best selling brands of car in the world?

Some useful Chinese symbols for travelling

Hotels who don't want foreign tourists

Retreating from the mountains by bus