Beijing to Kunming : A Commute to Work

[moilami]

Awesome survival of the hardship! I can only wonder how the man could look so happy after and during all that! Seems he is natural born adventure rider

[felix]

We are all indebted to you for the effort you are putting into writing this report. Maxithanks Pat, what an entertaining thread!

Lulu, Jeremy and Pat, the three of you are fucking troopers!

[euphonius]

What? Is it already finished? No triumphal grand entrance into Kunming?? Did I miss a post?

Every picture seems to tell a story, yet also begs more questions.

Like this one, for instance:



Lulu seems to be staging a boycott: "I've had just about enough of you guys' bright ideas...."

Plenty of fans hoping for more!

[Pat]

You didn't miss anything Euphonius - I've been working on the posts and I'll try to get this thread wrapped up this week!

Day 26: Manigangge to Litang

I was hoping to make Litang the next day, roughly 350 km away, and so we parted ways in the morning. I tried to sneak out of the room without waking Jeremy and Lulu, but the last thing I heard before closing the door was Lulu say: "Jeremy, Get up!"

This part of Sichuan is still largely Tibetan and actually has trees! This road could have come straight from Beijing - white painted trees lining the street:




Behind which sat a Tibetan village and a mountside full of prayer flags:




Before long I hit Ganze:




I rode through valleys, past Tibetan villages, and into a field where the flowers were blooming:




And then turned south towards the mountains:




Things started easily enough as the road followed a small river:




And past waterfalls that were spinning prayer wheels:




And villages that depended upon farming as opposed to herding:




As usual, the roads were shared:




And after crossing this bridge, the road took a turn for the worse:




And then I ran into this animal.. a not so rare and not so endangered species on Chinese roads:




As well as its cousin:




I had heard rumors that 50 km out from Litang the road was under construction. The rumors were false.. it started 80 km out. When I rode up to the first backhoe I came across, the worker told me it'd be two hours before I could pass! I protested, he consulted with the backhoe operator, and they agreed to let me go through - as long as I crossed their little pile of rocks by myself. A fair deal.

From that point on, I cringed every time I saw this sign ("Construction ahead"):




And spent kilometer after kilometer navigating mud, picking paths around backhoes, and riding over piles of rocks, hoping I could cover 80 km in the four hours before the sun set.

At one point these three little guys, who clearly aren't afraid of heights, waved me down and practiced their English ("HALLO!!"):




The road was bad, but it went through a beautiful valley. After days and days on the plateau, I wasn't used to seeing trees like this:




The road climbed through alpine forests, and coming around a turn I spotted a tent village:




Riding through, I stopped and a crowd immediately surrounded the bike:




I pulled out the camera and they took turns getting their pictures taken:




This young fellow *did not* try to give me the flowers after this picture:




And of course flashed the peace sign (what else are you supposed to do with your hands in a picture?):




We took pictures for awhile and then I continued on. Shortly after, I hit the peak:




And started back down into a valley that reminded me that I was, in fact, still on the plateau. There were storm clouds in the distance and, starting to get close to Litang, I tried to speed up as best I could. And then I turned a corner and saw this:




I stopped for awhile, futilely searched for the pot of gold, and then rode on under the rainbow. And then turning another corner and saw this:




I could see both ends of the rainbow - and still, zero pots of gold!




And to make things even better, for the first time in a long time, I saw pavement!




But it was the Chinese road gods playing with my emotions as I made the turn and...




At this point, I was less than 20 km out from Litang and didn't care. The road crossed one more mountain:




And then descended into Litang.. where I called it a day.. the last of my 300+ kilometer days.

[Pat]

Day 27: Litang, Sichuan to Xiangcheng, Sichuan

After fighting through mud, dirt, rocks, and construction the previous day, I braced myself for another hard day of riding. The plan was to continue on the S217 for another 200 km due south to Xiangcheng.

On the way out of town, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the road was actually paved, and as it turned out, was in pretty good shape throughout the day. After the adventures of the previous few days, the day went remarkably smoothly.

Just outside of town, the road wound up out of the valley above Litang:




It passed through a number of Tibetan villages and then turned towards the mountains:




Riding into the mountains, the road began following a small, rocky stream:




And then ascended to this peak at close to 4700 meters:




The road continued ascending and descending mountains:




Continued to switch back and forth:




Until it hit a rock-strewn plateau:




Surrounded by mountains:




The road continued to wind through the rocks:




And then descended into a valley:




And past another entry into the "Vehicles of China" category:




The area continued to be heavily Tibetan, with prayer flags strewn across the road:




And script carved into mountains:




It ascended to another peak at 4700:




And then reached Maxiong Gorge:




The road clung to the mountainside:




And even featured a guard rail!




After passing through the gorge, the road passed through a mountainside forest:




And a Tibetan farming village:




As the road approached Xiangcheng, it passed a "Natural Environment Improvement" project of some sort:




Seems like they're building a dam:



Oh wait, they're protecting the fish! ["The finst key position for fishes proteetion of xiangcheng power station"]




And finally reached Xiangcheng, perched up on a mountainside:




It was still relatively early, so I parked the bike at the hotel, tried, unsuccessfully to find somewhere to get online, and wandered up above to city to look back down into the valley:



This would be last city before I'd begin the "vacation" part of the ride, as I'd head for the "mythical" Shangrila the next day.

[Lao Jia Hou]

Simply awesome Pat.

Cereal, coffee & Pat's updated ride report - a great way to start a day.

Inspirational.

[MotoKai]

This part of Sichuan is still largely Tibetan and actually has trees! This road could have come straight from Beijing - white painted trees lining the street:

Great ride Pat! I've been silently reading from the beginning and enjoying each passing day....
I have to say there was something quite eerie about your thread, then I remembered your comment about a scene in Gansu with "parts looking like the moon"....with photos like this one below.

But now you're in conditions and altitude that allow for trees. I can almost breathe again, so I can't imagine how you must have felt to come back in touch with this kind of nature. Amazing that so many people can live in such harsh conditions of Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet and other regions.

And of course flashed the peace sign (what else are you supposed to do with your hands in a picture?):

In China this isn't the peace sign but the sign for Victory (解放 1949!)

[Pat]

Hey MotoKai - glad you've been reading.. it is amazing to see people living in such harsh conditions and to see how great a contrast there is in China - from the people to the geography to the lifestyles.. even within the same provinces and ethnic groups.

[Pat]

Day 28: Xiangcheng, Sichuan to Shangrila, Yunnan

This day was going to be a momentous day for my bike, we were going to celebrate her 10,000th kilometer. In preparation for the big day and remembering (for the first time in weeks) Lao Jia Huo's words of wisdom to keep the bike clean, I found a car wash to give the bike a long overdue shower:




After a thorough cleaning (and spraying my pants and boots down too), I plugged "Shangrila" into the GPS and saw that the ride into Yunnan was going to be fun:




The road wound up and down along a stream before passing above a Tibetan village and wheat fields:




I had heard that the road into Yunnan was dirt, but I was happy to start on a beautiful, paved, guard railed road to start the day:




But the dirt road arrived soon enough as I approached the mountain pass from Sichuan into Yunnan:




The dirt road wound up, down, and around the mountains:




Beep, beep:




And featured the occasional truck induced dust storm:




And then passed this incredible mountain range:




I kept a close eye on the odometer as we approached its 10,000th kilometer, and as it rolled over from 9999.9 to 10,000 I pulled over to celebrate:




No better place to celebrate:




After giving the bike a good rest, I hopped back on and began the descent. The dirt road actually hadn't been bad and was, for the most part, relatively smooth. But on the descent, I rode past construct crews "fixing" the road by covering it in rocks. The ride down was a lot bumpier than on the way up:




And after roughly fifty to sixty kilometers of dirt and rocks, I finally hit pavement again:




I stopped for lunch and checked out their solar power water heater:




After lunch I got back on the road. Somewhere along the mountain pass, I had crossed into Yunnan, though the area continued to be largely Tibetan:




Now in a more forested area, the road passed another mountain range:




And another peak marked by prayer flags:




The road felt brand new, as smooth as any road I could remember riding on. And yet, parts were already caving in:




Enough to break one's heart:




The road then wound down a forested mountain:




And past a farm that reminded me of the wild west:




Starting to close in on Shangrila, I stopped to rest in the shade for a bit:




And then finished the ride into Shangrila. I rode into the old town, remarkably similar to (i.e. copied from) Lijiang's old town.. which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Cobblestone streets, restaurants, bars, coffee shops - it looked like an ideal place to just sit for a day or two. So sit I did. I found a great little Inn that let me ride the bike right into the courtyard:




And spent the next two days doing.... nothing!

[Pat]

Day 31: The Final Day: Shangrila, Yunnan to Lijiang, Yunnan

If I could use one word to describe Shangrila it would be: comfortable. Three meals a day, a warm bed, a shower, Internet, coffee... I even ate fruit at one point! It was great.

My hosts at the inn told me it wasn't uncommon to have people plan to come for a couple days and end up staying weeks. I could see why.

But, I was running out of time. I had a bit of a hard deadline on the trip, and the adventures of Qinghai and Sichuan had used up more time that I had originally planned.

I had wanted to reach Kunming, but was down to three days and didn't have anywhere to put the bike in Kunming (I needed to return to Beijing before starting work in mid-July). I had some friends in Lijiang, and decided that if I could find a place to stick the bike, I'd run out the clock there.

So that morning I set course for Lijiang and hit the road. On the way out of Shangrila, I finally saw a Yak that wasn't just hanging out in a field eating grass, but actually earning its keep!




And then rode past this... oddly placed restroom: [one way to fertilize the fields]




The road out of Shangrila was in almost too good of shape. I worried that I'd cover the ground by lunch and the trip would be over. But fortunately, I hit a fork, the road deteriorated, and I knew I was going to get to enjoy one last China Road.

After turning off, the road passed through a few villages and a number of these wood structures (any idea what they're for?). It seemed each house had one:




And rode past another training ground for the Yao Mings of tomorrow:




And then hit another traffic jam:




And then a river!




Back in Sichuan, Jeremy and Lulu had shown me video of Jeremy riding through a river. Jeremy asked if I had had to cross any rivers.. and I disappointedly said "no." Now I had the chance, although to be honest, this was more of a stream.. a flow of water.. what Jeremy and Lulu crossed was actually a river (waiting for the pictures!).

I rolled through the trickle of water without incident and the road looped back out to the main road and started following a real river. I had visited Tiger Leaping Gorge the year before, and I started to get a serious case of deja vu:




Sure enough, the road wound out into the town that marks the trailhead of the TLG hike. Hungry, I stopped for my umpteenth lunch of Xihongshi Chao Jidan (Tomatoes and Fried Egg). This was just a warm up for the feast I was planning for that evening:




After lunch, I turned away from the gorge and followed the Yangtze towards Lijiang:




The road crossed over the river and began to cross the final mountain range before Lijiang. The architecture shifted to a more classical Chinese style:




At times it felt like I was riding through the rooftops:




I was looking forward to my evening feast - but this wasn't it!




I confirmed that these weren't pets, that he had caught them himself, and that their market value was 80 kuai each (a little more than $10). Not sure if that's a bargain or not, but either way, I decided to save my apetite and continued on.

The road wound up and then back down the mountain and into Lijiang. I hadn't seen him since Ningxia, so my first stop was to visit the Chairman, and make sure he was still keeping an eye on things:




And then I rode up to the Old City of Lijiang. Finished!




I parked the bike and promptly spend the next hour and a half wandering around the maze-like Old City trying to find the inn I had stayed in with a friend last year. On the verge of giving up, I finally stumbled across it and got a room (40 kuai).

I needed to get my luggage to the hotel, and since motorcycles aren't allowed into the Old City, I found this Naxi man, one of the many ethnic minorities in Yunnan, who agreed to give me a hand with my luggage:




I had been assured by multiple people that the parking garage next to the old city is safe and so after moving my luggage, I went back out and found the parking attendant to ask about leaving the bike for a month. She told me old bikes are 7 kuai per day, nicer bikes are 10. Thoroughly happy with either price, I thought I'd try bargaining a bit anyway, and asked if she could give me a discount. She looked around and then told me to come back in an hour after coworker got off work, and she'd let me park for free! This ranks as perhaps the first time I haven't been ripped off in a negotiable situation in China. That is, assuming my bike is still there when I go back in July.

Time for a rest!




Having found a place for my body to rest and a place for my bike to rest, I was feeling pretty good, and I set out for the long awaited feast.. a meal I had been looking forward to since some time in Inner Mongolia.. it was time to visit the Colonel!

Oh KFC, how I've missed you so:




And like that, it was over. At least for now. I spent the next two days haunting Lijiang's restaurants and coffee shops and trying, with mixed success, to stave off withdrawal.

So at this moment, the bike is still in Lijiang, two days from Kunming, and I'm tentatively planning to head back in mid-July to ride the last couple legs...