QiQiHar to Beijing June 2013

Day 8
410km
Dust
Woke up to find lambs still alive. Packed up. Checked out the beacon tower and a stretch of Yuan wall. Very impressive.
Headed back to Beijing. A long day.
Around half the time spent on crappy roads.
All very hot, very dusty.
Bikes held out and made it back in one piece.

Overall a great trip.
Had to adjust the route a little, but saw some great scenery.
Managed to camp all but the first night and found great camping spots.
The bikes performed very well. The Jialing had a couple of problems, but I can't help thinking its main drawback for this kind of trip is the tank which holds approximately one thimbleful of petrol.
Thanks to Fahni for excellent company, gourmet food and superb navigation.

Total distance 2142km

[IMG]http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/...psff48a8cf.jpg[/IMG]The beacon tower which overlooked our camp spot.

[IMG]http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/...ps00ffd970.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4810b40f.jpg[/IMG]Back to Beijing!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lobotomous

Overall a great trip.
Had to adjust the route a little, but saw some great scenery.
Managed to camp all but the first night and found great camping spots.
The bikes performed very well. The Jialing had a couple of problems, but I can't help thinking its main drawback for this kind of trip is the tank which holds approximately one thimbleful of petrol.
Thanks to Fahni for excellent company, gourmet food and superb navigation.

Total distance 2142km



[IMG]http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4810b40f.jpg[/IMG]Back to Beijing!

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It was my pleasure and honor! And basically, it was a comparably fun motorcycle mechanics training for 7 days... The Jialing performed poorly with only the last day without a mechanical problem on the bike.

I must say that I am more and more impressed by the camping possibilities in China (outside populated centers of course) but it seems almost impossible to find something with ok water (lake or river) nearby. That said: Note to all people who want to go off road in east Inner Mongolia: Don't even think of getting through or even close to a river in rain season. muddy marshes and swollen water levels will make you head for the bridges anyway.

One of the most amazing moments was when we left the Mongolian Plateau half-way on our last day. We reached the highest point at about 1850m altitude and in a series of amazing hairpin turns dropped 500m in maybe 10km. And down there suddenly we felt the blazing hot wind that had sweltered BJ the last couple of days.

I will think of more things to add but for the moment thanks to Lobotomous for coming along and for doing the RR. Much appreciated!

Interesting trip. Two hardy kindred souls.
Thanks for sharing.

Well done, guys. That was not for newbies I would say. :clap:
Enjoyed reading very much and positively envy you :thumbsup:

A nice, compact adventure! Thanks for sharing the story.

Cheers,

Dan K.

Wow... great RR there guys. Interesting to read of how the bikes held up or didn't in some cases. Not sure but I'm not seeing any photos... in the the IMG links?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lobotomous

Putting the bikes on the train ... We hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

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Unfortunately, it was! Good thing you didn't lose your cool, and then leave the bikes with some "official" whom you have made lose face.

In retrospect, however, the most difficult challenges are frequently also the most memorable.

Great report & pics - thanks. Maybe see you tonight.

Thanks for all the kind comments guys!

Bikerdoc: sorry you can't see the pics - they are certainly better than the words!
They are embedded from photobucket, which I seem to be able to access from Beijing OK from behind the GFW.
Not sure what to suggest.

tried to view on two different computers in two different locations; home on ADSL, and then work office via WIFI Ch!na Unicom direct and not thru work intranet. Both methods the photobucket photos aren't loading. At work, the pages load and I can see photobucket links scrolling as though the pages is trying to load the photobucket links... but nope.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bikerdoc

tried to view on two different computers in two different locations; home on ADSL, and then work office via WIFI Ch!na Unicom direct and not thru work intranet. Both methods the photobucket photos aren't loading. At work, the pages load and I can see photobucket links scrolling as though the pages is trying to load the photobucket links... but nope.

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I was looking at a colleague's computer today and the pictures loaded but took ages.
Could it be a browser issue? She was using IE, whereas I can load it fine on both Safari and Firefox. And my internet connection is rubbish.