- China Motorcycle Ride - November 27, 2024
- The Moment Collectors Asia - November 23, 2024
- Timeless on the Silk Road - October 21, 2024
Perhaps the best thing I did in my life was 12 years ago I shifted my focus away from a career and consumer life. I decided time was more valuable and how limited my opportunities would be to have the experiences I dream about if I stay on the corporate ladder and keep moving the goal posts for ever more expensive possessions none of which I need and are only what society says I should do with my life.
If I had waited to now to start my rides it would have been too late. I would have lacked the experience thus also the confidence to go solo. To join tours for every destination would make completing my bucket list prohibitively expensive. And now having survived cancer and soon to turn a significant age I simply don’t have the energy to take on all the air travel that would be needed.
Fortunately I have all but completed my ride bucket list. After culling some places I no longer feel justify the level of difficulty needed for me to visit just two ‘new to me’ ride destinations remain. One of those is China.
I have been wanting to ride China for some time but older ride reports made it sound difficult. Then a company I had been following on social media that escorts overland riders across China advertised a guided tour which sounded interesting. This corresponded with Aussies being granted free 15 day visa. Seemed perfect so I booked.
As the date gets closer I am only person who booked and the tour is cancelled. The easy option is cancel my flights and accept a small loss of money but I want to try solo. Whilst I hoped to join a tour for this destination to make it easy I do prefer independent riding at my own pace. Furthermore I don’t want to wait another year because my future health is uncertain. So I asked the tour company Ride China if I can make arrangements to do a self guided tour and they agree.
Special arrangements
This ride will be a little different. Firstly I need a Chinese drivers licence. Neither the International Drivers Permit or Australian drivers licence is accepted. Second I need a little help with navigation – which might sound odd coming from a confessed Garmin GPS geek.
What I am told is that my Garmin using Open Street Maps will not be accurate in China, nor will other western navi apps.
OSM’s are made by users and are based on free satellite imagery which works fine most countries who use the World Deodesic Datum. But China developed its own mapping conventions with a obfuscation algorithm. This algorithm adds random offsets of 50 to 500 metres. So satellite images can differ from GPS coordinates (as far as I can understand).
The solution is I navigate using Chinese mapping software. For this Ride China will send me daily waypoints and show me how to use a Chinese app called AMap.
I have picked up a cheap 2nd phone for navigation. (I don’t want my new iPhone on the handlebars) The OPPO A40 is claimed to be military shock proof but if the camera gets damaged I don’t care. It has a large 1000nit bright screen so I can see it even in direct sunlight and a 5100Mvh battery that can be fast charged. Hopefully Big bubbles No Troubles.
Another thing unique for this ride is China’s cashless payment systems. All payment is made via phone QR codes. Foreign credit cards are not accepted and I am told cash is rare now. So I have installed WeChat and AliPay apps and linked an Australian credit card and Ride China is going to make sure I have them working as I will not carry any Chinese currency on this ride.
Well that’s a long winded introduction but there has been a bit on my mind. Weather forecast in Kunming is cool but fine. I will ride over some high passes so have packed thermals and warm riding gloves. I am flying to Sydney tomorrow then onwards to Kunming with China Southern airlines.
The ride
Much of the overnight flight from Sydney was turbulence so unfortunately I got very little sleep but immigration with the new 15 day visa free entry to China was a snap. Literally 1 minute, very efficient.
Jah from Ride China met me at airport and before we left I got a China Telecom sim card for the OPPO to ensure I have excellent coverage everywhere for navigation.
Then we were off to the nearby traffic police station where Jah did the paper work and talking to get me issued a 3 month Chinese provisional drivers permit.
After a couple hours of much needed sleep I meet up again with Jah for a big welcome dinner. So much delicious food!
My phone is vibrating away during the night but I ignore as I need to catch up on sleep then at breakfast I look at messages and see the building manager of the apartment complex where I live has been calling me and messaged that thieves hit the complex last night and amongst other things stole my motorcycle…
There is nothing I can do from here except ask my neighbors if they can act on my behalf with the police and advise my insurance company which they agree to do so I send them all the documents. I try put it out of my mind. I’m insured so hopefully will get some sort of compensation. I don’t want to spoil this once in a lifetime ride and most importantly I need all my focus on the task of riding in a foreign country.
Jah sent a taxi to collect me and bring me to his workshop. The Kove 525 is almost brand new and I will talk more about it later into the ride. After a brief stop to get the chain adjusted for my weight Jah leads me out of downtown and once we are on the expressway he sends me on my way. What a great start to my ride. Normally getting out of a big city is nerve wracking.
Despite what I had read motorcycles are allowed on the expressway here and they pay no tolls. I simply need go to move to the far right lane and ride around the toll barrier. The toll roads here bear more than a passing resemblance to the Japanese expressways. The signage, the toll booths with identical ETC signage, the colour coded painted road markings, and the tunnels all look almost identical to the Japanese system.
Today is a short easy start to the tour. I stop half way at a highway service area which did not have much in the way of food except many instant noodles and you may think it odd but when I was based in Japan I became a fan of cup noodles. There was a hot water urn and place to sit so this relaxing no stress interlude in mild weather suited me fine.
The map software I am using called AMap is superb. The graphics are 3D with excellent display that closely matches the road you are on with detailed junction guidance. It knows what the status of traffic lights are ahead and shows you a countdown from red to green and beeps you when turned green. On the highway it shows how long each of the many tunnels are and where you are in the tunnel, it shows the upcoming service areas and what they offer and upcoming toll booths. I have tried lots of phone navi apps but this is best I have seen.
I arrive my destination Juan Shui and despite not speaking any Chinese my first tour hotel check in goes smoothly using a little Google translate. (which I was also told did not work here <update it doesn’t work on my OPPO with Android OS and local sim card only on my iPhone on roaming>) I took a walk around the old town. Clothes are crazy cheap, designer look for just a few dollars. I settle for a iced passionfruit drink, $1.25.
No problem finding dinner tonight (which is often the hardest part for me on my independent rides) Friendly people beckoning me into their shops. I had Mabo Tofu with rice, cost $3.00 AUD 500ml cold beer $1.20 AUD.
Day two I skip the toll road and follow a secondary route south. The small towns are a bit congested and lots of trucks ply these routes (very few on the toll road). Then up into the mountains the traffic thins. I am riding just behind a shower and am dry but the roads are slippery. I enjoy the fact that riding solo I can take it nice and easy with no pressure unlike when on a group tour where men always try to turn the tour into a race.
First time to get fuel in China and it goes smooth. Arrive at pump and person comes out I point to 95 octane and motion full. After I show my WeChat QR code on phone and am directed inside where it is scanned and all done. I was told that bikes were banned from parking at bowsers and had to ferry fuel in tin cans to the car park but that is not true in Yunnan.
I made a mistake in the navigation options and picked Yah’s lunch waypoint instead of mid morning waypoint of an historic bridge. I’m not even hungry after a big hotel buffet breakfast so decide to skip and save some calories which my waist will thank me for.
Riding further south the sun finally turns on and temperature lifts to 20’s. I need to stop and remove rain liners and decide with the road totally free of cars to make it an impromptu rest stop under the shade of this tree. I break out a energy bar and a drink I was carrying and enjoy the realization of what I’m doing – I’m on a motorcycle ride in China, how great is this!
Glad the Kove 525 has tubeless wheels unlike the T7 and Transalp. Jah advised he would provide a tubeless repair kit and mini compressor so I could leave mine at home. It is a weight off my mind knowing no matter how remote a flat can be fixed quickly should one occur. I’ve been almost too lucky with tube bikes and know I must be due for that luck to run out.
The route then is a beautiful climb for the next 40 minutes to an altitude of about 2000m. Excellent surface and well surveyed. Reaching the top I find people who dress quite differently, not just in this painting but in real life. Somewhat similar to how the mountain people of SE Asia dress. I am actually not far away from the border of Vietnam and Laos.
This area is famous for rice terraces and I visit a number of viewing areas. It’s not rice season now so only water in the terraces but the riding is enjoyable and I end the day at a small mountain village not knowing what my accommodation might be in such a remote place.
I need not have worried. Jah really delivers on the accommodation. The room looks directly out to the rice terraces! My next concern was dinner but it was delicious and breakfast was thick fresh home baked bread and an amazing spread of food.
Jah arranged for one of the girls at the inn to take me for a 1 hour hike around the rice terraces early morning. Beautiful views although I was huffing and puffing getting back up the hill.
Todays route was short so I could take a shower after the hike and laze around until late morning. I took the main route out of the mountains and regretted not back tracking to the excellent car free road from yesterday. Witnessed some extremely dangerous overtaking from impatient drivers.
Apologies for the above photo quality, I post it only as I want to personally remember this amazing tunnel that was a long mural inside of the rice terraces, mountains and skies. Alas all my Theta camera photos this trip were ruined. I am still investigating why.
Next I was on another toll road north and seemed to have the highway to myself most of the time. I saw few cars and the service areas were all still under construction. I could check in early and find myself in another four star room. So pleased Ride China doesn’t try save a dollar on the hotels like some tour operators do. It really adds a lot of pleasure to my trip staying in good hotels.
I took a walk around the nice downtown of Xin Da Lu and found something resembling a supermarket so grabbed some snacks and couple of instant noodles in the unlikely case I end up somewhere there is not much to eat. I always try carry some food and drinks on my rides now. If not used that’s a win but when I don’t carry anything inevitably I arrive in a town with everything shut for a public holiday (but doubt that will happen in Asia).
I wasn’t feeling hungry, just felt like a snack. Spotted a local chicken burger place and thought that looks interesting but could not process my order using WeChat. Thinking maybe my card provider has put a block I was wandering back to hotel to phone them when I saw a McDonalds and thought ok lets see if I can make a payment via their touch screen system and bingo it worked. Yeah the burger was ok but not as good as the photo of course.
Day four is a bigger ride, about 400km. Not too far into the ride I climb a beautiful range that reminds me of Burrinbah in northern NSW except this is over 2000m. Then I continue at this altitude the rest of the day. It is colder as I move north so I add another layer. The Kove is a fine bike but today shows the weakness (IMO) of ADV bikes for touring – limited wind protection. Also this being their mid size 525cc model it doesn’t get cruise control like their 800cc model. I dream about being on my FJR1300 today but can do nothing except hunker down and get on with it. I stop about every 45 minutes at highway service areas to rest.
Mid afternoon and I feel my focus drifting. I stop at another service area and have a brain fade and almost end up with bike on top of me. Ever since my cancer and chemotherapy I find my stamina way down on where it used to be.
I skip the next waypoint for a historic town and ride direct to my hotel in Dali as it will already be a late arrival. Fortunately tomorrow is a rest day.
There are some famous pagodas just out of town but I decide to make it a proper rest day. The hotel is right in heart of Dali old town which has enough to interest me.
Had a good lie in and caught up with social media. No problem to access Instagram here or Messenger without a VPN. Facebook however needs a VPN. Google maps is as inaccurate as I was told. Apple maps here is also not very useful.
After lunch I look ahead at the forecast for the northern region I will ride to and get a shock at how cold it is. Overnight temps -7! I packed some thermal base layers for the high passes but feel little under prepared.
I go shopping and get two more base layer shirts of dubious thermal quality. If nothing else it saves me washing as can simply discard along the way. Not planning to go out at night but I get some fleece lined pants and another mid layer top as well. I can’t find any winter boot socks but get some warm walking socks which I can layer over my boot socks. I did pack my thermal base layer long johns from New Zealand and two Uniqlo Heatech base layers so I am not a complete idiot and also have winter gloves and my winter neck gator. The Kove has handguards and grip heaters. Long as weather stays fine I should be ok.
Never seen a persimmon drink before, I used to love persimmon season in Japan. Later I had a very tasty wonton soup for dinner mastering the ordering via WeChat with entirely Chinese menu with no translation. Starting to feel comfortable with the system here.
Day six I am riding north to Lijiang. It is another short route so I can wait for the day to warm a little before setting off.
Half on the expressway then half on back roads it is a pleasant ride in cool air that requires I only wear my lite mid layer fleece. That is sure to increase to more layers tomorrow as I move into the mountains.
Bit of confusion about the hotel location but it is only a minor problem soon resolved by Jah. I can however confirm the neither of the backup routes I made in RWGPS using OSM (pictured below) or in Google maps for today were able to navigate me to my hotel from the point I was temporarily lost. Both just seemed to not know where I was or how to get to the hotel.
The old town here is similar to Dali but bigger and a nicer look to it especially where the small stream flows through the middle. Some women are hiring traditional clothing and being photographed. They look very beautiful but I feel it would be rude to intrude and try take a photo.
I walk to the lake hopeful to get a nice photo and was in luck.
It is a little cold here but I feel this time of year provides clear air and softer light than Spring in the mountainous regions of Asia.
I find a cafe recommended by Jah, N’s Kitchen where I have a fantastic mushroom pasta and enjoy wandering around the old town.
Day seven I will tick off a very big item from my ride bucket list. Tiger leaping gorge.
Beginning of Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Inside the gorge the views are excellent riding north as I am on the edge of the road able to see down.
Looking back to the gorge from northern side. Not as deep as some I have seen but scenic and nice ride. I’m quite satisfied.
After this I ride the mountain road to Shangri-la, I know this to be a motorcycle route but I was not prepared for how incredible this turned out to be.
It is all new hotmix with excellent modern surveying and almost zero cars.
And the other side is just as impressive views, naturally much bigger in real life than photos which always flatten landscapes.
Coffee and cheesecake for lunch at a glamping cafe with an amazing view. That’s a 5300+ metre mountain despite the 23mm lens of my phone trying to make it look less.
I tried to photo how good this road is but you know how hard that is with the best riding roads of the world Vs the Instagram roads like Stelvio which idiots claim is amazing but actually just a series of tight U turns on the side always photographed.
This route is in my top ten in the world, and I don’t say that lightly. It’s easily one of top 3 rides in Asia and I am amazed that I have not read more about this route before now (perhaps because the surface was not previously as good?).
Tiger leaping gorge and then route G214 to Shangri-La, you must ride this. It has everything, famous deep gorge then superb mountain roads with jaw dropping views all day. Terrific surveying and surface. About 200 km of near perfect riding.
The government is planting 10’s of thousands of deciduous trees along this route. In a few years from now this will also be one of the most pretty autumn roads in Asia but my advice is get here before they grow big because in future it might become too busy like some roads in Japan in Autumn.
Highpoint of this road about 3700 metres and quite chilly.
Arriving Shangri-la which is about 3000m it seems like a far flung cold place to have such a name. Jah has me booked into the Hilton. I explore a little before the temperature plumets like a rollercoaster. I pick up a couple of German style beers at a local convenience store and retreat into my heated hotel and order room service – because why not, I try make things as easy as possible these days.
I’m going to split this ride report here because WordPress gets bogged down when tasked with many photos.
Tomorrow I ride even higher roads and arrive at the border of Tibet and the Himalaya’s.
Part two soon.
