Stage one – Figuring out where to go

G’day,

I just want to share some info that I’ve come across in the past couple of months (most of it from this forum) which has been very useful in planning my China bike trip.

About 10 months ago, I arrived in Chongqing to start a year long work contract. I had just finished off a short but intense two month ride in India and was keen as mustard to get back on a bike and do some more riding. I bought a big map of China and marked out all of the interesting places I wanted to go to and it looked something like this.

way副本副本.jpg


The easiest choice was the round trip, to get the most destinations and riding distance, and to avoid mucking around with trains. The current route is around 20,000 kms total and goes through 17 provinces and 4 municipalities.

The original route changed a little after I read through some posts here and talked to some people. The highlight of the trip was supposed to be T*bed, but it turns out that it’s far too expensive and troublesome to do by myself. The requirement for the guide within the region is the main issue because I would have to pay for all of his/her expenses (accommodation, food etc) as well as the salary, fuel and hirage for the other vehicle and more fees. I was quoted by one company in Kashgar for RMB80,000 for 28 days (I was originally planning only 21 days in T*bed) and a very helpful ryanjpyle said that it can cost upwards of RMB1500 a day just to comply with the regulations for foreigners, not including my own expenses. I have wanted to visit T*bed for years so it’s a real bummer to not be going there. I’ll be bypassing the big T by going through Qinghai and into Western Sichuan.

I’ll be starting in Chongqing on the 1st of March so I decided to go anti-clockwise to give Spring some time to catch the more western and northern areas. It might still be a bit cold when I get to Harbin in early April though, and apparently they can get some pretty nasty thunderstorms in Qinghai around May so there’s that to keep in mind. I wanted to take 5 or 6 months to ride around, but my work contract has been extended to another 18 months, so they gave me 3 and a half months off to do this trip. I hope to finish in 100 days on the 6th of June.

I need to avoid going into many of the bigger cities on the route. Fortunately Chongqing seems to be more motorcycle tolerant than other cities in China, so I’ve had a bit of practice and I can park my bike in a garage downstairs. The list I have (courtesy of Mr. ChinaV) of no-go-moto-cities:

Guangdong Province - Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Shaoguan, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Shantou, Shenzhen
Liaoning Province - Shenyang, Dandong, Dalian, Tieling, Benxi, Anshan
Jiangsu Province - Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Nantong, Yangzhou, Yancheng, Huai'an, Xuzhou, Taizhou, Changshu, Zhangjiagang, Jiangyin, Lianyungang, Kunshan
Fujiang Province - Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Longyan, Xiamen
Zhejiang Province - Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Yiwu
Shandong Province - Yantai, Qingdao, Jinan
Hebei Province - Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, Zhangjiakou, Qinhuangdao
Henan Province - Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Xinxiang, Nanyang, Linzhou, Jiaozou, Anyang
Heilongjiang Province - Harbin
Guizhou Province - Guiyang, Anshun, Tongren, Duyun, Zunyi
Anhui Province - Hefei
Jiangxi Province - Nanchang, Jiujiang
Hunan Province - Changsha, Xiangtan, Yueyang, Zhangjiajie, Hengyang
Sichuan Province -Chengdu, Mianyang, Deyang, Yibin
Yunnan Province - Kunming, Yuxi, Qujing, Mengzi
Hainan Province - Haikou
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region - Nanning
Hubei Province - Wuhan, Xiangfan, Yichang, Zhongxiang
Shaanxi Province - Xian
Shanxi Province - Taiyuan
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region - Baotou, Ordos, Dongsheng, Hohhot
Jilin Province - Changchun
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region - Yinchuan
Gansu Province - Lanzhou
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region - Urumqi

With some of the cities (like Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou etc) I’ll be parking the bike outside the restricted zone so I can bus or train into the city and nosy around the more interesting parts and take some photos.

I will also have to stay off the expressways in most provinces. I’ve been told by an MCM member here in Chongqing that in Guizhou you can drive on the expressways. Does anyone know if any other provinces allow motorcycles on their expressways?

Does anyone know some scenic/twisty/generally awesome bits of road on the way around?


Cheers,

Jeremy