Six Days in Hebei (and Beijing)

[Pat]

First, I wanted to thank Crazy Carl and everyone for all of their contributions to this forum - I'm a new rider and have learned a lot through this site. I also want to especially thank Lao Jia Huo - who took me around to bike shops, helped me pick out a bike, and introduced me to the Beijing riding community - his help has helped make all this all possible!

This is my first post, so by way of introduction, I've been in Beijing since August of 2009 studying Chinese full time. I crossed the year mark this past summer and wanted to do a bit of traveling before reentering the world of work, vacation days, etc. So, earlier this summer I went through the process of getting a Chinese driver's license, buying a bike, and taking day trips in areas near Beijing.

I had been hoping to take a trip over the October break - but passport and visa delays forced me to postpone and a cold-snap made me worry that Postpone would slide into Cancel. Last year's November 1st snow left quite an impression. But late October brought a string of clear days and got me thinking: maybe it's not too late.

I initially thought I'd have to flee the cold and head south, but on a whim I checked the 10 day forecast in the north and saw temperatures over 10 with no rain - so, north it was.

I took the weekend to get my gear in order (wiring the GPS into the battery, attaching a case, etc.) and on Monday morning headed for the mountains.

Before leaving, my Chinese teacher asked me "what happens if you get lost" and I said "If I don't have a destination, I can't get lost!"

Day 1 Beijing - Wubeikou

Here goes nothing! - Getting ready to head off.
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Given that I had only made the final decision to make the trip twelve hours before, I shouldn't have been surprised that Day One got off to a slow start. By the time I got my gear packed, said my goodbyes, and headed out of the city it was already after noon.

I plugged in Chengde as my first destination on the GPS and headed north. Beijing is remarkably flat, and from within the city, it can be hard to imagine how mountainous it is just north of city. After riding out of the city I branched north east and the road snaked through the mountains towards the Hebei border. The road was beautiful - well paved and lightly trafficked - and I quickly learned that a leading threat to was going to be oncoming traffic and cars passing into me. While I'm used to cars waiting until the oncoming lane is empty before crossing over and passing - apparently motorcycles don't count - so I quickly added this to the list of things to be watching for on the road (just after cars making right turns into traffic without slowing down or looking).

I packed light - no tent or sleeping bag - and wanted to avoid riding at night - so as I made my way north I kept out an eye for upcoming cities and potential hotels. As I approached the Hebei border I hit a small village in the hills under the Great Wall. The sun was starting to drop, Chengde was still over 100 km away, and I saw what looked like a police checkpoint ahead, so I decided to call it a day.

The view in Gubeikou:
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I pulled into the hotel and was immediately greeted by an older gentleman - I asked for a room and he waved me around to the back and I parked the bike in a little shed behind the hotel. I unpacked, wandered around the village for a bit, found a general store that, miraculously, had long underwear (it had been a cold day), watched the sun set over the Great Wall, and sat down to dinner at dusk.

The sun setting in Gubeikou
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As I ate dinner, the older gentleman, Mr. Tian, sat down with me and struck up a conversation. "You're a foreign exchange student! I knew it! Do like Bai Jiu? You like Whiskey? I've had Whiskey before! It was a 12 Year Old!" After I finished eating he insisted I join him and his granddaughter for dinner. He asked where I was going and I told him "Dalian" (at this point I thought this was still feasible) he laughed and said "way too far!" I pulled out my maps and he hunted for Dalian. At this point the cook had come out and joined us and Mr. Tian kept saying "My eyes are no good! What's this city here? It's not Dalian? Hmm, Dalian must be around here somewhere." His finger traced the coast and eventually he made it to Dalian at which point he laughed again and said "Way too far!" And I had to admit, it was too far. I wasn't in a hurry and had no real reason to go to Dalian so I decided the next day to just go the 100 km to Chengde and spend some time there. Mr. Tian finished his glass of Baijiu, I finished my beer, Mr. Tian got another beer for us to split ("This one's on me!") and I headed up to bed.

Dinner with Mr. Tian:
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All in all, a successful first day - even if I hadn't made it far, I was out of the city and in a hotel.

[ChinaV]

Welcome to the forum Pat.

Nice bike and nice to see you will be feeding our need for ride reports

Hanging in there for more.

Cheers!
ChinaV

[SabineHartmann]

welcome Pat!

and a very "warm" welcome, because I love reading about another guy who rides his bike through this great mountains! when you`re back, send a PM and we can sit together at Frank`s and tell one story or another!
Sabine

[euphonius]

Nice Day 1 write-up, Pat, and welcome to the board. I very much like your style of planning -- basically none. That's my style too. Live in the moment, enjoy the ride. You'll wind up somewhere, and in China it'll always be interesting, as your buddy Mr Tian proved.

Looking forward Day 2 and more.

cheers
jkp

[chinabiker]

Hi Pat and welcome!

I don't know when you started, but I hope you are already back as it is getting really uncomfortable in Northern Hebei - believe me I know about recent temperatures

Hope you have (had?) a nice trip and looking forward to see more.

[Pat]

Thanks everybody for reading! I got back into Beijing this past Saturday - and am writing this from the warmth of a coffee shop near Dongzhimen .

And I don't know how I forgot this detail, but I'm riding a Qingqi 200 GY 3rd Generation.

Day 2 Gubeikou -> Chengde

Breakfast of Champions:
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In the morning I ate a can of Zhou, drank a bottle of water, packed up, got my bike out of the shed, and checked out. As I was checking out one of Mr. Tian's friends walked up, a short, wiry older man. "How much did you pay for the bike? 13,000! My bracelet is worth more than that!" He rolled up his sleeve and showed me a gold band. I asked if he wanted to trade and he laughed and said "No way! I'd be losing money!" and then asked "Where are you from? America? Didn't you guys invade Iraq? Why aren't you over there now?" I confirmed that it was indeed America that invaded Iraq (I don't know how to say "Coalition of the Willing" in Chinese) and told him we had a volunteer army. He nodded and said "In America you have human rights. But China is good, now foreigners can go anywhere, it wasn't like that before. Now lots of foreigners come here and start businesses and make money." By this time the cook and another of Mr. Tian's friends had walked over. They poked and prodded the bike and after a thorough inspection sent me on my way.

What I had thought the night before was a police checkpoint was simply the border crossing into Hebei. I crossed through, stopped to take a few more pictures of the Great Wall, and then set off in earnest. The road continued to weave through the mountains and passed through several industrial areas and the ubiquitous construction sights.

One of many coal burning power plants I saw on the trip:
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On the way I stopped off at a small store to rest for a few minutes and pick up a Coke. It wasn't until I walked out of the store that I realized I had actually bought a "Future Cola" (or in Chinese a 非常可乐 "Very Cola"). I'm no cola connoisseur, but to my palate, it tasted just like a Coke.

"The Future Will Be Better!"
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I made it into Chengde around noon, found a hotel, and walked over to Bishu Shanzhuang - the Imperial Summer Villa where Emperors came to retreat from the heat of summer. As I walked around the enormous park, I couldn't help but think: This would be a great place to ride a motorcycle! And here I am hoofing it around on my own two feet! It is a remarkably peaceful place though - I wandered past boaters singing on the lake, people practicing Tai Qi, and groups of students learning about how foreign invaders had burned down large parts of the park.

The lake in Bishu Shanzhuang:
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This creeped me out - a kid with wire for an arm in front of an abandoned, grown over building - straight out of a horror movie:
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As the sun started to drop, I decided to find a restaurant for dinner. Walking out of the park I saw a European staring at a paper in his hand and surrounded by a group of taxi drivers. I heard the drivers laughing and saying "It's too far! We can't take you there!" while the European, oblivious to what the problem could be, continued to just stare at his little paper. I asked one of the driver's what was wrong and the driver said "He wants to go to Sichuan! It's 3000 km away!" I asked the European if he could speak English and he blankly shook his head handed me his piece of paper. It was in English and for a hotel in Chengdu. One of the other passengers in the car jumped out and, thankfully, could speak English. I told him this was the wrong hotel - and he rummaged around and found another paper - this time with a hotel in Chengde. The taxi driver recognized the name and off they went. And off I went to dinner and then to bed.