Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB

Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)

- Ride Tales (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/)

- - China ADV Riding (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/china-adv-riding-71234)

China ADV Riding

Run to the Great Wall of China and beyond.....

Had a bit of basic service done to my Italian bike in the Ducati service centre Shanghai for some rides in the Northern part of the motherland (greater Beijing region). Shipped the bike up to Beijing early May with one of our regular trucks as I have done the Shanghai-Beijing-Shanghai tour quite often and a waste of time (around 5 days for a S>B>S round trip in the old days) in my personal opinion. Has been 8 years since I had my own bike in Capital City Beijing.

Planning some cruising around the greater Beijing mountain regions with the Italian bike and my bicycle (beats the friggin' Beijing traffic anytime)..... Beijing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing

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Monday lunch run, a flat rear tire is not going to stop me getting my tasty mountain food.....
Tubeless tires, easy plug & play with sticky rope and air compressor stored under the seat at all times.

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Rolling back to Beijing, my second puncture right on the expressway, must have driven over a lane divider reflector or reflector bolt mounted into the asphalt as the hole was a perfect round, shaped like a bullet hole.
Had to use two sticky ropes to seal the puncture perfectly and secure. Now the real danger was standing in the right lane (emergency lane), in China crazy drivers use the emergency lane as a regular driving lane all the time..... TIC = This Is China!

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Very nice pictures !

Too bad it looks so difficult to ride in China.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BGil (Post 430115)

Very nice pictures!
Too bad it looks so difficult to ride in China.

China works in mysterious ways, really do hope the government powers refrain from turning the great mountain ranges and grasslands around greater Beijing region into the "big modern city dream".......

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The MTS arrived back in Shanghai by overnight truck shipment from Beijing, a few weeks of B+B (business and biking) went by in a flash (riding distance = 1x Pirelli Scorpion Trail 190/55ZR17 -rear tire-, approx. 6000k's extensively twisting the throttle).
The Italian Diva performed great and flawless. Ducati MTS = absolute brilliant bike and will get a lot of TLC incl. a decent wash and polish in the next few days thats for sure....

Had a blast around the greater Beijing region going for afternoon rides, overnight trips and full day cruises on the expressways (gets you out of the city and the touristy areas pretty quick, fully legal and very convenient) to the brilliant mountain roads and the beautiful grasslands.....
Enjoyed catching up with quite a few old mates and made a few interesting new contacts in the Beijing biker community and planning a longer stay up in Capital City later in the year once again.

Beijing rocks.... stay and ride safe!

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Good Morning China!!!
It's another warm and sunny day in Sanya -Forever Tropical Paradise-.........
The pics were taken at Sanya Bay / Hainan Island.

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Picked up the sidecar on Wednesday outside Sanya (Hainan Island) from a shipping company depot.
Had to go over to Haitang Bay for a meeting and took the sidecar for a run in loose sand to check the capabilities before hitting the beach for a cruise.
As expected, the heavy JL sidecar (approx.400kg) and slow speed has the wheels digging in and loosing grip.....

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On the way back to Sanya (Dadonghai District) checked out a bike shop apparently fixing HD's, CJ and JL's, typical crappy China bike repair shop with no spares in stock the way the shop looked. In case someone needs to visit the shop in the future.
GPS: N018°14'332" / E109°31'181" (not far from the Sanya Downtown Duty Free Shopping Mall).
Mate living in Sanya is trying to get his Chang-Jiang 750 sidecar (CJ750 = China BMW R71 1938 Copy) going again with the help of the bike shop but the rotten electrical system is quite a challenge for some time....

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Lazy Saturday afternoon cruise picking up some moonshine from a well know Sanya bootlegger....
Some nice beach bars and guesthouses off the beaten track hidden away near Serenity Marina Sanya (Hainan Island). GPS: N18°12'888" E109°29'545"

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Yeah, these routes around the North of Beijing (I call it the Huairo loop:mchappy:) are really great for a good sunday ride. You hardly can tell you're less than an hour from one of the biggest most polluted cities in the world!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBR-China (Post 429030)

Hainan Island is quite deserted off the beaten track, overcrowding only takes place at the hotel resorts located along Yalong Bay, Haitang Bay and the touristy spots like Yanoda Rainforest Park, End of the World, Nanshan Big Buddha, etc....

Spent two days up at Riyue Bay / Shimei Bay area (2.5hrs. from Sanya City) with our son surfing with the guys at Surfing-Hainan (RiyueWan). Surfing-Hainan is located at some really deserted beaches with decent swells especially after a windy tropical downpour.

Some Surf web-links for Hainan Island:
Surfing Hainan - China's Surf Shop 冲浪海南－中国的冲浪店
http://www.surfinghainanopen.com
Home
Hainan Riyuewan: The best surf beach in China | CNN Travel

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Back at Sanya city and Yalong Bay area.
Besides tourism and the ongoing scams and rip-off in seafood restaurants, Sanya's other big business is wedding pictures.
Any day of the week you can find hundreds of wedding picture studios and couples along the beaches / parks taking tons of pictures.

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Weddings sky-high as costs of banquets, extras double
By Hu Min | 2012-12-30 | Shanghai Daily Newspaper
_________
Shanghai couples are expected to spend more on their weddings next year as prices of wedding banquets and other services spiral upwards.
The costs of banquets have doubled compared to five years ago, whereas such service fees as photography has soared almost 90 percent in the past two years.

The price for a wedding banquet stood at 4,000 yuan (US$645) to 6,000 yuan per table on average at local four- star hotels. At local five-star hotels, the cost is 6,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan per table on average.The Westin Hotel in Shanghai quoted about 6,888 yuan to 10,888 yuan, including a 15 percent service fee. The Yan'an Hotel prices banquets around 4,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan.

In 2008, a table cost only a little more than 2,000 yuan on average for most four-star hotels in Shanghai.
The increase will range between 10 to 15 percent next year, the Shanghai Wedding Service Association predicted.

Despite soaring prices, some popular hotels said they have been almost fully booked next year except for a few days in July and August.
The association said newlyweds' pursuit of lavish weddings has boosted the price in recent years, even as fewer weddings are held.

It has been a trend for a year or two, He Lina, secretary general of the association, said yesterday. She said the price of wedding banquets has grown even though the prices of ingredients have not risen nearly as quickly. Menus vary slightly every year.

The surging prices have been a burden on parents who have already saved money for an apartment for newlyweds. Higher prices force them to dip into their pensions, she said, even as they hope youngsters will stop trying to "keep up with Joneses."

A July survey by Shanghai Wedding Exposition organizers that polled 3,000 couples who had booked banquets or were planning for weddings found local couples host 16 to 17 tables on average and many ask for help from parents.

"Local couples are decreasing the number of tables as they are 'running a deficit' with cost outpacing 'red envelopes' with money gifts," He said.

With all the Xmas cheer and Santa in the sun around Sanya it was about time to dress up with one off my all time favourite t-shirts and hit one of the swanky Yalong Bay 5-star hotels for a ritzy Xmas eve dinner.

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After a couple of days business meetings and hanging out with mates in greater Sanya / Yalong Bay area made my way up north from Yalong Bay to Wuzhishan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuzhi_Shan passing by the tropical rainforest park called Yanoda: Yanoda Rainforest Tourism Zone of HaiNan
Skipped Yanoda Tropical Forest Park this time as I had to take overseas visitors twice to the park in 2012 and the two visits last me properly a life time, noticed quite a lot of real estate (villas / hotels) going up in the immediate area surrounding Yanoda Park.

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Got a nasty surprise after paying the entrance fee 50RMB to Hainan Wuzhishan National Nature Reserve.... pictures say more than words and did not bother to look around any further and hit the road down the mountain direction Boao: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo'ao
Needless to say, quite sure this was my first and last visit to this particular nature reserve called Wuzhishan....... still, great winding roads going up though.

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Overnight in a ocean view service apartment in a suburb of Boao and looks like the whole of Boao incl. most of the main the streets are under construction for another BFA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boao_Forum_for_Asia
The snack bag packed before my Sanya departure helped a lot in the middle of nowhere in a huge flashy apartment complex with no restaurants / shops around just yet, bit foggy that morning with lower temperature compared to Sanya area but warmed up later on.

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Had a smile on my face passing through Traffic Safety Village..... right - traffic safety in China......

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Uneventful ride over to Wenchang from Boao and noticed a lot of seafood farms along the route.
Some sections of road undergoing cheap dangerous repairs as the road surface becomes very slippery with the hot tar and loose gravel.

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Cruising around Wenchang downtown district and stopping at some memorial with a bloke made out of bronze sitting on a big slab of marble...

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On my way up to Haikou from Wenchang, passing through quite a few small villages and somehow they feel like 1800's western towns with single row houses on both sides, motorbikes look like horses of cowboys and the small police station is the sheriff's office and county jail..... might be all the infamous Sanya moonshine booze.....

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Seems they can not make up their minds about vehicles on the Hainan G98 expressway, spot the important difference?
Hainan Island expressways do not have any toll gates, the petrol is more expensive compared to Mainland China to make up for it....

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Bo'ai Road is a neighbourhood located on the south side of the Haidian River, at the northern part of Haikou city. It comprises many dilapidated buildings with European fusion-type architectural facades. The buildings are almost all painted white, and are usually no more than a few stories tall. The area contains mainly narrow streets and alleyways, and is populated almost entirely by indigenous Hainan people. The neighbourhood is the commercial centre for textiles, pets, exotic foods, replica antiques, shoes, hardware items, and wholesales convenience store products.

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Got some good mates working in a Yalong Bay international resort hotel and they arranged a nice chocolate welcome set-up in the room.

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Sad news, the Jialing JH600 sidecar got crated again and is on the way back to Shanghai after all the fun in the sun around Hainan Island (Southern China).

Great relaxed riding around Sanya and the rest of Hainan Island and lets not talk about the pleasant weather every day, empty beaches and mountain regions (easy to avoid the touristy scams, crap and traps).
Visited some nice areas during the island stay like Sanya, Dadonghai, Riyue Bay, Shimei Bay, Haitang Bay, Boao, Wenchang, Haikou, Rifan Bay, Sanya Bay, Serenity Coast Marina, Wuzhishan, Longmu Bay, Monkey Island, Clearwater Bay, Wuzhizhou Island, Yalong Bay, Ledong to just to name a few of the well-known spots.
The Jialing JH600 sidcecar had no problems, never missed a beat at all during the 5000+k's daily riding and bike tours and only required minor regular maintenance like drive chain lubing and once drive chain adjustment.

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The Sanya to Shanghai moonshine rum run was a full success and herewith mission accomplished as the JL sidecar was delivered to the HQP-Roadhouse (Shanghai).
No damage done to the sidecar bike and moonshine rum bottles....

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Sunday early morning ride along the Great Canal passing through Liantang Town, in the Qingpu District of Shanghai (China) over into Jiangsu province and back via Diashan Lake. Very nice and pleasant weather without the high humidity....

Liantang Town, former home town of Chen Yun: Chen Yun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The MTS little brother got a well deserved workout as well the same afternoon.

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To answer the questions via PM's, the Ducati MTS transport pallet used for the truck shipment within China. Wood pallet (20mm marine plywood / 1500 x 2500mm with angle steel bar re-enforcments) was build to my own design by our carpenter, had a few stainless steel plates (3mm / 100 x 100mm) cut as backing plates for the 12mm stainless steel bolts and eyelets. Using a Pitbull Trailer Restraint for the rear with additional ratchet straps to secure the front fork and stop from flopping around, got high quality CargoBuckles now for future bike transport. Pretty easy job lifting the wooden pallet with the bike strapped onto and off trucks with fork-lifts and the bike sits rock solid in the truck and the wooden pallet is secured with ratchet straps to the truck sidewall rails.
Pit-Bull: Pit Bull Motorcycle Stands-Motorcycle Accessories
CargoBuckle: CargoBuckle Retractable Tie-Downs - IMMI Outdoors

Really hate the ever changing weather in Shanghai this time of the year (February / March).
Got a bottle of sun lotion out of the cabinet, loaded the JH600 for a decent run-in ride and heading South via national highway G320 for another China road trip...

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Went straight through Hangzhou city in Zhejiang province, actually rode very close to the West Lake area (painful slow riding as they build new elevated roads in city once again) following my GPS directions, got quite a few strange looks from car drivers and cops at stop lights due to the "no motorbike ban" in Hangzhou. Never got stopped by the ever present cops and two gave me actually a thumbs up sign, must be bikers themselves.

Between Hangzhou (Zhejiang) - Quzhou (Zhejiang) passed a lot of stone carving displays for sale at the road side, the stone / concrete carvings are everywhere in all sorts of shapes and sizes......…

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After covering quite some distance starting from Quzhou (Zhejiang) the bike died with no electrics working at all, quick check (hate ever changing Shanghai weather and electrical vehicle problems) found out the battery was totally fried. No charge at all in the middle of Jiangxi province at a small Sinopec gas station. The station attendants were very helpful in letting me charge my phone, Schuberth helmet and iPad, offering me oranges / tea and getting a bike repair guy from a nearby village over to source a battery suitable to mount into the JL to get me back on the road again. Battery is not the original full size (half the height actually) but works fine. The two attendants at the gas station refused any tip and just filled up a bit of gas (73RMB) but handed over 200RMB and drove away leaving the change as beer money for the assistance….

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Had very long day with approx. 700k's covered (Quzhou / Zhejiang > Ganzhou / Jiangxi) and rode well into the night passing a tree right in the middle of the road in a village..... awesome emergency brake set-up in case your vehicle brakes fail for some strange reasons. Skipped a visit to the "Long March Starting Point of the Central Red Army" in the dark but got pictures to proof that I was very nearby during my ADV cruise to the Sun in Sanya.

Why roads always turn to pot-holed nightmares in the dark, makes you wonder, eh?

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Checked into a suburban hotel in Ganzhou and they only had a suite available with the full on set-up like mahjong table, TV sets, tea ceremony set, gourmet cup noodles, coffee, tea, various condom packs, pink female shaver displayed in a glass ashtray (somehow that "thing" looked like a potato peeler), male / female lubrication, playing cards, business towel, lounge area, bathroom and a bedroom equipped with a bed as hard as a concrete road slab for the royal sum of 258RMB (the suite had easily 95-100sqm. space).
Just case your in town and need first class accommodation in Ganzhou: Tialong Hotel China hotels, China hotel reservations & China hotel deals. Book discounted China hotels and resorts with Ctrip and save.

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Dongguan (Guangdong): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongguan
Nothing special to report, rolled into the city known as "China's Sex Capital", with the prostitution sector - consisting of brothels, massage parlours, nightclubs, sex hotels, sauna centres and karaoke bars - estimated to contribute 20 to 30 per cent of the total output of the city's service industry, employing between 500,000 and 800,000 people) and the "Jialing ADV Cruiser" will have a well deserved five day pit-stop in a mates garage near Song Shan Lake due to my business commitments in Guangdong province.
Dongguan is also well known as a massive production area for shoes (Nike Town) and electronics - Foxconn just as an example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn and has the worlds biggest "ghost shopping mall" called New South China Mall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_China_Mall

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Had to leave my JL bike behind in Dongguan and in the "Big Smoke" Guangzhou right now for business meetings.
Guangzhou = foggy - misty - humid moloch city…. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou
Looking out the windows right now - need to be reunited with my bike soon and hit the road again further South to the big island called Hainan…..

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Headed out from SongShan Lake (Dongguan) in the morning with the plan to hit either Zhanjiang (Guangdong) or Xuwen (Guangdong) for the night.
Tried to visit the Dongguan (Humen) Opium War Museum but the roads leading to it were blocked by police due to a VIP visit of some big wig, fine with me - next time....

Some info about the Opium Museum here: The Opium War Museum and the famous burning of some dope in the old days.
We are talking about 1188127 kilograms of burning Opium here...... 1188.127 metric ton, thats quite a lot of drugs going up in smoke.......
Come to think of it, really ~ just from the spreading smoke, greater Dongguan area must have been high as a kite for weeks!!!!!

Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll (rock playing in my Schuberth helmet via Bluetooth) and it was time to leave Sin City Dongguan....
Took the ferry to cross the river from Humen to Nansha in foggy misty weather, just a big ferry boat loaded with cars and one lonely awesome Jialing ADV Cruiser….

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I love it! Keep it going.

John

Was in really good spirits in the morning - little did I know what a day of riding lay ahead with two strong thunderstorms (incl. hail / heavy winds) and by the time I had a piss stop next to Snoopy the weather turned really nasty for hours. Grabbed a large coffee from a McDonalds across from defunct Snoopy Park but rain continued and took off in the rain....

Rain... hail... more rain but once your wet - your wet and just carried on, no point in resting during the middle of the day and why bother to stay in a cheap roadside hotel or restaurant to waste the day away doing blog updates or emails and listening to some local bloke who wants to know where you from - how much you make a month - where are you going - are you married - do you like Chinese girls - how much does the xxxx costs (xxxx = motorbike, helmet, jacket, boots, GPS, mobile, iPad, etc... etc)…..

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Please keep the photo's coming, this is just great!

Just a couple of questions, the lack of vehicles on the roads, is there a reason for this?

And the thick cloud/fog/smog, is this due to the time of the year or pollution?

Rod, dreaming of the next ridebier

With lightning speed, the mighty Jialing JH600A went all the way down the peninsula to Hai'An (ferry docks to Haikou - Hainan Islandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haikou)
Rolling into Xuwen / Hai'An district its quite a sight to see, hundreds of trucks lined up waiting to have a run over a huge weight bridge before being allowed to drive into the Hai'An ferry dock waiting area for loading and boarding.

Looked at a few hotel beside the road towards Xuwen county http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hai%27an,_Xuwen_County but not really into the KTV - Hotel - Massage treatment the natives prefer and went to check out the ferry docks.
They operate 24hr. and decided on the spot to get on a large ferry boat to Haikou (approx. 2hr. passage) for 68RMB all incl. and access to the climate controlled passenger lounge area with food & beverage options and entertainment was granted as well at no extra charges…..

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