All the Tea in China - Part 8 Inner Mongolia

Crossing into Inner Mongolia the last Province on my China tour also provides a big clue as to the country I will be in next.

But I have two more cities on my China tour to cover for now. First up was Ulanquab, a small city with so many tower cranes being used during the construction of new apartment buildings dotting the sky line I have to wonder where the occupants will come from and if the apartments will ever be occupied. Many, or I would go as far as to say most cities in China were also experiencing a construction boom, but this far North, in an area without major industry or population, I have to wonder what would be the draw card.

 

The last city on my China tour was Erenhot, after a five (5) hour ride on a good quality road but in extremely windy conditions through flat open country side I was relieved to be off my motorcycle. After checking into hotel accommodation I enjoyed a celebratory evening meal and thought about my highlights in China, which include Tiger Leaping Gorge, Shangri la's temples, nearby Tibetan village and winding high mountain passes, Panda Base Chengdu for the cute animal factor, Jiuzhaigou Natural Park with it's lakes and water falls, Xian and the Terracotta Warriors, Old Towns when they were real old towns, three sections of the Great Wall and Beijing with it's many highlights. Food featured as well, in the South rice and rice noodles were the norm, while in the North, wheat, wheat noodles and dumpling were more readily available, all very nice. As with any country, people and interacting with the people provides an unforgettable experience, and China was no different. People were friendly and inquisitive, asking where are you from and where are you going, always enquiring about the big motorcycle.

 

So that was China, the title of my China blogs was leading to my answer as to whether I ride through China again. Initially my thoughts were Not for All the Rice in China, but after digesting the experience, the thought of riding through the Himalayan and Tibetan regions would be cause for reassessment. But for now Mongolia is on my mind, another new country on Mick's Moto Adventure.

 

 

All the Tea in China - Part 7 Beijing

After crossing into Beijing Province the first and foremost must see was the Great Wall, after already seeing two (2) other sections of Wall I was still thrilled to see it again at the very touristy but nun less spectacular Badaling section. This section even has a cable car to transport tourists up what would have been a gruelling walk. The fete of original Wall construction is awe inspiring and the man power involved makes it a true construction marvel.

 

Upon reaching Beijing city, which is not a straight forward exercise, requiring a little logistical forethought due to restricted entry for motor cars on certain weekdays for a particular numbered registration plate, and motorcycles band altogether from inner sections of ring roads circulating the city centre, I settled into hotel accommodation for a three (3) night stay.

 

On the tourist trail again, I walk passed the 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium site before catching a Metro train to the Summer Palace to view the huge man made lake and wander the expansive grounds of nobility's summer holiday splendour.

 

 

 

The following morning I was back on the Metro, for a very crowded train ride towards the city centre. Relieved to be off the too close for comfort train I walk through the Hutongs (old city), visit the Temple of Heaven, gain entry to Tienanmen Square on the second try after initially being turned away because I was not carrying my passport for identification during heightened security through an anniversary period. Dark clouds roll in and I cope a rain drenching as I make my way to the Forbidden City, I buy a very cheap single use rain coat to provide a little rain and cold relief before a less crowed train ride back to the hotel.

 

 



 

With only a couple of days left in China, I ride North towards Inner Mongolia for Part 8 of my All the Tea in China tour. 

All the Tea in China - Part 6 Hebei

Traffic jam chaos did not help travel progress as I crossed into Hebei Province. Hundreds, possibly even one (1) thousand plus trucks were the main culprit of the traffic congestion, but cars were the cause of the traffic jam. Two (2) lines of trucks and two (2) lines of cars, four (4) wide on a two (2) lane road (one (1) road lane in each direction), cars became wedged while trying to pass other vehicles and brought traffic to a stand still. After about one (1) hour I began to make progress at crawling pace, eventually clearing after many kilometres I was back up to a reasonable speed and headed to Datong.

Datong Grottoes was my late morning stop for the day, a visit to the site of 55,000 images of Buddha caved in to a rock wall and dug deeper into the rock face to form caves was the visit purpose.

 

Leaving Datong the ride passed more quickly and I reached my overnight stopover destination of Yangyuan late afternoon. My evening meal contained amongst other things donkey meat, another new and satisfactory eating experience on my travels. With only one (1) night in Eebei Province, the following morning I made tracks for Beijing Province and the city of Beijing for Part 7 of my China tour.

All the Tea in China - Part 5 Shanxi

I thought eight (8) hours to cover 340 kilometres was slow going, the ride from Xian to Yuncheng topped that. Travelling only 240 kilometres in eight (8) hours, Yuncheng is an overnight stopover blur. The following day in Pingyao was more memorable though, the site of a walled ancient city with a difference, the ancient city contains all the usual replica building tourist souvenir shops, but also has many streets containing original homes and building that are lived and worked in today and provide a genuine link to days gone by.

 

Daixian is my next destination, before getting there I divert slightly to see a section of Great Wall that is currently visited by few tourists. I say currently because very soon it may be inundated with tourists, construction is well under way on a replica historic town with souvenir shops, hotels and the Great Wall all accessible via a new road transporting the tourists closer than is possible now.

I walk for about ninety minutes return to see the refurbished yet still impressive section of Wall.

 

 

Arrival in Daixian is similar to my arrival into many other Chinese cities on my tour, with countless new high rise apartment complexes under construction and a sky line dotted with numerous tower cranes.

 

Departing Diaxian valley and over the surrounding hills into the neighbouring valley the following morning, I ride past a section of original Great Wall that has not been refurbished and is not accessible to tourists, I ride a dirt track to snap a couple of photos before getting back on the tar road and heading towards Hebei Province for Part 6 of my China tour.

 



All the Tea in China - Part 4 Shaaxi

Looking forward to a three (3) night stay and anticipating Xian to be a highlight of China, I ride a long day, covering 340 kilometres in eight (8) hours before settling into a hotel in the city centre.

The following morning the cramped three (3) car hotel car park provides just enough space to carry out a motorcycle service, engine oil is replaced, oil filter is replaced, air filter is replaced and the existing chain adjusted. Carefully pouring the old engine oil into empty water bottles while trying to avoid any black stained concrete, I am a little concerned about where to responsibly dispose of the waste. I place the black sludge filled bottles to one side while completing the service and within minutes a man rides up on his tricycle with what resembles a Ute tray on the back, gathers up the waste oil bottles and promptly departs, job done.

Cleaned up and ready for a bit of sight seeing I hire a bicycle and spend the afternoon cycling fourteen (14) kilometres around the top of Xian City Wall and then visit the Grand Mosque in the Muslim quarter.

 

The following day I visit one of China's better known attractions, situated on farmland thirty (30) kilometre's out of Xian, with it's own specially built Tollway providing easy access, the Terracotta Warriors were high on my list of must sees in China. I spend a couple of hours walking through several warehouse type structures built over the site discovered by a farmer, who while digging a well for a water supply not so many years ago unearthed the treasure. The farmer now sits at a desk on site, autographs souvenir books, lives in an apartment and travels at will, all paid for by the Government since taking possession of his land.

 

 

Back in Xian I visit Wild Goose Pagoda and prepare for departure towards Shanxi Province the following day.

 

All the Tea in China - Part 3 Gansu

Crossing a small corner of Gansu Province is a two day ride, long days, but during day one I ride a particularly pretty valley in search of a Tibetan Village on the way to Longnan which eases the aches and pains from hour upon hour in the saddle.

 

No luck finding the Tibetan village, but when I reach Longnan late that afternoon a little luck has come my way. During my motorcycle adventure I have had one punctured rear tyre tube in Indonesia, a couple of days into China I had a sixty five (65) mm flat head nail penetrate all the way across ways (flat to the curve of the tyre) through a knob on the knobby rear tyre, no puncture incurred. This time as I inspect my tyres I am surprised to find a one hundred and forty * four mm diameter (140 * 4 mm) steel rod had penetrated cross ways through an edge knob, through the curved section of tyre edge and out the side wall of the knobby rear tyre, again no puncture incurred.

 

Thankful I do not have to spend an hour changing a tyre, I shower away the days road dirt and grime and walk the streets in search of an evening meal. Fortunately, just around the corner from my hotel accommodation is an alley with numerous food stall selling a variety of stir fried dishes and buffet style dishes. I select the buffet and sit down to a delicious meal of mixed vegetables, pork and rice.

 

 

The following day is a longer than usual ride day, the ten (10) hour ride has me at Tianshui, with little to do in the small village and with little day light left to do it, I settle into a recently opened small hotel that is also more surprising than usual. Surprise number one, no hot water, and with the temperature sitting around seventeen (17) degrees more than a few expletives were spoken as I washed away the ride days road grime. Surprise number two, the only towel provided by the hotel was a hand towel, a little small to wipe off all that cold water and get dry. Surprise number three, the hotel's host is an excellent cook, and the evening meal was a stand out. Surprise number four, I have experienced many thin hard bed mattresses that seem to be standard in China, and pillows resembling 20 kg bags of cement, a straw filled pillow was a new experience. Apparently traditionally used in the area, the pillow was also very new and the straw contents had not yet settled in, so apart from being very hard the straw also had very sharp ends. After wrapping the pillow in a my travel towel to prevent any unwanted head or ear piercings I settle in for a good nights sleep.

 

Up and packed early, I ride on, out of Gansu Province and into Shaaxi Province for Part 4 of my China tour.