Beijing to Kunming : A Commute to Work

**Pat** · 06-23-2011, 06:03 PM

Thanks again everyone for reading - I'm glad you guys can share the ride with me. Euphonius, that's a good question about the town I found in ruins.. it may very well have been earthquake related. At the same time - that was still before Qumalai - which was still several hundred km from Yushu - so I'm not sure. There wasn't a soul to be found in the place, otherwise I would have stopped to ask about what had happened.

Moilami - I laughed when I read your comment - towards the end, I figured out that I could ride off to the side of the road opposite the dust cloud - it saved me at least a few dust baths!

Laojiahuo, It was really something to see these basketball courts pop up - I ran into them a few times, but never managed to get into a pick up game!

**Pat** · 06-23-2011, 06:30 PM

Day 23 Yushu, Qinghai to Shiqu, Sichuan

In the morning I rode over to Mani Shicheng, home of over two billion hand carved prayer stones. I arrived to find pilgrims walking a kora around the temple:

The stones are piled high:

And have prayers written on them:

I walked with the pilgrims:

In places prayer flags are draped over the stones:

On the back side, a path leads into the middle:

Where another sea of stones reveals itself:

Along the walk, I met a photographer and reporter for National Geographic. And Euphonius, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear, the photographer complimented the Canon G12! They were in Yushu writing a story about the caterpiller fungus that is popular in the region. According to the reporter the fungus is supposed to be a medical cure all, and is worth more than gold.

Afterwards, I rode over to the Temple of Princess Wencheng. The entrance was quite a sight, the prayer flags looked like spider webs, covering every inch of the mountainside:

I did my best to not get caught:

I rode past the temple looking for the Leba Gorge. A dirt road led into a valley and forked left and right. I guessed left and rode for awhile:

This direction didn't appear to be turning into a gorge, so I turned around and tried the other path. It had been raining and road went from dirt to mud.. and, due for a good humbling, I hit a patch of mud, a groove, and...

Down she went:

I was able to pick the bike back up, but then it wouldn't start. I thought the engine might be flooded, so I waited awhile, but it still wouldn't start. It had gas and the battery wasn't dead, so I figured I might as well change the spark plug (why not?). And it still didn't start.

I began thinking I would be sleeping with the monks that night, when a little two-stroke tractor pulled around. I told the Tibetan man that the bike wouldn't start.. he turned the petcock to reserve (even though the tank was almost full), pushed the ignition, and the bike fired right up! I'll chalk that repair up to the magic touch.

Not wanting to push my luck, I turned around and hit the road for Sichuan.

And rode past some newly built houses that are clearly right in the flood plain:

The road followed a river out of Yushu and I continued to pass blue tents, villages that had been destroyed by the earthquake, yaks, stupas, and prayer flags:

The border with Sichuan is not far from Yushu, and, like the road into Qinghai from Gansu, this road climbed towards a snow capped mountain:

Each time I thought I had reached the top, the road switched back and continued to climb. And at 4700 meters, crossed into Sichuan:

And despite the change in province, this was still very much the plateau:

I was closing in on Shiqu and came across this large monastery:

Which led into a Tibetan town. There were kids everywhere, and few stopped to poke and prod my bike and GPS. I pulled out my camera and they jumped to get their pictures taken. One in front of newly built houses:

I wouldn't mess with this little guy!

We played around for awhile, and I got back on the road. As I reached Shiqu I pulled into the first gas station I saw and filled up. After filling up, I was preparing to go look for a hotel, when this guy pulled up:

I thought he looked familiar and we started talking and then Lulu pulled up. A lightbulb went off, and I asked, "Are you the 100 days guys on MyChinaMoto?" Jeremy said "Yeah" - and two worlds collided! I was dumbfounded, I had read their posts as I was preparing for my trip, and here they were - at a gas station in Shiqu, Sichuan!

I was thrilled to hear that our route was going to line up for a bit, and we made plans to ride out together the next morning. But first things first, we needed a hotel for the night.

They gased up:

And we rode over to the monastery next to the gas station. Young monks hard at work:

Unfortunately, it seems that monasterys are reluctant to allow women to spend the night, so we turned around and headed into the city. We found a hotel and, remarkably, a room with three beds and then went to dinner:

It was quite a thrill to run into these guys and hear stories from their 100 day odyssey. Not to mention have a conversation in English for the first time in memory. And little did I know the adventure these guys were going to take me on the next couple days..

**Pat** · 06-23-2011, 06:46 PM

Day 24: Shiqu, Sichuan to Manigangge, Sichuan

The next morning we got the bikes ready:

And after a breakfast of noodles, we headed east for Ganze. The skies looked ominous, and shortly after hitting the road it began to rain. Mud and rain would be the theme of the morning:

But there were some moments of paved, rain-free roads:

Ni hao!

The rain was heavy enough at times, that Jeremy and Lulu decided to inspect the local real estate market:

While the bikes got a free wash:

I did my best to keep the camera ready just in case I had an opportunity to immortalize Jeremy falling in the mud:

And he did the same for me: (why ride the bike when you can walk it?)

After all, traction was great:

Mud is fun enough to ride through on flat roads, it's even more fun to ride through on mountain passes. Here, we were just waiting for a car to skid out of control and finish us off:

Riding through the mess with friends definitely made it easier:

And when we weren't looking at the road or the sky, the landscape was spectacular:

And the road continued to wind through mountains:

It was getting into the late afternoon and with all the hard riding, we had worked up an appetite. We stopped at a small Tibetan restaurant to eat. Across the street was a hot spring and I watched as a three men splashed around. Then all of the sudden one jumped out of the spring... and I was horrified to learn that they were bathing in the nude! Sorry ladies, no pictures!

After lunch we got back on the road:

But not long after Jeremy pulled over to the side of the road. I assumed he was taking pictures and rode on past. When he didn't catch up, I turned back around to double check. I rode back to where he had stopped, and sure enough, his chain had fallen off. Lulu soon noticed we were missing and came back as well as Jeremy repaired the chain:

He got it fixed in no time, and didn't charge me for the free lesson! We started off again and passed a Tibetan village at the base of these mountains:

And not long after, Jeremy pulled off to the side of the road again. His back tire had been giving him trouble and had gone flat. Usually a good pump or two gets him back on the road:

But this time the tire wasn't holding air. He broke the tools out, took off the back tire, replaced the tube, and put the tire back on the bike. At this point, the sun was starting to drop, and we set off again.

And then he pulled over again. The chain had fallen off again. The tools came out, but this time the master link was broken, the chain had fallen off inside the casing and neither of us had the right tools to get it back on. It couldn't be repaired.

To make matters worse, the sun had set, it was dark, it had started to snow, and the road was pure mud. And to top it off, we were still more than 30 km from the next city. Lulu hadn't noticed that Jeremy's bike had broken down and was up ahead.. somewhere. And, as if that wasn't enough, we had no cell phone signal.

Jeremy looked at me and said: You go ahead, I'll push the bike. I'll be fine. It should be all downhill from here.

I told him to stay on the road, we'd come back for him.

I set off in the pitch black. Ahead, in the sky, I could see truck lights weaving back and forth. There was a mountain between us and the next city.

I rode slowly, brights on, trying to navigate the mud. And then, miraculously, I saw a white, single story building. I rode up the sloped driveway into a small courtyard and saw two cars - neither big enough to carry a bike - and a dog that was barking his head off.

A teenage Chinese guy walked out. I quickly told him my friend's bike had broken down and asked if we could stay there for the night. "No problem" he said. I wanted to hug him.

I rode back to Jeremy, watching the odometer. At just 1.5 kilometers I found him, pushing his bike. His front light had dimmed significantly as the battery ran out of juice. "1.5 km" I told him. He asked if they had rope. I hadn't thought to ask, nor had I thought to leave my bags behind so I could carry his.

I turned around and rode back, our new friend took the rope off the flag pole and gave it to me, I dumped my bags, and I rode back out to Jeremy. He had pushed the bike another two hundred meters while I was gone. We transfered his bags onto my bike and he tied the rope around my luggage rack and around the front of his bike. It was too muddy to ride, and so I put my bike in first gear and we walked beside our bikes, mine towing his behind me.

It was exhausting. I hadn't had any trouble with altitude since ascending to the plateau, but this was another story. We would push, pull, and drag the bikes several hundred meters at a time and then stop, panting for air.

Finally, the white house came into view. We pulled the bikes up the driveway and into the courtyard. Our friend had started up the stove in a neighboring building and heated two cans of peanut milk for us. Exhausted we huddled around the stove and tried to figure out what to do next.

Lulu hadn't come back. The dark, the snow, the mud, the mountain. No cell phone signal.

We had to get to the next city and call her. It was late, and there were virtually no cars on the road. When we did hear the occasional car, Jeremy jumped up and ran down to the road, but the cars were inevitably going the other direction.

We asked our friend what we could do.. he said he could wake up the man who ran things there and see if he could drive us. He left to wake him up, and a short while later, he came back and said 200 RMB. No problem. We got our things ready, got in the car, and held on for dear life as he sped up the mountain, through the mud, snow, and pot holes. At no point did I think we'd survive.

As soon as we reached an area with a cell phone signal our friend turned around and told us we could call. I held my breath, pulled out my phone, and called Lulu. It rang, I gave the phone to Jeremy, and she answered. We both breathed a sigh of relief.

She was alright. She had stopped on the mountain to look back for us. She didn't see us, but the weather had already deteriorated to the point where she couldn't go back. Knowing the two of us were together, she forged on. It had taken her three hours to cross the mountain and get safely to a hotel. She couldn't get through to us, and was waiting for Jeremy to call. She had even called friends to get them to put money on Jeremy's phone (he had realized it was out of money that morning).

Our driver got us safely to Manigangge and took us to a hotel. As soon as we walked in, we saw Lulu's bike parked in the corridor. She heard us coming in and met us in the hallway where we told her about everything that had happened. And then, finally, we went to bed.

**Pat** · 06-23-2011, 06:53 PM

Day 25: Manigangge and bike repairs

The next day started with stops at the local hardware stores and motorcycle shops to pick up the tools needed to fix the bikes:

And a long walk to the gas station to get some spare fuel, just in case:

And then we sat and tried to hitch a ride back across the mountain to where we'd left the bikes:

Traffic was light, but we eventually found a minibus who gave us a lift back to where we had left the bikes the night before:

And Jeremy went back to work in the cold and snow:

He replaced the chain and got ready to pump up the tire again, but his pump had frozen, and the tube snapped in three pieces when he pulled it out. Fortunately our friend from the night before found another pump, Jeremy pumped up the tire and went to get his stuff. And a few minutes later I saw that the valve was bubbling. I went to tell Jeremy and he just laughed. The tools came back out, the tire came back off, the tube came back out, he patched the tube, and repeated the process in reverse.

And finally, we were ready to set off. Before tackling the mountain, we stopped to take a picture with our savior from the night before:

The road was still muddy, and mountain snowy, so we made our way up slowly, Jeremy in the lead. His back tire was definitely low, but it appeared to be holding air:

As I came around every corner, I was expecting to see him stopped and broken down. But we made it up to the peak without incident:

We stopped and celebrated for a few minutes. From here, it really was all downhill. After resting for a bit, we began the descent:

And then coming around a corner, I saw him on the side of the road, tire flat as a pancake. And we hadn't taken the pump from the house. No problem, we thought, we'll just flag down the next car, truck, or motorcycle, borrow or buy a pump, and be on our way. We waited.. and waited.. a truck came lumbering up the mountain and we made pumping motions, but the driver, not wanting to lose momentum, kept going while yelling out "Mei you!"

It was starting to get late in the afternoon and we decided I should ride back to Manigangge, still more than 20 km away, pick up a pump, and come back. Jeremy would start pushing.

I raced back to town, bought two pumps at the shop, got gas, dumped my bags at the hotel, and started racing back towards the mountain. I was thinking about us getting caught in the dark again and wondering how it was all going work out.

I had ridden a good 10 kilometers back when an oncoming truck started honking at me - which isn't particularly unusual - and as I passed by, I heard a "PAT!!" - I looked over and saw this caged animal!

The feeling of elation I felt at that moment is hard to describe. And it was only topped only by riding behind the truck and watching heads turn and people laugh as they watched Caged Jeremy ride by (on his way to the zoo?).. later Jeremy told me he was waving to everyone as they rode by.

The truck brought us back to town and we unloaded at a repair shop:

The perfect truck at the perfect time:

A new tube for him, an oil change for me, and we were back at the hotel (this time in the 15 RMB room, instead of the 80) and then off to a hard earned dinner.

**robtho** · 06-23-2011, 07:33 PM

Incredible stuff, can't get enough of this thread.

**LeeLee** · 06-23-2011, 11:43 PM

Looking at these beautiful pictures one does not imagine the perils (like these) riders face. It's great everyone came out safe and sound.

**milton** · 06-23-2011, 11:59 PM

Amazing trip. This is what a motorcycle touring all about. Very appreciated for your taking us along.

Wondering though how much longer Pat can keep up his clean, radiant, beard-free appearance? Everyday seems like his first day of the trip.