CHINA 2016 , THE LAST GREAT FRONTIER!! 6 MONTHS AND 24,000 KMS. on a chinese 125cc


IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS STORY AND DETAILED INFORMATION, DOES NOT APPLY TO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BRING THEIR OWN PERSONAL MOTORBIKE INTO AND BACK OUT OF CHINA. ITS ONLY ABOUT BUYING A MOTORBIKE INSIDE CHINA. THEN TRAVELLING FOR SEVERAL MONTHS OR MORE AND SELLING IT BEFORE LEAVING THE COUNTRY.

* ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS TRIP WAS NOT DONE LEGALLY, I DID NOT HAVE THE PROPER CHINESE DRIVERS LICENCE NECESSARY, I DROVE WITHOUT LICENCE PLATES OR REGISTRATION OF THE BIKE AND I HAD NO INSURANCE FOR THE MOTORBIKE. IT WAS MORE RISKY/DANGEROUS THAN I HAD ORIGINALLY THOUGHT ! IN THE COMMENTS POSTED BELOW THIS STORY, I FINALLY LEARNED WHAT I DID NOT KNOW WHEN I STARTED THIS TRIP!!. THE POST'S BELOW HAVE FAR MORE KNOWLEDGE THAN I HAD, BEFORE STARTING THIS TRIP. IN NO WAY DO I RECOMMEND ANYONE ELSE DOING THIS! i'm sure i just had a lot of stupid luck! THIS GUIDE SHOULD BE USED IN FUTURE WHEN THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT RELAXES THE LAWS THAT EXIST TODAY, ALLOWING FOREIGNERS TO LEGALLY ENTER FOR THE PURPOSE OF MOTORCYCLING INSIDE CHINA. LET THIS STORY BE YOUR MOTIVATION FOR THE WONDERFUL SIGHTS AND PEOPLE TO BE SEEN IN THIS "LAST GREAT FRONTIER". CHINA.

ANOTHER FRESH UPDATE: ON HOW TO RIDE LEGALLY!??
SEE LINK AT VERY BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE AT "RELATED STORIES" AND CLICK ON "THE GREAT RIDE OF CHINA" FROM 2013! THIS QUOTE FROM THEIR STORY : THIS WAS CONFIRMED BY ANOTHER HUBB-ER WHO LIVES IN CHINA THAT I MET RECENTLY !!
"As for riding in China, you don't really need to "get permission" so much as just make sure you have the right documentation just like riding in any other country. China doesn't accept any international license so you have to convert to a local license by taking the written test. I've heard they have a temporary one you can get too that lasts for 6 months. Other than that, once you get a bike, just make sure you have all the proper paperwork, which the place you buy from can help you sort out (license, registration, insurance, etc.). Now of course, that's all assuming you want to ride fully legally. Lots of people who ride in China pick up cheap second hand bikes and just ride. If you're foreign (and even Chinese) a lot of time you won't get bothered. "

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING STORY IS MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND OPINIONS. AND I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYONE'S ACTIONS RESULTING AFTER READING THIS!

THIS IS A MINI GUIDE. No travel books i found have this information SPECIFICALLY about a long, independant, motorcycle trip in china. i hope at least one person will use this, then it was worthwhile! REMEMBER: NO "TRUE ADVENTURE" COMES EASY ! ENJOY!

CONTENTS: about 17 pages in total
1- INTRODUCTION
2 - OVERVIEW OF TRIP
3 - ABOUT ME
4 - CHINESE MOTORCYCLE LEGALITIES
5 - MY MEETING CHINESE POLICE
6 - ESSENTIALS FOR MOTORCYCLING CHINA
7- MOTORCYCLE PURCHASE , PARTS , DETAILS
8 - MY FOSTI 125CC. MOTORCYCLE DETAILS
9 - PARTS, EXTRAS I NEEDED
10 - MONTHLY COSTS
11 - VISA APPLICATION
12- "VISA RUNS"
13 - LANGUAGE PROBLEMS
14 - GUIDEBOOKS AND HIGHWAYS
15 - MAPS
16 -WEATHER PLANNING
17 - CHINA DRIVING RULES
18 - ROAD CONDITIONS
19 - CULTURAL NOTES
20 - SAFTEY AND SCAMS
21 - HOTELS AND HOSTELS
22 - RESTAURANTS
23 - QINGHAI AND TIBET
24 - MY PERSONAL UPDATE to friends AFTER MY FIRST 3 MONTHS IN CHINA
25 - PICTURES AND MY ROUTE MAP

1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION:
hi everyone. i just finished my trip on december 2nd 2016. riding a chinese 125 cc "fosti" brand motorcycle. after motorcycling in europe, all around north , central and south america, i would say, in my opinion, that CHINA IS IN THE TOP 5 COUNTRIES, ive ever motorcycled in!. hundreds of spectacular mountain scenes! ( in 18 different provinces!) ...... about 15 never seen before natural sights for me!(gongga shan mountain 7,750 meters in Sitchuan)......... a few top archeological museums with history dating back to 4,000 YRS. before christ!( Beijing and terra cotta soldiers in Xi'an)......... china has at least 20 different walled cities/ towns. (best- pingyao, shanxi) .......... i saw about 20 unique "great wall" sections!(there used to be 8,000 kms of wall).......... even an excellent dinosaur museum! (zigong, sichuan) ........ and palaces and fortresses!.........many awesome remote buddhist monasteries at 3,000-4,500 meters(southeast qinghai).......dozens of SUPER-HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES that have out-done most western countries(bridge 400 meters high/800meters long)........and the second time ive ever ridden over a 5,200 meter pass (Zadoi, QINGHAI province)......If there's one province that has it all ,for riding bike, its Sichuan province in my opinion!

I'M NOT SURE, but I MAY BE THE 1ST FOREIGNER to ever (guide-lessly) motorcycle in china for 6 months and 24,000kms? and i'll be going back!

A MULTIPLE ENTRY VISA OF 2 MONTHS PER ENTRY.... THAT LASTS FOR THE LIFE OF YOUR PASSPORT. thats the visa i got as a canadian. with this type of visa, ideally, you could ride your locally bought motorcycle for 2 months and store it somewhere . Then go home for a few months (as i did once)... then return again and again to see all china at your own pace!!!. One American guy said he also got the same type of visa when he applied at home.( 2 month, multiple entry)............ many europeans i met had a 30 day visa but i never asked if it was multiple!


2 QUICK OVER-VIEW OF TRIP
this plan was hatched in canada after many hours of online searching. horizons unlimited/ advrider.com and then more from 1st hand stories in china (bugsonmyboard.net dec.2015) and finally by conversations with motorcycle repairmen and salesmen in china. all gave me enough confidence to buy a 125cc. 5 speed, clutch bike...... instead of a 50cc.bike. as was the case in the bugsonmyboard.net story!!!!

after 4.5 months of travelling in thailand, laos, cambodia and vietnam. i back-packed and was able to rent motorcycles/scooters in all these countries whenever i came close to popular riding areas. i would store my back pack at hostels / hotels and only took a day pack. and would travel for up to 6 days, when permited. i rode about 35 days in total.
once i finished in south east asia, i applied for the visa at the chinese embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam. after a frantic 10 days of visa preparation and my 1st look at the lonely planet book for china(2013). i began to start my plans while waiting the 5 or more working days to process my visa.........then i entered china on buses northward to Nanning city in Guangxi province in april 2016. arriving with my backpack and a freshly bought tent, sleeping bag, and air mattress. ( which was recommended by several travellers) from Hanoi for about 200 u.s. dollars. at a camping specialty shop. i was trying to beat the rainy season in south china, which i knew became worse in mid april. a few days later i was in Guilin city , Guangxi province. i started to search for a motorcycle when i found that the chinese bikes were about $400 u.s. cheaper than the same size/type of japanese motorbikes with the same 125 cc. engine. i bought a Chinese 2015 model (last years stock) for $707 u.s. dollars. Normally all other chinese 125cc brand street bikes were $850 u.s. ..japanese honda/suzuki/yamaha 125cc. streetbike =$1,250 u.s. ( 150cc dual sport) chinese bikes were about $1,300 - $1500 u.s.) but i never saw one for sale where i was looking.... "zhongshen" brand has a 250cc off road bike which looks almost as big as a 650 klr kawasaki with heavy duty shocks, etc.. i never saw these for sale in Guilin city in Guangxi, but only rarely in china on the road. i assume larger bikes will be available in larger cities with more than 5 million population.
then i found a parts store and bought a few goodies necessary. helmet , gloves, chain lube and rain gear. then about 3 long good bungees(rubber straps) to hold my 70 lb. backpack on, laying the backpack on passenger seat and the luggage rack and sticking out off the end about 40- 50 centimeters. so now, i had the bike, international drivers licence(which had a translation in chinese), the ownership papers of my bike and i drove off!.................6 months later, i was exiting from Yunnan province, i sold my bike within 2 hours for $100 u.s. then crossed border into Laos . my trip was basically a zig-zagging circle around central china, seeing all the highlights!
of course it all wasnt so easy, as you will find in the following details. my most difficult problem in first weeks, was that i never used a smart phone before or gps maps or translators. i also did not know any chinese and i kept buying 4G sim cards for my 2G or 3G? phone. which seemed to slow it down even more? and the language was next to impossible to pronounce correctly for me. after 6 months i knew about 70 words, the ones i had to use almost every day. i averaged 150 to 200 kilometers per day! which gave me about 8 days per month off the bike for local sight-seeing.


3 ABOUT ME AND MY TRAVELS:
im in my 50's in age and have travelled/ worked abroad for about 16 of the last 30 years. i have only met 4 people in my life that travelled cheaper than me. this will be reflected in my costs during this story. i fell in love with the learning while travelling. this became a passionate obsession. for many years i was still able to travel 5 months a year while i made less than $20,000 canadian dollars per year! i have learned german and spanish while working in those countries. and i usually was able to learn about 200-300 words in one month in each country i travelled............until i got to south east asia and china.!!
i rode dirt bikes from 14 - 32 years old, then bought my 1st street bike. i've owned at least 14 different motorbikes in my life. and about 12 cars. my 1st ever new vehicle was my chinese motorbike while in china.
20 years ago, i hit a tree in my home town on a street motorbike. after a long recovery, im left with a paralized left arm. 4 years later i rode a bicycle 8,000 kms. thru mexico and central america. though that was amazing and life changing, i decided it was too slow and hence more costly than buses , trains or planes. so, i bought a 90 cc motorscooter and rode 10,000 kms. through colombia with girlfriend and luggage on back. then realized i could get back on a regular motor bike with simple modifications (clutch and turn signal switch on left side is stuffed onto the right handle bar). then i bought a 1983 honda xlr 250cc. (which was 22 yrs. old at the time). i took this bike right around south america for 58,000 kms. over 1.5 yrs. and yes, i had a few problems on that motorbike. and i carry a set of essential tools with me always. i have, and still today , maintain and repair everything on all of my cars and motorcycles.
i now have a 2009 kawasaki klr650 at home and rode this for about 60,000kms. with only one problem, pinhole in radiator (factory problem?). otherwise just regular maintenace, tires, chain an sprockets. and i bought it with 20,000 kms on it. i recommend it highly as a cheapest 650 tour bike, that should get you 80,000kms before anything screws up!! starting in 2009 the "doohickey"(cam chain tensioner spring) has finally been fixed at the factory. but remember i drive reasonably and rarely ride/slip the clutch during full power shifting.... but i gotta sell it. cause its a bitch to pick up, one handed, when i drop it. and it sucks too much fuel. and with one hand its also way overpowered for my taste and safety.


4 CHINESE MOTORCYCLE LEGALITIES ????
WAS IT LEGAL for me to do this? .........no, im sure it wasn't legal.......
-- ITS ALL ABOUT NOT HAVING LICENCE PLATES, OR NUMBER PLATES. and it will be likely the main reason you may be pulled over by police IF YOU READ ON I'LL EXPLAIN .

With a chinese identification card you can get a "chinese driving licence" after taking the training. then you can buy your vehicle. after this, you can obtain number plates on a bike which include the insurance and taxes . for both of these, you need to be a resident in china. either permanent, or on a minimum 6 month work visa for foreigners. But you'll see hundreds of cars and thousands of motorbikes driving without number plates around china??. this is because there is a 15 day grace period. this gives you time to obtain the number plates. but you still must have a permit to drive during this grace period . i luckily, did not have any difficulty with no licence plate. as long as i showed them the ownership paper, (which is all written in chinese ) from the company i bought the motorbike from. this , along with my passport , proved it was my motorcycle , matching name and passport number. once again lucky for me , i only once had to show this paper.!!
- also lucky for me, i was never asked if i had any insurance papers at any of the 7 times that police stopped me!
- there are thousands of speeding or traffic light cameras in china . funny, there must be at least 4,000 pictures of me on my bike through-out china from all these traffic cameras. and sometimes i was speeding! i was worried the 1st time i went for a visa run, that they may not let me back in , because i thought they would match my face from the thousands of my pictures to the face on my visa application????? but this was not the case !!! even on the second visa run!!!! again, was this luck? i dont know.? (likely because i had no number plates).............some of these cameras would be taking pictures of every car, truck and bike that passed, wether they were speeding or not. i think these were security cameras, big brother style! so, after all the stress, i just ended up not giving a damn in the last months of having my picture taken. there are possibly, about 200,000,000.... smaller motorcycles in china. and mine was red, this was the most popular color of motorcycles. i would possibly think that bigger bikes might have been stopped by police more often, but im just guessing. and i had a helmet that had large mirrored sunglasses built into the motorcycle helmet. this also pretty much hid the fact that i was a foreigner. many pictures are taken of the front of any vehicle to identify the driver!
- there is a federal law, that says foreigners can't legally drive except with a "chinese style" drivers licence.....???? maybe all the police in china dont know that law, because each of the 3 policemen that asked for my driver's licence, seemed to think my international licence (that had a chinese translation) was just fine, and allowed me to continue on.
- i have to admit , that every time i saw police ahead, i got very nervous. i drove past about 30 situations where police were checking other cars and trucks. but not motorbikes.
- THE POSSIBLE WORSE CASE SCENARIOS,: i asked a motorbike mechanic, "what are the worst possible punishments for driving without number plates? he said, at most, it could be,
- # 1 - a 2 to 3,000 yuan fine ($3 -450 u.s.) .
- or #2 - confiscate the motorcycle
- or #3 - 30 days in jail
- i figured that this risk was worth it............ but i did not include: punishment for no proper chinese drivers licence! or no insurance! or no taxes paid for bike! OR FAR WORSE ...........WHAT IF I HAD AN ACCIDENT AND DAMAGED PROPERTY OR OTHER PERSONS?............WITHOUT LICENCE, NUMBER PLATES AND INSURANCE !!! NOW ITS GETTING INTO THE MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS !! stupidly i never really considered these other things ..............if i did , i would likely not have bought a motorbike! IGNORANCE IS B L I S S ??

NOW.....READ THE NEXT SECTION BELOW ..........



5 MY MEETINGS WITH CHINESE POLICE:
- I ENCOUNTERED POLICE 7 TIMES IN A TOTAL OF 24,000 KILOMETERS. LUCKILY, NONE OF THESE WERE A PROBLEM WITH THE PAPERWORK I HAD .
from all my years of travel experience, and motorcycling in foreign countries, playing dumn tourist with no language skills and always a big smile is key! remember the "big smile" in every case, when you approach the police.. this shows no fear? and shows confidence/innocence?. this has given me great advantage in the past. next, always say hello in their language. and to tell them, " china is beautiful" (zhonguo mei li da) with the thumbs up signal! i also had another sentence rehearsed to tell the police....for if things got too intense.? if ever they asked for licence plates....i would say " the best way to see the beauty of china is with motorbike", .... have these words saved on your translator.?
- if you ever see police standing on the roadside , avoid them if possible? sometimes it is simply for safety checks for big trucks.
- THE 1ST TIME i met a policeman, while at a gas station filling up in Hunan province. he noticed that i was not using my left hand at the pump. he indicated that i pull aside and wait for him to finish filling his motorbike. then he came over and without a word of english gestured for me to drive ahead of him. i was a little worried, "were we going to the police station"? but i kept checking in my mirror and he was just behind me. i thought he has to be in front to lead me to wherever we were going? then after a kilometer or so of us going slow, he honked for me to stop. he drove up beside me, put his thumb up and nodded his head. then he drove away in front of me, at a high speed. it took me a minute to realize it was over. then it came to me, he was just checking that i could drive safely with my one hand !!!! man, what a relief! i chuckled to myself.
- THE 2ND TIME.....i was stopped at a traffic light and i noticed 3 guys jump out of the small pick-up truck behind me and came at me!. shit, i thought these guys were going to rip off my motorbike! they stood around the bike looking at it carefully , and one guy showed me he had an identification card around his neck . then he said "police, do you speak chinese" , all in english! i answered in english "only about 20 words". he hesitated, then they all ran back to their truck because the light turned green . they drove behind me for about 4 more kms. then turned off the road.? i can only assume that they also were curious that i was driving with one hand and were just checking me out?
- THE 3RD TIME. I was on a long stretch of straight highway going slightly downhill, at the bottom i saw an 18 wheel truck pulled over, and 2 people walking around it. at about 30 meters away , one guy flagged me to stop . it was a policeman!. he noticed i was a foreigner when i pulled my sunglasses up. he turned around to his partner and they said a few sentences. the 2nd cop walked away and the first just gave me a hand signal, that i should slow down, then he walked away. i drove off. i wondered if they had a radar gun? because i was driving 90 to 100 km. per hour as i approached , (60 or 70 is the legal limit) and i was caught off gaurd when the one motioned me to stop. so it was probably because he noticed i was going too fast for a bike as i approached ..? at this point of my trip, i had noticed that pretty much all motorbikes were rarely going faster than 60 kms. per hour on most highways! well , once again, nothing happened.
- THE 4TH TIME. i was driving in a beautiful park north of beijing and there was a gate and small building on my side of road. no getting around this i thought. there were a few policemen there. one asked for a driver licence i guess, showing me an i.d. sized card using his hands. i showed him my international driving licence. then he indicated for my passport. which i showed him. he was already looking at my bike controls, cause now he knows my left hand isnt working. i showed him my limp arm by pulling it out of my pocket. and he called his buddies over with laughing and lots of conversation. then he pointed to where my licence plate should be and i finally pulled out my photocopy of the ownership paper! he checked that it matched with my name and passport. then continued to ask me where i had been and where was i going, etc. etc.. he asked me to pull the bike aside and gave me all my papers back. by this time i was almost 2 months into the trip and i new a good 60 words to keep answering these policemen's questions. with lots of "china is beautiful, and compliments of how i was ( truly ) impressed by this time of what i saw in china". NOTE: ( be sure that your passport number and full name and country, are on your ownership papers.! and home adress as well.?
- ALSO NOTE: 2-3 weeks of great motorbiking is just north of Beijing and westward or southwest toward shanxi province. this area has awesome mountain and historic scenery , national mountain parks and several sections of "great wall" in many places. ( AND MAYBE NOW, BEI JING HAS MOTORBIKE RENTALS!!) LOOK ON THE INTERNET ABOUT THIS POSSIBILITY?
- A week or so later i was also north of beijing looking for good "great wall" sections. in a small town there was another police control gate. i was going north and on my side of the road, the gate was left open and no one was there to stop vehicles , so i drove thru. no problems. later that day i was coming back that way and i knew that the control gate was around the next corner. i didnt really want the trouble of getting all the paperwork out again. so i stopped and looked at my g.p.s. at the 100 or the 50 meter scale, and found there was only one small side road about 100 meters before the gate that went into a small cute town that was just 300 meters ahead. so i took that side road and casually turned left onto it, as if i was a local with my sunglasses covering my eyes. and no one seemed to notice or care at the control gate. i was checking to see if anyone came following me, but no , nothing. and in 700 meters i came back out onto the highway on the other side of the gate!. saving me the possible stress of being asked for all my paperwork again.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: i really think that with my common little 125 cc motorbike, i would often look like a local . and as a result i drew no attention towards me.
- THE 5TH TIME......was a simple situation when i was at the Leshan huge budda just south of Chengdu city in sichuan province. i was trying to find a parking place on the street, and after i parked it, a walking policeman asked me for my licence. i showed him my international licence and in 2 seconds he gave it back and walked away! no problem!
- THE 6TH TIME.... was in south sichuan province and in 8 seconds they let me go on. the police were parked on the side of the road (just outside a village) and got out and stopped me. the one guy asked me something and was pointing to the licence plate. i answered, "its in the mail" in english. ( i was already becoming way too confident! ) he looked at his partner, said a few words , and then motioned for me to go.! not asking for anything else!
- ON THIS TRIP, I WAS ALWAYS READY TO PAY POLICE MONEY IF NECESSARY . IVE DONE THAT SEVERAL TIMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES.....
- THE 7TH TIME.... in the city of zigong, sichuan province. i was driving in the city and one policeman flagged me to stop. he asked me for what i thought was my licence, i pulled out my international licence and translation and he read a few lines of it and handed it back to me and gestured for me to go. that was it. over in one minute!
- SO, TO SUM IT ALL UP
- all police accepted my chinese transalation inside my international drivers licence. 3 TIMES! with no hesitation!
- NO Policeman i met spoke english, (well ok, one spoke 4 words and then left). - 3 TIMES I WAS ABLE TO DRIVE AWAY WITHIN SECONDS BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT SPEAK ENGLISH AND WAVED FOR ME TO GO.
- 2 times , they stopped me because of my driving with one hand. which would not have happened with the normal 2 handed drivers. see more in the "about me" section.
- i have learned now that motorbikes are stopped more often in the bigger cities
- if they ever insisted on, "where is your licence plate" then i gave them a copy of my owner certificate and passport . THIS ONLY EVER HAPPENED ONCE TO ME!
- of course, if i ever saw police up ahead , especially in cities, i would turn left or right onto a side street and find my way around them. even though i was sure from most experience, that i would most often, not be stopped. i drove past, about 25 times, where police had stopped other vehicles for whatever reason.
- i had my home licence as well , as a back up?




6 ESSENTIALS i had FOR MOTORCYCLING IN CHINA: G.P.S. AND PHONE APPS: ........i used android phone and dont know anything about apple phones? - INTERNATIONAL DRIVERS LICENCE AND TRANSLATION of your INTERNATIONAL DRIVER LICENCE into chinese, if it doesnt already have one?.
- carry a copy of your OWNERSHIP PAPER to show police, and keep the originals in a safe place. its your only proof that you did not steal the bike! AND NEEDED FOR RESELLING BIKE.
- SMART PHONE..
- HAVE AN ENGLISH MAP OF CHINA WITH YOUR DESTINATIONS MARKED.
- get personal extra travel medical insurance if you need? that will cover you riding on a motorcycle! ??
- get 3rd party liability insurance for your bike.? minimum or more? as you like. I DID NOT HAVE THIS, NOR WAS I EVER ASKED FOR PROOF OF INSURANCE!! LUCK?
- ENGLISH G.P.S. MAPS (i was using "maps.me") easy to use , not a screen full of extra shit! MANY G.P.S. MAP APP'S USE GOOGLE PLAY SERVICES THAT WILL NOT WORK IN CHINA!!!! MY MAPS.ME APP WORKED WHEN OUTSIDE CITIES BY JUST USING MY PHONE'S G.P.S. "ON".... BUT NOT IN CITIES !! MAPS.ME WOULD WORK WITHIN CITIES, ONLY AFTER I HAD 1ST OPENED MY MAPS.BAIDU.CN APP AND IT FOUND MY LOCATION. THEN SOMEHOW MAPS.ME WAS ABLE TO GET MY LOCATION BY PIGGY-BACKING TO THE BAIDUMAP APP!
- CHINESE "MAPS.BAIDU.CN" G.P.S. mapping (i used "maps.baidu.cn"). its under "appstore" search "maps china". this can be gotten before china or while in china! great for finding hotels and prices, and to locate road construction areas along highways or cities!
- TRANSLATOR APP'S, do an appstore search 'chinese translator". to get "baidu translate" app I USED THIS ONE, which does not need google services, and can also be gotten before or inside china. ALTHOUGH THIS APP IS CHINESE , IT WILL RECOGNIZE THAT YOU HAVE ENGLISH IN YOUR PHONE and then it will open always with english. AND IT IS FAIRLY EASY TO LEARN HOW TO USE FOR restaurant menu's, taking pictures of road signs to translate, translates spoken and written sentences, then will write out and speak out in chinese. writing on app is better for a clean important translation! remember, the worse your data signal or wifi signal the worse the translator will translate!!!!
and the "pleco" translator app is good for "offline" translating (but this only translates one word at a time!!) you can only get this outside of china! or with a v.p.n.
- TRANSLATOR APP'S ARE VITAL FOR MEETING INTERESTING LOCALS AND LEARNING ABOUT THE LOCAL CULTURES.
- "msn.com'' "bing" search engine is available in english while your in china, to be used for buying flight tickets (i was able to buy stuff online with my visa card in china) or searching for hostel details at hostelworld.com or booking.com
- IMPORTANT: WITHOUT A V.P.N. (virtual proxy/private network) YOU CAN NOT GET ANYTHING TO DO WITH GOOGLE... EG: Google app's, google play services(needed for google maps) facebook, google search, youtube , GOOGLE TRANSLATE or anything owned or operated by google, maybe even gmail? but im not sure. also in china you cannot access any type of news or blog or opinion site of any kind. once i was inside china it was not easy to get a vpn. ?? i suggest you have your vpn running and open before you arrive in china! or it may not even start up inside china- this happened to me.! SOME HOSTELS IN CHINA HAVE THEIR WIFI RUNNING ON A V.P.N.
- GET A "CHINA MOBILE" BRAND S.I.M. CARD (shoji car) once in china. this was the 1st original government PHONE/ANTENNA system, and it seems to have the most coverage throughout the country! you're better off hiring a translator to help you with this!
- BUYING THE 1ST S.I.M.! as a foreigner you can only get a sim card at an "official government run, china mobile store". these are only found in larger cities, not small towns. be sure they know that you want coverage in several or all provinces , known as roaming! you should also pay for all the months your travelling, ahead of time. otherwise youll have to do this all over again! also its far easier to pay an english speaking hostel receptionist, or other to come with you to translate for you on her time off. with a personal translator it could be done in 20 minutes, if there is no line up. any translator will be happy with 30 to 50 yuan per hour.($4 -7.00 dollars).............. with out translator it took me 3-4 hours to be sure i got what i wanted/needed. language is a huge problem here!!! and one screw up could be a major hassle when on the road, as happened twice to me!
- FOR ME, I GOT minimum 1.5 gig per month with correct compatability to your 3G or 4G phone. for me, 2 gig of "data only" per month was 70 yuan($10.00 u.s. dollars) if you want phone use, one package deal is 500 minutes calling and 2 gig data costs 138 yuan ($18.00 u.s.)
- if travelling alone , you must be prepared not to see another foreigner or speak any english for up to 2 or 3 weeks in the remote deserts and western china, inner mongolia, gansu, qinghai, xinjiang this was my experience. and in many areas, the only english channel may be "cctv news"- thats exactly how it shows up on the t.v..... written on the menu or the channel itself is labelled this way if your just scrolling through all the channels. if you cant find it yourself ask the hotel reception if they can find it or if they even have it. otherwise you may get lucky , as some documentaries or movie channels have english subtitles. every hotel over 69 yuan had a t.v. some provinces had french or even german stations!
- if you dont have a 12 volt phone charger from the motorbike battery, then buy a spare battery and have it charged every night . i did this, and often i had to be very careful on many days not to run out of power before i got to my hotel at night.
- you can find a telephone "clamp" style holder for your bike. AVAILABLE AT MOST CELL PHONE/SUPPLY STORES IN CHINA.2 OR $3 DOLLARS one clamp attatched to my handlebars other end clamps onto your phone. in between is a stiff bendable type of cable. then it can stay mounted to use, while you ride.
- BANKS in larger cities, 50,000 or more, accepted my bank cards. but not all of them. i used mostly "bank of china ". in cities smaller than these, you cant get money. plan to always have enough money until the next large city. carry some u.s. dollars in case of emergency!

- COMMUNICATION TO ANYWHERE OUTSIDE CHINA.?............i was able to use microsoft type emails to the outside world. outlook, yahoo, hotmail....... and i was using skype for phone calls. it seems most people dont know that with a minimum payment of $14.00 u.s. to your skype account, then you will be able to call cell-phones and land- lines anywhere in the world, for an average of $1.00 u.s. per 60 minutes of calling. yes, $1.00 u.s. per hour!
- "WIFI" IS IN EVERY HOSTEL AND HOTEL ! AND MOST BETTER RESTAURANTS....you will see it advertized some where in front of restaurants.
- if you have a BLOG OR WEBSITE of your travels and want to access them. i'm not sure, but i think you must have a v.p.n. i was not able to go to any such site that had a free thinking personal opinion! ALL THOSE THINGS ARE BLOCKED.
- RESPECT THE LOCAL CHINESE CULTURE ....which also may mean, that while inside china, i would not go anywhere, speaking loudly about anything that could be determined as negative towards china or its government. this may get you or some local people in trouble with their government. RESPECT THE LOCAL CHINESE CULTURE and especially dont let too many local people know about this whole idea im writing about, "motorcycling in china". as one never knows who may speak of this to any government official that may think of changing the rules!


7 MOTORCYCLE PURCHASE, PARTS , DETAILS:
- WHERE and HOW TO FIND A MOTORBIKE:
i bought my bike in Guilin city, Guangxi. province. i was first in Nanning city, in Guangxi but it had 5 million people and huge traffic problems with road construction every where. i took a taxi for 45 minutes that cost me about $10u.s. and i know most youth hostels are not near motorcycle dealers. so i decided to leave the city, as i knew i would be spending a lot of time and money in taxis to get around to find a motorbike and all the gear i needed. i then went to the popular spot of yangshuo town about 200 kms. north east of nanning with about a population of 25,000. but it had no gas powered motorcycles, only electric motorbikes. this is the case in much of china. as there is a new law " that all larger cities and some small, "that no gas powered motorcycles are allowed for any local residents". only electric scooters are allowed if you are registered as living in those cities. then i went to Guilin city, about 60 kilometers north of yangshuo town, a city of 1 or 2 million. i found a hostel called "wada international hostel"( its on hostelworld.com ), it is a little over 1 kilometer from the main bus station. and luckily the hostel was a little over one kilometer from the motorcycle dealerships. i hired a receptionist girl from the hostel to translate for me for about 25 yuan per hour, during the time she was not working at the hostel. and she was very happy with that money. and here the motorcycle dealers sold, 70% electric and 30% gas powered bikes! i did not see any dual sport bikes here , but plenty of street 125cc and 150cc and a few 200cc. but i did see a guy on a 150 dual sport, but could not ask to find where he bought it? IF YOU WANT A BIKE LARGER THAN 200CC, I THINK YOU WOULD HAVE TO GO TO BIG CITIES, LIKE Nanning, Guangxi or Kunming, Yunnan, or you could fly into Beijing, or Shanghai, to surely get bikes there! but i dont know any prices?
- i also had seen in china other motorbikes that looked exactly like mine that were 150cc/ and 175cc and possibly even 250 cc. as i have read on some blogs or on horizons unlimited, that it used to be that the government never sold any motorbike larger than a 250cc. because then you could never out-run a police motorbike!! which are always only 250 cc.!! but i saw about 20 motorbikes over my whole trip that were over 500 cc., so that 250cc rule no longer holds! i think these big bikes are surely only sold in the huge cities. because i dont remember ever seeing them at a moto-store where i was looking. ALSO the 175 or 250cc bikes would be enough for two-up on a bike in china. because i was two-up on a 250 enduro in south america , with all luggage , for about 15,000 kilometers. .. but all bikes start to lose power above 2,000 meters and at -4,000 meters or more you can lose up to 40% of your power! i know this because i was two-up on a HONDA 250CC enduro in south america , with all luggage , for about 15,000 kilometers. but still at all elevations it would GET UP TO 100 KMS.(60 m.p.h.) PER HOUR ON FLATTER ROADS..
- as i was leaving china from southern Yunnan province, i stopped in a small city called Jianshui. this city is located about 550 kms north east of the Laos main border crossing, which is about 70kms west of Kaiyuan. this city had also 2 hostels (with english speakers) (typha international youth hostel) and reasonable hotels. these were located only 600 meters north, north/east of the main street of (Fu'an road) that sold 100's of gas powered motorcycles!!! and had many parts stores! so thats another option if your coming from Laos into south China.
BUYING THE BIKE:
- 1ST DAY, LOOKING AT ALL THE DEALERS. comparing all bike prices , and trying to decide which bike i will buy for my needs?.
- 2ND DAY. I NEEDED A TRANSLATOR FOR 2 HOURS TO DO A LOT OF MOTORCYCLE FACT FINDING. like how much money does the bike cost in total.? will i get official reciepts? , what is the warrantee/ gaurantee ON BIKE AND MOTOR? where is the nearest parts store?, camping gear store? ETC. ETC. REMEMBER, YOU CAN NOT GET NUMBER PLATES IF YOU DON'T LIVE IN CHINA.!
- 3RD DAY. hire translator, BUY BIKE, AND HEAD TO PARTS/ ACCESSORIES STORE IF NEEDED. so you can get the extra stuff you want and gear? ALSO REMEMBER. all parts include installation!
- THE MOTORCYCLE I BOUGHT WAS A 125cc. A chinese "FOSTI" name brand. i call it a "screamer" cause the redline on the tachometer is 10,000 rpm.
- I paid $707 u.s. (4,600 yuan) for this new "Fosti" brand . But it was last years stock that didnt sell. therefore the cheaper price.
- All other chinese brands were about $150u.s. more(1000 yuan ) because they were this years model.
- yes, i know the stories about the low quality chinese bikes. but i know now, after good inspection, and driving 24,000 kms. on one, that they are better than they used to be. because of competition with the japanese bikes . so they have been slowly modifying them to match japanese quality.
- the Japanese bikes are almost double the price of chinese at about 11-12,000 yuan
- other chinese brands I would SUGGEST are..... HOUJUE, ZHONGSHEN, JIALING , OR JIANCHE. as these seem to be the majority i saw everywhere. but there are about 25 different brands all over the country. I didnt see my FOSTI brand bike anywhere else in china except for northern sichuan!
- zhongshen brand has a heavy duty, seemingly well built 250 enduro or dual sport, moto . Or theres the odd 150cc. non-heavy duty off road (dual sport) chinese bikes. Remember 90% of roads. Are in good shape when looking at the whole country. a dual sport may be better if you intend to stay mostly in the far south provinces like Yunnan, Guangxi , Hunan, Guizhou or Guangdong, then you may be better off buying a dual sport? because these provinces have lots of landslides and more construction due to the heavy rainfall in the wet season. then during the dry season these roads are being repaired, slowly because these provinces have less money for road repairs! the best time for travelling in these southern provinces are november through to end of march. one can still drive the bike i had in the south also but it wiil slow you down.!
- the most important thing is to be sure that the warrantee is good for 1 year or more on the motor! this shows that the manufacturer trusts it till about 20-30,000 kms. my bike had one year on motor and i think 2 years on all other parts! get the salesman to show you the actual warrantee! this lets you know that the company knows for sure it will last for 20 to 30,000 kms. because no company wants to pay to fix anything for free during a warrantee period!
- ASk FOR DIRECTIONS TO BIGGEST OR CLOSEST PARTS STORE....as often motorcycle sales stores do not sell any parts....only helmets. if you have big hands like me, good gloves are difficult to find. if you find a reasonably good pair, buy them. as its hard to find any in the south of china where it doesnt get too cold all year. good water-proof gloves are also hard to find. if you need good rain- gear or camping gear you will find "western quality" at specialized camping stores. but it will cost closer to western prices. for i only found 2 of these in Guilin city, Guangxi, a city of 2 million! camping is not popular! LOCAL RAIN GEAR IS USUALLY CHEAPER P.V,C. TYPE MATERIAL. but it does the job!
i did buy a tent and sleeping bag in hanoi i paid about $100 u.s. for both. i found a reasonable air mattress and good rain pants in Guilin camping store for about $70 u.s. but if you want to camp it is possible but you'll have to "wild" camp. i never did see a campground. but i wasnt looking either? the only place i saw that openly allowed free camping was in any of the tibetan plateax areas of Qinghai, west Sichuan, or northwest Yunnan and maybe inner mongolia?



CONTINUED IN PART #2 BELOW