I'm planning a trip from Japan to England by motorcycle. Yes, I realize that it involves two islands between which lie 15,000 km of land, but we do have ferries in this modern world, and I'll be using them.

I plan to ride a ferry from Kobe, Japan to Shanghai, then west to Xian, up to Urumqi, and out into Kazakhstan. Aside from whatever difficulties there are involving access to Xinjiang, what can anyone tell me about customs requirements regarding motor vehicles

And, more importantly, has anyone ever been through the Kazakh border west of Urumqi?