Beijing to Kunming : A Commute to Work

**andre555** · 05-16-2011, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by Pat

...
Thanks for the heads up Andre - There's a small village I'm hoping to visit SW of Taiyuan.. although I may see if I can find a route that avoids Taiyuan as much as possible.. sounds horrible! As for the entry into Yunnan, I've been looking through an atlas - is that road you mentioned in Sichuan/Yunnan S217? Looking at ChinaV's kml file - it looks like he and CC took it in '08. I may very well enter Sichuan on S217 from Qinghai - is it a good road to follow all the way through Sichuan?

Hi Pat, the S217 I only know from Litang Southwards into Yunnan. Its a good one, between Yunnan border and Shargrila Gorge its a dirt road, be aware!
The road I mean is more westward, directly at the border to Tibet. Follow G318 - a virtually empty G road in western Sichuan, just before it crosses the JinShaJiang there is a small road going south - it will bring you into Yunnan on a road much less traveled. This road is not on Google maps, but it exists and is simply beautiful, glaciers, waterfalls...
In these areas you will hit nearly 5000m asl!

Summer is raining season, which means mudslides. With the bike you can pass them usually. That is for all the Yunnan and South Sichuan, not sure how much it applies to Qinghai and Northern Sichuan.
I went once from ZhangJe in central Gansu to XiNing - Qinghai. Can recommend that. No pollution and a clear day you see the mighty Qinghai plateau from 50km distance...and then you get there...

Have fun and ring when you in town.

**felix** · 05-16-2011, 03:43 PM

Nuhaus, i'll be riding my new qingqi QM250 if i ever get it (bought it in feb, still waiting...)

Pat, sorry the route i sent was missing a point. This route takes a smaller more northern road of of xiahe:

http://ditu.google.cn/maps?f=d&sourc...,10.821533&z=7

Xiahe is tibetan village in southern gansu, that whole region is all tibetan plateau and villages, looks amazing. I cannot wait to get out there.

**Lao Jia Hou** · 05-18-2011, 11:50 PM

Wednesday May 18 - Pat departs Beijing on his major quest.

After staying at my place Tuesday night (poor Pat was homeless), we got up bright & early to depart. I fixed him a healthy breakfast of 100% bran (heh heh ... an old-school biker's practical joke).

Barry came by my place at 0800 and we were off. Barry took the day off work, as it was his birthday (16, I guess ... all young guys look the same to me).

We met three more bikes at the Iron Horse Cafe to help see Pat off.

With Charles in the lead, we headed NW to Hebei, riding through a National Park, and then stopped for lunch at a great roast lamb restaurant, just inside the Hebei border.

From here, we parted ways. Pat continued North, we returned to Beijing. Sad to see a riding buddy leave. And also had a huge touch of envy.

Here we are stopped in the park, and a closeup of the adventurer ...

Ride safe, friend.

**euphonius** · 05-19-2011, 02:12 AM

Dear Lao Jia Huo,

Mighty kind of you to organize a sendoff. Rural Beijing is starting to look a bit greener. Awesome country out there, if you can extricate yourself beyond the Fifth Ring.

Dear Pat,

I hope you can post regular updates during your adventure. This little commute to Kunming is the stuff of dreams! Can't wait to hear what you encounter out there!

cheers to all

**Pat** · 05-21-2011, 10:10 AM

I made it into Hohhot, Inner Mongolia last night and after three days of riding and 900 km, I decided to treat myself to a rest day and take some time to do a little route planning.

Day 1: Beijing : Shuangjing to Changping

Lao Jia Huo summarized day one - it was great to get in another ride with some of the Beijing riders. It was also great to get to the storied Roast Lamb Restaurant - I'd been hearing about it since last summer, and the roasted leg of lamb didn't disappoint!

After lunch, we said our goodbyes and headed in opposite directions. My GPS had lost power - the cigarette lighter shorted out and blew the fuse. A friend helped diagnose the problem and gave me his fuse, so on departure my first task was to find a replacement cigarette lighter. I started stopping at every motorcycle shop I passed, and on the third try, was able to get it swapped out and get a few spare fuses.

By the time everything was sorted, it was starting to get late, so I rode over to Changping, met up with a couple friends for dinner and drinks, and called it a night. 300 KM and only made it 30 KM outside of the city! But escaping the confines of Beijing is no small feat, so all in all, the day was a resounding success!

Day 2: Beijing to Yangyuan, Hebei

The next morning I got off to an early start, jumped on sixth ring road, and rode down to G109 - my riding buddy for the next 500 KM. The weather was perfect, clear skies and cool, the road was mountainous, and traffic was light. A perfect way to start!

A village nestled in the mountains:

A reservoir:

As I was winding through the mountains, I saw an odd little pile of rocks and wood in the road.. I slowed down, and around the turn was greeted by this site:

After awhile, I hit a checkpoint:

Riding up, the police officer waved for me to stop. He asked for my registration, and I pulled out my license and blue book and passed them over. He glanced through them, asked where I was heading (Datong), smiled and waved me through. Everything's legal on my bike (plates, registration, license) - but I wondered what would've happened if it wasn't. I assumed I had hit the border with Hebei - but I didn't reach the border for another half hour or so:

Now in Hebei, the scenery continued to be great:

Eventually, I descended out of the mountains and hit a relatively flat stretch of road with mountains off to either side. I stopped for lunch at a small roadside restaurant. It was a family owned, a large room served as the dining room (for both the family and the customers), with their bedrooms off the main room. After lunch, I walked back outside and found a guy sitting on my bike pretending like he was racing! I laughed and startled him - embarrassed, he hopped off the bike and went back to his shop next door.

I continued towards Shanxi, but the weather started to look ominous. A band of black, angry looking clouds stretched out in front of me. The GPS said I'd be turning away from the clouds and towards clear skies in roughly 15 km, so I thought I might be able to dodge it. It got darker and darker, and I'd almost made it through when it started to rain. I pulled into a gas station and under their awning to wait it out:

The rain passed, but it had gotten a lot colder and really windy. In addition, the good 'ole G109 had deteriorated and I was hitting patches of rock and dirt. Cold and tired, I saw a not-so-dodgy looking hotel, and decided to call it a day about 80 km outside of Datong.

**Pat** · 05-21-2011, 10:43 AM

[I'm still having picture posting issues! I wrote up what I've tried here:]

Day 3: Yangyuan, Hebei to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia

The next morning I was happy to see that the weather had cleared and there was no rain in the forecast. I was less happy to see that it was 7 degrees outside. Freezing, I set a course for Datong, and got on the road.

I had almost made it to the border the day before, and quickly crossed into Shanxi:

The road continued to follow the mountain range and there were hints of the coal industry everywhere - piles of coal, signs for coal mines, and, worst of all, big trucks full of coal everywhere.

Before long, I reached Datong. Entering the city I crossed a long bridge flanked by the ubiqutous high rise housing buildings and coal burning power plants - the ultimate destination for all those trucks.

Beeeeeautiful:

Cold, I decided to visit the Yungang Caves and their 51,000 Buddha statues. Built before 400 BC, they're remarkably well preserved. Unfortunately, pictures aren't allowed in the two most spectacular caves, but in other caves you can get right up next to the statues:

Peekaboo:

On my way out of the park, I ran into this guy.

Hey Good Lookin'

Pose!

By the time I had finished visiting the caves and had lunch, it was already pushing 2:00 PM. And then a long conversation in the parking lot with a guy from Beijing followed by GPS problems (mismarked G109) and it was suddenly 3:00.

Still hoping to make Hohhot, I opened it up a bit only to hit a toll booth. As I rode up to the gate, a toll worker ran out and started to flag me away. I popped my helmet, and, realizing I was a foreigner, he grinned and ran over. Within minutes every spare toll worker at the place had walked over. A new friend:

Thirty minutes later, I rode around the toll booth, and was finally on my way. Inner Mongolia isn't far from Datong, and I hit the border before long:

The coal magically disappeared, and the road wound through a set of low mountains.

A typical village:

I had given up hope making it to Hohhot, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that the sun refused to drop. Five o'clock rolled around and then six and it was still broad daylight. At seven I hit the last small city (xian cheng) before Hohhot and was still about 60 km out. The sun had started to drop a bit, but I figured I could make it. Fortunately, the road into Hohhot was great, and, keeping it at 80 km/hr, made it into Hohhot as the sun set. Riding past the "no motorcycles" sign, I rode into the city, found a hotel, and called it a night.