[China-Tibet]: Four days, two-up on a Jjialing 150GY-2
Hey Gang,
My name is Carl Parker (CrazyCarl) and I've been living, riding and working in Sichuan, China (east of Tibet) for almost five years now. Over the past few years it became clear to me that if China would relax it's laws a bit, the country would become THE next moto-touring destination. Everything from the world's highest mountains to some of deepest depressions as well as ancient cultures and cities abound and promise a wild time. Every week, more and more people become interested in riding China either on their own bike or one purchased inside the country. At the end, I'll offer a few comments of the pro's and con's of these two methods for the rider's who are on the fence about visiting China.
I thought I'd share a short four day trip report of a two-up ride with my wife into the Tibetan mountains of Sichuan on a Chinese made Jialing JH150GY-2 dual-sport. Living here, I've had the chance to see much of Western China independently and often solo giving me a great opportunity to push these machines and myself to our utmost limits. I do not over-exaggerate when I say this place is the modern Wild-West.
In China there are, or were, two major one week holidays being the first weeks of May and October. In May 2006 My wife, WenLing, and I went for a ride with my friend Zack and his SO. At that point we had been trying for about two years to find an unobstructed view of Gonga Shan (Mountain)...one of the many holy mountains in Tibetan lore. What makes Gonga so spectacular is not it's height, which ranks in the world's top 30 peaks depending on how you classify them, but it in it's chain also support dozens of micro-climates, rare species of wildlife and a now receding glacier, at the bottom of which is a monastery.
Day one, we follow Hwy 317 west through Ya'an until we reach Kangding, once capital of the Kham Kingdom of Tibet. Highways 317 and 318 are two E-W parallel roads leading into Eastern Tibet from Sichuan. Both are quite good close to the city but as you reach the border of Tibet, the road conditions become tolerable but tough.
Within a few hours of leaving the cloudy and polluted Sichuan basin you enter a land of roads that follow rivers and high mountain passes with scattered occasional grasslands. It's almost surprising how quickly the landscape become Alpine in nature sporting many dramatic vistas and some roadside cooling off entertainment.
- Waterfall on the way to Kangding - http://photos.imageevent.com/comrade...yHoli06-26.jpg
Unfortunately, the whole way to Kangding is full of heavy truck and bus traffic. These overloaded beasts of the road regularly end up in rivers, mechanically desintegrate on inclines and constantly belch thick black clouds of smoke. This was the first time our ladies had joined us both and travel like this understandably takes some getting used to so we thought to make the first day short and stop in town for some rest, eats and an after-dinner walk around town.
Burried in the mountain at the confluence of two rivers, Kangding itself was once the capitol city of the Tibetan Kham Kingdom until getting annexed into the Sichuan province not too long ago. It's history goes back several hundred years and traces of it's history can still be found.
Although I'm sure the temple was still used for ceremony, it was positioned so far in the centre of town, now preparing for the onslought of May holiday tourists, that it seemed a little more like a tourist hang out. I often think it would have been nice to come here even only 100years ago. Times are changing fast!
Eager to set off the next morning we twisted deeper into the mountains and I noticed a funny found coming from the engine. I'm pretty anal about sounds and stopped to see what was wrong.
Everything seemed okay. I'm always a little weary of most Chinese bikes because sometimes they develop what I call "Mystery Problems". I and a few others have experienced problems with our bikes that, for some reason, no matter how much money and time you throw at it, the problem could not be fixed or made to go away. Doesn't make any sense.
Funny noises aside, we were blessed with beautiful weather. Deep blue skies spotted with puffy mountains clinging to snow capped mountains and an amazing road which led us up to this 4300m pass between Kangding and XinDuQiao.
All sorts of people and things gather at the top of passes and this pass was no different. In Tibet, as most of you already know, chortens (the huge white spires) and prayer flags are placed to bring your wishes and prayers closer to the heavens. Works for me! I got all kinds of wishes that could use a boost!
- The Pass Party- (WLP) http://photos.imageevent.com/comrade...i07-WLP-03.jpg
We chanced upon a group of Chinese touring riders - visible in the foreground - taking a moment to appreciate the scenery at the top. What they call regular touring WE call "adventure" touring. Minimal clothes and camping gear as well as food and tools.
Most of them bring their wife or girlfriend and pack amazingly little. The roads are often nasty and the weather something to endure. Although now slowly seeing more 200+cc bikes on the road, a vast majority of them are still 125-150cc cruiser type motorcycles or scooters. When surrounded by people like this it didn't take me too long to realize I don't need a liter class bike to travel. I just need something that goes!
Always sad to part way with good people, since we were heading in opposite directions we exchanged road info and wished each other well.
04-14-2008, 06:48 AM
CrazyCarl
Shortly after coming down the pass you reach XinduQiao - a small village near the crossroads of where 317 heads north towards TaGong, west to Tibet and south towards a town called JiuLong. We'd never been on this road before it turned out to be absolutely perfect, less than a year old. All along the side were beautiful farm houses and some 300 year old star shaped watch towers.
Not so long ago, the Tibetans of this area used an elaborate network of watch towers to send fire-beacon warnings down the valley should invaders approach - Lord of the Rings style. These houses and towers not only exist down in the valley but also along the very spines of the mountains themselves for hundreds of kilometers.
A finer point of being a female photographer when traveling like this is the ability to access a totally different side of the culture. Given the same pleasant disposition, small kids will be more likely to feel relaxed around women. I can't really blame them either. Here I am some big, hairy, ugly unusually reflective space suit wearin' space alien dude getting of a tiny bike with electronics bristling out of every pocket.
Back on the road again, in order to get to this View-of Gonga-pass we were all so pumped to arrive at, we needed to first head back east about 70km of all dirt road. Woohoo!
Finally we reached relatively untouched lands. The water was clear and cool. The vegetation looked rich and green without a layer of grey dust on them and the air...fresh. Many of you live in places which have these things year-round and living in one of China's most polluted cities for the past 5 years makes you appreciate a clean environment. Don't take it for granted!
We were looking for a town named Liuba and figured out the there wasn't a particular town here but that it was just an area of small villages. We certainly weren't going to make the pass tonight and smelled around for accommodation. After pushing off a few people, we talked with a guy who seemed fairly earnest and stayed at his home for about 30yuan a person.
Dinner was NOT provided and we ended up heading down to the general store to pick up some military grade food like spam, some fish stuff and noodles. I ate too much crap that night and paid for it the following day.
It got cold and we slept on a series of cushions and blankets laid out on the floor. You can tell we were viewed as tourists as they had already prepared to receive several groups of Chinese tourists that same day. I almost couldn't believe that so many people would come this far out. Although they weren't centralized and easy to spot, the next morning reveal hundreds of people on "backpacking" trips.
The first 30kms the road to the pass was a blast. The trail was all dirt and a few slimy log bridges. Eventually the road turned into sharp broken rocks and narrow trails with various sorts of animal, people and tractor traffic. Thick mud joined the party towards the end of the trail. At over 4000m in altitude combined with a steep grade sapped the engine's power to nothing.
The extra hammering took it's toll on another part and a racka racka racka sound erupted from the motor. Getting off again to look I noticed the the two nuts holding the exhaust to the head came loose and one fell off. Seeing as how these nuts are usually torqued down quite well, I never expected them to fall off and didn't check. Um...my bad!
After tightening up the remaining screw as much as I could we muscled on maybe another 100 meters until the bikes literally couldn't make it anymore so parked them by the side of the trail as neatly as possible and knew we had to walk the rest of the way.
Now approaching 4300 meters, the air was as thin for our bikes as our lungs Strapped with camera gear in full armor, we walked the last 2kms uphill to the pass. We would take 10 steps and stop. My head was pounding. The trail was clear enough but it reached a point where we felt it was better to walk straight up rather then suffer the extra distance of the switchbacks.
This suffering only goes to show how out of shape we were as we watched this lovely woman cruise on by carrying not one, but two, tourists back backs. Are you really a backpacker if you don't wear your backpack?
I was thinking to myself, "This better be some fan-f-ing-tastic view up there." Meter by meter we made it towards the pass. Looking over the edge I could see the very tips of white mountains. I got excited and it gave me new energy. I hurried over the top to behold one of the most spectacular views of my life.
At 7550m/asl Gonga Shan ranks in the top 30 highest mountains in the world (depending on how you classify peaks of ranges), has claimed it's share of climbers and was once the center of a small kingdom here in ancient history. After hundreds of years, directly at the base of it's now receding glacier is the still functioning Gonga Monastary now also known to shelter backpackers.
The whole mountain range hosts dozens of micro-climates as well as rare species of flowers and animals such as the Golden-haired monkey. The actual expanse of the mountain range itself is impressive, here only partially seen from the west side, over 50kms away.
The wind was biting cold and moved like it was in a hurry. I found a patch of snow and plopped my ass right down knowing the 'Stich's outter shell was so cold it probably wouldn't melt much snow and it turns out I was right.
Leaning back, the indentation in the snow gave me a bit of back support and was quite comfortable. There I sat in the snow - played in the snow really - looking around, taking pictures. Wen-Ling's spirits picked up right quick when she got to the top too. Heaven....
- Snow-chair Motography - http://photos.imageevent.com/comrade...i07-WLP-08.jpg
(WLP)
I enjoyed being surrounded by people in that "Wow" state of mind...that's how you know learning is going on. Everyone who's not worried about keeping people organized is smiling big time. Some people brought their photo gear and set up shop waiting for sunset. WOW! What a place this would be with a clear sunset red warming up the snow!
Others enjoy the view but can't stop for long as they're en route to the monastery at the base of Gonga's glacier. That trail down below is no joke by the way. After a couple kilometers you get pressed against the cliff shimmying your way down the trail. A writer for Lonely Planet turned up missing in Sichuan province last year on this trail. He was walking alone and disappeared - I believe there was a post in Horizon's Unlimited about it. Not too long ago they found his body. If I recall correctly, they figured he was trying to climb up to a vantage point and fell into the river below.
- The hikers' supplies and support go in and out by mule - http://photos.imageevent.com/comrade...yHoli06-19.jpg
While I wanted to stay for much longer, I was reminded that if we were to make it to the Tagong grasslands today we'd need to get moving. Damn schedules and plans! I hustled into a few more positions to get a few more captures and packed up to go.
Now we had to make our way back down to the bikes and hope they start. Downhill, power wasn't a problem so we could ride two up again. I kept looking in the rear view mirrors to see if I could squeeze out a few more glances. As mountains go, after a few turns you're well out of sight and left only to concentrate on what's at hand. More riding to do!
End of Part I.
Next: Through the TaGong grasslands to Garther ancient monastery...
04-14-2008, 06:54 AM
CrazyCarl
Part II - Get Thee to a Monastery
We never made it to Tagong and instead stayed the first night in Xinduqiao as Zach's SO was apparently in dire need of a shower. About 40kms from the town, the ubiquitous engine noise once again erupted to new life. Getting off to inspect the problem, I noticed that this time the nut I had tightened was apparently too tight and snapped the threaded stud coming out of the head now completely disconnecting the pipe from the engine.
Blurting our way into town, Zach went to find some lodging and I immediately to a repair shop. All of them were closed. Whelp, looks like an early morning tomorrow, I'm sure these guys open up early right? It's tourist season.
Meeting up with Zach he informs us that all the guest houses with the showers were already booked and were asking ridiculous prices per night. I understand that dealing in tourism means dealing with highly season business traffic but wow! When they turn on the tourist pricing they really turn it on good! Places which would normally cost about 40 yuan or would go for over 300! With the recent drop in the US dollar, I can say that you do feel more pinch than before.
The cold rain began. Xinduqiao, now mostly Tibetan guest-houses, was swamped with travelers; some motorcycle groups but mostly cars, SUV's and buses. Guest-houses were taking their pick and those situated in the southern side of the town near the road junction must have made out like bandits. Together we asked and inspected 8 or 9 places and many of the few available accommodations lacked shower facilities, forget about having one attached to your room. We finally decided on a place with a hot water shower outside the building.
That chilly night as I was suited off and organizing things in our room, all the crappy food I overate the night before decided to lodge a complaint...and fast. Faster than any other bad guts I had had before. Spam, fish stuff and instant noodles from earthy bowls, run up to high altitude then shaken, not stirred, by about 90kms of dirt road, gave up the ghost and was wanted out, now.
Luckily WenLing was inside. I knocked on the door and said "Yeah it's me. I REALLY need to get in." "Okay hold on a minute." Shaking and twitching like a jumping bean I replied: "I mean like NOW." She opened the door, I went right in and the rest doesn't need to be described. Good thing this place has a shower, I felt better afterwards anyway. On the bright side of things, that cleared plenty of room for dinner at a proper restaurant, a package of crackers and the liter of water I was sure to consume that evening.
Fresh, bright and early the next morning, I got up alone and at eight went to see about getting the exhaust fixed but the doors at the repair shop were still closed until after nine when some finally showed up. I showed them what was wrong and they said it shouldn't be a problem. Hopeful, I forgot the number one rule of experiencing China: don't believe anything is going to happen, until it does. Sometimes, unless you make it happen through dogged, even sometime loud persistence, it wont.
One thing turned into another. They tried to file the broken stud down and
reverse drill it. That didn't work. Then they tried to weld a bolt to it and
twist it off - and that only succeeded in destroying what was left of the stud. Two hours later the head was off the engine and two people were trying to extract the broken stud having zero success. Although more expensive, I realized it was better if I just paid for a new head, about 10 USD, and got back on the road. This decision led to another half-hour of trying different heads on the engine as they had apparently taken some out of their boxes and not replaced them correctly. I felt bad that I was holding everyone up with this nonsense but after noon we were ready to go again with an attached exhaust, new head and valves - total about 40USD.
Back on the road I forgot about the bike problems, extra money and unexpected repairs. Riding through these grasslands surrounded by high snow-capped mountains is enough to make you forget about lots of troublesome worries. Gently twisting roads wind through green hills dotted with nomads, hitchhikers and happy people on holiday enjoying clean air and open horizons.
We arrived at a town called Tagong which was once a Tibetan trading village and is now known for its famous Tibetan horse races. Four years ago this place looked completely different. Now, brand new guest houses and shops line the newly paved main street which was once nothing but rutted dirt and rocks. With this naturally came gridlock on the main street. Cars, trucks and buses were locked up and out the northern side was a two kilometer traffic jam leading into town. I couldn't believe it. We were in the middle of nowhere and there's a traffic jam. Again, being on a small bike proved handy in weaving the obstacle of bumpers.
To get past one section of the jam, we rode onto the grass and up to a popular old monastery seen in the background of the picture below. I quite fancied a stop to appreciate the madness and snap a panoramic of Yala Snow Mountain. A curious Tibetan woman greeted us and wanted a try at the camera. It was nice to see she went for the optical viewfinder and didn't stare at the back of the lcd screen. I zoomed the 18-50 while she was looking though it and she said "Oooooo." I'm not really sure what that meant but it didn't sound bad so that's good.
It was time and a nice spot to take a short, relieving break. Nice beautiful view and a soild 15 meter drop right in front of me. Wind direction, check. Good to go!
Oh yeah! That's R-O-L-A-I-D-S! While enjoying the moment I noticed a spot further down which looked like a couple walking around a bike. I'm not sure if they saw me or not but I didn't mean to pee in their general direction. Zipped up and ready for more water, we coasted down the switchback and check to make sure the couple down below was okay. No worries, they were just doing the same thing as us!
Garther monastary was less than 100kms away and my eyes started to tear...and not the emotional kind. Very shortly after, my nose began to run but I figured that was all effects of the cold air. Wrong. I wasn't cold air, but a cold. I was starting to get chills and riding became more uncomfortable with all the pressure in my helmet. We wanted to make it to Garther monastery that night. Monasteries often put up travelers and Garther was no exception.
A few minutes after pulling into the gates a young monk greeted us and offered to show us around. We said we were also looking for a place to stay. He said that shouldn't be a problem and suggested we first store the bikes. He led us to a nice tractor adjacent spot, where we began unloading.
Before too long another monk showed up who looked to be the man in charge of the lodging.
"How much for a person?" We asked the "monk" in the Terminator sunglasses.
"40 a person."
"Okay, how about food."
"No food."
"Well we have to eat right?"
"You can buy the materials from us but you have to make it yourself."
"What? Okay."
Since my head was ready to explode and I had been here before, I laid down to rest while others explored the beautiful grounds for a while.
Looking out the window I could see the sun was setting and knew some golden light was about to arrive and quickly disappear. Having only had a short rest I still felt much better and decided to tighten up my boot straps, blow my nose and prepare to head out for some pictures.
Walking around, I noticed a new five story temple being built behind the old
one. The old temple's interior was in quite good shape and made me wonder why they needed a new one. Over only the past few years this place has clearly become more tourist oriented. There was once a huge hand written scroll inside which told the story of the temple in both Chinese in English. It told a classic tale of an early Dalai Lama being carried here by his mother who told him to construct this temple and then it's successive destruction and rebuilding over the past 200 years.
Downstairs I caught Zach on the front steps contemplating the day. He looked at peace with himself so I continued inside to visit their room of ashes.
All of the rooms, including our guest rooms, were elaborately decorated in carvings and paintings like the one shown below. Even in it's newness, endless trails of animals and stories hand painted on the walls still tease the senses with craftsmanship, color and detail. Behind the many small windows which line three sides of the wall, are small paper folders - each with the ashen remains of past monks.
Moving on up to the roof, sunset lighting cast the temples shadow across the courtyard. The rich blue sky, puffy clouds, green grass and strong red walls of the dormitories screamed 10-20mm lens. Now, it's all waiting.
The sun set behind the temple and darkness would fall fast. Ready to lay down again, I returned to the guestrooms to find Zach and his girl friend already making dinner by flash light in the kitchen using a full size wok!
I tell you there was some sizzle going off that thing and the food was good. A grounds keeper was keeping them company while helping them find the tools and food. The odd thing is that the grounds keeper looked like he was hungry so we shared our meal with him. I wondered when and where he was supposed to eat dinner.
That night was absolutely miserable. I worried about not being able to ride
tomorrow. Maybe Zach could just go on ahead? I wouldn't want them to wait for me. Am I ruining this experience for WenLing, on her first trip? Then my body spoke to me. My bones ached and despite having a clear fever, had severe chills. My nose ran into forests worth of tissues that ended up making their own Gonga-Shan of snot and paper next to my bed. We turned out head-lamps at ten but I didn't get more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep. My eyes watered so badly that when I squinted I got that earthquake rumbling sound in my head. You know...the sound you get when you make tight fists and stick your thumbs in your ears. Yeah, it was that kind of night. All night I sweat while my body fevered and burned the sickness away.
Away!
Final Part: The next morning and unspoken goals home
04-14-2008, 06:59 AM
CrazyCarl
The next morning, to my surprise, I could breath and see again! In one night the fever had run its course and, despite lack of sleep, felt energized. You never appreciate the value of good health until you've just been horribly ill. I also appreciated this turn of luck because we were already a bit behind schedule and this day's ride would prove to be long and difficult.
Leaving Garther Monastery we had a slight run in with the "terminator sunglasses wearing in-keeper monk" who decided he would like to extort extra money from the foreigners for bike parking. This is an old trick in China and, should you ever come here, it's very important to settle ALL the fee's associated with your stay up front. Although I don't like to get angry, he wouldn't let up and insisted on us paying the extra fee. I thought it was especially absurd because we had to pay extra money to make our own food and even fed one of their workers. I reached boiling point and my Wild-West manners kicked in. I started shouting in mangled Chinese, "Do you think we are stupid foreigners? I've come here every year for the past three years and never had such bad treatment. We even fed your friend and now you want extra money from us?"
The words were harsh but really, this is what it takes. Out here the lack of rules means anyone will try to get away with anything they can, especially when money is involved during tourist season. Worse yet, if an individual smells even the slightest bit of fear or hesitation, they'll have no worries in taking you to the cleaners. I had been in MUCH trickier situations in China and there was no way I was going to let him get away with this. This is an ancient and artful game being played here and one must walk a fine line. As usual, a small crowd grew around the shouting and ultimately exposed his crooked intentions to other people. Ignited foreigners are bad publicity and to minimize his damages he eventually gave in. It was sad to leave with such a bad taste in my mouth since the previous years here were nothing but enjoyable. This, however, is "progress" in China and only goes to show sooner is better than later if you want to visit this amazing place.
We decided to ride without a determined destination that day and see how we felt. To be honest though, I think both Zach and I knew we had to make some distance back to Chengdu - from Garther to Chengdu, over 470Kms.
That's 470kms of passes, mountains, valleys, rivers and roads that follow rivers to another and final 4550m pass, Balang pass, before descending the remaining 250km into the Chengdu basin of 400m/asl. Some may think that that's not a great distance to cover but at 60kph flat out it's like doing 470miles with a more powerful machine.
Stopping about half way through near Danba, I asked if everyone wanted to stay at ZhongLu a mountain top village I'm quite fond of. Only 2kms east of Danba is a small bridge which takes you straight up switchback to the top of the mountain. If you keep following the road you'll find a guest-house where you can stay, eat good food, shower and explore a fantastic Tibetan village in the mountains. You've got ancient watchtowers, fields of corn, barley and endless foot paths. If you go at the right season, around October, women who still wear traditional clothing will be out in the field bringing down the corn, chattering and singing away while they work. Land of valuable photographic memories. Beautiful place. Great times.
Nobody seemed interested in my idea and, at that time, it became clear people wanted to get closer to home. I guess I could have gone either way but a good part of me also wanted to get some rest and take account of only 4 days riding in the familiarity of my own bed. We fired off towards Chengdu to see how far we could make it. Our goal was to sleep at home that night.
Continuing east, we eventually reached the climb for Balang pass. In the high mountains you can get snow year round, especially at passes which range from ~4,200 to 5,000m/asl, average being around 4,500 (~14,500ft). Freak snow storms can cause wicked twisted traffic jams up these winding roads.
As we climbed Balang pass, only a few hours away from Chendu, the weather turned from sunny green valleys to clouds, to rain, sleet, snow, then ice at the top. We passed a local rider on a green Kawasaki Ninja 400 sport bike. As soon as he started moving the bike, the rear tire went sideways. Totally useless. He would have to go back down and wait for tomorrow. This simple 150cc dual sport was equipped with the best dirt tires (ChengShin) I could find in Chengdu and made a great difference biting into the snow. If you plan to ride the mountains of Western China knobbies are a must.
At the pass, cars and trucks packed the snow into a solid layer of ice. Snow and fog blocked visibility. A Chinese rider on a cruiser stopped to wait for his friends still coming up the west side and told us the road was very dangerous ahead. He suggested we wait for a while.
"Why?", I asked.
"The sun will come up and melt the snow."
My watch read after three. Looking at the thick growing clouds, humid air,
falling temperatures and loss of daylight I knew that waiting up here would be dangerous. Spending a night stuck on top of this mountain would have been an extremely unpleasant experience...and that's if you had the equipment to survive it.
I told him I didn't think the snow was going to melt and that the sun is going down soon. We said we'll continue on and crept our way down the pass with an over 1000m drop to the side. Before we set off, it was nice of him to say he would carefully watch after us on the way down.
All down the switchbacks various vehicles had slid into each other and some trucks jack-knifed. Here, unless the vehicle is brand new, many of the trucks, busses and cars run on bald tires. Things were moving all-whicha-ways. Larger vehicles were stuck not even being able to turn around.
Steep cliffs and deep drainage ditches off the road-side made squeezing through bumpers necessary. Much of the time WenLing had to walk though quite long sections of cars and was faster than the bike which becomes some weight to keep upright on packed now. Imagine the road pictured below covered in ice with traffic locked in a wild zig-zag of various sized vehicles. Eventually we slipped through the traffic and continued down to about 3500m where the road straightened out and the snow became a misty rain. All the while, cars were still on their way up. I can't imagine!
This area, by the way, is also a natural habitat for wild Pandas as well as a breeding center and research base. Although Wolong has a separate center, if you pass through Chengdu, it's worthwhile to visit the Panda research base just outside of town. Not only are the giant Pandas easy to get close to but for a small fee you can feed a "lesser" or Red Panda - an experience I suggest not passing up.
Now cold and wet, we pulled into the small town of Wolong after 5pm and had to make a critical decision. I pulled over, twisted around and asked WenLing if she wanted to stay here for the night. Only seeing white concrete motels she asked "Can you make it home?" I quickly took stock of my energy and attention levels, said "Let's do it" and got back on the throttle.
The last 40kms of the Wolong stretch is pretty nasty roadworks which become quite muddy and tricky when dealing with larger vehicular traffic. Despite the lack of sleep, crazy roads and weather, we found paved salvation as it opens up to smooth sealed road and the new 40km long Dujiangyan Skyway which winds us back through farmlands to the basin of Chengdu.
Through darkness and pelting rain we arrived home in the city around 9PM after 12 hours of riding over 470kms, from 4500 to 400m, averaging a blazing 40kph (~25mph), 2 up on a 150cc. This kind of travel is stark contrast to the Bandit 1200 I came off in the US and really makes me appreciate the benefits and deficiencies of both. One thing is for sure, don't under-estimate yourself or your machine.
WenLing enjoyed the experience and is trying to get her motorcycle license. Together we're still working on our trip reporting skills and plan to do more in the future. To supplement the read, I threw together a quick 2 minute video of clips taken by WenLing so you can get a very digitized idea of what the roads are like. Music by Doobie Brothers...
As for me, there's still a lot of work ahead. On the macro level China is now launching into an exciting part of it's push into the international motorcycle market and I look forward to witnessing it's impact on the industry as it unfolds. On a personal level there's only one thing you can say...
"Let's RIDE!"
CC
05-11-2011, 01:47 PM
Globewanderer
Thanks for the trip summary
Carl,
Thanks for the trip summary. I live in Whistler, British Columbia and have ridden extensively from Alaska to Mexico. My work has taken me to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay and the Himalayas of India and Nepal. i have been fortunate enough to ride in these places as well.
I have been working out of Beijing on and off for the past 3 years designing resorts- mainly ski resorts but will be in Chengdu discussing the design of an eco resort adjacent the Panda Bear breeding station during the first week of June after a site visit to a ski resort we are designing near Chongqing.
I will be moving to Beijing in July on a more full time basis and anxious to get set up to ride as much as possible around China. Looking forward to meeting others on this site who would like to share information and experience. Over the years, I have also been very involved with Horizons Unlimited that my friends Grant and Susan Johnson established. Looks like this site is off to a good start. You based in Chengdu? You may want to check out our website below. Look under recent events section as well. We are working away at the Chinese version.
The next morning, to my surprise, I could breath and see again! In one night the fever had run its course and, despite lack of sleep, felt energized. You never appreciate the value of good health until you've just been horribly ill. I also appreciated this turn of luck because we were already a bit behind schedule and this day's ride would prove to be long and difficult.
Leaving Garther Monastery we had a slight run in with the "terminator sunglasses wearing in-keeper monk" who decided he would like to extort extra money from the foreigners for bike parking. This is an old trick in China and, should you ever come here, it's very important to settle ALL the fee's associated with your stay up front. Although I don't like to get angry, he wouldn't let up and insisted on us paying the extra fee. I thought it was especially absurd because we had to pay extra money to make our own food and even fed one of their workers. I reached boiling point and my Wild-West manners kicked in. I started shouting in mangled Chinese, "Do you think we are stupid foreigners? I've come here every year for the past three years and never had such bad treatment. We even fed your friend and now you want extra money from us?"
The words were harsh but really, this is what it takes. Out here the lack of rules means anyone will try to get away with anything they can, especially when money is involved during tourist season. Worse yet, if an individual smells even the slightest bit of fear or hesitation, they'll have no worries in taking you to the cleaners. I had been in MUCH trickier situations in China and there was no way I was going to let him get away with this. This is an ancient and artful game being played here and one must walk a fine line. As usual, a small crowd grew around the shouting and ultimately exposed his crooked intentions to other people. Ignited foreigners are bad publicity and to minimize his damages he eventually gave in. It was sad to leave with such a bad taste in my mouth since the previous years here were nothing but enjoyable. This, however, is "progress" in China and only goes to show sooner is better than later if you want to visit this amazing place.
We decided to ride without a determined destination that day and see how we felt. To be honest though, I think both Zach and I knew we had to make some distance back to Chengdu - from Garther to Chengdu, over 470Kms.
That's 470kms of passes, mountains, valleys, rivers and roads that follow rivers to another and final 4550m pass, Balang pass, before descending the remaining 250km into the Chengdu basin of 400m/asl. Some may think that that's not a great distance to cover but at 60kph flat out it's like doing 470miles with a more powerful machine.
Stopping about half way through near Danba, I asked if everyone wanted to stay at ZhongLu a mountain top village I'm quite fond of. Only 2kms east of Danba is a small bridge which takes you straight up switchback to the top of the mountain. If you keep following the road you'll find a guest-house where you can stay, eat good food, shower and explore a fantastic Tibetan village in the mountains. You've got ancient watchtowers, fields of corn, barley and endless foot paths. If you go at the right season, around October, women who still wear traditional clothing will be out in the field bringing down the corn, chattering and singing away while they work. Land of valuable photographic memories. Beautiful place. Great times.
Nobody seemed interested in my idea and, at that time, it became clear people wanted to get closer to home. I guess I could have gone either way but a good part of me also wanted to get some rest and take account of only 4 days riding in the familiarity of my own bed. We fired off towards Chengdu to see how far we could make it. Our goal was to sleep at home that night.
Continuing east, we eventually reached the climb for Balang pass. In the high mountains you can get snow year round, especially at passes which range from ~4,200 to 5,000m/asl, average being around 4,500 (~14,500ft). Freak snow storms can cause wicked twisted traffic jams up these winding roads.
As we climbed Balang pass, only a few hours away from Chendu, the weather turned from sunny green valleys to clouds, to rain, sleet, snow, then ice at the top. We passed a local rider on a green Kawasaki Ninja 400 sport bike. As soon as he started moving the bike, the rear tire went sideways. Totally useless. He would have to go back down and wait for tomorrow. This simple 150cc dual sport was equipped with the best dirt tires (ChengShin) I could find in Chengdu and made a great difference biting into the snow. If you plan to ride the mountains of Western China knobbies are a must.
At the pass, cars and trucks packed the snow into a solid layer of ice. Snow and fog blocked visibility. A Chinese rider on a cruiser stopped to wait for his friends still coming up the west side and told us the road was very dangerous ahead. He suggested we wait for a while.
"Why?", I asked.
"The sun will come up and melt the snow."
My watch read after three. Looking at the thick growing clouds, humid air,
falling temperatures and loss of daylight I knew that waiting up here would be dangerous. Spending a night stuck on top of this mountain would have been an extremely unpleasant experience...and that's if you had the equipment to survive it.
I told him I didn't think the snow was going to melt and that the sun is going down soon. We said we'll continue on and crept our way down the pass with an over 1000m drop to the side. Before we set off, it was nice of him to say he would carefully watch after us on the way down.
All down the switchbacks various vehicles had slid into each other and some trucks jack-knifed. Here, unless the vehicle is brand new, many of the trucks, busses and cars run on bald tires. Things were moving all-whicha-ways. Larger vehicles were stuck not even being able to turn around.
Steep cliffs and deep drainage ditches off the road-side made squeezing through bumpers necessary. Much of the time WenLing had to walk though quite long sections of cars and was faster than the bike which becomes some weight to keep upright on packed now. Imagine the road pictured below covered in ice with traffic locked in a wild zig-zag of various sized vehicles. Eventually we slipped through the traffic and continued down to about 3500m where the road straightened out and the snow became a misty rain. All the while, cars were still on their way up. I can't imagine!
This area, by the way, is also a natural habitat for wild Pandas as well as a breeding center and research base. Although Wolong has a separate center, if you pass through Chengdu, it's worthwhile to visit the Panda research base just outside of town. Not only are the giant Pandas easy to get close to but for a small fee you can feed a "lesser" or Red Panda - an experience I suggest not passing up.
Now cold and wet, we pulled into the small town of Wolong after 5pm and had to make a critical decision. I pulled over, twisted around and asked WenLing if she wanted to stay here for the night. Only seeing white concrete motels she asked "Can you make it home?" I quickly took stock of my energy and attention levels, said "Let's do it" and got back on the throttle.
The last 40kms of the Wolong stretch is pretty nasty roadworks which become quite muddy and tricky when dealing with larger vehicular traffic. Despite the lack of sleep, crazy roads and weather, we found paved salvation as it opens up to smooth sealed road and the new 40km long Dujiangyan Skyway which winds us back through farmlands to the basin of Chengdu.
Through darkness and pelting rain we arrived home in the city around 9PM after 12 hours of riding over 470kms, from 4500 to 400m, averaging a blazing 40kph (~25mph), 2 up on a 150cc. This kind of travel is stark contrast to the Bandit 1200 I came off in the US and really makes me appreciate the benefits and deficiencies of both. One thing is for sure, don't under-estimate yourself or your machine.
WenLing enjoyed the experience and is trying to get her motorcycle license. Together we're still working on our trip reporting skills and plan to do more in the future. To supplement the read, I threw together a quick 2 minute video of clips taken by WenLing so you can get a very digitized idea of what the roads are like. Music by Doobie Brothers...
As for me, there's still a lot of work ahead. On the macro level China is now launching into an exciting part of it's push into the international motorcycle market and I look forward to witnessing it's impact on the industry as it unfolds. On a personal level there's only one thing you can say...
"Let's RIDE!"
CC
05-11-2011, 03:53 PM
moilami
Re: Thanks for the trip summary
Nice, a ride report made by the Mr. China himself.
