- China Motorcycle Ride Part Two - November 30, 2024
- China Motorcycle Ride - November 27, 2024
- The Moment Collectors Asia - November 23, 2024
My ride in China continues. Part one can be read here.
Day eight and I think I will linger over the buffet breakfast for a bit longer today as no rush to get riding when it is minus seven.
But the weather is crystal clear blue skies zero rain every day and that forecast is set to continue, good time of year to be here for photography and riding.
Today I get serious with my layering. I am wearing two Uniqlo Heatech thermal long sleeve shirts and a down jacket mid layer. Also my thermal long pants as well double layers of socks inside my TCX boots. The rain liners are also installed for extra wind blocking which makes 5 layers on top. A good seal around the neck and no gap letting any air in at waist is important before setting off. I am actually warm and comfortable despite the cold. My Alpinestars gloves from my NZ trip are working fine with the help of hand guards and grip heaters.
First waypoint today is a historic bridge from the political history of China and I apologize I don’t really know much about that history. I keep politics out of my travel and judge people on how they behave to me now not how their politicians past or present have acted.
From here I start a long climb towards the highest pass of this ride.
This is the Lancang river or the upper Mekong at a spot called the big bend. I am reminded of Horseshoe bend from my Colorado ride but the scale here is far grander.
From here I continue to climb on a superb road for the next 45 minutes up to the snow line. I tried a couple times to get a photo but the road is mostly in forest.
The pass is around 4300 metres however no where to get a good photo from the main road which enters tunnels. There was another old road that went over the actual summit where no doubt there would be a good viewpoint so I looked but it was snowed in and impassable.
Above looking back at the summit after I have just exited a series of long tunnels.
However the descent then to Deqen offers a spectacular vista of the Himalaya’s and also some superb road riding.
It’s really quite some view. Looking across you can see some buildings, my hotel for tonight is there looking out to the mountains.
Jah has sourced another fine room in a remote location, even has under floor heating which I am grateful for. I find I am struggling with the altitude. I’m at about 3500m tonight and whilst I’ve been higher in India I am breathless here just taking off my boots.
The lights in the stair wells of the hotel are miniatures of the mountain range. Excellent dinner at hotel which even had couple of IPA craft beers!
Day ten the temperature is a brisk -5 but clear. My morning ride a little further north for a closer view of the mountains is one of the most scenic I have done.
Mingyong Glacier and Moirig Snow Mountain.
I rode about 25 minutes down into the valley. A wonderful road of predictable surveying so I could immerse myself in the staggering views. You can see the road I took to the right of this photo. Honestly motorcycling doesn’t get much better than this. I met a number of riders here this morning who were all friendly but my lack of Mandarin left me unable to talk but I gave out a few cards for my blog.
From here you can ride through Tibet to Mt Everest. Probably not at this time of year as there are a dozen very high passes over 5000m. That was the China ride I originally tried to book with a German company but they only seem to want German customers and ignored my correspondence.
Seeing how the altitude left me so breathless this trip I am not sure I could manage that ride but perhaps if I got myself proper fit. I have already seen the Himalaya’s from Nepal, India, Pakistan and now China so as much as I really l-o-v-e mountains this might be my limit… But if Jah ran a tour from Kunming to Everest with support vehicle then I might be tempted.
The main town centre of Deqen is down at the floor of the valley.
I ride back over the same 4300m pass as yesterday, above looking back at the great road surveying as I make my way to the summit.
Again no place to photo the southern side so I just enjoyed the ride and kept myself safe from some dangerous impatient drivers overtaking on blind corners. Once down in the valley my route turns away from Tiger leaping gorge to follow the river valley.
Scenic and pleasant riding following the Lancang (upper Mekong) river this afternoon. Not a long route which is good because I need to keep a modest pace on these undivided roads as occasionally oncoming drivers will simply pull out to pass driving straight at me forcing me to emergency brake and get off road but it has not been as many times as in Georgia and I prefer a slower pace. About 75kph allows me to stop quickly when something unexpected happens.
Another remote location but once again Jah delivers amazing accommodation.
Very relaxing sitting on balcony of my room having a cuppa with this beautiful view.
Limited menu for dinner and fixed breakfast but both were generous servings and delicious. Noodles for breakfast is popular here and has been served to me or been an option at every hotel and the locals all eat noodles for brekky with hot soy milk which cools the mouth from the spices in the noodles.
Day eleven and the weather continues to be perfect.
I thought this valley where I stayed had a look similar to some places I have toured in Japan. The engineered retaining walls, river banks and community river park reminded me somewhat of rural Japan.
A pleasant day spent on secondary roads, bit rough and some busted tarmac in places which I did not mind as it greatly slowed down the oncoming cars and also deterred them from dangerous overtakes leaving me with a much more relaxing ride.
Stopped at another political historic site that Jah had provided me but again I do not really know the significance.
However I did get a nice viewpoint at the site. Then some expressway south to Shaxi which has another preserved old town where no cars can access (I am hopeless at photographing streetscapes) and this historic bridge.
I enjoyed the small town feel of Shaxi and for first time this trip saw a couple of other foreigners. While I have been the only foreigner everywhere it was never a problem, nobody gave me a odd look or stopped and stared as happens in Japan. I also note that it was never a problem I did not speak Chinese and people just got their phones to translate. I was in Japan for 9 years and never once did a Japanese use their phone to translate. Even when I was sick with cancer I had to arrange for a translator at the hospital when the doctor and nurse refused to simply use their phones. Make of that what you will.
Tonight I came across something uncommon on this trip, a wine bar with pizza oven. Perfect celebration for my last night on the road.
Day twelve is all expressway back to Kunming. I had a few highway and tunnel photos taken with my Theta cam I intended to show you but as mentioned in part one for unknown reasons all my Theta’s photos were blurry which I am still investigating.
On the divided road of the expressway I could relax and sit in the slow lane whilst drivers flew by in the fast lane in mostly Chinese domestic cars. There are nearly 100 domestic car companies and the variety of car models I have never seen before is mind boggling. I read that more Chinese brands will come to Australia in 2025. My favourite was this model below, just because I like Suzuki Jimny’s ha-ha.
A light shower in the mountains just before Kunming was the only rain I encountered the entire tour. However on the expressway you are in tunnels as much as open road whenever near mountains (same as the Japanese network) so I rode through it quickly.
Easy ride back into downtown Kunming thanks to the excellent guidance from AMap.
The Kove 525 is a good bike. Reminds me of the Honda CB500X. Engine is smooth but like the CB500 a little breathless if passing cars but for everything else is fine. Gearbox is slick. Colour TFT dash has lots of info but some is a little small for my older eyesight. Front suspension felt lacking on rebound but for this category was fine. Twin front discs were good. Fit and finish is good and it looks premium with those gold tubeless spoke wheels.
Jah sent a car for me next day to take me to airport making a smooth end to my time in China.
The ride in Yunnan well and truly exceeded my expectations. The mountain scenery was amazing. The roads from Tiger Leaping Gorge north were superb. I enjoyed walking around the old towns and the very high quality hotels arranged by Jah.
Before departing Australia I had a little concern about how much of a challenge this trip might be with my health not what it once was and age starting to cast doubts. I wondered should I just wait for an organised tour but there was nothing to worry about and it actually was one of the easier solo rides I have done. It’s given my confidence a boost and made me think I might also do the last (new to me) ride destination on my bucket list solo as well. (That’s Patagonia in 2025, health permitting)
If you are interested in riding China then I recommend without hesitation to go. Contact Jah at Ride China.
Warren,
I did not realize that you shipped your 310GS from Australia to China and it got stolen at Kunming.
Hope the insurance settles you promptly.
I also wanted to thank you for your invaluable routes for my recent Honshu 2 weeks tour on a Honda ADV150.
Hi Brendon,
My G310GS was stolen from my home. They drilled the ignition to break the steering lock.
Lesson learnt, in future I shall have my next bike chained or otherwise secured.
Hope I am not messed about by insurance but it will no doubt make my next policy expensive or perhaps exclude some insurers.
Thank you sharing – so happy your travels continue !
Thank you 🙂
Hey Warren, what an amazing trip, thank you again for sharing. So glad the language wasn’t a huge barrier, your guide certainly knew his stuff. Didn’t expect this to go in the list of places to ride! Hope your photos and bike get all sorted, stay well my friend.
Hi Carloyn,
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this ride before I set off, I had not seen much in the way of photos nor were there any other ride reports to go off. It was a leap of faith in many ways. I just thought how can I ride so much else of Asia and not have ridden China, but I need not have been worried 🙂
Just fabulous as always Warren….I soooo much look forward to reading your travel blogs. Good luck with your health, and the sometimes negative affects of getting older 😮
Hi Pete, thanks very much 🙂