Okay so here are some belated updates on what was overall a very pleasant journey through Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai. I primarily want to give everyone some first hand advice on the various road conditions I encountered. My main piece of wisdom: regardless of where you think you are going or what road conditions you expect, put on the knobbiest tires you can find. There was never a day that I did not regret putting on a pair of brand new Conti off-roads on the BMW GS.

Maps in China should only be considered aspirational statements about the distant future of China's road network!

My last post ended with us at the corner of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, attempting to sweat out four days worth of coal dust.

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It was at this point that we broke free of the heaviest traffic and entered Inner Mongolia. The background shot is of Laoniuwan ("old cow bend") a quite nice stopping point about thirty km north of Pianguan in Shanxi. There are numerous cave-house style guesthouses here.
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There is a road from Wanjiazhai zhen, just south of Lao-niu-wan, not marked on google maps, that crosses the Yellow River and then proceeds north to connect with Zhun-ge-er-qi, a largish town in Inner Mongolia. The road is heavily trucked, but in decent shape.

In Zhunge'er qi, I decided to poach the G18 expressway (gaosu), since national highway 109 is in terrible shape.

I had no trouble exiting the expressway near Dongsheng (Ordos) at the infamous ghost city of Kangbashi, or getting back on again. My impression is that it is not very difficult to take your motorcycle on the expressways in Inner Mongolia. The toll booth people were in fact quite gung-ho about the whole thing. I traveled south from Kangbashi on expressway 65.

I must put in a word about the surreal non-destination of Kangbashi: it is truly a remarkable testament to what will surely be the largest housing bubble in the history of real estate. Mostly empty, full of peasants wandering around looking for work and occasional parades of posh SUVs from elsewhere. I joined the peasants, looking for both food and a good place to sleep off the mid-day heat. Apparently the only food currently available in Kangbashi are a chain of small stands specializing in BBQ duck neck. Honestly, not the best meal one can hope for, especially after a night of baijiu.

In terms of sleeping spots, the locals directed me to a partially completed museum complex. I was able to park the moto inside the building and lay down in the shade with the dog. Try as I might to doze we quickly became the museum's virgin exhibition.

While fake sleeping, I overheard the following conversation:
"Is that the laowai's dog?"
"Yeah, definitely, it must be his dog. Must be a foreign dog."
"How can you tell?"
"Look at her eyes."
"What, are they blue?"
"No! But there is just something different about them. Those aren't Chinese dog eyes."

FYI, my dog is 100% Beijing street dog.

Also I got the only bad gas of the trip in Kangbashi at an official Sinopec fill station.