Weekend Trip From Shanghai -- QianDaoHu

We left Lishang Sunday morning, as already recounted by Milton: Ferry back to the North-side of Qiandaohu, tiger lily breakfast, onto Weiping (Zhejiang), then the awesome County 002 North to Sanyang (in Anhui), and finally the expressway back to Shanghai - well maybe just 100km to LinAn before we were escorted off.

Milton cutting a corner
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What's up Tiger Lily (We actually didn't get any Tiger Lilies in our breakfast)
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Cutting thru the valley north to Sanyang (after breakfast)
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Milton Posterized
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by MotoKai

Milton Posterized]

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Wow, that's one good looking rider in the picture. I am very impressed by how sharp I looked in large format. Thanks, Motokai. From now on I will only go riding with good motographer.

BTW, I thought the large format was reserved for our encounter with the expressway cops.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by milton

Wow, that's one good looking rider in the picture. I am very impressed by how sharp I looked in large format. Thanks, Motokai. From now on I will only go riding with good motographer.
BTW, I thought the large format was reserved for our encounter with the expressway cops.

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Haha, well the areas you two guys rode I have been thru myself several times, and other places multiple times. So how about some more detail about the Expressway incident?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by milton

As far as the encounter with the cops went, I hope Motokai chimes in, along with his picture of cops bullying us. He did all the dealing with the cops, and I just stayed on the sideline with my full-face helmet and sun glasses pretty much having my Chinese face fully covered up. It's a sad thing in China to have a Chinese face.

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Milton "on the sidelines"
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Here's my "story" and I'm sticking with it....
We got on the expressway in Anhui - and they "allowed us on."
The highway crossing from Anhui into Zhejiang was striking - rolling green hills in every direction; and the road was virtually empty. It truly is the safest and most convenient option for riding in China!

Milton Gliding
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We are not sure what tipped off the ZJ police that there were 2 very safe, very legal, large displacement motorcycles, who were allowed on the expressway in AH now approaching them. But maybe it was the Emergency Vehicle which we passed (arms waving). Or maybe it was the Police radar trap we glided by at 120kph. But 100km later, when we arrived near the Linan exit, there were about 6 "very friendly" police officers with 3 police vehicles who had created a road block (an expressway narrowed down to 1 lane, allowing only the cars to proceed thru).

When we arrived, the officers were quite animated (to say the least). We were told to cut the engines which enabled us to hear some shouting among the troops. One of the officers quickly approached my bike and pulled the key out. Then he went to the guy who was on the sidelines and did the same. A request was made for us to get off the bikes. Here's where the conversation started.

I said we wouldn't get off the bikes since we did nothing wrong. I explained that we entered the expressway in AH and that we were allowed on, so please give me back my key. We were then informed that motorcycles were not allowed on the expressway. As this was the first time I heard this bit of information (anyone on MCM hear this before??:naughty:), I explained that we were not aware of this rule and if they did not want us on the expressway it was best they give us our keys back and we would leave. There was a request for us to get off the bikes and also to take helmets off (never get off your bike if you've done nothing wrong). There were several officers who seemed to have been negotiating more with themselves than with us. We didn't notice any actual good cop/bad cop thing going on, but we could quickly identify good cop - he was the young guy and prepared to let us go since we were not aware of this strange rule about motorcycles not allowed on the expressway. :confused1::deal::confused1:

We were given our keys back and started to follow the 3-vehicle escort down the exit ramp when we were stopped again by the more animated one (later I would hear from the guy on the sidelines that he had his neck pinched by this officer). We were told to stop at the toll booth, which we did.

Much confusion at the toll booth. Again, the police were negotiating more amongst themselves, and now more with the toll both woman than with us. I used this opportunity to confirm with the guy on the sidelines (guy with Chinese face) that he does indeed speak Mandarin. Must have been somewhat entertaining for the police to watch the laowai handle the situation in Mandarin while the guy with the Chinese face stayed on the sidelines.

I digress....Only after proceeding thru the toll both via escort did they finally reach the decision that we were supposed to pay for the toll. 1)Why should we have to pay for a toll if motorcycles were indeed not allowed on the expressways? (mind you were weren't aware of any such rule, let alone law) 2) How could we pay if we weren't given a ticket in AH? 3) How could I pay if I already went thru the toll both? On this last point they informed me to get off my bike and walk back. This I would never do, as we did nothing wrong, I would not be removed from the saddle. The laowai was losing his patience with the inconsistencies he was witnessing and kept this position until the end of the incident.

Ultimately there was an acceptance to pay the RMB 40 "fee" per rider so we could complete the exit without an escort. I made a U-turn back to the toll both. In fact I was RMB 3 short, so the sideline guy, who was also the banker of this trip, got off his bike to hand me some currency. I didn't like to see him off his bike - NEVER GET OFF YOUR BIKE!

With tolls paid for a road we weren't allowed to ride on, it was time to leave, right? No. They then proceeded to take down our info and take photos. As we did nothing wrong (nothing we were aware of at least), I took their photos in return. I will only post 1 here out of respect for this "misunderstanding."

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Oh, and I forgot to get a receipt for the toll.

What an incredible story to match an incredible trip. I found this whole thing immensely entertaining, especially the part where you took a photo of the cops after they took a photo of you. Also the inconsistencies and the negotiating with the laowai speaking Mandarin --- pure China delight.

In terms of safety, it really does look like the expressways are the best option. What I'm concerned about are motorcyclists who take the surface roads and drive them as if they were expressways. Unfortunately I've done this on the G318 numerous times, and it can be rather dangerous to rocket down that thing at high speeds.

TIC.

Every day is a play day in paradise!

Just a week after our QianDaoHu trip, Shanghai police have been clamping down on bikers venturing into the expressways. There were a few bikers stopped by traffic cops at various expressway exits, mostly off the middle ring, ticketed and fined. There also was this guy on expensive big-bore, totally legal, stopped on S20, not only ticketed and fined, but got his bike confisticated on “suspicion of being a stolen good”, even while the bike is squarely pictured on his registration 行驶证. Some discussions on those “law enforcement” in some of the Chinese motorcycle forums were quickly censored and deleted. I’d be interested to see if any of them is challenging the police actions through the court of law (don’t laugh; I am not holding my breath on this). TIC.

Excellent report guys, and excellent story !

Steve, I agree that speeding on the G318 is not wise...at all...
Last time I did it (after the Dianshan lake, leaving Shanghai) I had to do an emergency braking where the EMERGENCY was in big bold letters, screeching both my tires to an halt from 80 km/h, as a fuc.... bast... thought it would be very nice to cross on foot this big wide road with a tricycle full of plastic bottles for recycling, even though I and several cars were zooming on him... Never had such a scare, never had to brake that hard either.... I can assure you that the next 10km were done at a crawling pace... ;-))

I use the G318 for almost every one of my "road trips" and saw really everything thrown at me on this road. Be especially careful about left turners, and cars joining the 318 from small countryside roads on the right : they do not even look for incoming traffic before "merging"...

I'll stick to it though, as I don't want to bother with the cops and as my bike is not quick enough (150cc) for the expressway.

Obviously you both knew exactly what you were doing in dealing with the police. Were it me I would not have had a clue about the "stay on your bike" thing. I do know that staying calm and remaining firm in your resolve is always a good way to communicate with them, and from the description, you did this beautifully. Thanks for posting this. Many points for keeping in mind as we plan our trips through the remaining nice weather.