Six Days in Hebei (and Beijing)

[LeeLee]

Would very much like to read about days 4, 5 & 6.

[Pat]

[As an aside, is there a setting somewhere that will allow visitors who aren't logged in to see the pictures?]

Day Four ?? -> Shanhaiguan -> Beidaihe

The next morning, feeling rejuvenated and eager to drive in the daylight again, I got up and continued on the course for Shanhaiguan. I was doubly grateful that I hadn't passed through this area at night - the scenery continued to be great, rolling mountains as far as the eye could see.

Within a half an hour I hit another stretch of the Great Wall. It was largely broken down, mostly just towers with very little in the way of wall between them. I'd be seeing this section again in another 60 kilometers as it hit the ocean in Shanhaiguan. After passing the Great Wall, I hit coal country. Apparently there was a mine nearby and it seemed to have covered the whole area in a layer of dust.

Coal in the shadow of the Great Wall:
IMG_1622.jpg

As I approached the coast the landscape gradually flattened out. I turned northeast towards Shanhaiguan and arrived in the city around lunch. The ocean is actually several km away from the city center, so I decided to go straight to the Great Wall. It turns out that this section of the "Great Wall" was actually rebuilt in the 80s and is now safely protected by a ticket window. I had heard that it's possible to skirt the entry fee by riding up the coast a bit and then circling back around on the beach by foot - so I u-turned out of the parking lot and looped around to the beach.

Parked on the beach:
IMG_1642.jpg

I parked in front of the Wall and then walked back down to the section that hits the ocean, this side being safely protected by barbed wire.

Where the Great Wall hits the ocean:
IMG_1649.jpg

A man staring off to sea:
IMG_1655.jpg


After spending some time on the beach I rode into the city, found lunch, and then road into the walled part of the city. It's become Qianmen-esqe (completely restored and... kitschy) and was eerily quiet. The streets were empty as were most of the buildings.

It was only three o'clock, Beidaihe wasn't far, and having exhausted all the sights and sounds of Shanhaiguan I set course for Beidaihe. Just outside of the city I hit a round-a-bout with a man in a hard hat dangling two turtles out in front of the passing cars. I did a double-take and pulled over. "How much?" I asked him. "150" he replied. "150? Are they pets or are they food?" "Food!" "Oh, OK, thanks!"

Somebody's dinner:
IMG_1679.jpg

Within an hour or so, I arrived in Beidaihe. It was largely abandoned and while there were hotels everywhere, they were also mostly closed up for the winter. After cruising around for awhile, I finally found a hotel along the coast with people in the parking lot, but it turned out that that hotel was closed too. I asked one of the attendants if there were *any* open hotels in the area, he jumped on his motorcycle, gave me a big wave, and I followed out to the nearest 4 star hotel. I blushed when they said 360 RMB and, not wanting to appear ungrateful to my new friend, I almost accepted.. but after all, we had just met, so at the risk of hurting his feelings, I smiled, thanked him for going out of his way to help, and told him I wanted to check a couple of the other nearby hotels. I think he actually approved of this "thriftiness" and, just around the corner, there was another hotel at roughly half the price. Tired, hungry, and turtleless, I checked in and called it a day.

[ChinaV]

[As an aside, is there a setting somewhere that will allow visitors who aren't logged in to see the pictures?]

You need to post the photos and link them to an outside image hosting service. That will allow for much larger images in your ride report and also let non-members see your pics. The reason for that is the huge amount of bandwidth photos use and the associated cost.

Thanks for another interesting installment, reminds me of the first time I saw the wall with Chinabiker. I wonder if they will ever make the entire wall only visible by paying a fee .

Cheers!
ChinaV

[LeeLee]

No turtle soup for you? I probably would have passed too (unless they where the chocolate, pecan & caramel turtles).

[jape]

How come LeeLee has the power to get you writing and we don't?
Good work Pat, keep it coming.

[felix]

Ah the wall.... must ride up to that some day!

Good work, more please!

[Pat]

ChinaV - thanks for the heads up on linking to pictures, think I've got it figured out now.. although I'm still hitting the 5 image limit and it says even the "medium" sized flikr photos are too large.

Day Five Baidaihe -> Tangshan

In the morning I set course for Tangshan, subject of the recent movie about the 1976 earthquake that killed roughly 250,000 people. After four days of beautiful skies, pollution had settled in, and gave the day a gray tinge. The coastal roads were largely flat, tree lined, and surrounded by farmland. As opposed to the small farm plots I had seen in the mountainous areas, the farmland here reminded me of the States, large plots of open land.

A pretty typical sight:


I was making good time when suddenly the road began revert back to its natural form: dirt. Actually, dirt would have been nice, this was much closer to broken rocks. I pushed forward, bouncing over the rocks while trying to weave through the most intact parts of the road. After roughly an hour of this, and nearly in tears, I came up on a semi that was completely blocking the road. I pulled up to the cab and a couple of wide-eyed workers jumped out: "What are you doing on this road!? There's a newly paved road just to the south!" Oh my. Fortunately there was an access road right where we were, an within minutes on was a new road - so new that it wasn't in the GPS yet...

One of the "nice" stretches:



A stream, a restroom, and... very efficient "plumbing:"


Delighted, I opened it up, but within minutes the road ended in a T intersection. My heart sank. I turned north, and was confronted with two choices: a policeman guarded highway entrance or getting back on the broken road. Reluctantly, I turned back on the broken road. This portion was heavily trafficked and I passed by a couple factories and a line of trucks that, making a wild guess, were probably too heavy to be on this road. I wove through the trucks and moments later hit this:

Construction Ahead, Please Go Around:



To the north and south there were two access roads that led into the fields. Neither were in the GPS. I puzzled over this for a few minutes when a husband and wife road up from behind on a scooter. I asked them how to get around and they waved for me to follow them... past the "road closed" sign and towards the clearly visible backhoe in the distance. Sure enough, the road was closed, but my new companions weren't fazed by this, we turned around, went back to the southern access road (I would have picked the northern), and after five minutes of dirt roads emerged on the other side of the construction.

Again I was faced with two choices: the broken road or a paved road north. This was easy. The GPS said broken road, so, thinking "It's got to get better soon!" I turned back on to the broken road. Then, somewhere deep down, I heard my mom say: "If that GPS told you to drive off a cliff, would you do it?" Probably. But I'd had enough of this road, so I turned around, went back to the intersection and headed north.

And five minutes later I hit a row of orange cones protecting a perfectly paved road. "Not again," I thought. The man setting up the cones was on his hands and knees, peering at the cones and making sure they were perfectly aligned. I rode up and asked him how to get around. He got a big smile and said: "Are you a foreigner??" I laughed, and resisted the urge to say 'No.' He was thrilled: "Wow! It's my lucky day! I've never met a foreigner! Do you have any paper, you've got to write your name down! Just think, if I hadn't come out here today, I wouldn't have met you!" We traded phone numbers and took a picture:

There's always a new friend just around the corner:


I asked him again how to get around and he said "You don't have to go around! Just go through!" I'm sure he was more than happy to let me cross this cone barrier - but, being thoroughly conditioned that lines of cones are not to be crossed, I asked "What about the cops?" He said "There aren't any cops! The road's perfectly fine!" This I could believe. He walked over, pulled up a couple of his perfectly aligned cones, and with a big smile, waved me through. This one encounter had made the morning of riding over a broken road worth it.

I rode through the new gap, waved goodbye, and a hundred meters later came up on a construction crew hard at work. As I approached, one of the workers waved me over and I began rehearsing excuses in my mind. Fortunately, they were just laying a line of tar and he wanted to be sure I went around and not over it. I weaved around it and after that the road was perfectly clear and perfectly empty.

The rest of the ride was smooth sailing. I made it into Tangshan in the late afternoon, found a hotel, and walked over to the earthquake memorial as the sun set. It was quiet and I read the plaque remembering the disaster which ended with these lines:

"The great changes of the last decade declare again this truth: The Chinese Communist Party is great and the socialist system is superior. The People's Liberation Army is loyal and dependable and the Chinese People are unyielding. We erected and engraved this monument to console the friends and families of the deceased, to commemorate and cite the heroes and martyrs and to inspire and educate the people of today and future generations" 1986,7.

Inspired, I found a restaurant, ordered a Kung Pow Chicken and asked for a beer. The waitress listed off three names I didn't recognize, so I asked which ones were Chinese. She said they're all Chinese and came from Shanghai. "Ok," I said, "then give me the most popular one." And sure enough she brought me a Heineken. It's no Yanjing, I thought, but it'll have to do.

[felix]

Thanks again Pat for another instalment, a great read as were the last ones! You do tell a good story! Seems you now also know the risk of relying on gps in china, if you're on a shitty road, chances are that there's a new one not far that only the locals know about. Still though, how lost we'd be without our devices...

For posting pictures, take a look at this thread.

[LeeLee]

Glad to see your good fortunes in meeting people on the road who can assist you. Loved the pictures! The one of the restroom reminds me of some scenes from the movie "Slumdog Millionaire".

[Lao Jia Hou]

Hey Pat - where is Day 6? Returning to our lovely Beijing traffic?