Prep Round-China Bike trip, 2-up, April-May 2012

**fahni** · 12-09-2011, 01:51 AM

Originally Posted by Fred

About the route, one thing I notice is that we have a lot of RR and suggestions for the South of China (Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan, Sichuan) but not so much for the North (Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shandong).
My understanding is that :
1. maybe we have fewer members up north
2. we are attracted to elevation changes, mountains, landscapes so the scenery in Yunnan is better than flat Shandong or Jiangsu...
3. Climate is generally better (eternal spring in Yunnan !).

Hey Fred, check out the website of crazycarl: http://www.carlparker.com/ under "links" you find some nice information on road conditions and even some additional files to be used with Google Earth. It is all about north-western China. Some amazing pictures included!

**CrazyCarl** · 12-09-2011, 08:58 PM

That info is a couple years out of date. A lot of the roads have improved since then but you can pretty much always expect broken roads and riskier weather at passes.

I found it's good to examine the roads on high res google maps. If you see black pavement, it's probably okay.

CC

**soberpete** · 02-19-2012, 12:03 PM

Wow.
I'm so excited for you and your misses. I hope that things go as smoothly as they can for your trip.
I'm not familiar with the roads you seem to want to take through Shandong, however, I'm keen to accompany you guys from roughly Bin Zhou or Bo Xing (hahaha... boxing!) for a little way if you'll have my company. I could do some reconnaissance and get to know some roads ahead of the time you expect to hit Shandong if that would help.

**Fred** · 02-19-2012, 01:15 PM

Hey Pete, that's mighty nice of you, and who knows, we'll maybe take you up on your offer !

Shandong is for the last bit of the trip, coming down south from Beijing to Shanghai. We know for sure we'd like to go to Qingdao, so Zibo might even be on the way !
I'll be honest, Shandong is not the "most exciting" part of the trip, at least this is what I think now, I hope to be mistaken ! Could you tell me more about the roads, the landscapes (it's flat, huh ?), and the cultural bits we could go to on the road from BJ to QD ?

I'm much more a "landscape" kind of guy, but the missus is really more a "cultural bits" kind of girl, so we'll have to mix both !

Cheers !

Fred

**Maux** · 02-19-2012, 02:10 PM

Some two part epoxy is another little, cheap, thing that might be handy. Of course there's other stuff like toilet paper that is handy do have.

I'm in Dalian and there are a few other guys on MCM here. If you give me a heads up I might be able to join you for part of the trip. Dalian is a little out of the way, down in it's own little peninsula.

I know we have some stickies on ride prep but still, this is a great thread for anyone planing a trip.

**soberpete** · 02-19-2012, 02:40 PM

Shandong, from my experience, is fairly mountainous. Zibo, at least, is surrounded by mountains but the majority of the roads are fairly flat.

I've a feeling that 'not the "most exciting" part of the trip' is an entirely accurate statement. Shandong doesn't have the best sights in China and it may seem especially uninteresting as you're coming to the end of a very exhausting trip. I've never ridden the roads up to Beijing but I've heard that they're just long, boring and lined with factories. Maybe you'll find them to be otherwise

.
The other roads, between Binzhou, Yantai, Qingdao and Rizhao are, apparently, similar to the roads south of Beijing but that's all I've heard. I'll have to see them for myself.

There's a rule that seems to fit the roads in Shandong: If it's a main road between two large cities then expect it to be full of cars, buses and occasionally overloaded lorries. These roads are also poorly maintained and very bland... It's not always true but mostly it is. For this reason, the rides I go on with ZMC888 are on the mountain roads that are rarely used by the masses. In your case, in the interest of convenience and time, you'll probably want to take your chances with the main roads.

***

Let's see what I can tell you about Shandong. I only know a little but here it is...

Zhoucun, Zibo: (Pete's recommendation for a cultural experience)
Zhoucun 'Old street' would be a really nice, relaxing cultural place for you guys to visit. It's a 300+ year old section of the city that has been preserved and turned into a tourist attraction. I don't go on any of the tours that they provide, I just like to go in at night time when there aren't many people around and go to my friends little coffee shop there to relax and enjoy the views. It's a little bit out of the way from your Google-maps route but not if you plan to go through Zibo. I live in Zhangdian (in the center of Zibo) and it only takes me 20mins to ride to old street.

Yantai:
It's smack-bang on your planned route. I've never been but everyone says it's really beautiful and I've always wanted to go there.

Weihai:
I've been there by coach but not on the bike. It's nice, clean and has some well preserved beaches (at least it did 2 years ago). Also on your route.

Qingdao:
I've been there about ten times and love the place. It's probably nothing compared to Shanghai (to which I've never been) but I love the feeling of Qingdao and the western restaurants that Zibo lacks. There is a beer factory, a little mountain to climb and number of other tourist destinations there along with dozens of things to do and places to see.

Rizhao:
Another place I haven't yet been to but would like to see and it's also on your route. I've am old Chinese friend there who also claims that it's a really beautiful place; Clean and free from too much tourism.

Taian/ Taishan:#(Far from planned route)
They're worth mentioning but not really a realistic destination unless you're will to add another 300-350km (round-trip) to your route. I climbed down Taishan once (haven't gone up it yet) and that was really tiring. I don't think that anyone touring China could spare the energy for Taishan at the same time.
I've heard that Tai-an has a new amusement park though.
I think that Weifang has a new one too. Weifang's old amusement park is WAY past it's use-by-date.

Qufu:#(Far from planned route)
The birthplace of Confucius (correct me if I'm wrong). Again, worth mentioning but it's even further away from you're planned route (+200km round-trip from Taian) and I've never been there so I can't say how much I like it.

I hope some of the stuff above helps. I imagine you'll both be emotionally and physically exhausted by the time you get to Shandong so I'm prepared for you to want to scrap most of those ideas when you finally get here. We'll see

.

**soberpete** · 02-19-2012, 02:51 PM

P.s.
Yantai, Weihai and Rizhao should have the nicest, cleanest roads with lots of coastal views. If you are the same kind of landscape guy as me, then I should try and get you on some of the mountain roads that ZMC888 has lead me through.

Maux.
Is there any kind of Ferry that you can get from Dalian to Shandong? Maybe Yantai or Weihai? I've always wanted to see Dalian. So many foreigners go there and never come back. They go on holiday, find a job in Dalian and love it so much that they never return to their previous location. Is it all true?

**Maux** · 02-20-2012, 01:01 AM

Pete, I've really enjoyed it, but I moved here from Taiyuan, Shanxi which is pretty polluted and not very international. Most of the economy of Shanxi is based on coal mining and it doesn't encourage much foreign influence. Dalian is much more international and has much more trading and shipping. Its also a decent tech development zone, Intel built a plant here recently. While the environment here is much better than Taiyuan, I've heard from folks that it's gotten worse in recent years. I haven't got a chance to check out any of the other roads in Liaoning but Zhongshan has an easy day of nice riding. During spring, though, I'm pretty sure these same little roads get pretty well clogged with tourists.
I would guess that there are lots of options to take ferries to lots of places, the trick might be getting the bike on. I haven't checked into it myself but it might be a good route on a trip south. I'm not sure how long it would take either, it would be nice to take an overnight ferry, if there is such a thing. I'll ask local friends, but I expect I'll get a typically unhelpful answer like "Why would you want to do that? "Because I want to take my motorcycle to Shandong." "With a motorcycle?" "Yes, with a motorcycle." "Ah! this is crazy!".

**soberpete** · 02-20-2012, 01:24 AM

Hahahaha. TIC; despite that fact I still have my hopes up for a vehicle ferry. I think I have some friends I could ask too.
If it is possible then it would be another destination option for Fred to consider.

Shame to hear that Dalian sounds like it's getting worse.
Zibo - when I first got here - had little in the way of western food and items. It was smoggy and had a fairly cold, grey feeling. Now, lot's of the surrounding factories have closed down, the atmosphere is clearer and warmer and there are a bunch of new western supermarkets, malls and restaurants. One door closes and another opens.

**Fred** · 02-20-2012, 02:08 AM

Pete, that's an awesome post you wrote there, thanks mate !

In terms of preparation of the roads on Google maps, I'm not up there yet to Shandong province, but I'll keep in mind everything you wrote about the roads and the sights.
What about Qingdao & the bikes, I saw in another thread in this forum that it was (in theory) forbidden to motorbikes. Is it enforced, is it easy not to care about it ?

Thanks a lot anyway, I'll put here the detailed maps as soon as I can get them to work (I'll post something in ChinaV's thread about "Mastering Google Maps", which clearly I didn't achieve yet)....