Re: Around China in 100 Days
Garze to Mazi – Day 97
Pat had followed the S217 down to Litang, while we were to take the most direct route to Kangding, the G317. Christine (Meowzedong) had warned us about a seriously bad road on the way back to Chengdu from Garze. We didn’t know which one it was, but I would have like to have avoided it as it was a very uncomfortable 18 hour drive in a 4WD for her. What would it be like for us? Hopefully we could make Kangding, 290 kilometres away.
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A breakfast shop owner said that some people had scattered poltcal leaflets in the main streets of Garzi, so assorted patrols and vehicles were out and about.
We visited the Garze monastery which is about 540 years old and overlooks Garze. Parts of it had been destroyed during the cultural revolution and has since been restored in Han Chinese style.
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Roadworks diverted us down country lanes and through villages until we came to the G317 again. Potholes and mud made going rather slow.
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After Luhuo, there was about 20 kilometres of tarmac, then started the gravel and roadwork blockages.
Apparently, whoever was in charge of maintaining the road, decided that it was a good idea to tear up the whole length of the road before starting to repave at any point, instead of completing small sections at a time. We only managed to do 177 kilometres in the day. It was obvious by 6.30 that we wouldn’t be making to Kangding so we stopped in Mazi. It looked as though we had taken the road Christine had advised us not to. Pat later told me that the road that he took, the S217, wasn’t much better.
Lulu had asked the hostel owner if there was a hot spring around somewhere and we went off down the road to find it. It was supposed to be about 2 kilometres down the road, which turned into 5, which turned into 10. We asked some locals, but often what they said confused us more. After 2 hours of driving in the dark, cold night we couldn’t find it and I gave up.
Re: Around China in 100 Days
Mazi to Kangding – Day 98
The roads were even worse than the day before. The dust clouds raised by the massive wheels of the trucks that passed us had me holding my breath.
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Big mud holes threatened to swallow Lulu and her bike whole. After we passed, a minivan got stuck in this mire.
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I tried driving through a big mud puddle taking up most of the road as a minivan came the other way and used the only dry part. It was much deeper than I thought, with the milk-chocolate coloured water coming up over the headlight. Lulu burst into fits of laughter as she drove past. She was managing these roads better than I was.
Lulu crashed trying to squeeze past a truck on a strip of one way gravel. She had to swerve at the last second and drove across the second lane (which was under construction) and only stopped after getting stuck in the ditch.
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We stopped for lunch at Bamei, covered in dust and mud. The day’s hard work had been completed, and the roads were smooth from there.
We stopped to help a couple of Tibetan ladies who were having problems with their motorcycle. They had just run out of petrol but just needed to switch on the reserve tank.
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Maybe a kilometre after that, we saw some Russian cyclists and stopped to say hi. They were riding from Laos to Russia and wanted to ride to Yushu and extend their visas there, but they had met some French guys in Garze who had told them that there is nothing much left of the city. They probably wouldn’t be able to renew their visas for another month there, so they had to turn around and head to Chengdu. They had cycled back through the rough roads and were still going strong.
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We came to Tagong, a quaint Tibetan town in the beautiful valley. It is well known for its grasslands and is a popular tourist area. ChinaV, Felix and Mr. TwoWheelRTW had come through here a couple of years ago on their amazing south-west China tour.
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We got on to the G318. It wasn’t a good introduction to the road we would be following for over 350 kilometres to Ya’an. More gravel and dust.
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But that didn’t last long and soon we were on perfect roads again. The G318 is one of the major highways into Tibet, and the most direct route from Chengdu to Lhasa. We started to see a lot of tourist traffic, as it was just starting to be tourist season on the plateau. We met some more cyclists. They were group of 20 from around China riding to Tibet as part of a sponsored event.
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Driving up over Zheduo mountain pass (折多山) we saw a Chinese motorcycle tour group, flying red flags, on their way to Tibet. Again, I was affected by pangs of desire to see this mysterious land. Although, we had seen plenty of Tibetan culture in the last couple of weeks, I was thinking of when I would actually be able to go there.
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We came to our last major pass, below Zheduo Shan, at 4290 metres. We said goodbye to the Tibetan world.
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The switchbacks down from the pass took us down more than 1700 metres in altitude in just under an hour.
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We looked down on Kangding from the mountain road and shock! Apartment blocks, massive clumps of them at the bottom of the valley as we descended. I felt disappointment settle in my stomach. The charm and aesthete of the square, stone Tibetan homes that I had become accustomed to had been replaced, all too quickly, with mass produced, overdeveloped housing estates. We ended up driving further down the side of the mountain before we got to the valley floor. This was “New Kangding”. I immediately opted for staying in old Kangding at the intersection.
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It had become significantly warmer over the past couple of hours, and I could eat my dinner without needing my jacket. We went to find a hostel close to some hot springs.
We finally had our hot springs. They weren’t so clean, but warm enough to massage my aching muscles. And, I also had a shower at the hostel, a second luxury for the night. Showers had been so scarce on the trip, and I didn’t take it for granted.
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Around China in 100 Days
Standard welding protective equipment: eyelids (squinted).
Attachment 6501
Re: Around China in 100 Days
Incredible photos though I bet they aren't half as good as actually being there to see the sights.
Re: Around China in 100 Days
Quote:
Originally Posted by
soberpete
I'm always shocked/impressed when I see Chinese welders at work. I wonder how long a welder's eyes last when they don't use the right protection.
Re: Around China in 100 Days
Quote:
Originally Posted by
soberpete
Incredible photos though I bet they aren't half as good as actually being there to see the sights.
Nothing ever beats being there:thumbsup:
Re: Around China in 100 Days
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Roadrunner
I'm always shocked/impressed when I see Chinese welders at work. I wonder how long a welder's eyes last when they don't use the right protection.
Indeed. My local mechanic (Papa Smurf) has done all his welding like that since he starting fixing bikes at a young age; he seems to be around 50 years old now and still recognizes me from a distance.
Re: Around China in 100 Days
Kangding to Ya’an – Day 99 – 15th June, 2011
The day’s destination was Ya’an, a mere 190 kilometres away, to meet Yifan, a university student who had contacted me a couple of weeks earlier. I felt like we could better plan our travel times now that we were nearing more populated areas. We could make it back to Chongqing in under four days, on a Saturday. I gave the boss a call to let her know that I would be in on the following Monday.
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Early in the day we noticed lines and lines of army trucks, all heading west. I counted over 100 trucks throughout the day before I got bored of the game. The canvas tarpaulins at the back had been pulled tight and I wondered what they were carrying.
It was another beautiful day driving in western Sichuan. The roads out of Kangding were great for 15 kilometres or so, before our good friend, gravel roads, came up to meet us once again. The long lines of traffic backed up at roadworks were not helped by the multitudes of camo-green trucks, but we managed to weave through the traffic.
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I was especially grateful to our slim profiles that meant we could get to places other vehicles couldn’t.
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The Erlang mountain tunnel is over 4 kilometres long. Apparently there used to be a nice twisty road over this pass, but the new tunnel made it redundant, which kind of takes the fun out of mountain driving.
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On the other side the weather changed from clear air, dry and a little cloudy to foggy and humid. As we exited the Erlang Shan tunnel we had passed from western Sichuan onto the western slopes of the Sichuan Basin, the lowland region of Sichuan (and some of Chongqing Municipality) which is enclosed on all sides by mountains. The basin is home to the majority of the 80 million Sichuanese.
The people had changed. The culture and language, and even the tone of their voices, had changed. The climate changed. The square-style of Tibetan homes replaced by the sloped eaves of the Sichuan homes. It felt like I had passed in to a different country in the past couple of days. However, Sichuan food is everywhere in China, so our diet didn’t change much.
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We hit a huge traffic jam 25 kilometres outside of Ya’an caused soley (as far as I could see) by roadworks paving one side of the road over a stretch of 200 metres, but that wasn’t what had caused the complete gridlock. The problem was the self-centred drivers in their expensive cars and SUVs who had used every square centimeter of the left side of the road to get ahead of the other traffic (mostly trucks and lorries) in their lane, forming a three car wide roadblock making it impossible for anyone coming the other way to get past, and ultimately, making it impossible for them to get past the cars on the other side, who had done the same. The jam continued for 3 kilometres either side, making things slow for us as we squeezed around fenders and through metal corridors, but at least we weren't stuck in that insane traffic jam. It would have driven me completely bonkers.
As we drove past the end of the jam, a minivan driver driving west asked us how long the jam was and we said it wasn’t budging at all. At the very least, it would be a couple of hours wait. He turned around and drove back the way he came.
Ya’an was our first big city since Golmud in Qinghai. It was noisy, crowded and confusing. I felt a little claustrophobic by it all. After asking several people for directions, we managed to make it to Sichuan Agriculture University to meet with Yifan and his friends who spoke good English. We put our stuff in the student dormitory and had Korean barbecue at the local food street.
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He was interested in our trip because he was going to hitchhike through Tibet in a couple of months and wanted to hear what it was like. He was a bit bored with university life and, even though he was getting good grades, he wanted to take some time off and go traveling. He was also really interested in traveling to northern India and should be there sometime this year.
Re: Around China in 100 Days
Your RR keeps getting better will be sad when it finishes.I was up near Dushanzi to Ermaoqiao part of your trip yesterday it is interesting to see that area and Xinjiang in winter with all the snow about totally different to summer.
Re: Around China in 100 Days
Ya’an to Jianyang – Day 100 - 16th of June, 2011
We said thanks and goodbye to our friends. Lifan told us that we needed to be in Chongqing on Saturday morning, because they were arranging a welcome back party on the 18th. We had a quick breakfast of baozi and soy milk for breakfast and we were off.
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The weather was overcast, humid and a bit wet. Outside Ya’an, we drove onto the G108, while all the four wheeled vehicles hopped on the expressway. Even though the expressway is much faster, I would rather take the country roads anyway. It’s probably a more enjoyable, scenic experience.
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Lulu had arranged an interview in Chengdu with a local newspaper. If I had thought driving through Ya’an was hectic, Chengdu was Armageddon. I still wasn’t used to masses of vehicles jostling for space over four lanes of road in the same direction, despite the fact that two months ago I was driving through comparable cities in eastern China. The wide open spaces had gotten to me, and they wanted me to go back. We spent a long, stressful time, and several confused phone calls, before we finally found the reporters.
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Once we got that out of the way, I didn’t want to stay in the city because we could be caught out by the po-pos for not having Chengdu plates (which can cost up to ￥10,000) inside the ring road. Lulu had a friend that she wanted to stay with in the city, but agreed it was just too complicated. We would drive until night fell, then find a place to sleep.
The G321 out of Chengdu was a nice, relatively quiet road, so we took our time, twisting in and out of the low hills.
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We drove into Jianyang, the bright neon lights covering the apartment buildings making my retinas itchy. It was a fairly nice city (what we saw of it anyway) of almost 1.5 million people on the banks of the Tuojiang river, which goes on to meet the ChangJiang in south-eastern Sichuan.
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