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Follow the remarkable journey of a classic E-type as it traverses China's wild west, enters Tibet, and continues into Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Along the way, the crew faces dramatic landscapes, treacherous roads, and warm interactions with locals and fellow travelers.
It is rare to see classic cars in China, particularly in the less populated western region, and we soon become popular on Douyin (Chinese TikTok). By the end of our journey through China, our guide tells us that our posts have had 165 million views! Friends from my time living there are following our progress, too.
As we approach Tibet we start a serious climb, and ultimately spend 14 days above 3500m; our maximum road elevation is 5250m above sea level. For perspective, Mont Blanc peaks at 4809m! The car runs OK in these conditions, with a slight loss of power and an increase in idle speed being the only noticeable differences. I adjust the fuel mixture but should have left it alone; the car never runs quite as well afterwards.
As our popularity spreads through Douyin, our group guide is contacted by the Chinese news agency Xinhua, requesting an interview when we reach Lhasa. We're happy to oblige, though our packed schedule means we miss seeing ourselves on TV. Tibet is a fascinating place; probably the highlight of the trip is a visit to Mount Everest Base Camp. You cannot drive here, but the Government has created an excellent electric bus service that takes about 30 minutes from the local town. Perfect weather conditions mean spectacular views.
It's mid-May when we travel through Tibet, yet still the weather is changeable. The clouds close in and for a day or two we're faced with snow and sleet—not so nice for the bikes and ourselves. Again, the headlights and wipers struggle, so it's always a relief to see clear skies in the mornings. As the car had been set up for use in Malaysia, I had removed the heater matrix and never replaced it, so it gets a bit chilly at times, too.
We're on sections of Route 318, the Sichuan-Tibet highway, a road-trip destination for many in China and considered one of their most difficult roads. The scenery is amazing: all snow-capped mountains, Tibetan pastures, and switchback passes. Unfortunately, the freeze-thaw climate makes for broken surfaces and landslides, so maintenance is continuous and there are many accidents. Some sections are treacherous and made worse by everyone's desire to capture the E-type on video.
In contrast, we soon reach the lowest point of the journey at Turpan in Xinjiang Province, more than 100m below sea level. The temperature here rises to the 35-40ºC we were used to in South-East Asia.
Exiting China is a lot more complicated than entering. To reach the border with Kyrgyzstan at the Torugart Pass, initial processing is approximately 100km from the crossing. As foreigners, all our vehicles go through an X-ray before we can leave the customs compound and head to the border. A new road is being built, which will make the journey simpler. In our case, we face 13 checkpoints before the actual border, where our passports are again taken away for final scrutiny before we can leave.
Instead of crossing into Kyrgyzstan around mid-day as expected, it's early evening when we reach immigration. After three more hours of processing, we leave in darkness as it's starting to snow, making for a perilous drive to our stop at Naryn. There are no petrol stations open and we arrive on fumes near midnight.
Kyrgyzstan is a beautiful country, with crystal lakes and Alpine-like mountains—a massive change from the scrub desert of western Xinjiang. After visiting the capital Bishkek, we head for Uzbekistan, choosing an easier route to its capital, Tashkent, through Kazakhstan. We know that the road through Kyrgyzstan is in poor condition, but we had not anticipated the 22 hours it would take to cross from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan. All cars are rigorously searched and only a few allowed through at a time. From this point we decide to limit the number of border crossings as much as possible.
Uzbekistan's historical Silk Road towns of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva are worth the effort, with their spectacular ancient plazas, mosques and mausoleums. Travel is fairly straightforward, although there are police checkpoints where we're stopped for no reason other than that we're different. When the officers realise we speak no Russian we're sent on our way, normally with a smile, always after obligatory photos.
At Khiva, we chat with some German travellers in dusty 4x4s who had just come along the route we would take to Kazakhstan. They laugh when they see we're in the E-type and predict that we won't make it! With no other realistic option, we carry on, and the last 100 miles in Uzbekistan are comparable to Route 13 in Laos, the surface destroyed by heavy trucks, continuous potholes, and for a long stretch no paved finish at all. The going is slow and painful, yet the locals don't seem to care and we see numerous cars with at least two flat tyres and a long wait for assistance.
When we finally reach the end of the worst section, we're too low on fuel to make it to the border. There's no petrol station in town but, after a lot of online translation with the locals, we're taken to a shed on the outskirts where a lady sells bootleg fuel at a premium price. With some trepidation, we make the purchase and continue to the border. Next stop: Kazakhstan.
Despite travelling independently, we're in contact with some of the group from China who were likely to cross the Caspian Sea around the same time as us. A UK couple travelling on a BMW motorbike from Australia had done a lot more research than us, and we agreed to meet in the port of Aktau, ready to cross together as a group of two cars and two motorbikes. Safety in numbers!
