69 days, 9.9 weeks, just over two months…. No matter how you think about it, a 69 day tour is a long time, or so one would think.
Last night at dinner we were discussing some of the places that we had visited on this tour with comments from the group like; ‘Do you remember stopping at the Buddha in Mongolia?’ or the border crossing in to Mongolia or the great lunch on Lake Baikal…. All of this seems to have happened such a long time ago… Well that was until some mentioned Siberia, Kazan, Saint Petersburg, Moscow…. Moscow??? Did we see Moscow on this trip or was that on a previous tour???? Reminiscing about the start of the tour made us all realize just how much terrain we had covered and the thousands of miles we have ridden through several different countries over the last 6 weeks. We have seen and done so much that the start of the tour feels as though it was a life time ago yet the memories are so fresh that it is tough to imagine that some of the places that we are reminiscing about were part of the tour only a few weeks ago. I guess for as long as the wheels are rolling, so the time is marching on accordingly.
A boat cruise with the option to catch some fresh fish which were barbecued on an open fire on a small island in Lake Baikal was the perfect way for the group to enjoy their free day on the lake before we rode around lake Baikal to spend a night in the Tonka valley and continue on to Ulan Ude for our last night in Russia.
Good Bye Mother Russia you have been exciting, challenging, remote and beautiful. We will miss you.
The Russia/Mongolia border crossing was like most other ‘remote’ border crossings. We lined up for a small piece of paper at the entrance gate which had to be stamped a number of times before the bikes were checked and we were released from no man’s land. Despite the procedure being slightly different compared to the time Janis and I were there during the scouting trip, crossing into Mongolia went well with minimal interruption to the day. With that said, the support vehicle had to be emptied and each piece of luggage was scanned before being further visually inspected by an official and then repacked into the van.
Mongolia is beautiful! Long rolling green hills, cattle and livestock grazing all over the place, small villages made up of gers scattered over the hill sides, its remote, scarce yet stunning! Mongolia has a very relaxed, warm feeling about it. A very traditional and easy going nomadic lifestyle.
That is until you reach Ulan Bataar and try to lead a group through the cities incredible traffic. Even for a Saturday afternoon there was a lot of traffic backed up trying to get in to the city. Of course this was only just a taste of things to come for all the riders that had not ridden in Mongolia or China before.
Once out of the city the traffic quietened down a bit and we were able to further enjoy the beauty of Mongolia. Our two night stop was at a very luxurious full serviced five start hotel out in the middle of nowhere sans traffic or noise.
Our first stop as we rode towards the Gobi desert was at the Chenngis Khan monument. Standing at 40 meters (131Ft) tall it really does stand out in the middle of remote and barren Mongolia. Spending the night in Gers out in the middle of the desert offered some incredible star gazing and a stunning sunset that only could only imagine seeing over the Gobi Desert. The stars alone were worth the visit.
Leaving Mongolia was a little more challenging as the border crossing that we used is only open to a specific type of Russian vehicle, the Uaz and of course the odd tourist. We were pushed, shoved and made to wait for what seemed like hours in the hot sun. Some of the riders were given stamps whilst others were denied stamps for a while. Some passports were stamped immediately, others were held on to as the official assisted the locals that had been lining up behind us. Everyone was eventually given their passports with all the required stamps and we proceeded to the Chinese side of the border.
From standing in the hot sun being pushed around by locals all trying to hunt down the same official that is never at his desk for the last stamp required to exit Mongolia to a newly built, quite, air conditioned and well organized customs hall in China… Welcome to a whole new world!!!
Lets enjoy the cool and the quietness of the customs hall, as this is probably about as cool and as quiet as it will be in China for the next 5 weeks.
Bring on beautiful China! :)
The return to China.
China, a part of the world that did not intrigue me much before our scouting trip in 2014 has become one my truly favourite parts of the world. It feels great to be back!
Clearing the bikes through customs took a bit longer than we had anticipated thus resulting in a late start and an after dark arrival at the hotel after our first day of riding. Fortunately it was a great hotel and the perfect place to enjoy a quick dinner, warm shower and great nights sleep before heading off to Beijing the next morning.
Waking up to wet miserable weather know that you have a couple of hundred miles ahead of you on the bike is just a bleak way to start the day. My hopes of it drying up by the time we got to Badaling were not met. It was raining that much that we could not even see the Great Wall from the parking area, nor could those that braved the torrential rain to get to the top of the wall see more than about 10 feet in front of them….. At least that would not be there only chance to see the Great Wall on this tour.
Two nights at a wonderful hotel in Beijing was just the perfect stop for the riders to get their gear dried out, laundry done as well as enjoy a guided tour to the Forbidden City while BMW Beijing serviced, cleaned, replaced tires and did full check overs on all the bikes. Leaving Beijing with clean, serviced bikes as well as dry riding gear and sunny skies (a rarity in Beijing) made for a great exit out of the city!
The weather was so great that we continued past the nights hotel and did a loop ride around the Guoliang Tunnel, arguably the most famous of the tunnel roads dug out by hand in China. What a great ride!
We spent most of the following day riding on the tunnel roads enjoying great riding and absolutely breathtaking scenery. If I as the tour director had a wish for one dry day on this entire tour, this was the day and we got lucky! The weather was perfect, the riding was fun and the riders were blown away by the views. What an absolutely spectacular day! :)
A couple of long, wet rainy days got us all in to Xian safely for our next two night stop. The Start/End of the Silk Road (depending on direct – for us it was the start) is Xian and by the time we were ready to leave, the weather was perfect and has been ever since!
Outside of Xian one does begin to get a very different feeling for China, the areas become more remote, the roads are mediocre but the large cites fall away to smaller towns and villages. With great weather we were able to enjoy some fun riding and great scenery as we rode through rolling hills and mountains on our way to our next big city, Lanzhou where one of the riders would be joined by his fiancé.
Sneaking behind a wall for a quick pitstop ended up with the aforementioned rider being bitten on the back of his leg by a security dog that was chained up. However the chain was attached to a runner and thus allowed the dog a lot more distance than anticipated. The advantage of having a paramedic on the tour is that things like this are treated promptly and professionally. The dog bite was soon forgotten about upon the young couple being reunited.
Lanzhou was a real challenge during the scouting trip last year as they were busy rebuilding most of the main arterial freeways in and out of the city. All things considered we did really well getting to the hotel with only a couple of miles of heavy inner city traffic. The delay of being stuck in the traffic was considerably shortened with the local police giving us priority at traffic lights and major intersections.
Leaving Lanzhou the next morning involved a little more excitement or adventure than any of us had really expected or wanted. Whilst riding along the left side of the road one of the riders was hit on his side case by a small van which resulted in the bike and rider being catapulted in to a fruit stand on the side walk. The bike hit the fruit vendors little three wheeled cart on to its side. Miraculously nobody was hurt, injured or even bruised! The rider had absolutely no injuries including being stiff or sore the next morning. The bike came off the worst from the incident and resulted in it having to be shipped back the US. Fortunately the rest of the day leaving Lanzhou was easy going with minimal traffic.
The following day we rode up to an old part of the great wall, nothing as touristy as the look out points in Badaling outside Beijing but still such a great way to see the wall out in the desert several thousands of miles away from Beijing.
In an effort to get closer to one of the old bastions one of the riders had a very gentle tip over on a gravel road. Whilst it all happened so slowly, his wife unfortunately got her foot stuck under the pannier which resulted in a cracked tibia. Again, the advantages of having a paramedic on the tour proved invaluable as we were able to get her comfortable, to a hospital, plastered up and ready for her trip home for further surgery in less than two hours. The great news is that she has just had her surgery and is doing really well.
The further west we go the more beautiful China becomes as we head further in to the Gobi Desert. There are not too many places on earth where you can stand in a desert and be in awe of the spectacular snow capped mountains not that far off in the distance. Just absolutely stunning!
Motorcycles are not allowed on the main G roads in China (with the exception of some cities) so we are limited to the smaller national roads which vary from great newly paved highways to small really bump pot holed side roads. About 80 miles before the city of Duanhung, to which we were heading for our next two night stop, the road becomes a brand new high speed paved national road running right next to the main G road expressway. After two days of bouncing around on the rough national road, it felt great to get the bike up to 75 miles and hour and stay there for a while. Alas, the joy was short lived. Suddenly the national road ended literary into a sand dune as the expressway right next to us continued on…. A quick ride on a soft shoulder to the end of a barrier and we are on the expressway, back up to speed and it felt great. Good speed, great road, perfect temperature all the way to our hotel in Duanhang for the night.
Tomorrow we will head South East towards Chengdu, our next two night stop but not before enjoying some spectacular riding long the Tibetan Plateau, Kanbula National Park, Ching Hi Lake and so many other stunning parts of China that offers incredible scenery and riding.
Sincerely,
John
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