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Coffee break intermission over
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daytrip by SerpentZA, on Flickr

This was the route we were taking for the day (although we did get a bit lost somewhere up at that strange part and ended up in Hunan), this is more or less what we did, it turned out to be between 230~300kms of riding that day.

We asked a local if we had to pay to get into the "nature reserve" or not, he said that if we just drive through the gate we should be fine and shouldn't need to pay, so we did, we drove through a rather big gate and started to go up.


CIMG4870 by SerpentZA, on Flickr

Our bikes parked at an awesome spot somewhere near the top.

The road became extremely hazardous, if this was a nature reserve, they certainly didn't want any cars to be able to drive through it, there were massive rocks and trees scattered on the road, bits of road missing, small rivers at times and missing barriers, basically a lot of fun, we were screaming round the twisties with a "oh shit, big rock", "damn tree", "holy shit that was almost me over the edge" sort of thing.


CIMG4866 by SerpentZA, on Flickr

The sun had come out and the weather was perfect for riding.

I suppose that the poor quality of the roads was due to the big storms that had been happening all week, but either way it was not a ride for the feint of heart, we stopped somewhere that we thought had to be near to top to have a rest, take some photos and eat some packed grub.


CIMG4863 by SerpentZA, on Flickr

Take note of the lack of barrier next to the road, if you make a mistake.. that's tickets for you.


CIMG4868 by SerpentZA, on Flickr

You can see the small twisty roads, note the complete lack of barrier... bloody fun.

We hadn't seen any traffic since we'd entered this place, but as we sat taking in the view, a scrawny little sun-baked man puttered past us on his little 125, stopped a few meters down the road and made a phone call, he must have spent about 15minutes standing there staring at us all the while chattering on his phone... alerting the government to our presence?? Telling his family he'd seen aliens?? Who knows... he eventually got back on his bike and rode off at his usual 9km/h pace.


CIMG4877 by SerpentZA, on Flickr

Another shot of the scenery..


CIMG4880 by SerpentZA, on Flickr

This is the way to do it, no sponsorships, no big BMWs or support cars, just a bunch of mates on a shoestring budget carrying enough tools, spares and know-how to keep themselves going, this is motorcycle adventuring.

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In the next installment... we meet up with the Silver Fox, get really good at fixing punctures and despair in the rain....
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