wuhan - Hunan - Guizhou - Yunnan - Sichuan - Chongqing

A couple of summers back, myself, Neil (Brit) and two mates, James and Dan ( Brit and US) took off on a 20+ day adventure around SW China. It was a superb trip, from the Yangtze plain to the Himalayas. From 40 plus heat to cold weather and torrential rain and landslides. The road conditions were varied too: from brand new, sublime elevated highways to dirt tracks to the most smashed up concrete roads (easily the worst), they were all there for mile after mile.
The bikes were 2 Zhonshen Sierras and 1 Zhongshen 125 ( i think). The sierras went well enough, though they did have problems at altitude and my friends had a serious electrical fault in Chongqing. The older bike was under-powered, but made it round in the end.
As usual with my posts there isnt much detail, but i hope you enjoy the pics. Thanks to Dan and James for some of their pics.
I'll post them province by province..

Hubei (a few of these pics include a warm up weekend we did before setting off on the trip. I include them here as i think they show Hubei in a nice light).

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These first few pics are in the Chi Bi area

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Beer :)

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It gets got in Hubei

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Heading for Hunan - Jing Zhou

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First bit of trouble, but sorted out quick enough

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Crossing the Yangtze - we were to do this many times

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Could have happened to anyone!!

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Hang on.. double L?

Hunan

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ZhangjiaJie Area

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Hunan style!

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Dan looking happy

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James the Stig

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Feng Huang

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Bikes in hotel.

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Feng Huang scene

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Guizhou

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Beautiful South China Karst landscape

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Bikes in hotel - again

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'locksmith' - my lock wouldnt open!

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Out of Guizhou we met a local bike group and rode with for the day

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Swap you!

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A bad sign

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Getting some attention

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Shelter from the previous night

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This and the next few pics was a wonderful road. Brand new, elevated highway through the mountains. It came after miles and miles of broken road - heaven!

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Yunnan and Sichuan to follow... i gotta go to bed

I was the guy on the under-powered bike (Zhongshen 125). These pics are bringing back memories.... Southwest China by motorcycle is awesome....

Beautiful pictures. I have got to get there. I've already been most of those places by car.

Yunnan

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The bikes outside the hotel in Lijiang. Riding through the old town was a great experience. Though i was told later, illegal!

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Talking of which: its the Fuzz

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Tiger Leaping Gorge.

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At Tiger Leaping Gorge we met this intrepid collective. Check out the dog and luggage system!

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What a road!

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What a view - down the valley from Tiger Leaping Gorge

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Some pics just need the bike in them!

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Chatting with some friendly local folk

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An unusual passenger. Going to visit their home.

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Their simple but entirely adequate home.

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Campsite including shelter - some heavy rain in those parts

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Having a rest and a dry out

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True words

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Lugu Hu

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Some more bikers on the road, complete with red flags!

Sichuan and Chongqing

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As throughout the south west, some amazing roads and views

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This area reminded me of parts of Africa ive been to. And sadly was very poor and remote.

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But great roads

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This looks like Mid-Wales

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Happy camping!

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1 hp

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Is that the Yangtze again?

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Its a dirty business is motorbike riding - Dan

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James

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Me - Neil

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Hard riding - the worst road of all: broken hard surface.. chuck in 40 degree heat and a few hundred trucks and it becomes pure misery

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And then you break-down!

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In China there is always a way

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And we ride on into or out of the sunset







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Good shit Neil! I had no idea guizhou was that nice, for some reason i never paid attention to that province. Thanks for making my 'china to do list' even longer!

What kind of breakdown causes the tank to disappear into thin air?

Amazing stuff! Brilliant photos!

Great pics, and I'm sure there's a lifetime of stories to go with those destinations. Being that this all happened a couple summers back, you must have a lot more ride reports to catch up on. :deal: :popcorn:

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers!
ChinaV

:thumbsup: That's beautiful! Whats the best season to do a trip in that area?

..... just want to go.

FANTASTIC, it looks like you boys had a really good time, good stuff :clap:

you have me hooked now, quickly get some more photos and little story lines on here so i can get my fill.

Great ride and nice pics. Some of those mountain roads with their bridges are amazing bits of engineering. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Dan K.

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wow~~~i very like this photo. very beautiful.