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  1. #21 Re: 8 day Dongbei extravaganza! 
    C-Moto Regular HarbinSteve's Avatar
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    Thanks for sharing this great report with us Steve. You did a great job, getting legal, getting a bike, and getting away into the countryside. I did 5 years in Harbin (finally got paroled), and your report brings back memories of the Dongbei spirit perfectly - very friendly, outgoing, and always up for a drink (albeit warm beer).
    Thanks, I was really grateful to have the information and help from everybody on this site. The whole process would have taken 10 times as long and been a lot more expensive if I hadn't had other peoples experience to learn from. MCM really is an incredible resource for anybody wanting to ride in China.
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  2. #22 Re: 8 day Dongbei extravaganza! 
    Life Is Good! ChinaV's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HarbinSteve View Post

    Nice... makes China look liveable.

    Thanks for the great pics and ride report.

    Cheers!
    ChinaV
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  3. #23 Re: 8 day Dongbei extravaganza! 
    C-Moto Regular HarbinSteve's Avatar
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    Day 6 Genhe->Noname truck stop

    I woke up and headed out to the bookstore to finally get a map. When I got there it was closed, so I looked for some breakfast.


    IMG_3916-1 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    After I ate, I was able to get the map, then it was decision time. I have a few friends in various parts of Inner Mongolia, so I wanted to see if I could go visit them. It turns out, Inner Mongolia is BIG. Really really big. So, I decided not to triple the length of my trip, and to start heading back instead.

    A lot of people had told me to go to Hailaer, so I decided to head there. The scenery was pretty plane, except for some parts where they must have decide it was too natural and needed to add some coal mines and power plants


    IMG_1189 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    After awhile, I got to Hailaer and remembered why I hate cities


    IMG_1190 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    After being stuck in traffic on huge crowded streets, I wanted to get back into the open as soon as possible, so I decided not to stay and look around. I just cruised until it started getting dark and found a small Inn to sleep at. It turned out the owners son was on summer vacation, so I watched part of an English movie and then went to sleep.

    ,
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  4. #24 Re: 8 day Dongbei extravaganza! 
    C-Moto Regular HarbinSteve's Avatar
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    I've been a little lazy about posting days 7 and 8 mostly because they were uneventful and a little frustrating. Not much to write about.

    Day 7. I had originally planned to return home on day 7, but, for lack of a better word, was cockblocked by the Expressway. I had a relatively small distance to cover to get back from Eastern Inner Mongolia to Haerbin. No problem I thought. I would have never imagined how much difficult it would be to get between the two biggest cities in the province.

    Starting the day, the ride was nice. Inner Mongolia is an awesome place to ride. There was a couple bad stretches of road where it was getting repaired, but that just made the ride more interesting.

    Signs are all in Chinese and Mongolian


    IMG_3966-28 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    Stopped to take a picture from a scenic pullout and this group of guys from Guilin wanted a pic together

    IMG_3961-27 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    Starting to get dirty

    IMG_3982-30 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    Mongolian roadblock

    IMG_1198 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    Getting dirtier

    IMG_1212 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_1213 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    I made it to qiqihaer, and figured it would be an easy stretch to Harbin from there. Nope. The only road connecting the two is an Expressway, a very busy expressway. People told me to just get on it, but I hate riding on them, especially in busy sections. I feel like I'm in a cage or something, and you can't stop to take pics. So it was off to plan b. I found an old road that should have taken me to daqinq, but it turned out it was closed. So after some local advice...

    I ended up on this for awhile:


    IMG_1228 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    Then as I was working my way Southeast on various small roads, It began to dawn on me that it was getting dark, and I probably wouldn't be able to make it home. That was a little disappointing, but I didn't really have a choice.

    I started looking for a place to stay, and ended up making it to a small town called Lindian. I found a cheap Inn, and got the only room left.

    Maybe good luck for China, but not so much for us Laowai:


    IMG_1236 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    Shoes after a day of mud


    IMG_1235 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    I got some dinner and walked around to check out the town. I met a cool family who ran a small store, and sat on the curb talking to them for awhile. Some of the neighbors joined in, and we were having a good chat. Then one guy invited me to drink with him, which seemed very normal at first, as its the dongbei custom. But after I refused the first few times, he started getting really pushy. Then he started asking me a bunch of questions about my bike, and then tried to get me to drink with him again. I was starting to get a bad feeling about him, but I couldn't get him to leave. Then a couple of friends of his came over and kept pushing for me to go with them. It became a lot harsher than the typical dongbei hospitality. I don't think they were up to any good. Then they wanted to go 玩玩中国的女生 and the like. They kept telling me not to worry about money that they would treat me blah blah blah, but I wanted nothing to do with that group. They were starting to get mad that I wouldn't go with them, but finally they disappeared. Needless to say, I was not going to leave my bike outside (where that group knew where it was) that night! Thankfully, a lady in the group I was chatting with who also didn't seem to like those guys much offered to let me put it into her hair salon for the night, and I could sleep soundly. I wish I would have got a pic of the bike in the salon. After that ordeal I headed off to sleep.

    Except it wasn't sleep. The cardboard think walls in the Inn didn't do a good job of keeping the noise from the neighbors "activities" out of my room. So I Listened to the iPod for awhile, and eventually all was quiet again.


    Day 8 RAIN RAIN RAIN->Home!

    It started off with a storm, but I was determined, I would get home today, no matter what. So I set off. I found a good road that connected LinDian to another road that would take me home.

    But... After getting 60 or so Kms in I found out that it was closed. I would have been able to bypass the closure normally, but the hard rain made the thick Donbei mud impossible to get through. Even the tractors were having trouble, I would have never been able to get up the embankment again.

    So, I had to stop in the rain, and get out the map and look for plan b. Unfortunately, the map was not waterproof. I looked as quickly as I could, and after asking some people, the only way to get closer to harbin was to go to Daqing.

    After winding around vaguely lost on the roads for servicing oil rigs, I made it. I got directions how to get out without going through the busy city from a man selling corn on the street. They were absurd. Right, left, left, right, two lights, see a building, left right, right. I wish I had a video. He was super-helpful, but Him and I both knew I wouldn't be able to remember all of the steps. He repeated them twice, then we both ended up laughing. He said "just remember the first three steps then ask again" haha.

    I ended up getting stuck in the huge city center, which I'm pretty sure motorcycles are banned from, but made it out alive in one piece. After driving out of daqing on the bridge over a stinky bog, I was headed in the right direction. But then another road was closed, more wondering, and now my soaked map was starting to fall apart. Things were not looking so great.

    After some more screwing around with crumbling maps/asking many a local I made it to a road that would take me to hulan, near Harbin. It ended up being closed, but I was able to make it around the detour. Little did I know I would be in for the most potholed/rutted/washboard/rocky 20km/h 4 hours of my life. I kept thinking it couldn't possible drag on for much longer, but it did. On and on and on.

    At one point a man was hitchhiking, so I picked him up. He offered to pay for the ride to the next village down the road, but I was going that way anyway, and he hopped on. After another 30 or so bone rattling minutes, I dropped him off, then he insisted on treating me to jiaozi for lunch. I met his wife and enjoyed some good food. After going 2up on that road with no problems, I give the suspension on the Lifan 5 stars.

    Eventually I made it back to roads I knew, and bolted home. I took of my muddy clothes and hit the sack. A nice 8 days enjoying clean air, and silence.

    Sorry not many pictures on day 8, Rain rain rain and my little point and shoot ended up becoming a casualty to it. So much for the "waterproof" pockets on my jacket...


    IMG_1238 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr
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  5. #25 Re: 8 day Dongbei extravaganza! 
    C-Moto Regular HarbinSteve's Avatar
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    Some of my favorite scenery along the way


    IMG_3695-1 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3688-8 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3692-9 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3707-11 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3779-13 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    The far side of this one is Russia

    IMG_3788-15 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3799-18 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3796-16 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3808-22 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3818-23 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3853-24 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    Posted this one before, but I love it, so here it is again

    IMG_3856-25 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr
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  6. #26 Re: 8 day Dongbei extravaganza! 
    C-Moto Regular HarbinSteve's Avatar
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    IMG_3874-28 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3896-30 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3906-32 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3907-33 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3912-4 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3919-34 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3926-35 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3936-37 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3939-38 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3946-2 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr


    IMG_3968-39 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

    This was a creepy/weird/abandoned road. I didn't see another person for maybe 50km, which is quite something for Chinese standards.

    IMG_4013-40 by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr
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  7. #27 Re: 8 day Dongbei extravaganza! 
    C-Moto Senior DanKearney's Avatar
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    That was a great ride report. Made me sad to remember however how much I missed on my China travels because I never mastered the language. Go on ya!

    Cheers,

    Dan K.
    Dan Kearney - Black Hawk, Colorado, USA
    Zongshen RX-3 - Zongshen TT250 - Ural GearUp Hack - Honda CT110
    Ural M70 Retro Solo - BMW R100R - Royal Enfield Bullet 500
    http://dansmotorcycleblog.blogspot.com/
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  8. #28 Re: 8 day Dongbei extravaganza! 
    Duct tape savant felix's Avatar
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    Thanks for the report mister. Typing on my balcony looking out the window at the sea of high risers disappearing into the eternal smog, it makes me wonder if you're talking about the same country...

    Beautiful pictures, love this one!

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  9. #29 Re: 8 day Dongbei extravaganza! 
    C-Moto Regular HarbinSteve's Avatar
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    Made me sad to remember however how much I missed on my China travels because I never mastered the language
    My Mandarin is far far from mastered, but it is really cool to get the local perspective on things. For such small/middle of nowhere places the locals knew a lot about world politics and it was really cool to talk to them.

    Also, its better late then never, get studying and come back for another ride! Even a little goes quite a long long way.

    Typing on my balcony looking out the window at the sea of high risers disappearing into the eternal smog, it makes me wonder if you're talking about the same country
    Yeah, I wondered the same thing while I was there. It was hard to believe I was in China. The thing I appreciated the most was silence. I could stop riding and only hear the trickle of a creek or the sounds of insects. Now I'm in Harbin, with mucky air and 24hrs a day NOISE. Trains, trucks, construction all non stop. I'm looking forward to getting out again. I guess its good motivation for us to get off our butts and ride out of the city.
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