We’d heard horror stories about the border crossing from Pakistan to China and how many checks there were and hours it took but in the end we didn’t find it too bad and it only took about 7 hours. Today though we were travelling from China to Kyrgyzstan via the Torugart crossing. I couldn’t find much information from tourists online about the route so we weren’t sure what to expect but here’s what it was like.

The bus only departs 2-3 times a week and can only be purchased the day before. It travels all the way to Bishkek, the capitol of Kyrgyzstan however we wanted to get off in the town of Naryn, it made no difference to the price however and we had to pay a whopping £60 per ticket.

10am ~ Bus departure

The bus was a very rustic sleeper style with bunk beds that raised up where your back goes so it wasn’t fully reclined. There were even pillows and thick fleece blankets, none of which gets washed but that seems to be the case in many guesthouses too these days. The bus had a capacity of 31 people but when we departed there were only 5 people onboard plus two chain smoking drivers. I’d hate to be on it when it’s full as the back row was designed as one long bed for 4-5 strangers to cuddle up.

When we stopped at a gas station (under strict security with an entrance barrier, security and barbed wire) a man entered the bus and offered a money exchange into Kyrgyzstan som so we changed up our remaining yuan at the exact rate which was great.

11:45am to 12:15pm ~ Passport check

Soon after a lady with a very well behaved little kid needed the loo and ran off into the bush. I decided to take the opportunity too and was about to just go behind a bush when I was pointed to a little shack – aka the toilet. There was no door to it and just some planks of wood to balance on above a 8 meter drop into the pits of hell.

12:30pm to 2:10pm ~ Chinese customs

When we got to the first main immigration check at the customs area we queued up in an empty room where we waited for the staff to get into position at their desks. Our bags were then scanned but it seemed poorly organised as they found something suspicious in one of the bags but didn’t know which bag it was so they picked Craig’s and began searching for it and tapping their watch to suggest they were looking for a watch which he definitely didn’t have. Anyway, the whole process only took about 20 minutes but we had to wait a long time for the bus to come around and collect us and then about 5 new passengers came on board. I have no idea why but the bus just sat there and didn’t leave for over an hour!!
Five minutes down the road it stopped alongside a parked car and the men proceeded to fill the bus with boxes of god knows what.

3:15pm to 3:45pm ~ Passport check

We all followed someone into a building for a passport check and were led down a corridor only to find a toilet block! Turns out someone requested the loo and the rest of the bus unknowingly followed.

The road was in poor condition, it was being reconstructed but in patches so instead of completing one section it was all unusable meaning most of the road was bumpy gravel tracks. There were also sheep absolutely everywhere which caused us many traffic jams but on the plus side we had some lovely scenery with amazing red coloured mountains with rainbow patterns.

By this point we’d only driven 90km from Kashgar in about 6 hours!

5:00pm to 5:50pm ~ Lunch stop

We pulled up for lunch but of course it wasn’t going to be quick, no one on the bus seemed to be in any rush, least of all the drivers. We didn’t have any yuan left to buy food so we stretched our legs and looked for a toilet using my trusty Chinese words ‘shi sho jian’. We were led to an outside concrete building with no door at the entry and no doors on the three concrete walled cubicles. There were just small rectangle holes in the floor that led directly to the ground about 2ft below, they hadn’t even dug a hole and they were rancid. The smell was horrendous and it appeared that half the people had zero aim when it came to both pissing or shitting so there was barely a safe spot to put my feet.

By this point we’d driven just 122km in 8 hours!!! And once everyone was back on the bus we still didn’t leave as it appeared the drivers were collecting more goods. Somehow they get away with using this journey as a delivery round to earn extra cash and it’s the main reason we were so delayed.

7:45pm to 9:45pm ~ Chinese immigration

After almost 10 hours we finally arrived at the actual border for Chinese immigration. We were the only vehicle there so the officers got into their positions. There were two counters yet only one was open while the other two staff watched over his shoulder. It was ridiculous, they could have made it so much quicker. Eventually a guy moved to the other counter and Craig and I were stamped out the country in just 15 minutes. Sadly we had to wait until almost 10pm for the rest of the people to complete immigration. One Uyghur guy was asked to take all his belongings inside while they interviewed him but luckily he was eventually allowed back on the bus.

10:20pm to 12:30am ~ Kyrgyzstan immigration and customs

The bus drove into an undercover room and we were all instructed to get our luggage and place it on some sort of bollard covered in dust for inspection. The officer was very stern and just knew the word “OPEN!” while pointing at different things in our bags. Craig and I were inspected first and it seemed like he inspected our bags the most.

Craig went to the toilet outside and reported back that there were no lights, it was holes in the floor and to be careful where I step. It seemed that men and women had to use the same one so I waited outside for the men to finish but thankfully two ladies decided to try inside and there was a much nicer squatter toilet with a light, phew.

We then had to go inside for immigration which was extremely fast and they called women to come forward so I got seen first. It was now pouring with rain and past midnight. We headed back to the bus and yet again we didn’t leave for ages. I ended up falling asleep when suddenly someone called out and said we needed to fill out a customs form – which literally could of been done an hour ago as we’ve all been sitting around waiting to leave.

By this point we were getting worried about the time, we’d booked a hotel in Naryn but at this rate we wouldn’t be there for hours.

I started losing track of time from this point as the clocks changed to Kyrgyz time and I was half asleep but we stopped for another passport check which took 45 minutes. It was a cold, hostile looking place where a poor little dog was laying outside in the rain.

The single mum with her baby had to get up for these checks but it was fascinating seeing how much safer people feel in this area of the world, she’d just leave her baby walking up and down the bus aisle knowing full well that the other passengers would entertain the kid and look after it while she went to the office.

We were up at a high altitude of around 3000m so the when the bus became cold in the evening the heaters were all put on.

4:45am (Beijing time) ~ Arrived in Naryn

It was drizzling with rain as we stepped off the bus. A man came up to us and said he worked for customs and asked if we needed help getting to our hotel which was very sweet. We said we’d be ok and off we went, walking through the darkness to our guesthouse 2km away.

5:15am (Beijing time) ~ Checked into guesthouse

It was 3am Kyrgyz time when we arrived at the guesthouse but it was just a residential house, there was no sign on the door and no doorbell or knocker so we didn’t know if we were at the right house. The rain was getting heavier and after walking around the outside of the house we decided we needed to find a free WiFi signal in the neighbourhood so we could try and call her. Luckily a fancy hotel happened to be up the road, there wasn’t anyone at reception but a delightful sign sat on the counter showing the WiFi password. Thankfully our lovely host woke up and came to open the gate for us. She was so sweet and welcoming and after such a long day we felt relieved to stay with such a nice lady. She’d recently had the house built with two guest rooms so it was freshly renovated and spotlessly clean. Hooray! In total the journey took a whopping 19 hour to complete.