The rewarding us with punishment tour

[twowheelsRTW]

Imagin the irony of those words..... just minutes before the accident when we were high above the mountain looking down at all those tasty twistys. Lorn said to me "better watch it here, I can feel the brake fluid and oil the trucks are leaving behind. This road gives you just enough confidence to shoot the corners but is slippery enough to dump you on your arse real fast!"
And for all practical purposes, at least in the first few hours, we thought that the trip was already over....and it was only the fourth day. It seemed incredible that the major components of the bike were not damaged and that only the top end of the bike was bashed up. But the real miricle was the fact that Lorn organized the delivery of the parts, a place to work on the bike and the transport of the bike...all in less than two days! Hats off to this multi-tasked organizer... we were back on the road riding North a few days later!

[tokyokid]

Check out his Yamaha YBR125. I couldn't believe he had so much stuff on such a little motorcycle.

Oh ChinaV, i wait for the day when your finally drive one of these YBRs


What a nice trip and cool that you recovered so fast and could start an adventure right after.
Wish you have lots of fun in the states and when there is time come to europe, there is a little bike waiting here for you

[bigdamo]

I think I would have left China long ago if it wasn't for the weather and long riding season down here in the south. To be honest, motorcycles are the only thing that keeps me going most days. If Yunnan had the manufacturing base we have in Guangdong, I would move in a second, but then again, if it had that many factories who would want to go? I honestly don't know how you guys make it in Beijing and Shanghai, for a country bumpkin like me, both those places are just too big and crowded.

Jape, your skill set is a perfect match for the expat life. In fact, if your leather wardrobe includes assless chaps, there are many positions available.

Cheers!
ChinaV

Maybe you might like to come up and live in Kashgar they have just announced they are going to make it a EDZ .Riding season is abit short though.Then you go BC skiing.

Don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Certainly want to see Kashgar before it turns into another Shenzen.

Thanks for your ride report alot of effort posting it .Well worth it.

[bikerdoc]

Check out his Yamaha YBR125. I couldn't believe he had so much stuff on such a little motorcycle.



Do they make these Yammie YBR's in 250 or only 125cc in PRC? Seems like if they manufactured them in 250cc as this dual purpose orientated model they'd be a worthy consideration...

[twowheelsRTW]

My sincere apoligies to all China Riders for posting so little thus far........ A bit of an emergency to centend with right after completion of this Epic Ride! But we are finally back on track now!
Anything Goes Rules?..... Yes, indeed it was very interesting to finally see how riding China compares with some of the other populated Asian Countries and to personally verify everything I had heard and read that gave it the claim to fame of the "worst traffic conditions in the world". As a general rule, the more populated the Country and the worse the infrastucture that exists, there is an almost direct correlation to dangerous driving and seat of the pants scenarios. While China, (at least the parts that I have rode until now) didnt fare as bad as several other Asian Countries and certainly does not have so many India-like conditions, it will never the less grab your attention quite often!
But Asia, without a doubt has the worst of the worst conditions in the World and if there was a pecking order of danger it might go something like this....India gets first place HANDS DOWN, then Java, Viet Nam and then Pakistan and China perhaps tied for the next place. (Although Pakistan is not nearly as crowded, the truckies are pretty lethal!)
It goes without saying that as one drives West away from the Eastern Seaboard of China that things get substantially more relaxed and this is exactly what we did. There was a discernable difference between where we started in Guangdong and Guanxi and then later on in Yunnan and Sichuan. As Felix mentioned, even the truckies were pretty cool about letting us pass without much fuss, thus escaping their cloud trail of deisel fumes. But it was the first few days in Eastern China that reminded me of other Asian rides from the past. When you are competing with lorries, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, livestock and children......all on a two-lane hiway... well it can get pretty hairy. There are many a moment when you are locked into some kind of intense video game only the stakes are quiet a bit higher! In some of the first days I had so many near misses, mostly with other motorbikes, bicycles and kids that ventured out on the road without even a glance in either direction.

I was still getting used to the Galaxy and these road conditions the first few days and as a result usually lagged behind Lorn and Felix who must be acostumed to all this a bit more that I, no matter how many other Asian experiences I had enjoyed. In the end I decided to ride well within the envelope most of the time and assure myself that I would catch up to the others sooner or later and without incident. I might also add that Lorn and Felix are damn good riders.

I also thought alot about how China is the new riding frontier and how many others will arrive here eventually to have the same experiences. I wouldnt want to leave a bad precedent and make it harder for them to ride China if things became even more strict than they already are! After all, washing out on a patch of oil and sliding off the road is one thing........and hitting a child inside of a city would be quiet another. In the end what gave me more confidence was the awesome set of brakes that the galaxy has. It is very light and will stop on a dime.





Getting tied up in some heavy rain and a really bad traffic jam, Felix and I go motocrossing around the pack and stop to wait for Daniel who is slowly getting the hang of the "anything goes" road rules in China. It's getting a bit late, and I check the GPS for major towns ahead. It looks like we have about 50 kilometers to cover before the next place with a hotel and Felix's bike is acting a bit strange. Hoping that it's just a bit of water in the carb, we drain the bowl and it seems like we're good to go again.

[Barry]

I'll just bump this great thread, since I'm hoping to do a trip in Yunnan this year. Anyone else up for this, would really like to do a trip with fellow bikers and without gf this year!

[felix]

Thanks for pulling up old threads Barry! I had a read through this report again and it brought back lots of great memories from two years ago. Thanks again ChinaV for writing it up, it's still one the great RRs from mychinamoto.

Barry i'd love to join you but it won't happen this year. I was actually out there a couple of weeks ago and have a road tip for you:

http://g.co/maps/ay4h2

Absolutely THE best road i have ridden in china. Starting from shangrila and ending in tiger leaping gorge, it's not the main road connecting the two so you wouldn't expect it to be well maintained but it is, and it's stunning. It's best combination of hairpin heaven, immaculate surface, zero traffic and breathtaking scenery, and a lot of it is over 3000m. For added fun i included a 25km offshoot which is also perfectly surfaced and has some great corners. There is a 50RMB toll to pay when the road enters tiger leaping gorge. Pay it, it's totally worth it.

Here are a couple of pics from along this road that don't do it justice at all:









Definitely do this road when you go out there.

[MotoKai]

Here's another one Barry Yunnan Ride 2010, which covers South/Soutwest Yunnan.
And the S214 is now complete so this should be a cool [new] road to ride (east of Myanmar).

[Linger]

I'm two years too late but still amazed so deeply by your trip. It brought back memories, all those beautiful snow capped mountains, dusty twisty roads, butt sores, hotels in the middle of nowhere, the concrete-taste yak butter barley mix... thank you Lorne for putting up this report, that's a LOT of work! And I almost forget, some parts made me laugh so hard I feel I'm back in China again.

[ChinaV]

5 years ago... amazing how much has changed and how much hasn't.