Xinjiang Safety
January 23, 2010 1:00 AM Subscribe
Is Xinjiang, China a safe place for unsupported bicycle touring right now?
I'm planning a bicycle tour through China for this summer. Part of the route will be along the northern Silk Road through Xinjiang, with the destination being Kashgar.
I've been in Beijing and Shanghai for the past two weeks and everything I've heard over here indicates that I should avoid southwestern Xinjiang due to the current unrest and possibility of racially targeted violence.
I am a Han Chinese male. My touring partner is a white male. We will be camping and staying at road houses.
Is the stuff I'm hearing in east China mere hysteria or should I be replanning my route to Tibet?
I'm planning a bicycle tour through China for this summer. Part of the route will be along the northern Silk Road through Xinjiang, with the destination being Kashgar.
I've been in Beijing and Shanghai for the past two weeks and everything I've heard over here indicates that I should avoid southwestern Xinjiang due to the current unrest and possibility of racially targeted violence.
I am a Han Chinese male. My touring partner is a white male. We will be camping and staying at road houses.
Is the stuff I'm hearing in east China mere hysteria or should I be replanning my route to Tibet?
Two years ago I was one of three whitebread Americans in Tibet. We were mostly in Lhasa, but it was only a hassle getting in. We were required to have a guide. I have no idea how much taht's changed.
You don't say if anyone speaks at least Mandarin, but if so I'd definitely try. That's me, though, not reason speaking. That said, I'd try even without a some-kind-of Chinese/Tibetan speaker.
posted by cmoj at 9:16 AM on January 23, 2010
You don't say if anyone speaks at least Mandarin, but if so I'd definitely try. That's me, though, not reason speaking. That said, I'd try even without a some-kind-of Chinese/Tibetan speaker.
posted by cmoj at 9:16 AM on January 23, 2010
I think it's a bad idea, particularly if you're Chinese and if neither you nor your touring partner is familiar with Xinjiang or Uyghur culture.
A lot of Chinese discomfort about Uyghurs is overblown hysteria, but in this case I think you should plan on touring some other place in China that doesn't have a lot of ethnic tension.
posted by pecknpah at 11:07 AM on January 23, 2010
A lot of Chinese discomfort about Uyghurs is overblown hysteria, but in this case I think you should plan on touring some other place in China that doesn't have a lot of ethnic tension.
posted by pecknpah at 11:07 AM on January 23, 2010
« Older Help me drill my own little hole-in-the-wall. | What do you keep from your Final Cut video... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
Secondly, even if you do get a legal permit, or - god help you - risk it it's bad (fyi if you can't get around blockage from where you are, it's a nat geo article talking about how bad it it.
Make a new itinerary.
posted by smoke at 4:35 AM on January 23, 2010