Finn in Beijing

[tare]

Greetings all!
Not so new in Beijing but just found this site!
I have been living in Beijing in 1998 - 2004, then spent two years in Australia, two years in France and back in Beijing since last year.
I really enjoy riding in China as it can still be called Adventure!

Some background:
Back in 1998 it was really difficult to find a bike in Beijing. After a long search I finally got myself a 400cc Yamaha Dragstar. None of my friends had a bike and I had not met any local riders, so there was not much action, just the occasional trip to the mountains.
A few years later I swapped to a Honda Varadero and many of my friends bought bikes as well. We also met local riders and made lots of trips around Beijing.

In 2002 we went to Yinchuan Motorcycle Festival as "official" Finnish representatives.
In 2003 we made our first attempt at Tibet. It was SARS time and borders were closed, so instead we went to the Western border of Xinjiang.
A year later we tried again into Tibet and made it! (I was already living in Australia but had my bike in Beijing). I made it 100km from Mt Everest and my clutch was totally gone.
Still want to go back there and do whole of Tibet, maybe enter via Yunnan...

Last Summer me and two friends started a trip from Germany to Beijing. We made it until the border (we were on the other side in 2003!), but this was just before the Olympics and they were very strict. We were denied entry although we had the paperworks (except the exit document from China!) and had to turn back.

So, instead of having a KTM 990 Adv, I bought a Suzuki GSX1400 last Autumn. It's not really for touring, so I have had my eye on Jialing 600 for a while.
This year I had two accidents with the bike, on the second one I required some stitching, bike needed some fixing on both occasions. Missed 3 months of the best season but now back in the saddle!

Hope to see you on the road soon!

Tatu