So..... Its been a long time, way too long, since I worked on this. Hopefully I can remember most of the stuff that matters.

I stayed in Beijing visiting friends and stocking up on supplies for a few days. After that we headed west. We didn't really have any route planned, just the goal of getting to Kashgar, so on the way out of Beijing we just went west. The riding near Beijing was great. Winding mountain roads with beautiful scenery and not much traffic.


(1 of 121) by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

We rode until it started to get dark than looked for a place to stay. Didn't see much in the way of trucker hotels and the like, I think because we were taking smaller roads, so we opted to stay behind an abandoned building. I hadn't done too much camping in China, so I wasn't sure what the rules are about it, but i figure the worst thing that could happen was some angry man would come yell at me to leave. Besides it didn't seem like there was anybody around anyway.


(2 of 121) by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

Behind the shack there was a old garden that was pretty sandy/soft so we pitched the tent there. Baxi was sad, I don't think she knew what she was in for when she wanted to go on a trip with me. haha.


(3 of 121) by HamSandwichChina, on Flickr

We had ditched the sleeping pads before we left because they took up a lot of room, but that night we learned we would need them again.Turns out the tent floor wasn't really all that waterproof.