Pig Town Rides

[chinabiker]

I will create a collection of my "Pig Town" rides here.

"Pig Town", originally Ping Tou Liang, located in the northern part of China's Hebei province, got it's name from a sloppy pronunciation by the locals up there. In addition, the name is also related to the many pigs along the roads.

Location
N 41.278348°
E 115.908920°
alt 1640m

47km SSE of Guyuan (Pingdingbu), Hebei, P.R.China

[chinabiker]

Escaping Beijing's heat and haze during summer, a trip to the North is always a good, if not the only, option.

After leaving BJ city and it's outskirts, traffic reduces to almost nothing and great views open up.


Northern Beijing


Beijing into Hebei

After we crossed into Hebei, heavy rain et in, lasting for about 30 minutes.
With the rain behind, road construction ahead (near Fengning, Hebei)



Road under construction


A detour was on the schedule, together with all local traffic.



Detour - was actually fun


Local traffic

Some nice scenery again after the construction site.



First pass North of Fengning


G111, km231


Short before we reached Weichang (Hebei), rain and darkness set in.
On the last kilometers to Weichang we faced terrible riding conditions.



The hotel owner insisted on parking the bikes in the lobby.



Drying gear



Leaving the hotel the next morning


Proceeding into Inner Mongolia - great scenic views


Juice is squeezed out of some herbs.


Flower in the grassland


Building new roads goes together with heavy pollution.


I think this must be the place where they took the shot for one the famous Windows background pictures.



Third day - It was back to Beijing. Some long 350 kms ahead


Approaching Pig Town


Grassland view


Abandoned village


Path in Northern Hebei


Sandy ruts and traffic


Discussing options with a local


Pig Town pass


Crew at lunch


Maps with track (partially)





All pictures here

[Jimbosidecar]

Nice pics Andy. Been there a few times myself.
Regds,
Jim

[CrazyCarl]

CB,

Those are some nice pics! I appreciate seeing images of Mongolia as I've always wanted to ride there.

Riding in grasslands is lots of fun and what a treat for the eyes!

Who were the buddies in your riding group?

CC

[chinabiker]

Who were the buddies in your riding group?CC

Herbert from Germany, who was in charge of BMW moto China (2002-2005) with wife Sohyun from Korea and Claudio from Italy. Claudio runs 2 Italian restaurnts in BJ and has plans to start (or started already) one in Chengdu.

Andy

[chinabiker]

While the August trip was a great opportunity to escape BJ's summer heat, the October trip was actually a crazy idea. At mild temperatures around + 20 C in the city, we went out to camp near Pig Town for one night after we successfully convinced our wifes to join us. Temperatures close to freezing and a stiff breeze were awaiting us there.

Nice cruising in BJ's autumn mood





Bridge under construction ...



Some remains of the great wall in Hebei



Getting closer to the smaller "roads"



Harvest traffic



Getting tougher









A campsite was spotted in the middle of nowhere and tents set up when some locals showed up. They suddenly appeared from nowhere - as quite usual in China.



Short before sunset



Five nationalities



BBQ getting ready



It was too cold to stay outside, so we were all in our sleeping bags by 8 pm.

Leaving back to BJ the next morning







A small temple sitting on top of a rock



Short break at a small creek - temperatures back to very moderate



The last section in Hebei







Back on Northern BJ roads







All pictures

[CrazyCarl]

Those look like some genuinely good times man! I'm so ignorant of the riding in and around Beijing that I usually just assume it's loaded with traffic but that seems to not be the case as it's full of beautiful countryside and interesting roads.

Cold weather I think is nice for riding as long as you've got the right gear....usually cold air brings clear skies and radiant warming. Many of the pics look like something I would expect to see in the North East US; minus the temples on rocks. No matter how many times I see things like that I still wonder why and how they did it?

Nice that you can camp out there too. One benefit of larger bikes is you can take two people and still pack camping gear. I love how people just pop out of nowhere in China. You could see nobody for 100kms of riding and stop somewhere. Within 10 minutes some curious on-lookers are bound to show up...usually excellent folks too.

When were these trips? Also, do you happen to remember the name of Caludio's restaurant?

CC

[chinabiker]

Those look like some genuinely good times man! I'm so ignorant of the riding in and around Beijing that I usually just assume it's loaded with traffic but that seems to not be the case as it's full of beautiful countryside and interesting roads.

Riding around Beijing, say from Northeast to Southwest, is really fine once you left the city and the suburbs behind. About 70kms from downtown is where the nice mountain roads start and traffic reduces to a minimum. You find perfectly paved roads, gravel passes and also good off-road opportunities, just 70 km as the crow flies from Tiananmen.

Nice that you can camp out there too. One benefit of larger bikes is you can take two people and still pack camping gear. I love how people just pop out of nowhere in China. You could see nobody for 100kms of riding and stop somewhere. Within 10 minutes some curious on-lookers are bound to show up...usually excellent folks too.

Those people are really friendly, offering tea, food, ... without being asked and without asking for or even accepting something - almost embarrassing sometimes.

When were these trips? Also, do you happen to remember the name of Caludio's restaurant?
CC

The trips were in August and October 2005, but there were 2 more, one in 2006 and the last one 2007, which I'll cover in part 3 and 4.

Claudio's Restaurant is named Peter Pan: Chengdu Xiao Tian Xi Jie No.8, Tel. 028 85577058. www.peterpan.net.cn

Andy

[Lago888]

hi Andy,
they are awesome riding areas, thanks for posting them
it is easily some of the best riding I have ever done, thanks for being the Guide !
I recoginize yourself & Claudio,
I see further up, on this link, you mention the other rider is Herbert P
all the best
TIM L

[chinabiker]

Tim, you are a major actor in part 4 of this story.

Andy