Silk Raod Tour China

Report by Gordon Lindsay.

CHINA BY MOTORCYCLE
A TRIP FROM THE NORTHWEST TO CENTRAL CHINA
FOLLOWING PART OF THE SILK ROAD

The tour purchased was for a fully accompanied, escorted motorcycle tour from Urumqi, in the Northwest of China, above Tibet, to the west of Inner Mongolia, 3,500 km to the West to terminate in Xian, the former capital of China with visits to significant tourist and historical sites along the way.

Day 1 Thursday 17th August –

Arrive at Urumqi after a 3 hour flight from Beijing – not a good omen as it is pouring with rain when the plane touches down. Temperature about 17 Deg C, with the understanding that when the rain stopped, the temperature would lift about 10 Deg C. Met at the airport by Andy Shing, to find out that the original tour of 7 bikes has shrunk to 2 only, a group of 5 American riders has pulled out at the lost moment as one of their group had fallen ill. The other rider a lady from Berne in Switzerland.
The system for the tour was that Hou (Tour Manager) would drive the Nissan Patrol while Andy kept on eye on the bikes following behind.
This system at first seemed a little unworkable; however for travelling within the cities, it was to prove most beneficial. For travel on the open road, the speed of the tour was dictated by the passage of the Nissan. In general this also worked quite well.
The rain stopped just after we arrived at the Mirage hotel, and after completing documentation for the bike hire, we were introduced to the motorcycles, with a brief trail of controls etc to see if any adjustments were required to suit individual riders.
After an evening meal in the hotel we retired to reconvene the next morning.

The Tour & Organization.
The motorcycle tour is sold as a fully accompanied tour, motorcycles and individual driver licence's supplied, with all accommodation and meals included, plus pick
up and transfers to airports at each end.
The tour was sold by Dragon Bike Tours – based in Hong Kong –( E Mail dragonbiketour.com ) and the tour was organized and delivered by two people
1.1 Mr. Andy Shing – Tour Operator Based in Hong Kong, has travelled extensively in Canada and America and speaks Cantonese and English
2.2 Mr. Hou Xin Ping (Hou) Tour manager and driver, based in Lanzhou China, an experienced competitive motorcycle motocross rider, who speaks all Chinese dialects, Cantonese, Japanese, and understands a little but does speak English.
These two gentlemen took on the task of ensuring that every request, no matter what it was, was fully met and food was provided in excess to meet individual tastes
and preferences.
The bikes offered for hire are all BMW make. My choice was a R 1150 GS, while 650 cc models were also on offer.
The accommodation on the tour was amongst the best available in each of the towns visited. The standards varied with the location, with the larger cities offering a
better standard of accommodation. All hotels were clean with Western style amenities and facilities.

Day 2 Friday 18th August.

A shake-down ride to the West of Urumqi to visit the Heavenly Lake, a ride of approximately 150 km return. Initially on a section of freeway, then on to a local road which wound through a mining valley, to the site of the heavenly lake.
This area of China is characterized by the large number of ethnic Chinese such as the Ughur with strong links to the nomadic peoples of the area and historical links to the people of Turkey.
We stopped on the way to the Heavenly Lake to visit a local Ughur village, complete with Yurt tents.
The Heavenly lake was quite picturesque, reminded of the Central Otago lakes with their steep sided snow capped mountains.
Stopped for mid-day meal at a local restaurant and on the
return journey to the Mirage Hotel, stopped at the local
museum, a newly opened building, for a tour of the
exhibitions.
The evening meal was at a local restaurant where we
sampled the food of the region.

Day 3 Saturday 19th August

Ride from Urumqi to Turpan

Approximate distance 220 km
On the way visited the ancient city of Gaochung, complete with Buddhist ruins.
Temperature in the Gobi desert area was approaching 40 deg C – so quite a hot but comfortable trip – a very dry heat and to improve cooling – rode with no visor – used sunglasses only under helmet. Passed through the largest wind farm in the world, spread over a valley floor between two mountain ranges, an area subject to wind most times.

Visit to Grape Valley
Lunch was at an area set up to show off the grape and raisin production in the area, complete with specially built drying buildings for the fruit. The lunch was set up in an area covered with overhead grape vines and could well have been in the Greek islands? Visited an exhibit of the Karez water supply system for the Turpan region, a unique system using miles of subterranean tunnels – hand dug; to convey water up to 25 miles underground from the mountains to irrigate the grape crops. Evening meal was at a restaurant favoured by our Ugher guide as providing a meal typical of the region

Day 4 Sunday 20th August

Ride from Turpan to Hami
Approximate Distance 400 km
The breakfast at Turpan marked the end of the Western influence on Hotel food – selection of Dumplings and Chinese food only – but quite nice. One of the longer daily rides – quite hot also with temperatures in excess of 35 Deg C. Viewed “Flaming Mountain” before leaving the area (Would have been quite spectacular during the sun – set – but we were there not long after sun-rise.) Lunch was at the roughest restaurant ever seen, food preparation area was on an old aluminium door and the kitchen a dirt floor– but the food was delicious.

Some locals came into the restaurant and ordered just as we were finishing. Our food was obviously spiced to suit our western tastes. Their food in preparation drove me outside as I couldn’t breathe without coughing, and whilst they were eating their meal, I couldn't stay in the same room, eyes would start watering and sinuses react to the spices and start sneezing.

On a number of prior accessions, we had come across road works where the road was in fact closed and a bypass had been formed adjacent on the Gobi. Generally these caused no problems as they were as good as any gravel road in New Zealand. On this occasion to was slightly different with large mounds of loose gravel formed by the trucks etc.

Traversing this area I found myself in an argument with a truck driver who wanted his outer wheels to occupy the track I had chosen for the motorcycle. In an attempt to evade the truck I entered the loose gravel only to find the bike quite unstable,unmanageable, with a large truck travelling at 50 km per hour in the opposite direction right by my left elbow – time for an executive decision and I abandoned my line and evacuated to the adjacent Gobi Desert Area. Once the trucks had all passed, I re-entered from the desert and continued without any interference.
On arrival at Hami we checked into the hotel and I found that the hand-basin hot water flow was pathetic. Several attempts to get someone to look at it were unsuccessful, then I found that if the three micro-screen elements in the tap spout were placed in the adjacent rubbish bin, the flow was actually quite good.

Day 5 Monday 21st August

Ride from Hami to DonHuang
Approximate Distance 420 km
An eventful day.
Journey marked the exit from XingJiang province and entry to Gansu province. XingJiang province is quite wealthy with oil and mineral reserves and the roads etc are of a high standard. The same can not be said however for the roads in Gansu province.

Motorcycle Touring in China.
Not a natural experience.
The largest motorcycle allowed to be sold in China is 250 cc. As a result, long distance touring is not very practical.
There are millions of motorcycles in China, the larger motorcycles are normally 125 cc and there are innumerable scooters, generally 50cc to 150 cc in the
cities, along with variants of three wheel motorcycles used as small freight carriers and people carriers, plus a huge number of battery electric mopeds, with
the capability of sneaking up in silent mode.
In addition, larger motorcycles are banned from the streets in several major cities including Beijing, and in other cities they are banned from main roads.
For traveling in the rural areas, motorcycles are also banned from many expressways. Whilst this is not the case in the West, it is definitely the issue in the
East and central areas. For our tour of China, we were able to use several expressways due to the negotiating skills of our tour manager and driver.
The general argument is that the tour motorcycles should be able to use the expressways if there is no alternate safe alternate state highway.
There were a number of sectors on the tour where to use the expressway would have been inappropriate. To gain a feel for the way the Chinese community
lives, their standard of housing, infrastructure and lifestyle, getting off the expressways is required.
As there is a lack of large or European motorcycles in China, every stop and overnight stay would feature by a number of locals who would hang around
waiting for the riders to restart their journey so they can see and hear the larger bikes in action.

The Gobi desert area has long lengths of straight road – one section measured on the odometer was 76 km without a significant corner or bend. The motorcycling today was extended periods at speeds up to 120 Km per hour and more.
At one of the areas of road works we had further drama where both bikes were dropped. The area was different in so far as the bypass was formed from red earth, material which had dried over time and formed a top surface of 200mm to 300 mm of fine dust or sand. Inexperience on this surface was evident and my bike ended up on its side with minor damage to the clutch mechanism on the handlebar – but not so significant to require immediate repair.
Also lost the electrics on the instrument cluster, no fuel gauge, temperature gauge, and clock or gear indicator –had to drive for the rest of the trip on the rev counter – just like the old days!

Day 6 – Don Huang
A scheduled “Rest Day” – local tours only
The hotel at Don Huang was extremely up-market accommodation.
First site visit was about 40 km to the Magao Grottoes – an area with some parallels with Petra in Jordan.
A site where in ancient times when Buddhism was openly preached in China, local identities paid for the construction of private Buddhist temples in caves dug in to the side of the cliffs.
In total 735 caves or shrines were dug with the two largest holding a reclining Buddha of 50 m length and another a sitting Buddha 36 m high.
The original site was struck by an earthquake in the mid 1900’s and the front of many of the caves was destroyed with the contents exposed to the elements. In 1980 the area was declared a world heritage site and a major rebuild of the front of the caves was undertaken. Whilst they have strived to replicate the natural compacted gravel ground with textured concrete they haven’t been entirely successful, and the aluminium doors on the cave entries is somewhat incongruous. Not withstanding, it is well worth the visit.
Back to town for lunch at a local restaurant and saw a local family celebrating their son’s acceptance at university – with the males involved in a very noisy drinking game.
After a break at the hotel, went to the “Echo Sand Mountain” on the outskirts of town. A tourist venue set up to fleece visitors. An area with huge sand-hills and a lake perched halfway up the sand-hills a feature of unknown origin.
Hired 4 wheel motor cycles to ride in the sand – only to find an operator riding shotgun on each bike, and the operator the only person allowed to drive near the top. All together a waste of 100 yuens. My escort stopped just before the end of the trip on the motorbike and asked for a “tip” – I gave him 3
1 Stop fleecing the tourists
2 Work hard
3 Look after his mother – he didn’t seem to be impressed!
On return to town, went to the local night market to do some souvenir shopping and have our evening meal.
The meal was typical of the night meals we had been enjoying, local fare ordered from various sources around the area and delivered to the table, and twice the volume of food required.
The area also had a number of buskers, typically a young lady with a song sheet offering her services. When a deal was done, her companion, a bloke with an electric guitar, microphone, and battery powered amplifier and speaker would appear at her elbow and the music would start. There were about 5 of these troupes operating in the one area – all at once – a real cacophony of sound.

Day 7 Wednesday 23rd August

Ride from Don Huang to Jiuquan
A ride of 450 km approximately.
Originally scheduled as a 230 km ride, however the previous tour had found that 125 km of the route was on unformed dusty road as the expressway was under reconstruction. Nearly every rider had fallen more than once and one had been seriously hurt. A decision was made to take a longer route to avoid the majority of the reconstruction.

Had lunch at a local village, bike drew the usual crowd of onlookers and had a good conversation with a local lad who was on summer holiday from Interpreter school , and he had an excellent grasp of English as a spoken language.
On the alternate route we struck one section of road – about 3 to 4 km, which was very substandard and required concentration to traverse at slow speed, however the rest of the road was quite good. Eventually ended up on the new expressway, albeit that it was not open and required some concentration as interspersed with road workers hand placing rock facing to the embankments, traffic was travelling in both directions on either side of the centre plot.
Eventually had to exit the expressway as construction of a new toll gate facility effectively closed off traffic and we needed to get back on to the state road – a small section cross –country and all was well.
Had a stop just prior to Jiuquan to visit a former gate Tower and part of the Great Wall of China – quite a different structure to what we had seen in Beijing prior to the tour.
Arrived Jinquan at 7.30 pm – the end of a very long and hot day
Evening meal in the hotel, but I was not feeling well and certainly not hungry – a foreboding of things to come

Driving in China
The Issues
There are several things different to driving in New Zealand
The following list is not necessarily on order of importance
1 Drive on the right hand side of the road rather than the left.
2 In a merging or intersecting situation, give way to the driver on the left.
3 Overtake on the left – not the right
4 Slow traffic – keep right.
5 Free right hand turn on red light.
In conjunction with the above there are a number of protocols which need to be observed when travelling in the cities
•A In addition to the standard “North and South bound lanes – on each side of the roadway - in a separate area, there is another lane for two and three wheeled cycles, donkey carts, hand carts, motor cycles and electric mopeds – and despite these lanes being on each side of the roadway – the traffic using these areas travels both in the both directions.
•There also is nothing to stop cars and trucks using these lanes.
•B To execute a left turn in traffic, even when assisted by a green light at an intersection, turning traffic have to create their own break in the traffic on the opposite side of the road. To achieve this, the vehicle has to work forward slowly into the oncoming traffic until eventually an oncoming driver yields and the turning vehicle can advance. This procedure is repeated for every separate traffic lane until the traverse of the road is complete and the left turn is fully executed.
•C Pedestrians using a pedestrian crossing, even when indicated allowable by a traffic light, must share the crossing with vehicles proceeding with a free turn at a red light and/or the traffic from the cycle lanes which will proceed regardless of the colour of the traffic lights.
•As a pedestrian accustomed to New Zealand road regulations, this requires a huge paradigm shift, as in China one has to assume that the vehicle driver has seen the pedestrians and will make allowance for their presence. To do any different is to provoke doubt and risk. i.e. If the pedestrian breaks pace and falters because he or she is concerned the vehicle driver has not seen them, a collision will likely occur.
•D Use of the horn. If there are any vehicles or pedestrians which are or may impede progress of a vehicle, the driver will sound his horn in a loud and vigorous manner.
•E Lane changing – In the cities lane changing is executed with no prior warning, certainly no use of indicators, and will almost certainly require the creation of a gap for the lane changing vehicle as in “B” above.
•F Overtaking – applies both in the cities and rural areas. Makes no difference as the centre line marking, overtaking can be undertaken at any time provided the overtaking vehicle has more speed than the vehicle being passed. It is not necessary to have a clear road to complete the overtaking manoeuvre is it can be assumed the vehicle approaching can keep clear of the overtaking vehicle.
• (It is not uncommon to see vehicles 4 abreast on a two lane highway as the two overtaking vehicles pass near the centreline)
• If a gap does not exist for the overtaking vehicle to return to the correct side of the road when the manoeuvre is completed, refer to “E” and “B” above
•G The above behaviour is considered “normal” and under no circumstances will drivers lose their temper or become emotional about traffic delays or imposition of
others into their space.

Day 8 - Thursday 24th August
Ride from Jinquan to Zhangye
Approximate distance 235 km
Awoke with a case of the trots – no discomfort at all – prescription -, Pills and Electrolyte drinks and no food for 24 hrs. First stop before leaving town was a visit to the “Luminous Cup” factory – a facility where they produce fine cups and wine glasses, plus a large number of other carved ornaments etc from Jade Rock. Claimed to be the only such factory in China, however I am sure have visited a similar facility in Hong Kong. Factory has a token set of workers completing finishing work for the visitors; however there is another factory somewhere else where the majority of the work is done, including the cutting of the raw material.
Needed to use a toilet at the Luminous Cup factory, but decided after viewing their facilities, albeit a tile finished system, that the sphincter muscle was going to be tested to a new level – next toilet stop would be Zhangye?
Had a leisurely ride to Zhangye, a roadside café for lunch, only a slice of Hami Melon for lunch, much consternation from Hou that I was not eating and arrived at hotel about 3.30 pm.
Walked next door to hotel to visit Buddhist Temple – with the largest reclining Buddha in China. The temple was undertaking an overdue major upgrade and scaffolding was everywhere. It was interesting to try to establish why such a major edifice of religion had been let get into such a state of disrepair? There was no real explanation other than to blame the impact of Communism on religion in general.
{It is worthy to note that whilst the guides allocated to the tour were very strong on the History of China and particularly the past Dynasties etc, it was very difficult to get any perspective of China in the last 100 years. This period was instrumental in the formation of modern China, especially what is seen today –but the guides do not seem to have any knowledge of the period. In this respect
China still remains a bit of an enigma – how they resolve the issues of government ownership of all land etc with the growth of Capitalism is still quite an unknown.}
Begged out of an evening meal and adjourned for an early night and after what
was a 12 hr sleep, awoke fit and well ready to continue.

Day 9 - Friday 25th August
Trip fro Zhangue to Wuwei
Approximate Distance 250 Km
A leisurely ride, mixture of State Roads in good condition and managed to get onto the expressway for section of the trip. Good cruising speeds up to 160 kph in places. Prior to the expressway, stopped for photo’s at a section of the Great Wall running parallel with the road.
On the expressway, stopped for lunch at a settlement where the expressway went through the great Wall

Visit to site of the Bronze Galloping Horse Museum– also a monument to the early Han religion -Tomb of Leitai
Went to local night market for dinner – had a repeat of donkey meat, but couldn’t go the donkey kidney – never been keen on offals.

Day 10 Saturday 26thAugust
Ride Wuwei to Lanzhou
Approximate distance 280 km.
Had decided for an early start – and to try to get on the expressway as there was little to see on the state roads. If necessary – riders were to run the gauntlet at the toll plaza and keep going – but do not take risks for whilst the staff will not chase, they will certainly grab your arm and pull you off the bike?
Arrived at the expressway entry and whilst the first bike actually stopped at the toll both, I rode straight through, stopping about 1 km down the road.
Our tour manager (Hou) did in fact get the operator to issue tickets for all the vehicles, including the bikes, so I returned to the toll booth we had a break before setting out on the expressway. The influence of Hou was much appreciated.
Stopped at a service station for a morning break and then on to the first toll booth,
met by severely agitated staff who wanted the bikes to turn around and return 45 km to get toll tickets – they calmed down when they sighted the magic pieces of card. Part way down the expressway – stopped for a break at a service station, cut up another melon for a snack.
Arrived Lanzhou about 1pm, similar response at the toll plaza but the magical cards came out again. Went to a restaurant straight off the end of the expressway for lunch. The restaurant specialized in supplying meals to the local MuslimChinese. The sight of diners wearing surgical gloves, picking the edible bits of a cooked sheep’s head was a little unusual.We all went out to do some local shopping, visited the local waterwheel park. Lanzhou is a river city, with the yellow river running through the center of the town. It has all the recreation facilities on the river that are associated with a river town and very picturesque. The population of the city is the equivalent to the whole of New Zealand
The evening meal was a ‘Fondue” style meal with platers of vegetables, thin sliced lamb meat, all placed in the boiling broth and withdrawn after cooking to eat. Onceagain a meal for 6 with capability to feed 12.

Day 11 – Sunday 27th August.
Ride Lanzhou to Pingling
Approximate Distance – 340 km.
An early departure at 8am after a breakfast with European Features – cereal and yogurt back on the menu at last.
The day was threatening rain for the first day on the tour. Sure enough after about 1 hour into the ride we stopped for a break and the clouds begin to drop a little water, so out came the wet weather gear for the first time. We resumed our trip and the rain intensified. It wasn’t too long and we were traveling on a road with quite deep puddles, not in itself a problem, but vehicles
going in the opposite direction were putting up walls of spray so motorcycling became a bit hazardous – so a decision to take a short break until the rain eased a little.
We stopped adjacent some local buildings to discover about two buildings further down the road a small shop where we were invited inside to take shelter. To spend time inside this elderly couple’s home, their front room, shop and bedroom combined, brick floor, walls and ceiling lined with newspapers, whilst they offered food, towels to dry ourselves and seats and stools to rest, all from people who had nothing in this world – a quite humbling experience.
Eventually the rain eased and we proceeded on our journey.
This area of China is an agriculture area, all land is cultivated and the sides of hills all terraced for cultivation. An extremely picturesque area.Stopped for lunch at another roadside eatery with the usual array of food. The road took a high route, peaking at a road tunnel through to the next valley. With wet clothing, all on the bikes were getting a little cold by the time the tunnel
was traversed. Exit from the tunnel was to another picture postcard agricultural area.The road surface after the tunnel was real bad, huge potholes and broken surfaces, but this was short lived and the road conditions soon improved. Arrived Pingling 5.30 pm and had a lot of wet clothes to deal with and hot showers the order of the day.Sight seeing was abandoned as the mountain lookout was in clouds and evening meal was in the hotel. This hotel was fairly basic, no real facilities for tourists

Day 12 Monday 23rd August
Ride Pingling to Xian
Approximate distance 340 km.
Still raining, but forecast was for rain to ease during the day.
Breakfast a bit lacking in choice – no cereal or tea or coffee – Hot milk not really a goer!
The wet weather gear back on. With a few modifications to improve the water protection. We discussed delaying the start to allow the rain to ease, but no sign of a break in the clouds so decision to push on regardless. Stopped for petrol for the bikes, the first drama for the day. It is rule in China that you are not allowed to pour petrol direct from the pump into a motorcycle. Apparently there has been incidence of static electricity causing sparks and igniting petrol. The problem is that the canister they supply to transfer the petrol is quite small (6 litres) and invariably not clean – so the fuel injection system on the
BMW’s can cause problems.
As the tank on the R1150 holds 27 litres, the canister system is not popular with Dragon Bike Tours. This was the opportunity to see the dynamics of the team on full flight. Andy has no patience with the Chinese attitude of doing it by the book and has limited language skills to get his pint across. Hou on the other hand has to play the role of the mediator and interpreter.
There was much raised voices and eventually the two bikes were refuelled – using the can.
Less than 1 hour after resuming the journey, the next break was forced as Charissa picked up a piece of wire in her rear tire and a puncture repair was required

We adjourned to a lay-by area with shelter while the rear wheel was removed from the 650 cc and the tube replaced. Dragon Bike Tours carry all the required equipment and the job took about an hour. Once mobile again we adjourned to a café across the road from the lay-by for
lunch.
As we were finishing lunch we were informed that another motorcycle tour group was due to pass our lunch spot and would be stopping for a chat (Hou had been on his mobile to friends of his who were running a 15 bike tour of Japanese riders)

Eventually the group arrived and we learnt they were travelling from Beijing to Istanbul – 2 months on motorcycles – generally all motocross bikes of 250cc to 300 cc capacity. We resumed our journey after lunch, the rain had all but ceased and the next break was at another service station. Our group aroused a lot of local interest and we were joined by the group of girls working at the service station. Initial reaction was why they were not at school ?– only to learn they had all finished school, the youngest was 17 and the oldest 23 – but they certainly didn’t look that old.

On the outskirts of Xian it was obviously difficult for Hou to find his way to the Hotel so
he stopped a local taxi and form then on it was “follow that cab”
Arrived at the hotel – magnificent facility, a 10 story central atrium in the hotel.Walked to a local restaurant for an excellent meal and back to the hotel for the night.

Day 13 – Tuesday 29th August.
Sightseeing Day – Xian
Museum of Terracotta warriors
Local shop/ dining room for lunch
Site of Terracotta warriors after lunch
Visit to Huaning Hot pools and Big Goose Pagoda.
Evening meal (Peking Duck etal) and debriefing –
swapping of photo files

Day 14 Wednesday 20 th August

Tour ends – transfer to Airport for flight to Shanghai

Wrap – up
A truly memorable experience, a great way to see China
If you enjoy touring on a motorcycle, and you would like to see China – it is a great combination. Unless you can get your own motorcycle into China and can get around China without a guide, then an accompanied tour is definitely the way to go.
Dragon Bike Tour is highly recommended by the writer they provide a unique experience and make every effort to ensure their clients have a great time.
Excellent Bikes
Good Hotels
Great Food
Great Company
Just get in touch.
For more photo’s and information see http://www.dragonbiketour.com/ – Silk Road – Gallery – for 130 photographs.
Ask about tours to Northern China and Tibet also.
Feel free to contact the writer for more details – gordon@pswan.co.nz