Kashgar is not the rest day we hoped for instead we spend a whole day at the Traffic Police Test Centre having the cars MOT’d and Driving Licences issued. We have picked the day the traffic police move from their downtown office in Atway to a new facility out on the main highway. Back and forth we go, the MOT is a fiasco, Bentley brakes cannot be tested on a rolling road and the headlights are so far out the automated machine cannot even find the beams !. But we are passed !, onto the medical ‘What is your height’, ‘eh! 185cms’, ‘OK that’s good, next please”. Finally at 1800 we depart back to the hotel with our Driving Licence but still await the number plates for the car. What a waste of a day. Luckily I took my laptop with me so was able to get the last weeks Blog editions sorted out ready for transmission and prepared replies to 20 or so emails. Then I had another go at the Regulator and fixed a few more bits that are dropping off.
Lunch was in the test centre, a very good fried rice with fresh vegetables washed down with chi (tea). Dinner was a quite affair back at the hotel, I just ate all they put in front of me I have been so hungry whilst travelling in the Stans.
So, mega disappointment, I did not get to see how much Kashgar had changed since 2005 but one thing I did notice, ALL I repeat ALL, scooters and moped are now electric in the city. Oh! So one day Lee Fat Ching or whatever his name is stood up and said ‘no more combustion engines’ and there came to pass that all combustion engines were banned. Try and do that in Europe and see how many judicial reviews you face. Bloody good though for the environment, China seems way ahead, solar power for heating, all lights are eco bulbs, 1000’s of wind turbines, electric scooters and I think we saw many electric taxis, all in the space of a few years !, maybe one party government does work ! Cannot see me converting the Bentley though.
So off we go around the Taklimakan desert, 3 times before I have done this, first on no roads, second on a poor road, third on a good road and this time much of it on a 4 lane motorway !. The drive to Aksu, Korla and Turpan are all very easy except for the occasional ‘offs’, one of which lasted 60 kilometres between Aksu and Korla. However, in the main we can push along, two speeding tickets, great pictures of the Bentley, neither of which they would let me keep !, no fine, just a friendly photo with the car whilst they call their friends to come and see what they have stopped.
On On around the desert, oilfields appearing in the distance, Aksu and Korla seem to have grown enormously in size and now have large industrial areas near them. The people are the same, mainly Oighers and other non Han, so the plan to flood the area with Eastern Chinese does not seem to be working. Time is Beijing for Hotels and Officials, two hours ahead of the correct local time. I am staying on Local time, as it is what the locals use and means day breaks at 0700 not 0900. David is on Beijing time so thinks we are staring very late each morning !
Car is not too bad, charging system failed completely but in Korla we managed to change the engine oil, fix David’s seat which had been threatening to fall out of the door onto the road, repair the exhaust pipe bracket that broke on the big ‘off’ and generally tighten up a few bits and pieces. I contacted Ian Crook, the auto electrician guru in Totnes who overhauled the dynamo and he gave me tests to do on the unit. Nothing works and eventually I take the dynamo out, partially strip it and clean everything – still nothing works !. We charge a battery overnight each night using a fairly poor Chinese battery charger but this gives us enough power for the Fuel Pump and Overdrive the next day providing we do not use lights or the indicators. Bit exhausting but at least we can keep going whilst others are scuppered.
The Morgan has just left Kashgar having been rebuilt by Phil, however, we hear it only made it to the border before dying and is now going to be shipped through China by truck and then home by sea, a great shame but it was not the car for this trip. Phil and Lorette are meeting us in Lhasa or so I hear. The Porsche is going well with the repaired clutch forks but Chris does not seem to think he can get it up the mountain to Lhasa as the engine performs badly at altitude. Chris George, our engineer in the UK, suggested they advance the timing as I do on The Bentley however, we can do it on the steering column, the Porsche would require physically turning the distributor.
So, current plan it to truck Porsche up to and presumable through Tibet whilst Chris and Liz go there by train from Golmud I think. Apparently train is pressurised so they is no chance of altitude sickness on the way up, not sure what happens once you get there, take Diamox I guess.
So, could just be the Bentley going up the hill along with a couple of modern, state of the art (if there is such a thing) Landrovers, one of which is only firing on 4 out of 5 cylinders ! Lets just hope the B keeps on trucking, it doesn’t seem to mind the altitude although I am not so sure about it’s driver and passenger.
So, here we are in Turpan, third lowest place on earth and supposedly the hottest place in China, which I would dispute having stood in a blast furnace in Wuhan, the town known as the boiler room of China, 50 degrees plus ! However, I have just had Peking Duck for lunch whilst David had a very fine Crispy Pork and will shortly be taking the Dynamo apart again with the help of Ian on the end of the phone as I reach various test stages. Fingers crossed we find a solution to this issue.
Sorry about photo’s. it has been impossible to upload to the Blog for two weeks now but I do hope that by the time you read this there will be fresh photos on the Blog site for you to flip through.
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