Solo ride across Yunnan, Sichuan and Chongqing

[chinafrontiermoto]

Hi all. I'm VJ. A couple of weeks ago I found myself in a strange situation. I had trucked my motorcycle to Dali for a ride across Yunnan with a friend. With the cab scene in Chongqing worsening with the approach of the Spring Festival, I had to get my motorcycle back to Chongqing in a hurry. The problem was I had forgotten to book return train tickets from Dali to Chongqing for me and my Summit ZF-KY Enduro. I had no option but to ride 1300 odd kms. solo across Yunnan and Sichuan to get to Chongqing. I planned to do it in 2 days, but it took me 3 days due to some unforeseen problems. This here is the story of that ride. Read on and enjoy.
Dali has some amazing skies in the evening. Always believed that if you ever wanted to photograph clouds, Dali is the place to do it. Check out the pics below, you'll see what I mean.

[jape]

Hey mate, only the first pic showing! Looking forward to the rest. If you are having problems with pics, read here:
http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...-Photos-on-MCM
or another thread
http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...bedding-Images

Welcome btw! That is a great business you have, good website too. What is the engine based on in that Kinlon 250cc cruiser, any idea?

[chinafrontiermoto]

Thanks mate. sorted out the problem by using attachments. Happy reading.

[chinafrontiermoto]

And so on an evening like this, the good old gang in Dali prepared to send me off.
The went about it in a businesslike way by preparing a barbecue party with plenty of food and alcohol and then proceeding to get everybody smashed by midnight.
I busied myself all evening, getting the motorcycle checked, the oil changed, air filter, carburettor cleaned, tyre pressures optimized, brakes checked and brake oil topped up, going over routes, downloading maps for my GPS and then me and our club mechanic mike went and joined the party.
I couldn't sleep that night partly because a lot of drunk people were raising a ruckus on the streets and partly due to nervousness. With 20 years of motorcycle travelling all over Asia, the nervousness about a solo ride across several hundred kilometers of largely unknown terrain still haunts me before the ride.

[chinafrontiermoto]

All packing and preparations done, I still had the feeling that I had forgotten something.
When I rode out of Dali the next morning, it was still dark at 7.30 AM. the revellers had all passed out long ago. My buddy John was the only one awake to see me off. He made a great breakfast for me by stuffing pork chops into freshly made mantous (bread). I topped off on fuel just outside of Dali and headed out on the Lijiang road admiring the sunrise on my right.
The 200 kms to Lijiang passed off uneventfully and I found myself on the road to Ninglang and Lugu lake in about 4 hours. Once past Lijiang, I was out of the regular tourist roads and was headed out on to dizzying mountain tops and deep river valleys

[chinafrontiermoto]

After 136 exhilarating kilometers of some of the most amazing mountain and riverscapes, I breezed into Ninglang by 2PM. Ninglang is a little crossroads town nestling in the mountains bordering Yunnan and Sichuan. It is also a junction for all roads going to Lugu lake from the Yunnan side. I turned off here and headed on to the road that would take me to Xichang (The satellite launch centre). To my dismay the road narrowed considerably as it curved up steeply into the mountains. Nevertheless, traffic was mild and I made good time for the next 50 kms. or so when it suddenly petered out into a narrow dirt track.
A couple of tribal women informed me that this was a shortcut and I had to ride 13 kms of dirt track to hit the highway on the other side that would take me to Xichang. I was worried. It was already about 4 PM and I still had a couple of hundred kilometers to get to Xichang. I struck out and slid and bounced through the dirt track and was overjoyed when at last the track met up with the highway as the women had predicted. Another 50 kms. on the riverside road saw me in Yanyuan, a small town by sunset where I took a breather, topped up gas and had some tea.

[chinafrontiermoto]

The next 150 kms. could only be described as a nightmare because of a steep hill climb, extreme cold (about -1 degree celsius), heavy fog and frequent road construction detours which cost me an extra 50 kms. The last 40 kms. into Xichang were the worst with broken gravel roads and heavy truck traffic. When I reached Xichang city, I stopped at the first hotel I saw, got myself a nice room, took a hot shower, Texted my whereabouts to my gang, and hit the sack, all in 15 mins. I was exhausted but also happy that I had covered about half the distance (630 kms.) in 1 day of hardcore riding.
Check out www.chinafrontiermotorcycletours.co.cc for more ride pics, ride videos, blogs, humour and to generally hang out at our club.

[chinafrontiermoto]

Its a new inline twin 250 that Kinlon developed recently. sort of like the Regal Raptor inline twins, but a bit more advanced with fuel injection and putting out more horses. Thanks for your comments mate. You are welcome to register as member and post your ride videos and pics on our club site.

[ChinaV]

Looks like a nice little adventure , you're a lucky man to be living in Yunnan.

Tried your website, but the co.cc domain doesn't work so well for me here in China. Hope you can share some maps or GPS tracks of your favorite rides in that area, so much good stuff in Yunnan and Sichuan, and it's all out your back door.

Cheers!
ChinaV

[chinafrontiermoto]

Thanks dude. Yes it was a crazy adventure. try www.frontiermoto.webs.com that should work in China. Also here's a nice route. Dali - Lijiang - Diqing (Shangri la) - Litang - Xichang - Panzihua - Binchuan - Dali. Plot it on google maps and you have your route. Make sure you plot it using walking and not driving or public transport routes. Cheers mate. Will keep posting more routes.