Great report and photos, thanks for sharing!
Printable View
Great report and photos, thanks for sharing!
Hi Brice
Je m'appelle Sui-Leung, je suis d'origine Hong Kongaise (?), mais j'ai grandi en Angleterre et j'y habite depuis plus de 25 ans.
Ton racontre m'a donné pleine d'envie de faire la même chose un jour moi-même en Chine, merci beaucoup pour les superbes clichés et histoires.
Mais, je reste curieux, tu faits quoi en Chine? Quelques nuances m'ont indiqués que tu sois français, c'est ça? Je m'éxcuse mon mauvais français...
Cordialement
Sui-Leung
Hey Brice,
awesome ride, nice report, great pictures. Shitty story with that little girl, I am just happy that none of you two had any major injuries. I noticed the windshield you added to your bike sometime along the trip. Was it one of these cheapo ones that are attached to the rear mirrors? How did it hold up and how was the effect on you? Totla wind protection or only upper body? Would be nice to hear some feedback on this, thanks!
Dear fahni,
Thanks for bringing back this nice thread which I missed. I ought to start digging into archives of MCM for jewels like this one.
Dear Brice,
I enjoyed your RR immensely. Very jealous of your being able to take such a long trip. I really admire your fearlessness in going on such a long journey by yourself and taking on all the situations as they come, absolutely my kind of trip. Those few days with those migrant workers (民工) on the truck living in an unfinished and unfurnished building (毛坯房) were priceless.
As far as your mishap with that country girl goes, I've been lucky so far after many trips in this country. The worst incident I had was running over a chicken, for which the farmer wanted to extract 250 rmb from us. Luckily I was with some Chinese friends and they would take none of the nonsense. We still ended up paying 40 rmb for a skinny chicken. Funny and sad at the same time.
Hope you come back and do more trips in China.
wow~~~good photos. i like it.
thank you ....
Hello Fahni,
Yes it was a cheap windshield used by the locals in Guizhou to protect themselves from the winter breeze. I paid it 60RMB and even haggle a little bit.... Most of my gears were the same as the local workers. I was and I'm still a cheap bastard.
It was efficient only for the upper body but I was glad to have it while crossing the plateau in Sichuan. My two big toes turned nearly black because of lack of decent thermal protection. You must protect your extremities (feet and hands) which are the first to suffer from the harsh cold.
Brice
Hello Milton,
Check the first ride reports of CrazyCarl, ChinaV or Franki.
In my opinion doing it solo is the best way. Not always easy but very rewarding.
The migrant workers episode was really an adventure in the adventure. These guys have not much, they live separated from their love ones fo months and still they are ready to help and share with a total stranger that put himself in the shit while touring. Once again it proves that the humbles are often the more generous.
The accident with the little girl is another lesson for me. With my thick westerner skull, It took me sometimes to understand why the Chinese dealt this way. These country side people have no medical coverage. If they don't get the money they can't afford to go to the hospital. So in some way it was normal that the richest of the two parties pay for the medical expenses whatever the circumstances of the accident. The practice was de facto accepted by my insurance company which took a part of the cost at its charge. Once you see the whole picture, you find it adequat.
I'm back in China since one month....
Cheers
Brice
Wow i had totally missed this one!
Awesome report brice, one of the MCM greats! It's going to be an honor to have you in Xi'an.
Yamen,the Song Dynastylast great empire. The song of death makes Chinese civilization backwards