China > The Torugart Pass into China

I didn’t sleep well last night. I was just cold! When the alarm goes off, I’m ready for a nice warm shower and clean clothes. But I have to make do with a small trickle of water and a bit of soap. Five days in a yurt might have been just a little too much for me—especially with some bad weather. I have all the admiration for the local people. For them, this is the way of life. Today I leave Kyrgyzstan and head toward China—my last border crossing of this trip. Around seven in the morning, I drive out of the Tash Rabat valley. Unlike yesterday, the weather is beautiful. Several marmots bask in the sun. When the bus approaches, they quickly scatter. Back on the main road, I head toward the border. This promises to be quite a challenge. The high mountain range in the distance, with snow-capped peaks, forms the natural border between China and Kyrgyzstan.

China - At 3574 metres on the Torugart Pass the border area between Kyrgyzstan and China

The first checkpoint is far ahead. About sixty kilometers from the actual border, my passport is already checked. After this checkpoint, no photos are allowed in the military area between China and Kyrgyzstan. An exception is made at the highest mountain pass, 3,574 meters above sea level. From this pass, I have a view of the snow-covered peaks. The road to the border is very rough. There’s no asphalt, and there are many potholes. Dimitri carefully drives around the holes. For kilometers, I drive along the border, with a barbed-wire fence on my right-hand side for hours. Finally, we reach the Torugart Pass. At the top of this pass lies the actual border between Kyrgyzstan and China. I enter a gloomy, cold customs building on the Kyrgyz side. I explain to the customs officer why my visa form says “Dutch” after my name. My explanation doesn’t seem to help much. Behind me, other travelers are asked the same question. Atop the Torugart Pass, I say goodbye to Olga and both drivers. I walk across the border with my travel bag. On the other side, the Chinese bus is already waiting. If the bus hadn’t arrived, I wouldn’t have been allowed to cross. Another tour group is still waiting. My new driver is Sadic. He drives a short distance ahead for the baggage inspection on the Chinese side. I have bad luck. There is just a Chinese double-decker bus in front of me. All baggage must be scanned. I watch numerous packages and boxes coming out of that bus. From my bus, I see how excruciatingly slowly the process goes. After an hour and a half, when all the baggage is loaded back onto my bus, it’s finally our turn. My baggage also goes through the scanner. This goes much faster because everyone has only one travel bag. Even before the double-decker bus, we continue driving. Hopefully, we can reach the official border for registration before them. But this border is still more than a hundred kilometers away. We leave the valley. The driver lets the bus roll kilometers down the mountain in neutral gear.

China -

Soon, the real reason becomes clear—there is a problem with the coolant. The bus starts to smell, and the engine is overheating. The driver stops at a small roadside house to get water. Carefully, he pours it into the cooling system. While we are stopped, the double-decker bus passes us again. We continue driving slowly. Around seven o’clock—two hours later in China—I arrive at the border. There is no choice but to join the waiting line at the back. The large bus is in front of us. When all its baggage has to be unloaded, my bus is fortunately allowed to unload at the same time. I receive a Chinese stamp in my passport, and the baggage is checked randomly. My bag is opened. The officer looks through all my travel guides. It is eight o’clock in the evening when I officially enter China. This means it took me seven hours to pass the border entirely. I’ve never spent so long at a border crossing. Of course, this included more than 160 kilometers of road. It’s now just one more hour to the hotel in Kashgar. I’m staying in the hotel of the former Russian embassy—a large stately building. In the courtyard is John’s Café, a restaurant aimed at tourists, where I have my meal. Although it’s quite late, I don’t need to hurry. China uses a single time zone—the time of Beijing—but the people of Kashgar follow their own local time. This means daily life is shifted by about two hours. Tomorrow morning, everything will start two hours later as well.