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  1. #1 Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    C-Moto Guru MotoKai's Avatar
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    Silk Road Ride 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi)


    This past May four Jialing JH600s came together to plan a trip starting in Changsha and riding thru Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan and up to Shanxi finishing in Xi'an. And on a rainy June Monday morning Milton and Motokai found themselves at the Shanghai South Train Station shipping their bikes off to Changsha (as planned), but after a few
    speedbumps there would only be two Jialings making the trip..... and the weather forecast was calling for some nasty weather in southwest China.

    With the bikes bound for Changsha, they were both wondering - what next??

    They spent the next 3 days in Shanghai exchanging email while busy finishing up the work that they were planning to leave for the next 17 days.

    The emails included some route alternatives....and next thing you know it was Thursday evening and they were on board a train with a new plan: Changhsha to
    Ürümqi via the Silk Road!

    "I love it when a plan comes together!"


    The Ride
    - 17 day journey covering a distance of over 5,000km (15 days of riding + 1 day rest in Turpan + 1 day in Urumqi to ship the bikes/fly back to Shanghai).
    - Changhsa to Urumqi thru 7 provinces: Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Shanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang
    - The highlights of the ride are of course the changing cultures and people, languages, food and landscapes as you move west across China, specifically:

    *Zhangjiajie
    *Riding with Tom & the Enshi Grand Canyon (where 2 RRs intersect: 7 Provinces in 7 days)
    *Celebrating Milton's Birthday
    *Qingling Mountains and the watershed of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
    *The Gansu Loess Plateau and the Rapeseed Blossoms
    *Tibetan Villages and Labrang Temple
    *Qinghai Grasslands, Deserts and Qinghai Lake
    *The Snow-capped and Glacier Mountain Range of Qilian where we rode at altitude of over 4,300m with plenty of dirt and mud.
    *Jiayuguan and the end of The Great Wall
    *Passing through the southern part of the Gobi Desert into Xinjiang
    *Crisscrossing a range of Tian Shan called the Barkol Mountains with lots more stretches of off-road: Hami to Barkol to Turpan (including riding at an altitude of -94m in a desert basin - China's lowest spot and the 3rd lowest on earth!) before crossing back though the mountains one last time to Urumqi.



    Maps
    Map-1: Changsha-Xining (9 Days)
    Map-2: Xining-Urumqi (7 Days),
    includes one rest day in Turpan for relaxing/sightseeing
    * These maps represent the route we took with the exception of some dirt roads/tracks and mountain passes which were ridden but cannot be found on Google Maps.


    Along with a full RR from Milton & Motokai, we'll also share with you video highlights from our ride.

    The videos will be delivered in 4 installations:
    Part I (Videos 1 & 2)
    Part II (Videos 3 & 4)

    They are delivered to you for your viewing pleasure via Viddler. And I know some of you may bitch that you can't see these videos behind the *******wall, but don't fret, just PM me if you can't see the video and I'll give you a solution .


    Silk Road Ride Video-1: Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Shanxi, Gansu


    Links to the other videos can be found here:
    2: http://www.viddler.com/v/be8f8160
    3: http://www.viddler.com/v/b34eedd9
    4:
    http://www.viddler.com/v/eb98decc
    Last edited by MotoKai; 09-17-2012 at 03:47 AM.
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  2. #2 Re: Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    C-Moto Guru MotoKai's Avatar
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    Day-1: Milton & Motokai Leaving Changsha Train Station
    Last edited by MotoKai; 09-03-2012 at 04:44 PM.
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  3. #3 Re: Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    C-Moto Regular Chinasam's Avatar
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    Good kick off Motokai! Looking forward to the RR.
    Sam --
    The older I get, the faster I was....
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  4. #4 Re: Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    C-Moto Guru milton's Avatar
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    Since Motokai did such a great job in producing the video, I am here simply to add some context to it so the viewers can have greater enjoyment.

    Honestly Motokai and I didn’t really have a route plan. Our preoccupation was to avoid rain, and head for Xinjiang in the general direction of the “silk road”, with Zhangjiajie 张家界 in Hunan and Enshi 恩施 canyon in Hubei the only two definitive destinations we wanted to hit along the way. Our route decision wasn’t helped much by the famous book “The Shadow of the Silk Road” either. That book, brought along by Motokai, is an excellent read but not really a tour guide.

    It turns out that one really can’t go wrong in that general direction as long as one avoids large cities. Among all the places we’ve visited, Xining, the capital city of Qinghai, was the only city we regretted to have stayed. Its sprawling size is much larger than we anticipated, made worse by the crowded dusty streets, obnoxious drivers and dull characterless high rises. Not knowing much about the unexpectedly big city we didn’t really make effort to look for decent food and the quick Moslem (Qingzhen 清真) restaurant we ate at was pathetic. Other than Xining, we were quite happy with most other cities or towns we stayed. They were generally small, sometimes with busy but acceptable traffic condition. Their limited size offered limited selection of eateries, which actually made decision easier. We just picked out of the available eating establishments the one teeming with local people, which rarely disappointed us. The decision process for route selection is equally simple, look up the Google map, find a route through mountains, avoid rains if possible and head for a reasonable-sized cities or towns for the night. (Once decided, the route became the famous Motokai’s “blue line” from which I am not allowed to deviate. It is a “trust” issue in Motokai’s book.) This ad hoc approach worked well for us, generally speaking, and offered many pleasant surprises. It probably only works for motorcycle tours as many of the roads were just too poor for cars or other means of transportation to take on.

    Day 1: Changsha 长沙 to Zhangjiajie 张家界

    From Changsha railroad station to Zhangjiajie didn’t have much to see. So we just tried to make time and used expressway as much as we can. Zhangjiajie would have been a much better jumping off point instead of Changsha. Unfortunately the bikes can’t be trained to there.

    Day 2: Zhangjiajie to Enshi 恩施, Hubei

    The city of Zhangjiajie did an excellent job enclosing all its scenic areas, 400 square kilometers in all, into a single “park”, which cost 248 RMB to enter. Within the park the visitors must take transportation exclusively offered by the park to get around. This arrangement is not compatible with our motorcycle tour so we decided not to go in. Instead, we just biked around its outskirts hoping to get a glimpse of the reportedly wonderful scenery inside the park. Unfortunately the park did such an excellent job to exclude people like us that there wasn’t really much to see outside of it. However, the day was nice and scenery OK. We had a good time anyway.
    We left Zhangjiajie around 2:30pm and headed for Enshi in order to rendezvous with Tom from Shenzhen 深圳。

    Outside the park at Zhangjiajie, this is what those people without lots of renminbi see:



    The ride to Enshi was unremarkable but pleasant, with a glimpse of the saw-toothed park profile from the outside:







    Day 3:Enshi to Wuxi 巫溪, Chongqing
    The real fun kicked in on the third day after Tom joined us. The sight was the Enshi Canyon. The road led us out of town toward the canyon was perfectly paved but curvy along a beautiful stream, offering a wonderful morning ride. (However, the seemingly good road condition was deceiving. Motokai had a bit problem with it at one point, which was caught on tape by Tom.) Later on the canyon opens up with huge vertical rock formation lining one side of the road with villages blended in perfectly harmoniously. Enshi Canyon covers a large distance. Should it be smaller, it may suffer the same fate as Zhangjiajie requiring lots of Renminbi to go in.

    This part of RR intersects with Tom's at:
    http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...ll=1#post46027

    Leaving Enshi before entering the canyon:



    My GDW saddlebags were a bit lopsided even after many attempts of Motokai to balance them:









    On our way to Wuxi:





    The evil tunnel where I had a getoff almost a year ago, which is fittingly named as "Nine Tricky Turns" 九道拐 (more about the getoff at http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...ll=1#post33982):




    Day 4: Wuxi to Ankang 安康, south of Xi'an 西安
    At Wuxi, we started to get rained on:






    Day 5: Ankang to Zhouzhi 周至
    At Ankang, we parted with Tom and got on our way towards Zhouzhi. It was wet in the morning, then in the afternoon the sun peeked in and out of the clouds:



    Apparently Zhouzhi ‘s main crop are these big collectible rocks used for landscapes and landmarks. This is one of those industries which don’t need night watchmen for their warehouses.





    During those two days of shared ride with Tom, we were all very impressed by the scenery around Enshi canyon. We had been telling each other in total agreement that not many bike routes can top it. Then it was quickly proven wrong just one day after bidding farewell to Tom. Every new day brought something wonderful and oftentimes more spectacular than from all previous days.

    Stay tuned.
    Last edited by milton; 06-01-2013 at 01:56 AM.
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  5. #5 Re: Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    C-Moto Guru milton's Avatar
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    Day 6: Zhouzhi to Wushan 武山
    After Zhouzhi, there were many days of rain we had to contend with. Fortunately the traffic was very light and the road condition generally OK except a few unpaved sections that really made the going tough.
    The rivers after Shanxi 陕西 were quite muddy and “yellow” (as in Yellow River) with lots of soil washed away by the flow.








    Finally we reached Gansu:




    Our actual visit of Gansu has totally changed my perception of this province. Before I set foot in Gansu, my image of it based on my past readings was just a dry dusty brown loess plateau in a faraway place. Actually, contrary to that impression, over half of Gansu is quite green, with rich soil and large variety of crops. As a matter of fact, in 2011 the China Vegetable Expo was held in none other city than Wushan, Gansu, where we stayed the first night after entering Gansu.













    Day 7: Wushan to Xinchengxiang 新城乡

    Due to its mountainous terrain, terrace farming is used widely in Gansu over sloping land. Comparing with their counterparts in Zhejiang or Fujian, the terraced fields here are not as manicured but just as striking visually. Those fields cover far and wide, seemingly larger than what the limited population in sparsely distributed villages are capable of cultivating.


















    The last section to Xinchengxiang was punishing. It was unpaved and full of potholes. The heavy rain filled all the potholes with muddy water. We really couldn't judge how deep those puddles were. An innocent looking puddle might turn into a deep hellish gash at the last moment. My poor Jialing often bottomed out accompanied by unbearable clunk. After we finally arrived at Xinchengxiang, I was marveled at the fact our machines survived the ordeal. Jialing is a highly robust piece of machinery.

    Last edited by milton; 06-01-2013 at 02:04 AM.
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  6. #6 Re: Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    C-Moto Regular Chinasam's Avatar
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    Guys,

    Maybe this is just me, but I'm having real trouble seeing most of the cool pictures you are posting - the first 4 show up, and so does the video link, but even with my VEEPEEACCESS I can't view any of the others....and I really WANT to....

    --- All good now guys -- Looks great!
    Last edited by Chinasam; 09-04-2012 at 11:38 PM. Reason: Update
    Sam --
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  7. #7 Re: Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    Senior C-Moto Guru euphonius's Avatar
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    Thanks for fixing the pix, Milton. All better now!
    Last edited by euphonius; 09-04-2012 at 06:59 AM.
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  8. #8 Re: Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    C-Moto Guru milton's Avatar
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    Fixing it. My apology.
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  9. #9 Re: Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    C-Moto Guru milton's Avatar
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    Sorry about the problem of pictures not showing up earlier on. I hope it works now.
    On the night we stayed at Zhouzhi, I casually said to Motokai “Say happy birthday” and he obliged. Actually he did more than the lip service and managed to sneak in with the following “surprise”:



    There were 8 candles on the cake, which puzzled me a bit. I know I am quite advanced in age, but there was no need to exaggerate it with 8 candles. Quite excessive and depressing. Nevertheless, we had a great time that night.

    Much appreciated, Motokai!!
    Last edited by milton; 09-04-2012 at 07:35 AM.
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  10. #10 Re: Milton & Motokai Ride The Silk Road 2012 (Changsha to Ürümqi) 
    foreign China moto dude bikerdoc's Avatar
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    great RR thus far. would be great to view the vids but alas blocked here. photos look great and all working well from here at the moment. 'scribed
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