URBAN ENDURO in Qingpu...

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Simple random pictures taken during a sidecar cruise out at the Qingpu District (Shanghai).....

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

"Shakedown Run" ....departing Shanghai late November 2015....
A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other vehicle and the team before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to last for a much longer, and more importantly, predictable life-span.


Yangshuo (Yang Shuò / 24°47′N 110°30′E) is a popular tourist county and city near Guilin, Guangxi province. The small city is surrounded by karst mountains, winding rivers and beautiful scenery.
It serves as a fantastic base camp for further exploration, and motorbiking away from the touristy areas. Been here last some time in the late 90's as a good mate was working on a large project in Guilin.....
The area around Yangshuo is renowned throughout China, if not the whole world, (even making it into the backdrop of Star Wars Episode3), for its karst landscape where there are hundreds upon hundreds of limestone hills dotting the countryside.
The beautiful scenery here is a common subject of Chinese paintings as well as the inspiration for poetry. There are several popular areas for karst landscape sight-seeing which can be covered by river cruises, bamboo-raft cruises, cycling, trekking and combinations of the various transportation modes.

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

My Yangshuo base with a great river spot for relaxed afternoon snacks = Yangshuo Mountain Retreat (Yulong River Road).
http://www.yangshuomountainretreat.com









Some simple greater Yangshuo maps for general directions and navigation and more Yangshuo info = http://wikitravel.org/en/Yangshuo

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Jiuxian village near Yangshuo is an ancient village where civilisation started to take place during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Jiuxian village itself was established around the 16th century ahead of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and counts as one of the few remaining villages around Yangshuo China with remainders of both grey brick mansions and mud brick farm houses.The village is certainly worth exploring, among the many courtyards you will find an ancestral hall and the small cobbled alleyways will lead you in between the cluster of old traditional dwellings. While the preserved architecture is a photographer’s delight, the natural surroundings are stunning as well.















































Secret Garden Boutique Hotel looks like a nice cozy hideout and would be on top of my personal list for future visits to the area as far away from the touristy Yangshuo city district = http://www.yangshuosecretgarden.com

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Liugong village, situated right on the bank of the Li River south of Yangshuo, is one of the least visited ancient villages of the area with over 800 years of history and some unique preserved buildings including the Moon Pavilion and Home of Senators.

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Yangshuo region most renowned feature is its dramatic karst terrain. Rising sharply at odd angles, limestone peaks look like giant teeth growing out of the green plain. Karst topography is characterized by many caverns and sinkholes that form by the dissolution of limestone or other carbonate rocks. Florida and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley are good examples of where karst can be found in the United States. However, the topography looks completely different from that in China, thanks to conditions that exposed China's karst and eroded its softer limestone faster. The specific conditions for forming the magnificent topography of Guilin "are fourfold," according to Ray Beiersdorfer, a geologist at Youngstown State University in Ohio. "First, you need hard, compact carbonate rock. In Guilin / Yangshuo region, it's Devonian limestone. Secondly, you need strong uplift, in this case provided by the collision of India with Asia to form the Himalaya. Third, you need a Monsoon climate of high moisture during the warmest season. Finally, the area must not have been scoured by glaciers, which this region wasn't."

Two types of karst landscapes predominate around Guilin / Yangshuo area: fenglin or peak forest (isolated towers) and fengcong or peak cluster (linked-base towers). The two types may have evolved sequentially from peak forest to peak cluster, or they may have evolved simultaneously. Beiersdorfer described this landscape, which he saw during a recent visit to China: "China in general and the Guilin / Yangshuo area specifically boasts some of the most spectacular karst topography in the world".

Karst mountain ranges make a great backdrop while riding around the greater Yangshuo region ~ just following my nose, good thing it's not crooked...

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Through the karst mountains and the Seven Star Peaks made my way along the winding hilly roads. The landscape was inundated with kumquat trees. Covered in plastic wrap to protect them from the cold morning dew, the kumquats were juicy and delicious–unlike from any supermarket.
While stopped on the side of the road taking pictures, a passing farmer stopped and offered some cumquats. They were the most deliciously sweet kumquats I ever tasted. He explained that the farming areas around Baisha town were known as some of China’s largest kumquat producers.

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Next stop, a visit to this fascinating Qing-dynasty (1644–1912) stone village Shitoucheng, perched on top of a limestone peak, is an unusual foray into the countryside and makes a great day trip for those looking for an off -the-beaten-track adventure.
The village was once a garrison town and the ancient gates and walls are mostly still intact. It’s a steep 30- to 50 minute climb up the hill from the village ‘new town’ to the ‘old town’ where the wall begins.
Once at the top, it will take another 4-5 hours to walk around to all 4 of the old main gates but just walked a section of the area as dressed u (protective biking gear / heavy boots).

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Fuli town, located about eight kilometers east of Yangshuo County, is a quiet old townwith a history of 800 years, and particularly known as the artistic town of the area with its typical colorful fans and scroll paintings.
Along the cobbled alleyways that connect the center you will find plenty of small factories making painted paper fans. Watch the intricate paper fans being made and hand painted in this sleepy old town set on the banks of the Li River.
It is a town with two faces. On one side is the new town which is developed rapidly along the main road, the other side is the old town center located on the bank of the Li River. The old town still has nearly all of its old houses which you can peek into and see the simple lives of the local people.

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

The Yulong River is a small tributary of the larger Li River in Southeastern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region that runs through the major city of Guilin to Yangshuo.
The Yulong starts in Northern Yangshuo County near Litang and runs for over 35 kilometres through small villages of the Yulong River Valley, including Litang, Chaolong, Yima and Gaotian town, before emptying into the Li around the town of Ping Le.
Yulong is a shallow river of around 5 meters maximum depth and an average of 25 meters across. As it is not located near any industrial areas, it is clean enough for swimming, though some brownish surface foam is visible in eddys, probably the result of phosphate runoff from local villages.

Unlike the busy Li River, it has no motorized boat traffic and relies completely on bamboo rafts to ferry passengers downriver. This has become a popular tourist activity, with passengers beginning their journey at the Yulong Bridge, a 400-year-old stone bridge.
As the local government has improved local roads through the Yulong River Valley, biking has also become a popular tourist activity, as there are many quaint villages along the river, some offering bed and breakfast accommodation.

The Yulong is prone to sudden flooding, which is one of the reasons why there are not more places to stay close by. Local people have built breakwaters (weirs) every kilometer or so to allow their animals to cross the river, though many have fallen into disrepair. During the dry season (November–March), it is possible for people to walk across some of these weirs; otherwise it is necessary to hire local people to ferry passengers across for about RMB 10 per person.

The Yulong River Valley is very fertile, and its low-lying terrain is excellent for rice fields. In recent years, farmers have planted more cash crops such as pomelos, tangerines and mandarin oranges, which bring in more income than rice.
The valley is still agricultural, with few services or businesses outside of the small villages. The valley is accessible from the main Yangshuo highway through the village of Yi Ma, north at the Yulong Bridge and south at the Gong Nong Bridge. The river is approximately 7 kilometres south of Yangshuo town proper.

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Both XingPing and Fishing Village are often confused as being the same but while XingPing used to be fishing village (as all riverside towns used to be really) the real Fishing Village that made its international fame with a visit of Bill Clinton in 1998, is located on the east bank of the Li River, a 30 min. bamboo ride south from XingPing in the direction of Yangshuo. This ancient fishing village was founded during the Ming Dynasty in 1506. In this fishing village all traditional houses have been very well preserved and the special architecture of the buildings make the Fishing Village a very interesting place to visit. The main characteristics of their fishing techniques includes the use of bamboo rafts instead of wooden boats and cormorants to catch the fish.

What used to be sleepy riverside village, Xingping village has actually grown to Xingping town of which the old center can easily be explored in about 1 hour. Xingping has a long history and many buildings date back to the Qing and Ming dynasties. On local market days the town comes to life and can get quite busy with locals from the surrounding villages coming to buy and sell their produce. Restaurants and coffee shops sell the local specialty, beer fish, and local handicrafts which range from really cheap handmade jewellery, to joints of pork carved from local stone to crystalline honey which beekeepers will chip straight from the hive for you!

Xingping is the major starting point for the most scenic stretch of the Li River, which runs north and upstream to the small town of Yangdi. The scenery around Xingping is magnificent and you can take a walk out of town on a nice path which crosses a tributary of the Li River and takes you onto a smaller road that runs along the river. After about a 30 min walk from Xingping you will reach the spot where you can see the scenery immortalised on the national 20 RMB note. If you continue along this path you will get to the tiny village of Langshi. There you can board one of the small motorised rafts for a Li-river bamboo cruise up to Yangdi and afterwards by bus back to Yangshuo or to Guilin.

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Beautiful pics, thanks so much for the intimate portraits of a ancient,
sophisticated, culture that's a dream ride for many of us.

In so many of the fotos with the Bad Duc starring, the juxtaposition of the
aggressive hyper modern styling of the Multi contrasted with the tranquil
canal side villages, especially with the bridges, half moon traditional styling,
is brilliant, just brilliant.

Max

Huangyao is an ancient town with a history of thousand years, and reached its prime during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Huangyao is situated in the northest of Zhaoping, Guangxi, China, by the lower reaches of the Li-River about 150km from Yangshuo. The name of Huang Yao came from the family names of the locals who were mainly Huang and Yao.
It has been known as a mini-Guilin for its typical development of karst topography, covering an area of 3.6 square km. Many of the buildings are in primitive simplicity with blue bricks and black tiles. Here you can see more than 30 temples, ancestral halls and pavillions all well preserved.
With fabulous mountains, caves, pavilions, temples, ancestor hills, old trees and tablets, every corner of Huang Yao town shows typical Chinese features.

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

more Huangyao pictures.......

__________________
Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR