Excuse me! Can you watch my bike for a sec? Alone in China on YBR250

[Taizhouthomas]

Hey Jaro,

Enjoyed reading your post, looks amazing where you are at the moment. Look forward to your next update. When you return we can ride together somewhere.

I have put a deposit down for the new Suzuki GW250S which will come out in June. The dealer is in Taizhou so it's handy to get services and repairs if needed. Just wondering if you could send me the links from taobao sometime of the different oils you bought and how many times you changed your filters?

Keep us all updated with your progress and good luck. Keep safe.

Cheers.

[modron]

It's been few days since I had a chance to post something. I'm in Dingbian in shaanxi just for a night. A quick info guy, if anyone is trying to go to Shennongjia in Hubei....forget about it if you're a foreigner. I went there from Nanchang (beautiful road) and checked into a hotel. 3 min later police appeared and told me that the whole area is closed for foreigners and they wanted me to leave. It was late and raining so the let me stay for the night but I had a hotel arrest. They even brought some food for me cos I couldn't go out even yo get dinner. Next day I wanted to go north to Xian but they hold me there are a lot of check points and I need to go the same way I came....


So I went to Xian cos Felixs invited me :)
Now here comes a warning for everyone - "if Felix recommends you a road don't go ther"- hahah but in fact it wasn't his fault. My google maps screwed up and I ended up on some crazy road or path at times. To get to Felix's house I needed yo cross 2 rivers and some mudy clay paths in the middle of nowhere. All this on a street bike that altogether is pretty heavy with all the luggage.
Uffffffffff that was a tough day. I never had to cross a river like this before. It was about 60-70m wide and at times head light deep. I rode the bike half way than I fell due to some rock that I didn't see and the current wasn't helping. Bike went nearly all underwater. After I picked it up I couldn't start it again cos I panicked and forgot it was in gear. I tried to push it but it wouldn't go cos of the rocks. I thought I will have a wee sob but I commend down, started the bike and got it out of the river. I was proud like a child! Still am haha. The good thing is that the boxes passed the test. they were underwater and did not leakSecond river was easy compare with this one but the clay mud path were a bit tough on street tires and sub a heave bike. I was like Bambi on ice.
I know that most of you crossed rivers million times and did thousand km on mud but I didn't cos am quite new to biking.
After that I stayed with Felix and Panda for 2 days and now I'm on my way to Inner Mongolia.
some pictures for you guys
road to Shennongjia in the rain
image.jpg

[bikerdoc]

Sounds like you're having a blast. Good work Modron!

What doesn't break us, makes us stronger. How was the free meal while under hotel arrest. Since the PSB officers told you that you should not proceed to Xian due to the number of check points on the intended route, how many were there, given that you disregarded that advice and went anyway. Did you have any trouble with any check points if any?

Sounds like you almost had your bike fully submerged and having the water near the height of the head light, would mean that the water level would be well and truly above the engine/air filter etc. Did you have any issues with water getting into the engine etc?

Sounds like a blast though...

[998S]

if anyone is trying to go to Shennongjia in Hubei....forget about it if you're a foreigner

Subscribed, very nice trip report so far!
So what do they do in Shennongjia what is so secret?

[felix]

So sorry about that mess with the route, fair play to you going for it anyway! Pretty ballsy crossing.

Best of luck on the rest of the adventure, may your next river crossings have bridges.

[bikerdoc]

So sorry about that mess with the route, fair play to you going for it anyway! Pretty ballsy crossing.

Best of luck on the rest of the adventure, may your next river crossings have bridges.

Touché

Or you find a big arsed frond

[milton]

Cheers, Modron. Thanks for sharing.

I don’t think our fellow members fully understand the significance of your RR. Reported here is the first actual sighting of Felix after his moving to Xi’an from Suzhou.
He is like the wicked witch of the west (of China), impossible to find. Usually he tells you a location to meet and then does a no-show. This time he placed a set of supposedly insurmountable obstacles between you and his apartment in Xi’an, including a large number of bad unpaved roads and deep bridgeless torrential rivers. Man… he must have been really surprised to see you at the doorstep.
To support the validity of this sighting we demand an unadulterated picture of Felix and you, preferably taken with a newspaper in the background dating the event.

Thanks again. Keep them coming.

[felix]

Come on Milton, surely you'll get over it someday. Have you tried this shampoo?

[ShuBen]

... safe ride .... waiting for more to come

[modron]

Hi again!

As for your questions:
I didnt go to Xian the way I wanted becouse of the checkpoints. I simply didnt want to risk the rest of a trip. I lefe Shennongjia the same way I came. They had all my details so better safe than sorry. Also had no problems with my bike due to the river crossing. Guess I was lucky and no water got into the engine or simply YBR is so tough that water does no damage!!!! ;) it has to be pure russian vodka haha
I think they have some military activity there in Shennongjia but they say that foreigners are not allowed cos its a nature reverve ;)

Milton, i dont have a photo of Felix but i have a photo of his parking space.

He is a nice guy at times ;) he has gifted me some schoes driers AFTER my schoes dried by themselfs ;) and yes, they were wet because of the river he has made me cross hahah
here are few pics more of the road hes sent me on hah




As for me now, Im in Dunhuang. I crossed Shaanxi, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. The north of Shaanxi is interesting but the trucks kill all the joy. I went pass a traffic jam (99% trucks) of about 7km long. and it was caused mostly because of the impatient drivers who wanted to skip the queue and were overtaking on opposite direction line and then the caused more jams!!! no fu****ing common sense.

This are remains of The Great Wall





Anyway, the best place in the whole of Shaanxi was the little temple Felix sent me to. It was amazing. I cant remember the name but Im sure he can.

Ningxia is a very strange place. I was there only one day but somehow I didnt like it. Cities are half empty, perfectly good roads blocked and everyone stares at you and never smile or does something to interact.

Inner Mongolia!!!!! God, I love this place. Its just amazing. People are friendly and its beautiful. Maybe I like it so much cos its very different from everything i know. On my first day i saw some camels crossing the road. Roads are great, at least the ones I was on. I went from Alxa to Shandun and its great. Some sections are not great but overall its ok. Of course I managed to get stuck on a desert and needed to stop a car to help me push my bike ;) I spent a night on Badain Jaran desert, its spectacular and the young workers there let me put my tent up on the desert which is usually closed for visitors after opening hours









From Inner Mongolia I went to Gansu and I wated to get to Jiayuguan. From Zhangye there is a good but boring road to Jiayuguan. I dont like to be bored so I decided to take the other road. I didnt really know much about apart from its existance and that on google maps was shown as quite major.
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=%E...&via=1&t=m&z=9
The road is amazing up to a town of Sunan. Great, great new tarmac and amazing views. Here are few pics


And the city of Sunan is nice. Its very clean, cheap and people are friendly. I dont think they ever saw a foreigner before as I had to say hello to everyone and shake hands with half of the city haha. Dunno why this city is so clean and nice. It looks like a touristy city although there are no tourists. Anyway, from there the road takes you southwest and unfortunately its a gravel road. Quite good at first and really bad later. But its fu****ing worth it. What a landscape!!!! the Qilian mountain at their best. Amazing. About 60km of shity road for this










And than you get to the top and as a reward you get this view




Later when the S213 joins S204 its all good. The S204 is very good and it stays good for about 100km






Its really cold there as it is around 4000m


:D






After the good 100km you get more dirt/gravel road that is not great but also beautiful. I decided to spend a night at the beggining of it cos it was getting dark and i didnt want to ride on rocks in the dark. Ive found a little abandoned mud house and i moved it. There was a pile of old, dry yaks shit and some wood so i used it to make a fire. The night was freezing tho. I had my two sleepingbags, all my thermals, socks on and it was just ok. In the morning my water was icey (not completly frozen) and it was snowing :/






The next day I was so cold that i couldnt be bothered to take my camera or phone out so no pictures. Sorry. The next day was 200km to Jiayuguan but only half of it is dirt/gravel/rock roads. There are some concrete and tarmack sections. So far its the most rewording and most beautiful road ive ever ridden on. Its simply amazing, I wish i had a more appropriate bike to do it on as my YBR is a street bike and its not that great on dirt. It was a blast anyway. If anyone is in the area, you HAVE TO to do this road. There will be no regrets. :)

stayed tuned....tomorrow im off to Xinjiang





and this what you get if you ride too much hahahaha