Introduction

[DanKearney]

ChinaV,

Thanks for the invite man. We're still trying to nail down our dates. Right now I'm trying to convince a couple of friends (married couple) to come over with us when we go this time. We're also trying to figure out what we need to do about my wife's Green Card. Her original 2 year card expires in May of next year and we have to get the renewal completed before we leave for China. Of course, the process is clearly spelled out step-by-step by USCIS. (That's sarcasm by the way).

I took a quick look at your trip post. Without consulting my GPS log I can only say for certain that we had WuZhou in common. However, the thing that turned our car trip into an "interesting" one was that a Typhoon blew through the area about 4 days before we headed up toward YangShuo and when we got to WuZhou the kindly policemen told us it was closed and pointed his finger in another direction.

From that point we had to improvise our route. At the time all I had was Garmin's World Map with a ton of waypoints that I created for this trip. As you might know, World Map sucks for two major reasons: Lack of detail and no "stay on road" function for the car icon. All I could do was drive in the general direction NW and use my waypoints as reference. Of course, the towns and cities shown on World Map were not on either of the two paper maps that I had, and vice-versa!

I went through a few landslide areas where the car could barely fit through, a ton of unmarked construction zones, bomb crater-like sections, you name it. Of course, it got dark and rained heavily on-and-off and the wonderful penchant of Chinese drivers to use every light they have available to blind the on-coming traffic only added to the fun.

We finally arrived in YangShuo at about 2am and spent another hour trying to find our reserved hotel. I sure slept good that night.

I was hoping that if we come out in late Spring that we could make a road trip down to HaiNan. I spent a week there in 2006 and loved it, but didn't have a chance to really explore the interior of the island. I think it would make a great few days of riding if I can dig up a bike there.

If we come out later, I don't want to go south (Love that heat and humidity). I still haven't seen the Great Wall, so we might base out of BeiJing (Have a friend with an apartment near Tain'an Men) and explore more up there.

What are you doing in China?

Cheers,

Dan K.

[ChinaV]

Hi Dan,

What are you doing in China?

Surfing My China Moto and riding my bikes!

But seriously, I do contract manufacturing of magnesium, zinc, and aluminum die casting along with plastic injection. http://www.a1gh.com

Cheers!
ChinaV

[chinabiker]

Hi Dan

... We've got a friend now who owns an new apartment near to Tian'an men square, so I'm hoping maybe that I'll be able to scare up a bike there and be able to ride it out to a more remote section of the Great Wall and do some camping up there.

Cheers,

Dan K.

I posted some ride reports in the riding section. Seems quite your taste.

... Probably no earlier than late Spring and no later than late June. ...

June is probably the best riding-season in Beijing.


Drop me a message as soon as you decided on your schedule. If we have some lead time (3-4 weeks), a clean dl isn't out of reach.

Andy

[CrazyCarl]

Dan,

Just read you web page. Congrats on getting the immigration stuff done! I went through the same process and we were sweating bullets. Our appointment time in GZ was ass early in the morning. The guards were rude and the coffee was expensive.

5 minutes, all said and done. Then started the rest of our journey!

Good on ya!
CC

[DanKearney]

CC,

Yeah, immigration is such a fun process. Now we're getting ready to convert her temporary Green Card to a permanaent one. That process is a little easier, but of course wanting to travel back to China at that time makes that process a little harder also.

Of course, they want a new set of photos and fingerprints from my wife, but are only willing to do it by appoinment, at their designated location. They said they won't allow us to do it at the Consulate or Embassy in China if we happen to be there at that time. Fun and Games.

BTW, this is the bike I'd really like to bring over to China to ride everywhere. It's just about perfect for the roads and can still pack everything:







That little Yammy is bulletproof and very manequverable. She's gotten me into some places that I'd never get is bigger bike like a BMW GS or such. She's not fast, but just rigth I think for taking in the sights in China. I know I wouldn't be able to bring her over, but I've seen a number of Chinese bikes of similar size that I think would do the job just as nicely.

I'll find out if I am ever lucky enough to find a job over there. Seems nobody needs an I.T. guy that speaks just a little Mandarin and only reads PinYin. . .

Cheers,

Dan K.

[CrazyCarl]

Dan,

You can now find bikes quite similar to that in China. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if your bike was made in China as many of the manufacturers produce their smaller displacement rides in the Mainland. I think you'd just need to ship your hard cases over there and then find a local shop to weld up some hangars for you... won't cost much at all.

Funny thing is that so many of the newer bikes seem to be made with motor-x "jumping" in mind and they leave off fun stuff like luggage racks. They must think it's "sporty" or something to have a bike with absolutely no use except to one person with a tiny ass and no gear.

CC

[DanKearney]

Carl,

I agree. Bikes are sold 90% based upon image and 10% based upon what it will really be used for. Funny, but I've never owned a bike that wasn't a touring machine, though my BMW K75 is the only one that looks the part from the factory.

BTW, I rec'd your DVD a few days ago and watched it. It was awesome. I really enjoyed the entire story. It made me think back to a mountaineering video that I made by myself a few years back. I climbed a peak 3 times in the course of setting up the tripod, climbing past it, then climbing back down to retreive it again! I thought of that each time you had a shot of your bike riding past the camera. I was wondering if you ever worried that the camera would disappear before you managed to get back to it!

I traveled all over Europe alone and had no problem as my English and German were both good. My Mandarin is quite sparse, and I only can read PinYin, so signs (Except for exit, men's room, etc) are beyond me. I wouldn't hesitate to do a China trip with a companion that also does not know the language, but I'd need to do a real gut-check before I set off alone without the language skills. Your blessed with your bilingualism. Were you a lucky one and had Mandarin at home, or did you learn it later?

Did you happen to read BeemerBoy's Chinese odyssey posted over on ADVRider? He did his whole China trip using only grunts and pointing his fingers. Now that's adventure!

Cheers,

Dan K.

[CrazyCarl]

Dan,

Thanks for the compliment on the film, it was (and still is) it's own adventure. Trying to get it marketed and reviewed takes a VERY long time and is full of great uncertainties. It's cool that you're also a film maker! You happen to have any copies of your video sitting around? I'd love to see it and feel free to put it up here for other folks to see as well.

I was not bi-lingual growing up and learned my Chinese partly in uni but mostly on the road and while living in China. Riding in Western China you soon find out that although knowing some Chinese is definitely helpful, most of the people in the Western Regions don't natively speak Chinese so body language is still the most handy tool to keep in the bag.

When Beemerboy came though China he had some help along the way. He faired okay in Yunnan until running into the back of a tractor at night cracking a rib. Shortly after that, he met a group of Chinese riders who he rode with into Tibet until running into altitude sickness and turning around to ultimately sell his bike (which he tried very hard to maintain) and took a bus to Chengdu. I helped him get a new bike in Chengdu then he hooked up with Franki who met up with him at a Jialing JH600 rider meet in Mianyang after which he decided to meet up with his brother and head to Xian. The trip ending event was an accident between Chengdu and Xian which, I can say from first hand experience, was tricky to deal with over the phone. The road from Chengdu to Xian seems to be extra dangerous as we lost a rider on that road earlier this year so if you ever find yourself out there please remember to keep extra alert and your speed down!

Life is learning yeah?


CC

[DanKearney]

Carl,

I'm no movie maker by any means. I fancy myself a better than average amatuer photographer, but I'm handicapped because the first university I attended had a well known professional photographers program in the Art college and most of my friends turned out to be photo majors. I always love my stuff until I compare it to theirs. Some of them went on to become successful professional photographers and Hollywood cinematographers.

I took hours of DV when I spent a month in Vietnam back in 2000. My then-current, now-former girlfriend and I traveled from her home town of SaiGon all the way to HaNoi via Rte 1 near the coast. That was an unforgettable trip. I intended to edit it into something coherent, but all the video editing software I tried was either way too complicated or way too simple.

I did create a little narrated slide show presentation after my first trip to China back in 2005 (When I met my wife). If you want to take a look at it I have it posted here:

http://www.coloradopeaks.net/2005Chi...dit640x480.wmv ~28MB

Keep in mind, the target audience is my family, so it might be a little sappy. . . (And of course, my big mistake is that LiJiang is in Yunnan, not Guangxi, but I was too lazy to go back and fix that)

I was wondering what the end result was of BeemerBoy's trip. I followed his posts on ADVRider up till he returned to China and hooked up with his brother, but I never saw any follow-up after that. I'll have to go back and see if he's updated it past there.

Cheers,

Dan K.

[Jimbosidecar]

Be sure and stop by and say hello. I have a bike shop just outside Beijing proper and we (Beijing Dragons Motorcycle Club) ride out to the Great Wall and points beyind (sometimes way beyond) almost every weekend during riding season. I'm sure we could scare up a bike for you.
Regds,
Jim
www.mycj750.com

Carl,

I've done a couple of short rides already. Mostly down near Guangzhou where we have our apartment. I was also able to putt around the LiJiang, Yunnan area on a visit up there. I've driven (cars) around Guangzhou and so far my longest car trip was from Guangzhou up to Yangshuo (Guilin), Guangxi. That was a 500km, 20 hour adventure in itself. . .

I'm up for riding anywhere pretty much, but as I hate the traffic in the cities I'm much more interested in riding in the rural areas. I'll be coming back to China for about 3 weeks in 2009. Haven't nailed down the time yet.

My wife wants to attend an MBA preparatory school so she has to stay for about three months. I'll be able to burn about three weeks of vacation. Probably no earlier than late Spring and no later than late June.

We've got a friend now who owns an new apartment near to Tian'an men square, so I'm hoping maybe that I'll be able to scare up a bike there and be able to ride it out to a more remote section of the Great Wall and do some camping up there.

Cheers,

Dan K.