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  1. #1 Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    Senior C-Moto Guru euphonius's Avatar
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    Who says there's no adventure motorcycling in eastern China?

    To celebrate the 6 August "Rise of Autumn" (liqiu or 立秋 in Chinese) as well as MotoKai's getting his new JH600 legal, we decided to make a quick overnight romp out to Moganshan, the old Nationalist Era cooling off playground for wealthy cityfolk in the lush mountains west of Hangzhou. MK left his colleagues to dribble his Friday workload, and we set off around 2:30 p.m. after a quick oil change for me. MK's bike had all of 100+ km on the clock, so this was his breaking-in ride. We took along oil and a fresh filter for his first change.



    Day 1
    Moganshan is maybe 200km southwest of Shanghai, reached ostensibly on motorbikes via the G318 and the G104 highways -- yucky roads filled with everything from oxcarts and scooters and the occasional herd of sheep to giant long-haul trucks and heavy equipment. On a lark, we thought, "why not give the expressway a shot?" Moments later we were blasting at 120kph through rain squalls and doing our best to dodge some vexingly ballsy drivers whose motoring improprieties only worsened as the pavement got wetter. Thirty minutes later, we were safely through a second tollbooth, traffic had thinned to almost nothing and biggest weather concern was a mammoth black apparition throwing off lightning bolts to the south as we raced west.

    Startled at our luck on the forbidden expressway, we pressed on and didn't stop for pix, so you are going to have to deal with the "worth 1,000 words" version of Day 1. The black chaos to the south got only worse, and began to chew into our daylight, and rain squalls hit again. We pressed west past Huzhou, knowing we soon had to turn south -- directly into the eye of the storm. Indeed, no sooner had we veered south off the G50 into the G25 and been chased from under an overpass by a work crew ("no motorcycles on the expressway!") were we hammered by the storm's full fury. Hail and torrents of rain, swirling wind and then, kaboom, a bolt of lightning maybe 50m to our right so close that the sound and flash hit simultaneously. Damn. Yes, let's get off this expressway, but, no, there's not even a safe shoulder! As the torrent slowed traffic to almost a stall, we groped our way down the emergency lane and found an offramp to the G104, and took shelter in an underpass literally under the G25. Soaked to the bone, we vowed to wait out the storm right there. This gave sufficient time for us to be interviewed by several crews of expressway police, who made no effort to cite us but did want us out of there. Maybe 45 minutes later we made a move, did the final 50km to Moganshan on the G104, splashing through floodwaters as the storm broke and slowly cleared. The 10km ride up the mountain was all lovely twisties, but as night fell we didn't see much except for the checkpoint where they extracted an 80 rmb entrance fee.

    MK called a lodge run by a storied expat Brit named Mark Kitto (author of China Cuckoo: How I Lost a Fortune and Found a Life in China) to reserve a table for dinner and see i they could find us a room. Twenty minutes later we were in Mark's rustic dining room, drying out and nursing cold adult beverages with a media couple from San Francisco who met when he saw her using her teeth to pull the cable off a spark plug on her Ducati Monster. We had a lot to talk about over some serviceable burgers. Kitto even came out to say hello. Then off to bed.

    Day 2
    Saturday morning broke with the bamboo groves and this quirky "hill station" draped in characteristic mist, so we figured we might as well have a look around while the fog burned off.



    We stopped for a breakfast of soup noodles with lovely bamboo shoots harvested in the surrounding forests by these local gals.



    Then a pot of pre-ride cowboy coffee from Kitto's Lodge.



    Then we saddled up to go.





    Dig the reflective vests? More on those later...

    Kitto and one of his staff had been kind enough to recommend some nice roads, saying we could expect 17km of nice twisties down the back of the mountain, then another set of lovely curves heading into the town of Anji. The quality of the road and scenery and the scarcity of traffic were far beyond our expectations. There was still a bit of mist in the bamboo groves as we set off.







    If that pavement looks very fresh it's because it was. At one point traffic was stopped in both directions for a crew that was laying fresh asphalt. We managed to just sneak through. This surely contributed to the lack of traffic on the road.

    We stopped at one scenic bend to take pictures.





    If you look carefully, there's the start of a dirt road on the left. We decided to explore. It only ran about 1 km or so before disappearing as single track into the forest, but, WOW!



    The previous evening MotoKai had said he was a bit skeptical about running the Jialing off road. After this little run, he was grinning ear to ear, saying: "The suspension on this thing is awesome!"



    to be continued...
    jkp
    Shanghai
    2010 JH600 "Merkin Muffley" (in Shanghai)
    2000 KLR650 "Feezer Ablanalp" (in California)
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  2. #2 Re: Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    Senior C-Moto Guru euphonius's Avatar
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    The first 17km were sheer bliss, and as we got off the mountain the sun really started to burn through. The greenness of the scenery continued. Apologies for the blur in some of these shots; many were shot while riding, with me clutching my little Canon G11 from the back with my gloved clutch hand. I think I was shooting at DIN100, and in future will boost that to 200 or 400. I'm also only able to guess at the composition (given that I'm also driving), so I just aim in the right direction, rely on the autofocus, and hope for the best.







    We passed through village after village, all of which seemed to be engaged in the bamboo trade.







    We took a short break in a tidy village and, as is the case in virtually all villages in China, were able to bone up on our civics -- C*mmunist P*rty style. The sign behind me reads: Implement Rule of Law in Governing the Country; Steadfastly Rule in Service of the People.



    Do you suppose we were doing our part for "rule of law" and "serving the people" by dressing up as police?



    The final run into Anji featured about 5 km of hardpacked washboard dirt road that allowed us to stand on our steeds and again test the suspensions, but not before we enjoyed a final set of blissful twisties. I'm not sure the logic behind the rocks linking both sides of this stretch.





    Gassing up with the locals in Anji. Yes, Easy Joy could have been the theme for this ride!





    As we rode south out of Anji, we found ourselves on excellent provincial highways, and as our speed increased the color scheme changed dramatically from green to blue. And the scenery morphed from the supple flex of bamboo to the gargantuan yet also graceful firmness of China's infrastructure boom. The bigger roads themselves, rather than bending like bamboo with the contours of geography, tend to smooth out the contours with trestles and mountain cuts and nice straight stretches with only the gentlest of curves.







    These last couple of shots courtesy of MotoKai, who started experimenting with the gloved clutch-hand grip and his pocket Nikon.

    Did I mention the bamboo trade?





    one more take coming...
    jkp
    Shanghai
    2010 JH600 "Merkin Muffley" (in Shanghai)
    2000 KLR650 "Feezer Ablanalp" (in California)
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  3. #3 Re: Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    Senior C-Moto Guru euphonius's Avatar
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    I titled this thread "Slabbing to Moganshan (and back)" and perhaps created some confusion with the verb "to slab". It's used in freeway-mad California to describe boring riding on high-speed freeways in the interest of saving time, and it certainly applied to our ride to Moganshan.

    So how did we manage to get on the forbidden expressways, known as 高速公路 or gaosu gonglu? Well, let's call this a work in progress. We know that China's national traffic law does not forbid motorcycles from expressways, and around Beijing access is pretty easy and the tolls keep away small bikes. In most other places, onramps are posted with "no motorcycles" signs (picture of a motorbike in a red circle with a lateral red slash through the center). We simply roll up to the toll gate and ask for a ticket. This is generally declined with comments that include: "it's not safe" and "it's not allowed" and "we don't have a class of ticket for motorcycles". I reply, "it's way safer than on the surface roads, and we'll look out for our own safety" and "please show me the law that forbids us entering" and "please give me the class of ticket used for cars; we're happy to pay" and, as the toll taker fumbles with the phone to escalate these ideas to his or her superior, I reply, "Everything will be OK," and we do something that's perhaps best left to the imagination.

    What's interesting is that when we reach the next toll gate, we get looks of surprise, but no blowback at all. Typically we just get waved through -- no muss or fuss with tickets and payment. On the ride back into Shanghai, we even passed through a major Shanghai Expo security check manned not only by traffic police but also by People's Armed Police. I saluted them as we slowly rolled through, and all was well. We've done this both with the police vests and without. At one rest stop where we were briefly hassled by a plainclothes security guard with too much time on his hands, he did ask about the police vests. We just said they were given to us by a Shanghai police officer who urged us to wear them for the sake of visibility and safety, especially on the expressways. He replied, "We don't actually know very much about expressway regulations."

    I made sure to include some expressway pix as we left the mountains behind and blasted back toward Shanghai, though we didn't get any shots of the tollgate encounters. Again, do note the dramatic change of color from green to blue.



    So what's that out on the horizon, beyond the G15 expressway sign? It was the first of several emblems of China's new infrastructure -- architecturally stunning bridges that hold up these beautiful new expressways. We saw angular forms like this, and bold curves as well. Some bridges combined both.







    Look up! Wheeee!













    The bridge is called the Minpu Daqiao, crossing the Huangpu River that slices Shanghai into halves. It links Shanghai's Minhang and Huangpu districts, hence the "Min" and "Pu" in the name. Daqiao simply means big bridge.

    The first tower in cloud shadow, the second bathed in brilliant sunshine!





    And a final look aiming the camera back over my shoulder. Yes MotoKai's still there!



    jkp
    Shanghai
    2010 JH600 "Merkin Muffley" (in Shanghai)
    2000 KLR650 "Feezer Ablanalp" (in California)
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  4. #4 Re: Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    MCM Chinese fellow td_ref's Avatar
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    what a ride, jkp. The police vest works like a military licence plate and deceits security. How fast were you over-taking 4-wheels at highway?
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  5. #5 Re: Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    Senior C-Moto Guru euphonius's Avatar
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    Thanks, TD Ref!

    As you can see in the pix, we were almost alone on the expressway, with not too many other vehicles to deal with. On Day 1, there were quite a few trucks and cars (as well as bursts of heavy rain) in our first hour on the expressway, so of course there was the big speed differential between cars and trucks and the resulting dangers when overtaking. And we had plenty of assh*les in luxury cars passing on the right in the emergency lane. This is China. Once we cleared Shanghai the traffic thinned out dramatically and we ran a consistent 110-120 kph with no one really to overtake.

    Slab is what it is: A good way to get somewhere fast, but not a huge thrill in and of itself.

    cheers!
    jkp
    Shanghai
    2010 JH600 "Merkin Muffley" (in Shanghai)
    2000 KLR650 "Feezer Ablanalp" (in California)
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  6. #6 Re: Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    grumpy old sod jape's Avatar
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    Nothing wrong with a bit (or a lot) of tarmac when you are going to somewhere good, saves some energy and wear and tear so you can enjoy the off road! Keep these reports coming, I truly enjoy the pics of normal life. On the one hand the essential similarity in human endeavours worldwide and on the other, the cultural differences and quirks, both make enjoyable viewing.

    The quicker the rest of the world catches up like this to so-called western progress the better. Gives these new countries real weight in the world as the arrogance of the old powers has to be measured and curtailed.

    It us strange being outside China, looking in, we still hear the odd off-hand news report of a few thousand people homeless or even killed in floods and earthquakes, then it goes quiet unless the price of commodities into China moves by 0 point 005 percent and the wankers in stock exchanges in USA get into a tizz and wet their pussy knickers.

    Get that lad a rack and panniers, and into some black motorcycle trousers - the jeans and plastic bag look defeats the 'polizia' cool. So good to hear and see that you have simple fun in ways that take the piss in a friendly way, not many people can do that without being insulting and inappropriate. I used to cruise round Europe with 'Intelligence' credentials I made myself, I never got seriously called on them and often got free phone calls, assistance and even a meal or somewhere to stay! As long as you had enough experience to know a couple of protocols and jargon, the nature of the game was such that it supported the ruse.

    Good luck, keep having fun and sharing it!
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  7. #7 Re: Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    Senior C-Moto Guru euphonius's Avatar
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    Thank you, Jape. Glad to be able to give a glimpse of China as it finds its way in the world.

    cheers
    jkp
    Shanghai
    2010 JH600 "Merkin Muffley" (in Shanghai)
    2000 KLR650 "Feezer Ablanalp" (in California)
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  8. #8 Re: Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    C-Moto Guru MotoKai's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by euphonius View Post
    At one rest stop where we were briefly hassled by a plainclothes security guard with too much time on his hands, he did ask about the police vests. We just said they were given to us by a Shanghai police officer who urged us to wear them for the sake of visibility and safety, especially on the expressways. He replied, "We don't actually know very much about expressway regulations
    And there was the moment when hiding out from the rain and lightning under the overpass on the exit ramp of the Hang-Ning Expressway when one of the [many] police crews who stopped to "investigate" asked us in all seriousness if we were the police. I think we were both tempted to respond in a Blue Brothers way and say, "Yes we are. You see, we're on a mission from God."

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  9. #9 Re: Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    C-Moto Not-so-Noob
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    Very very very nice thread. Like the way you narrate!

    I would love to join you guys. When is the next trip planned?!!

    About the Minpu Daqiao, it is named Minpu because it links Minhang and Pudong! Chinese always take the first part of the destination's name to name roads. For example the Huhang Gaosu is the highway that goes from Shanghai to Hangzhou (Hu is for Shanghai) or the Yongtaiwen highway that links Yongkang, Taizhou and Wenzhou.

    Please count me in next time!
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  10. #10 Re: Slabbing to Moganshan (and back) 
    C-Moto Senior DanKearney's Avatar
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    Thanks guys for the RR. Interesting and some good pics. It's still amazes me how one can go from the 21st century to the 19th century in China by just traveling a few hundred kilometers. From modern towns and beautiful roads to dirt tracks and tiny villages supported by muscle power.

    Cheers,

    Dan K.
    Dan Kearney - Black Hawk, Colorado, USA
    Zongshen RX-3 - Zongshen TT250 - Ural GearUp Hack - Honda CT110
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