Western China/border crossings

Later this summer I’m thinking of travelling overland and photographing in the region of western china from Inner Mongolia either through Tibet (might be too problematic) or north of Tibet to cross into central asia probably via Tajikistan and wonder what potential problems I might encounter as a photographer there. I know there’s a lot of military stuff and prison camps too around there, but I’m not naive enough to plan on photographing anywhere around that sort of thing. I use 35mm and 120 film and wonder how a bag full of that might be crossing borders thereabouts.

by Nigel Amies at Fri Jun 15 04:06:15 UTC 2007 (ed. Mar 12 2008) Vientiane, Laos | Bookmark | | Report spam→

Hi Nigel, there is a threat on lonelyplanets website where you find a lot of new information by travelers who have been in the region or still are around. I think you have to pass via Xingjang, the most western chinese province to go to former soviet central asia.
Please have a look to:
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/categories.cfm?catid=13
or to:
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagepost.cfm?postaction=reply&catid=13&threadid=476777&messid=3977446&STARTPAGE=1&parentid=0&from=1
best from Berlin
Thomas

by Thomas Grabka | 23 Jun 2007 00:06 | Berlin, Germany | | Report spam→

Hi Nigel, PM me. I spent two months doing that trip in 2004, from Beijing to Kashgar to Yecheng and back to Hong Kong.

by Aric Mayer | 23 Jun 2007 18:06 (ed. Jun 26 2007) | New York City, United States | | Report spam→

Hey Nigel, if you still need more update info, in august 2006, I landed in Beijing and travelled through Xinjiang and Tibetan Kham (and crossed shortly the Kirghizstan border – back & forth) with gear. I even maanged to bring back a few shots of abandonned forbidden areas in northern Xinjiang bordering Mongolia.
Send me an email (am on the move) if you still have more thorough questions, I might be of help.

by Tanguy Gilson | 29 Aug 2007 16:08 | Aiguestortes, Spain | | Report spam→