Southern China 2009: The How Tough is Your China Built Bike Tour

**Supersignet** · 02-06-2010, 06:03 AM

Day 22: Aug 16, Dali to Yuanyang Ti Tian

Another night gone by, we were lucky to be able to experience something as wild as the Fire Festival in Dali. It was something that I’ll never be able to forget and was worth the craziness and implied danger. In short it was scary as hell, but also pretty fun.

Today we woke up at 8:00am and planned to be on the road by 9:00. Our goal for the day was to cover half the distance from Dali in the north of Yunnan to Yuanyang County in the south of Yunnan. Marcus and Lynn had decided to ship their bike back to Guangdong, so they could get some rest and enjoy the train ride home. From now on Lisa and I would be on our own. We were also getting tired. Bike problems and police problems and more than 20 days on the road had taken their toll on us and our bodies. We talked about it and decided the only way to get home was to ride home. We left on the bike and we would arrive back at home on the bike. We said our goodbyes, packed the bike and started on the road south.

The road was rough. I was amazed at how bad it was and I was amazed at the fact it didn’t get better. We were about 350km out of Kunming and about 440km from our desired destination for the day. As the roads got worse our spirits were low and our goal seemed unattainable. We pressed on and by 5:00 we were still about 4 hours short of our destination. Lisa and I agreed that we would stop around Kunming and get on the road early in the morning the next day to make it Yuanyang County.

We pulled into Anning just outside of Kunming as the sun was cresting the mountains. Luckily we spotted a small hotel on the way in. We grabbed a room and hit the bed. Tomorrow looked like it was going to be another long day.

**Supersignet** · 02-06-2010, 06:04 AM

Day 23: Aug 17, Still on the road to Yuanyang Ti Tian

Up at 6:00 was the plan for today. We had a lot of ground to cover today, about 550km total to Yuanyang County. With any luck the roads would be better than what we experienced the day before. We really needed to make up some lost time. Our asses hurt badly and we were concerned about the impact these nasty roads would have on the little Shineray if they didn’t improve.

Sadly it was much of the same. Ass pounding, broken concrete, polluting factories, big overloaded trucks, mud like thick diarrhea and wicked clouds of dust everywhere greeted us as we rounded every corner. Looking at the map we knew we didn’t have much choice in our route and we started to think twice about our decision not to ship the bike home. We could only hope that we would make it to Yuanyang and it would be everything we had hoped and dreamed of.

As the bad roads got worse and worse I noticed a banging coming from the back of the bike. I started to worry about what was happening behind Lisa’s right leg. We stopped for a pee and I had a look. Two of the welds on the back rack had snapped. The rack was now being held on by the bungee net and one bolt. I was worried. If the rack failed before we could make it to a town with a welder we would have a major problem and would be set back by hours. On top of this problem when the rack did break it also put a hole in the exhaust can and snapped the exhaust mount. The exhaust was now bouncing off the back wheel, melting the knobs on the rear Kenda. I did a quick fix on the exhaust and tied the side rack up as best I could. For the second day in a row it looked like we wouldn’t make Yuangyang County.

We limped the bike into Shiping, found a hotel and agreed that even though we were 200km short of Yuanyang County we would have to stop for the night and get the bike fixed. The hotel was great, only 40 RMB, but sadly we were now a day behind schedule and we had more bike problems to fix in the morning.

**Supersignet** · 02-06-2010, 06:20 AM

Day 24: Aug 18, Maybe we can make it to Yuanyang Ti Tian Today

Today we had to set off a little later than normal. I had to get up and go find someone who could weld the rack well enough to make it the remaining 2000km back to Guangzhou and I needed to find a new exhaust for my bike.

I found a guy with a TIG welder who looked like he knew what he was doing; I ripped the rack off the bike and got him to weld it up. Five RMB and 20 minutes later the rack was better than ever and I was now only short one exhaust. I rolled around Shiping for a while looking for a shop that sold the same kind of can I already had on the bike. I found one for 160 RMB, bought it, made some new mounts and headed back to the hotel to get Lisa and get back on the road. It was now 10:00am, the bike was packed and we were on the road for our last 200km to Yuanyang County.
Happily the roads improved greatly today and we were able to make some good time. The scenery had improved and the big nasty trucks were nowhere to be seen. It was a great day for a ride. Lisa and I were feeling good again. Nothing was going to stop us today. It would be an easy ride t Yuangyang County and to the amazement that awaited us.
At around 4:30 we started up another mountain heading deep into Yuanyang County. We were expecting another high mountain pass but what awaited us was stunning. Small cities built into the mountain sides flanked by amazing step terraced rice fields. We were now in the domain of China’s Hani minority group. The Hani had lived in these mountains for thousands of years and had landscaped the sides of many of them to facilitate their lifestyle.
The story goes that the Hani lost a war and were chased into the mountains. With nowhere to go and no land for farming they had to make their own. The Hani carved their existence out of the mountain sides and had been using these same fields for more than 2000 years. This is one amazing place. The extent of the terracing is staggering. It can only leave someone with their jaw on the ground in wonderment. It is amazing that one group of people could do this on this kind of scale and still have the energy to farm these mountain side fields. Some of these mountains are 2800m high and are terraced from the summit to the valley floor.
While the fields were amazing the Hani people themselves were even more so. I was impressed at how true to their culture the Hani are. They still wear their tradition dress and still work the fields in the traditional way. While shy at times, they seemed happy to chat about their life style and their history.

I found out the way they terrace the mountains, make their homes and make some of their roads are by hand quarrying stones from the mountains themselves. They then proceed to smash the stones into small workable sizes and carry them on their backs to whatever place the stones are needed. This looks like a hard life, but it seems like a life the Hani love and are proud of. One Hani told me the Ti Tian (stair fields) are the Hani and the Hani are the Titian. Meaning without one you couldn’t have the other. This place was truly amazing.
Here are a mass of photos from the last 3 days

**Supersignet** · 02-06-2010, 06:21 AM

Somre more pics from Yuan yang

**CrazyCarl** · 02-08-2010, 05:17 PM

Great report and pics as usual!

Nice to see you back on the roads again... the GY7 still holding up okay?

CC

**Supersignet** · 02-09-2010, 04:47 AM

The GY-7 held up well on the trip. We punished it every step of the way and it didn't let us down. The only problems the bike really had were due to the Chinese bike fixers and their stupid hands. I know I shouldn't let them touch my bike, but after your foot has been severly smashed you tend to want to sit down and relax when you can

**bikerdoc** · 02-10-2010, 05:15 AM

Originally Posted by Supersignet

The GY-7 held up well on the trip. We punished it every step of the way and it didn't let us down. The only problems the bike really had were due to the Chinese bike fixers and their stupid hands. I know I shouldn't let them touch my bike, but after your foot has been severly smashed you tend to want to sit down and relax when you can

awesome ride, and absolutely brilliant photos and ride report... has made me more convinced I want/need to get myself more dual purpose than my 1100cc Dragstar Classic. LOL. While I have ridden that through crap roads in Jiangxi similar to what you describe, and quite a few mud tracks it just doesn't have the suspension travel, nor the ground clearance and its just too damn heavy LOL... so off to get the JH600...
but kudos for a ballsy ride...

**GERARDO** · 02-12-2010, 10:37 PM

Thank you for such a trip report. I´m reading this from halfway around the world, and just can drool over your trip and photos.
Good luck and keep on riding!!!

**heiri** · 03-14-2010, 10:38 AM

awesome pictures! really amazing. thanks! heiri

**jape** · 03-14-2010, 10:45 PM

Yes indeed, I want to second all the congratulations and thanks for great report and excellent photos. We get used to lots of pics in a world that is daily filled with plentiful digital media but some of those pics are real classics.