8000km with no plan

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Actually this is a couple of days before Kunming but it is a good yarn so bear with me.
We came to this river and as you can see there is a magnificent bridge in the background. There are some big assed ferries tied up to the riverbank, but they cant operate because the river is too high.
These are the usual kind of ferries that cross big rivers in China , about 1000 hp and 50 tonnes or more.
Anyway too danger for them because they are govt run ships. The locals have narrow assed donkey powered rustbuckets however and these are all good to go. So this is us slip sliding down the riverbank onto the rustbuckets.

Hey,

I can only see the photos here on page 4, the others say photobucket. What's the craic?

Great trip btw! :goodtime:

Yeah sorry about that the photobucket will reset the bandwidth on oct 1st . The pics on this page are uploaded directly to here.

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From Kunming we came to Dali . As Pat had mentioned the Jade Emu we thought we would check it out. No other place to stay in Dali I reckon, the Emu is awesome!
Let me give you an example.
Checking in at the Emu goes like this.
" hi we would like a room and we need to keep our bikes safe"

"ok sure, why don't you give me your passports and sit down have a beer and relax, btw here is a menu in case you are hungry"

zhu and murray park up have a beer and a cheeseburger

"ok boys you have a private room , here is the key here are your passports"

zhu and murray are gobsmacked and happiness filled

" how much money do you need right now miss"

"oh no worries just pay when you leave"

No money down, no hassle , food to die for, friendly staff and a boss who is a real gent of the old school.

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This is one of the great staff at the Jade Emu, our bikes cluttered up the courtyard and not one fuck was given. We would have tools and bits spread all over the bar tables and mangy riding gear hanging up to dry and nothing fazed them. Best accommodation I have ever stayed in China.

Best accommodation I have ever stayed in, in China.

I have been living in china for 7 years and this is the best place I have ever stayed.

Although he had lived in China for seven years, zhu had never found a guesthouse as warm and welcoming as the Jade Emu in Dali.

Many people including zhu enjoy the Jade Emu in Dali.

One day I hope to return to the Jade Emu in Dali.

If I had known about the Jade Emu (or the Jade Roo) a few years ago I would have gone there sooner.

By the time I first went to the Jade Emu in Dali I had been to many other SHIT hotels and guesthouses.

I have been thinking about Returning to the emu since the day I left.

tenses various lol




Btw location is 500m south of the old town west gate on G214

Murray had shipped his bike to Chengdu and as he is now the proud owner of my old X2 he never intended to ship the CqR home. Dali is a pretty good home for a dirt bike so it took him all of 12 hours to find a buyer.

Chris the new owner was a nice guy from Italy who has a fleet of bikes and here is murray in the next post riding Chris's beemer home after the deal was done.

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Here is a classic example of living in China. Murray sold the bike for 4000,

Chris says " guys , if my wife asks, I just paid 3000 ok"

Murray says " if my wife asks , you paid 5000 ok"

Chris also tried to convince his wife he had bought the bike "for you baby"

Good luck with that mate.

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Of course this left Murray cashed up in the infamous party town of Dali.

Here we see how quickly the young ladies of Dali can sum up the bulge in the "back" of your trousers.

Attachment 16225Attachment 16226As we had planned Murray flew home and then a disreputable bunch from Chengdu arrived . This is Calm Carl , May Mayhem, Rob Starly and zhu.Attachment 16222Attachment 16223Attachment 16224

And a pic of the lake to prove we didn't stage the whole thing in a studio in Nevada.
So that is 3500km out of the way.
Starting to get the hang of attaching the pics directly here so stay tuned.
8000-3500= umm carry the 3 and divide by 2 err whatever I'm not a maths teacher.

There is a shit ton to go!

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So if you find yourself in Dali take a day and ride around this loop because wherever you are in a hurry to get to will wait.

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320km of awesomeness!
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Don't take this guy with you though. Because you will have to spend a bit of time taking him back to the hospital.
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Of course even a great road has the odd puncture but as long as you have Carl around to build the rock stand , no worries.
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This is what became known as a scenic piss or "pissta" For some strange reason all I could hear was the girls saying "turn around turn around!"
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May Mayhem with the Dali lake in the background
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Our scrabble board got a hiding on wet days.

I have never understood the whole "beak" thing on bikes. Beaks serve no useful purpose as far as I can see. They don't work as mudguards and if you store stuff on top of them it obstructs the headlight. But hold on..
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Why do women find the Haojian so attractive? Is it the phallic symbolism of the beak?

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So after we got our asses kicked at scrabble by a couple of Chinese girls, we thought it might be time to raise ourselves from languor and get on the road to Xishuangbanna.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zhu

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So after we got our asses kicked at scrabble by a couple of Chinese girls, we thought it might be time to raise ourselves from languor and get on the road to Xishuangbanna.

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When willyou be in Xishuangbanna? Will you cross into Laos. At the Mohan/Botan border? I ask as im headed that way,,,primarily to make a visa run,,and secondly to go to Xishuangbanna and see the elephants!

How was the old road from kurto dali? The locals here tell me its torn up,,,and not to risk expressway as I have girlfriend on the back as the cops will swarm down on me

[QUOTE=kikikillercat;71904]When willyou be in Xishuangbanna? Will you cross into Laos. At the Mohan/Botan border? I ask as im headed that way,,,primarily to make a visa run,,and secondly to go to Xishuangbanna and see the elephants!

How was the old road from kunming to dali? The locals here tell me its torn up,,,and not to risk expressway as I have girlfriend on the back as the cops will swarm down on me

Killercat the g320 from Kunming to dali is a bit rough around the edges but it,s quite doable if you take your time. We actually went south to Xiping and back up to Dali via Chuxiong. No need to take the expressway.

Sorry I should explain our trip finished on Sept 1st ( sadly ) and I am now writing from back in Chengdu.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zhu

Killercat the g320 from Kunming to dali is a bit rough around the edges but it,s quite doable if you take your time. We actually went south to Xiping and back up to Dali via Chuxiong. No need to take the expressway.

Sorry I should explain our trip finished on Sept 1st ( sadly ) and I am now writing from back in Chengdu.

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Looks like a wonderful trip. Did you get to xishuangbanna? Very touristy there? Did you see any elephants.. Really hot. Thanks

Yeah we got there , it is a cool place I never went to the elephant park but some of the others did . One thing the roads near there are the most slippery I have ever seen in my life. There is a kind of moss growing on them and if you get off the beaten path you will slide all over the place.

We left Dali for banna and set out to get there by the minimum use of tarmac by the most obscure roads we could find
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This road just disappeared into the lake

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Here we all pitch in to repair Ryans chain as the sun was rapidly seeting