Beijing to Kunming : A Commute to Work

[Pat]

Day 13: Xiahe, Gansu to Xining, Qinghai : An Ode to the S202



Xiahe is an amazing little place, and I half regretted only spending an afternoon and an evening there - but the weather had gotten dicey. It rained all night and the forecast predicted more rain that week, so waking up to overcast skies, I thought it best to make a break for it and head West towards Qinghai.

I spent most of the day on the S202 riding to Xining - the road is amazing - and it turned out to be one of the best riding days of the trip. Felix, if you have time to squeeze this road into your trip, I highly recommend it!

Before leaving, I wanted to walk the Kora Pilgrim Path with the Tibetan pilgrims who come to the city from the countryside. The path begins by following 1174 prayer wheels:




The pilgrims walked through the corridors, chanting and spinning the wheels:




The path looped around the monastery:




And past meditation cells:




The occasional animal joined in the walk:




The path circled around the monastery:




The pilgrims walked around the stupas:




And then kneel and bow down on these stone slabs:




After walking the Kora Path, I went back to the hostel, packed up and headed for Xining. The route took me back towards Linxia, the Hui city, on the road I had ridden the previous day. I noticed different things this time through, including this snow covered mountain:




Eventually, I split off on to the S202 and headed westward. Through another Hui city full of people walking through the streets:




And past another butcher shop:




Leaving the town behind, the road led towards a snow capped mountain:




And started following a small river as it entered a valley:




The road began to climb and climb and climb towards the mountain:




Finally closing in on the peak, I looked back at the road traveled:




Approaching the summit, I reached a sign that announced a Qinghai road:




I later looked the spot up in google maps, and found that the border with Qinghai was actually close to the start of the ascent into the mountain. The way down was almost as twisty as the way up:




And bottomed out into a valley. The mountains had turned red:




I rode through another Hui village until I found a place for lunch:




After lunch, I continued through the red mountains, through villages, and ran into these two friends walking and playing along the road:




The road twisted and turned, and I hit Xunhua Gorge and the Yellow River:




After riding through the gorge, the road led began another ascent, twists, and turns through the red mountains:




And came out on the other side into yet another set of snow capped mountains:




Eventually, the S202 hit my old friend the G109. Not to be outdone, the G109 quickly began another ascent across another mountain range. Reaching the peak were more signs of Tibetan culture:




As my travels through Tibetan areas progressed, it was always easy to identify when the road had reached the peak of the mountain by the prayer flags, stupas, and other religious markers. On the way back down the mountain and past another town:




After descending from this mountain, G109 flattened out as it approached Xining. I slowed down and then stopped to let this tree cross the road:




Half an hour later, I grew impatient and rode past. I entered the city, leaving the G109 behind for good. My route would take me south towards Yushu in southwestern Qinghai. I rode around the city for awhile looking for a hotel where I could safely park the bike. After a few tries, I finally found one and called it a day.

[Pat]

Day 14: Xining, Qinghai: Rest Day and a Change of Plans

Planning to head up onto the Tibetan Plateau, I wanted to take a day to find warmer clothes, get hand guards for the bike, and potentially get the bike looked over for preventative maintenance. I Google/Baidu mapped an address for a Qingqi dealer, hailed a cab, and promptly went to... a place where there was not, nor ever had been a Qingqi dealer. I asked around in the area, was told about a Motorcycle District, hailed another cab, and was able to find it several kilometers away. After hanging out at the store for a bit and picking up some hand guards (that ultimately wouldn't fit) I headed to a coffee shop to do some route planning.

I spent the afternoon looking at forecasts that said rain, rain, rain. I looked and looked for alternative routes that might avoid the weather, but ultimately couldn't figure anything out. I finally resolved to just try the weather going south towards Yushu and hope for the best. If I needed to go slow, one city at a time, then I'd go slow.

On my way out of the coffee shop, I asked the owner if she knew where I could pick up some warmer clothes. I told her my plans to head south for Yushu, and she was adamant that I didn't go. The altitude, the earthquake, going alone, etc., etc.

Then she said I should go to Tibet instead. Instead of going through Yushu, I could take the route through Golmud (Geermu) and visit her husband on the way... the only catch, Golmud was almost 800 km to the west and in the opposite direction of Yunnan...

My new friend ordered carryout delivered to the coffee shop, and over dinner I thought about it. I checked the weather and saw that it was clear to the west. Finally, I decided that a chance, even if remote, to go Tibet was too good to pass up. And so West it was...

[LeeLee]

These pictures are breathtaking and the stories are so fascinating. Continued good travels!

[euphonius]

... Finally, I decided that a chance, even if remote, to go Tibet was too good to pass up. And so West it was...

...he said with a delicious not of foreboding.

OK, I'm on the edge of my seat. MORE!

Awesome ride, and lovely ride report, Pat. I really respect your pace and "I'll take whatever she gives" attitude.

cheers

[felix]

I slowed down and then stopped to let this tree cross the road:

Love all of them, but this pic is hilarious!

I am really looking forward to hearing about how the tibet pass goes, please please please say it worked! This could be a turning point for many of us china-ADV-ers!

Thanks for the road advice. I had to postpone my big trip due to china getting in the way of me ever getting my bike, but i will make it out there before i die of impatience.

[Lao Jia Hou]

Continues to be a great read, Pat - thanks!

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I am kicking myself EVERY day ... I know, I know, I know ... I am eating double servings of crow!

Hope to get the next installment soon! And I'm really glad little Miss Qingqi is holding up her side of the bargain.

BTW, your rear tire looks a little "worn" in one or two pics - you must be up around 8 or 10K on it by now?

[Forrest Speyer]

Hi Pat,well,I don't know man....but your bike looks overloaded in those pics~be carefull ok? like everyone else,I'll be here when the next update is comming up!! Oh, and say hello to your Qing qi for me will ya? later man!!

[Pat]

Day 15: Xining, Qinghai to Dulan, Qinghai

I wanted to get to Golmud in two days, which meant breaking it into roughly a 430 kilometer day and a 350 kilometer day. When I think Tibetan Plateau, I generally thought Tibet. But the plateau actually extends well past Tibet and covers southern Qinghai as well. The route west would take me past Qinghai Lake and then follow the southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau from Xining to Golmud.



While the day before I thought I had finally left the G109 behind, now I found myself back on it as I headed west. I also thought I had left the sand and arid climate behind in Ningxia, Gansu and Inner Mongolia, but parts of Qinghai are quite arid too:




As I reached Qinghai Lake, I saw a small access path that led down lakeside. I hopped off the road and followed it down to the edge of the lake. I've heard under the right light, the lake is full of brilliant colors, but on this day, it just looked like a big... lake:




On the opposite side, the road was following a mountain range:




Riding back up from the lakeside, I stopped at a gas station that was quickly overrun by sheep:




The road continued west, and the sky turned ominous. Storm clouds had gathered to the side of the road, and I picked it up, hoping to beat the storm:




This would start a day's worth of storm dodging, sometimes successful, sometimes not so. In this case, not so. It started raining and I pulled over to seek shelter:




The storm passed and the road headed for a mountain pass out of the Qinghai Lake area. The road began to climb the mountain, and the storm clouds closed in again. As I reached the summit, it began to hail. Not cool:




As I decended, the hail turned back to rain, and then I finally left the mountain and the storm behind:




And then the road reached the edge of the plateau. The road would follow the plateau all the way to Golmud - each time I glanced south, I'd see the plateau looming:




But there were still mountain ranges to pass through as I headed west. There were also broken down trucks and their "warning signs"




And subtle warnings to follow traffic laws:




The rain continued to come and go and along the way I passed by another biker wrapped in a parka who was clearly packed for the long haul. Later I stopped to take pictures and he caught up and stopped. He was on his way to Lhasa, the pinnacle of every Chinese biker's career:




My initial thought was "What a character!" He was riding a 125 CC bike, where I had a GPS on my bike, he had a roll of paper maps stuck to his bike, and he had a bike pump taped to his handle bars! The more I thought about it, the more impressed I was. As he rode off, I said goodbye, and he said: you yuanfen de hua, zaijian. Which loosely translates as, if we are destined, see you again.

He rode off, I passed him a few minutes later as he was taking pictures, gave him a couple honks in goodbye, and continued to try to dodge storm clouds as best as I could while following a narrow strip of pavement:




As I approached Dulan, the weather finally broke, and blue skies appeared:




I took this picture to celebrate:




I cruised around Dulan - which took about five minutes - and having surveyed the hotel offerings, I pulled into the most promising one. It turned out that I was the first foreigner to try and stay there this year - so apparently they had to have the police come.. for some reason. Problem was, it was late and the local authorities were already off work for the day. As I was trying to talk them into letting me stay anyway, my friend walked in. He got a room no problem and retired for the night - ultimately rejected, I went back out and found another hotel and a hot meal.

[Pat]

Day 16: Dulan, Qinghai to Golmud, Qinghai

The next morning I got back on the G109 heading to Golmud. The mountains around Dulan are quite stark:




And not long after getting on the road, I passed this shepherd on his way to his flock:




This stretch of the G109 is arid, and I was surprised to find myself back in the desert:




It turned out to be a great road for getting from Point A to Point B - flat, in good shape, and the scenery never changed - so there was no need to stop and take pictures! The plateau continued to entice from the south:




And the desert and power lines streched on and on to the north:




I made record time into Golmud. As I reached the edge of the city I pulled over to call my Xining friend's husband, Mr. Liu, to figure out where to meet. And then out of nowhere, my biker friend from the day before pulled up!

My friend Wang was on his way to a mechanic to get his bike adjusted for the altitude and invited me to come along with him. We rode over to the mechanic's, who pulled out my spark plug, diagnosed me has having been using bad fuel, and then adjusted my bike. (Based on what I've read on MCM, I try to stick to Sinopec - but often have no choice but to use the local stuff).

Hard at work:




While he was working on my friend's bike, I called Mr. Liu, who drove over to the mechanic's shop. He took us over to a nearby hotel, Wang and I agreed to touch base again later in the evening, and Mr. Liu and I set off for dinner. Over dinner, Mr. Liu, who was a government official, encouraged me to make the ride down to Tibet.

If I hadn't met Wang, and Mr. Liu hadn't encouraged me, I likely wouldn't have tried for Tibet and headed somewhere else - perhaps to meet friends in Dunhuang. It's 600 km to the Tibetan border. But as it was, I had come this far and I had met another biker heading there - it seemed like I should give it a try. And so the next morning, we headed south.

[felix]

Thanks for the follow up, those mountains outside dulan look gorgeous. Man i want to be out there.

More more more please!