china 2

CHINA 2

OVERLAND

INFORMATION

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REGULAR READERS WILL KNOW THAT WE HAVE HAD A HARD TIME OF DECIDING WHETHER TO SHIP TO AUSTRALIA OR DRIVE THROUGH CHINA. WE CHOSE CHINA AS WE HAVE HEARD RUMOURS OF FOREIGN VEHICLE ENTRY SLOWLY BECOMING MORE DIFFICULT.

We used an agent based in Hamburg, Germany called China Tours www.chinatours.de contact Mr Oliver Nitsche tel. 00494081973885 OR email him at: o.nitsche@chinatours.de

You have to submit an itinerary stating where you plan to visit, which route you will take and where you want to stay overnight, (which town). There are various other minor requirements but otherwise it’s relatively straightforward but does take up to 3 months to complete the paperwork!

FACT:

The government, who does not recognise carnet, are now demanding a bond to be paid for your vehicle on entry to the country of 300%.

Apparently this is paid into the Bank of China and when you leave the country the monies are returned to you– but we have heard stories that if you try to leave via a different border crossing things get VERY complicated! We do know for a fact that several agents stopped handling overlanders until the matter was resolved. But the only way to know what the most recent changes are is to speak with China Tours– things can change quickly but they seem to have a ‘finger on the pulse’.

COSTS:

Our final bill for the trip– £1,878 per car. We have 3 cars staying for 49 days. The price includes: our guide, her hotel costs and her transfer fees, 2 driving licences, car number plates and vehicle insurance– the only thing it does not include is our passport visa.

And, most importantly, we DO NOT have to pay a bond to the Chinese government.

NEWS FLASH!!

CHINA HAS STOPPED ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS OF ENTRY FROM OVERLANDERS AS OF

MARCH 2008 -WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THIS IS ONLY UNTIL THE END OF THE OLYMPICS.

Some details you need to know before you book:

Your Guide; You’ve paid a LOT of money for this person and you obviously have some expectations of the service you are going to receive.

We need to clarify some misconceptions- ‘guide’ is the wrong word for your Chinese travel companion, they are a chaperone/ translator NOT a person who has comprehensive knowledge of the road systems, tourist sites or any other useful information. We have heard reports from other overlanders that vary from throwing their guide out and demanding a new one, to being moderately satisfied with the service provided.

Most guides only have knowledge of the region they are from NOT the entire country. So you need all your books and maps to hand.

Our guide, Ms Wang Fang, is a very pleasant lady who has previously escorted a rally and a Rotel overland bus tour, (who always get a taxi to drive ahead and guide them to their pre booked 4* hotel). Fang has always been accompanied by a driver and therefore never pays attention to the routes or road signs– she’s had a very steep learning curve with us, as have we!

Unless you are prepared to pay three times the price this seems to be the standard level of service you can expect.

On a positive note: We have had reports from other overlanders in China at the moment who are very unhappy with the lack of flexibility their guide is providing. The truth is that their guide is giving them standard service- once your itinerary has been agreed with Beijing then it’s ‘set in stone’. Our guide is far more flexible, allowing us minor diversions thanks to the good sense of her father, who owns the company that China Tours use over here. BUT in-case you are thinking of requesting her- Fang only speaks German! Surprised? Not as much as we were!!

Road Tolls; Trying to gain accurate information about this before you enter China is impossible. So here’s the real story: When you fill out your forms for entry you will be asked about the weight and type of vehicle you own- this information is then put onto your Chinese licence plate. Road tolls tend to have weighing facilities and the price you pay is determined by how heavy you are or how big you look! Class One is the lowest rate you can pay– a landrover easily fits into that where-as an Iveco or ambulance sized vehicle tends to be put up a class. Flash your licence plate and insist you are a Class One if at all possible because, as an example; at one toll station a Class One was charged 70yuan where-as a Class Two was charged 292yuan– that’s a BIG difference!!

Road Conditions; Another important fact that no-one seems to talk about.

Toll expressways tend to be very good, usually two lanes and sealed but, some are still under construction or being maintained so you are not always guaranteed a trouble free drive.

Standard toll roads are usually single lane and surfaced, they can either be in good or poor condition.

Normal roads can range from good to unimaginably awful, they always take you through villages which tend to be bottle necks choked with trucks or full of market day stalls, they are always twisty, full of hills and guaranteed to almost double your mileage compared to the expressway.

Fuel; Unbelievably bad quality. Everyone belches black smoke from their exhausts- it’s obviously low grade fuel. It didn’t cause us any problems but it did ensure poor performance, especially when a large portion of our mileage was spent at heights of over 2,000 metres. Prices vary enormously– in the north west provinces you can pay as little as 4.72yuan a litre but in the rest of the country you pay between 5.06 to 5.60 a litre. We’ve averaged out our cost at 5.25yuan.

Telephone; We bought a Unicom China SIM card at the border– be warned it’s another India SIM card story. The region where you buy your SIM card is the only region that you can make international calls from, once you leave that area your SIM card will not allow you to send SMS abroad or to make calls. So it’s not worth adding credit onto your phone– as we did!

PLUS– if you have your British SIM card still on you– you can only send international sms messages or make international calls from certain towns. Your card will not work everywhere.

Banking; The Bank of China is the ONLY bank that will accept your bankcard in the ATM or will exchange money for you over the counter. We found our first working ATM in Dali– that’s a LONG way north– so make sure you bring plenty of Yuan into the country. You can buy Yuan at the border from unofficial money changers and they do give a good rate, but don’t rely on that.

The northwest province Bank of China branches would not accept any of our groups bankcards in the ATM’s– you have to use your Mastercard to get cash out here.

Is it worth it? The simple answer is NO. Other overlanders warned us that it wasn’t worth the hassle or expense but we didn’t really believe them. It’s true– every day we were frustrated at having so little time with the people and sights of each area. For the money we spent on entering as an overlander– we could have spent a LONG time backpacking around the country at our leisure and unrestricted.

Park your car in Lao– (Zuela guesthouse has allowed other overlanders to do this) and enter China as a backpacker.

BUT - if you are absolutely determined to travel thru then we would strongly recommend nothing less than 60 days for our route.

Considering anything less, especially when you have to travel with others, is utter madness– unless you enjoy rally driving style travel!

ON EACH DIARY DAY WE HAVE INCLUDED OUR MILEAGE, TIME TAKEN TO TRAVEL, TOLL COSTS + ROAD CONDITIONS.

THIS SHOULD MAKE PLANNING YOUR TRIP MUCH EASIER.

FINALLY– we’ve just heard a little rumour that China MAY accept carnet’s from next year.

Don’t know how accurate that is but wouldn’t that be great?

So when are they going to dump the guide?!!

NON-EXPRESSWAY ROAD CONDITIONS & BELIEVE IT OR NOT– THIS IS A SMALL QUEUE FOR DIESEL!