Rubber on Road

Why I Travel Solo – Guest Post by Jay Kannaiyan!

brent — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:22:58 +0000

(Jay has been riding a Suzuki DR650 since leaving Chicago in March, 2010 and has covered 44,000 miles / 70,800 kms through Latin America, Europe and Africa. You can visit his website at http://jamminglobal.com/)

Africa. sanDRina, my DR650 in the savannahs of northern Kenya, near Lake Turkana.

I am asked this question quite frequently on my trip. Firstly, I’d like to state that traveling solo doesn’t mean being lonely. On the contrary, I find it allows others to see this stranger on a motorcycle as being more approachable, leading to novel social encounters. Taking a water break in the middle of the Western Desert in Egypt, I am approached by a local Bedouin and invited home for lunch.

Sporting a gelabiya, the dress of the desert men in northern Sudan.

In the years leading up to this trip, I learned the character traits needed for motorcycle touring by going on small to big trips around the US with these riding mentors of mine. While I enjoyed traveling as a pair or a group, I could see the flexibility that’s offered when one travels solo. But on a ten day trip with accurate information on roads and hotels in a developed country, there’s not much need for being flexible. I feel the option is needed when traveling through developing countries, where things can change quite often. This change should be cherished in the spirit of exploration, so it’s best to be prepared by being flexible and going with the flow without needing the consensus from a traveling partner.

This flexibility also affects your riding. Sometimes I end up stopping every fifteen minutes to adjust something or ride for two hours without a break. If you stop unexpectedly, the other rider(s) start worrying that something has happened. But if both these riders rode solo, then no one would worry when you are fifteen minutes late. Of course, it’s nice to have a traveling partner when something does go terribly wrong, but even then, besides being incapacitated, an individual can find their way back to safety.

Chasing zebras along the wilds of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.

I’ve also found that if you are intent on getting to know different cultures, a home-stay with a local family can give a traveler insight into the nuances of various societies. The biggest difference I experienced was the skewed daily schedule of Argentine families, where they eat lunch around 4 pm and then dinner around 11 pm or midnight. Thanks to CouchSurfing.org, I have access to this insight, which wouldn’t be available through hotel stays.

At Lalibela, Ethiopia, site of monolithic churches carved into solid rock.

Since I’m entering people’s lives for a short time, I feel that traveling solo gives my trip a smaller footprint, making the adjustment of a guest into the host’s daily routine that much more congenial compared to accommodating a group. Along the same lines, when I’m staying in small hotels, I’ve seen how the staff readily accepts that bike safety is of paramount importance and allow me to park in their lobby. When I was staying in Guanajuato, Mexico, my front tire was against the reception desk with my rear tire squeezed by the front door. I feel traveling with two or more bikes wouldn’t welcome these kinds of accommodations.

One facet of traveling solo is that others view you as being vulnerable; not having an immediate support network and I’ve seen that this brings out the caring nature in people, especially in mothers of my hosts. I have to admit, it’s comforting to be taken care of by a mother after being on the road for a while. In the northern Brazilian town of Maceio, Bruno’s mother welcomed me as a son and prepared a copious amount of food after noting that I was too skinny. I’ve learned that accepting such acts of kindness allows your benefactor to feel satisfied in providing to someone in need. Modern individualistic society tries to instill the notion of self-reliance and looks upon accepting gifts as a sign of weakness, or at least an act that must be paid back. However, there is a joy in giving unconditionally that exists in older societies.

Roadkill in southern Ethiopia. And I bush-camped that night.

While I may be in solitude inside my helmet, frequently staying with locals keeps me very social. This allows me to develop both these sides of my character. In the end, the journey of life is with ourselves, so we might as well be comfortable with it. As big changes in our society become the norm due to the effects of humanity on this planet, personal introspection is going to be needed in order for realistic change to occur. Traveling solo allows you to get comfortable with yourself and listen more to your intuition, your instinct, which is the basis for rational judgment.

Camping out in the middle of Patagonia, with not another soul for hundreds of kilometers, I feel connected to the vast land and sky that we are a part of. My companion and my safety net is parked next to me, ready to ride on.

Mud riding in northern Ethiopia

Pollution in China and What it Means for Your Commute

Bucko — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:52:38 +0000

Roommates and I prepping for the pollution with our various masks on hand

The pollution in China, particularly in Beijing, is bad, and I mean really bad. It may not actually be the silent but deadly electric scooters going the wrong way down the street or cars passing at night without any lights on that eventually gets me on my commute, but rather the slow death of inhaling the equivalent of packs (‘s’ is very deliberate) of cigarettes a day in urban pollution as I commute to work on my motorcycle. In fact, it has gotten so bad recently, that it’s actually finally reached the foreign media, as the LA Times recently reported on how nearly 1,000 flights had to be cancelled within just the first week of December due to low visibility!

The scariest thing however is the state of denial that the reporting of the local authorities reflects. Whenever there are flight cancellations or highway closures due to low visibility it is reported that it is fog. There will be no shortage of Chinese weather reports reporting on the 大雾 (thick fog) engulfing the city. At the risk of getting my site flagged by the GFW, I’ll leave my description of the “official” air quality reporting at that, and let the reader research further on the matter on his/her own, rather opting to describe a bit of my own experiences and how I typically deal with the silent, but not so invisible, hazard that is the air in Beijing.

How to Deal with the Pollution

View of the pollution from my office. Normally you should be able to see Ikea in the top left (Ikea Index - dangerously low)

It has become a tradition among my two roommates and I to, every morning, report to each other what the official Air Quality Index reading is after we each throw around a couple guesses first. You can usually get a rough estimate given the relative visibility. You start to get a good idea of what it is using various landmarks within your field of vision of what you can see from the window, knowing what it must mean if you can see only two blocks away as opposed to two miles. From my office window, my colleague and I have, what we call “The Ikea Index” which is judged based off of how much of the nearby Ikea building we can see from our desks. If you can only just barely make out the iconic yellow, it’s usually dangerously high, and that’s when I’ll order food for lunch rather than leave the building.

Judging from this, as well as the official readings that one can find online, you can usually make a judgement on how much exposure to the outside air you are willing to subject yourself too. Otherwise it is safer to just stay inside, avoid most physically exerting activity, and surround yourself with good pollutant filtering plants.

Riding a Motorcycle Through the Pollution

Me donning my Respro air filter before setting out on the road

Since, however, I typically still must commute to work every day, and this is usually most conveniently done on my motorcycle, I decided to equip myself with a proper face mask made for urban pollutants, which is how I found the Respro. This may not be a perfect solution, especially compared to, say, living somewhere else, but it does the trick and it will have to do! That said, the effects are immediately noticeable, as the smells from outside are almost completely eliminated when I am wearing the mask. The mask also does a relatively good job of ventilating as I find that my helmet does not fog up too much, and the restriction of breath is not too noticeable either.

As it turns out, the masks are relatively easy to find in China as well. All I did to discover this mask was search on Tabao (a Chinese online marketplace) for a 口罩 (face mask) and I came upon a merchant selling them. Some quick research and I decided it was the mask for me! The real clincher though was the before and after comparison. After a few months of use when it didn’t feel like smells were being blocked out anymore (it should really be after only 60 hours of cumulative use that the filter is replaced), I bought a replacement filter and took a very revealing before and after picture.

The Takeaway

The Before and after picture comparing the new filter to the 3 months in Beijing filter

As with most things in China, particularly related to motorcycling in China, there is always a risk involved, and in the case of the air pollution in China, it can be a serious risk (I recommend this incredible, and frightening Infographic from Green Peace on the air pollution in China). Thus, all one can hope to do is take a long deep breath (on second thought, maybe not too deep…) and keep on trudging along making sure to equip oneself with the best tools available.

If you have any experience commuting or dealing with urban air pollution, in China or otherwise, we’d love to hear your comments and stories in the comments section below!

Is the Era of the Motorcycle Over?

brent — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:00:30 +0000

I recently read this opinion article in the NYTimes. The premise of the article is that the recession has driven motorcycle sales down sharply but other things that are also deemed luxury items, like iPhones, have grown. At first I almost dismissed the article – what the hell do Apple products have to do with Motorcycle sales? But it stuck in my mind for a few days until I realized, after much self-debate, that Motorcycles have become (like it or not) a fashion industry and a consumer durables industry (in most cases). They compete for a share of consumers’ disposable income just like clothes, other mechanised toys, computers and, yes, fancy electronic devices. While there are many committed motorcyclists (like Buck and I) the fact that you can find 10 and 20 year-old bikes being offered for sale with such low mileage suggests that a lot of owners/riders are not, shall we say, dedicated.

I’ve posted the article below for you to read as well as a link to the original at the bottom of the page. I would love to hear our readers take on the article:

ARE motorcycles passé? Are they sort of over? I ask as a rider of two-wheel Italian beauties that go very fast, gracefully streamlined subsonic technology from the Ducati factory in Bologna. I own two sport bikes and two racers. I ride racing motorcycles on the street. One of my motorcycles is capable of nearly 200 miles an hour. I write prose about motorcycles. I write poems about motorcycles.

So I ask with some authority. Are motorcycles — even superb and lovely Italian motorcycles from the land of Donatello and Bertolucci — being replaced as love objects, as arm candy, by other more contemporary show-off desirables?

Electronic ones. Mostly made by Apple.

The iPhone 4S, the iPad 2, the 11-inch and 13-inch thin, light MacBook Air computers — these are the sleek gorgeousness young people go on about, have to have, and do have, in the millions. These machines, famous for the svelte dignity of their designs — and of course, far less expensive than a motorcycle — are a lens to see the world through and to do your work on. It’s their operating speeds that thrill. Young people cut a bella figura on their electronic devices.

Now, of course, it is not just the young who buy Apple products. I lay emphasis on the young, particularly young men, because they are the ones who might otherwise be buying motorcycles, and aren’t, at least not at all in the numbers they did before the economic downturn. The great recession was disastrous for motorcycle sales around the country, especially, it seems, for sport bikes, the ones that perform with brio but have no practical point to make. In other words, they are not bikes to tour on, they are not a comfortable way for you and a companion — wife or partner or friend — to travel to work or to a distant campground. You can do it, but it’s not ideal. Young riders were not buying motorcycles of any kind, and especially, it seems, not sport bikes.

Or, to say it another way, it’s as if the recession induced a coma in all the potential new motorcyclists, and in so many of the already experienced motorcyclists, from which they woke changed, changed utterly, and found themselves standing in line outside an Apple store, patiently waiting to buy the latest greatness.

They are buying a slice of what Apple does — and how it does it — and how it looks doing it. They are buying function but, just as important, they are buying glamour. The device enhances the buyer’s sense of self. It helps the person think and at the same time not think. Once, not so long ago, motorcycles did the same thing.

In a few days, at the International Motorcycle Show in Milan, Ducati will introduce a radically new sport bike called the Panigale, after Borgo Panigale, the neighborhood on the outskirts of Bologna where the Ducati factory is. The Ducati people are being secretive about how the Panigale will look and how it will perform. But there have been spy photos of the bike being tested on the Mugello circuit, with the former World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss aboard, and plenty of rumors and speculation about the tech specs.

We know this much. It will make brave hearts beat faster. It will weigh less than its predecessor. It will have a new sort of frame. It will have an ingenious new exhaust system. It will handle. It will be fast. It will be beautiful. How many Ducati followers — the Ducatisti — will have to have one? Some.

Oh, for the days — not so long ago — when a boy’s world would have fallen to its knees before a new Ducati design.

In Dallas, at Advanced Motorsports, his motorcycle dealership, Jeff Nash, a gentleman and one of the great Ducati racebike tuners in America, and a racer himself, deplores the passivity of the young who would rather be home with their iPads playing computer games than astride the red-meat lightning of an 1198 Superbike blazing down a Texas highway making that unmistakable growling deep Ducati sound. Mr. Nash would go further.

Better to be out in the air astride just about any motorcycle alive!

Here is the original post from the New York Times: Is the iPhone Replacing the Motorcycle?

Can Harley Davidson Find Success in China

Bucko — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:16:43 +0000

Is Long Distance, Harley Style Riding Possible in China?

There has been a lot written recently about Harley Davidson failing to sell more bikes in 2010 in all of its dealerships in all of China (268 bikes sold from 7 dealerships) than in just one of its Milwaukee dealerships (more than 500 for the year). Despite this extremely underwhelming sales performance, Harley Davidson will be seeking to quadruple the amount of dealerships on the Mainland to 28 by 2016. This is a massive gamble given not only the company’s sales track record in China up to this point but also the history of other Western companies unable to find success despite huge investments in this vastly different environment (see Best Buy). So the question now is whether or not Harley’s bet in the Middle Kingdom will pay off or is China’s market just not made for the motorcycle company’s distinctly American style (and cost). Below are highlighted three reasons why Harley may be right to take the risk of expanding into the Chinese market and could potentially be able to reap the rewards that are held in this rapidly developing market.

A Sophisticated and Intricate Highway System.

The Expressway System of China; Source: Wikipedia

Many people unfamiliar with China are not aware of just how well developed China’s highway and expressway system has become in the last 10 years. This is not just a story of a 3rd world country experiencing rapid growth. China can now boast one of the world’s largest expressway systems, second only to the U.S. As of January 2011, there are 46,000 miles (74,000km) of expressway, from 0 miles in 1988 when construction first began and from only 7,421 miles in the year 2000. That’s over 600% growth in just 10 years! To put this in perspective, Australia’s Highway 1, which connects all of the country’s state capitals, circumnavigating the continent, and is the longest national highway in the world, is just 9,000 miles long.

This type of highway network offers a huge amount of opportunity for the type of long distance motorcycle travel that appeals to a Harley owner. We’re talking about the tradition in which you can earn a patch for completing the “Iron Butt” challenge, which is given to those who are able to ride 1,000+ miles in one day. Not only is there an abundance of roads to ride, but there is an amazing diversity of things to see in China, 56 ethnic minorities and Eco-systems that range from the deserts and frigid colds in the north, to the tropical climates in the south and the Himalayan mountains in the South West. This just means that the immense network of highways that traverse the country will be only just the beginning of the adventure, as the many smaller 国道, or national roads, offer even more opportunity to explore the country once you’ve gotten to where you want to be.
A Large Market of People Hungry for Luxury Goods

One of the criticisms one can find railed against Harley’s efforts in China are that it’s just too darn expensive. That may be true (and the massive tariffs of up to 30% in addition to consumption and VAT taxes raised on the motorcycle imports don’t help that price tag much), however price tags haven’t held back H-D in the American market and luxury brands in general have been enjoying huge success in China’s expanding market as the middle and upper class numbers continue to swell. Though there are still hundreds of millions still living below the poverty line around the country, the Chinese overall are eating up high priced brands like it’s, well, their first opportunity to do so in half a century!

McKinsey recently did a report on the growing luxury market in China and noted that China will account for 20% of the world’s luxury market by 2015, a segment worth $27 billion. This growth is not just reserved for Gucci bags and Versace shoes though, as luxury cars have similarly seen huge growth, with Audi reporting sales of 140,000 cars in Hong Kong and the Mainland in the first half of 2011, 28% growth over the previous year. Mercedes-Benz and BMW similarly enjoyed sales growth of 52% and 61% respectively over the same period in 2010. Thus, with this market offering such huge potential and consistent growth, it’s hard to imagine that the Chinese would have a hard time adopting a foreign brand simply because it costs too much. If anything, there would be reason to believe that this could in fact help Harley’s sales.
The Chinese People Like Things American

This one is a little less scientific and more of a subjective opinion built from experience living in China, but one certainly gets the impression that, in general, the Chinese are very welcoming and open to ideas and cultures of American origin. For example, McDonalds and KFCs have seemingly become ingrained into the local cultures as the China Daily reported in 2004 that there were more than 2,000 KFCs around the country and growing at a rate of 200 per year. It doesn’t just stop at fast food since, as of October 2011, Apple’s iPhone is now the best selling smart phone in China (which taps into the willingness with which the Chinese embrace luxury brands addressed above). As a final example, despite having almost no contextual religious significance in the country with a tiny and nascent Christian population, Christmas has regardless begun to become wildly popular here.

The Chinese seem to have cultivated quite a bit of admiration for Americans and American culture as well. Even the idea that was once known as the “American Dream”, of setting out and making it on your own, has been uprooted from its origins and eagerly adopted in China, becoming a familiar story line as it is put into a Chinese context, with success stories of rags to riches becoming more and more commonplace. This type of mentality lends itself well to the Harley-Davidson doctrines of freedom and independence- the idea of being on your own and in charge of where you go. Thus, it would seem to this casual observer of both Chinese and motorcycle culture that it wouldn’t take too much of a stretch of the imagination to see a market willing to embrace the freedom and even the rebel image (even if faux, this is China after all) that comes almost pre-packaged with a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

So What’s Holding Harley Back?

There’s a saying that ex-pats, foreigners living and working abroad, have in China, which is that “In China, everything is possible, but nothing is easy.” Though there may be a lot of potential for Harley-Davidson in the Chinese market, the hurdles that exist could still be even greater. Like with most difficulties one may encounter when doing business in the country, government regulation is at the root of these. Overcoming the 30% import tariff acting as a major price barrier, making some models of H-D bikes more expensive even than many luxury brand cars, is a major problem the Milwaukee based company must solve as it moves forward. The other difficulty that leisure motorcyclists face in China is the often strict regulation placed onto motorcycle travel in some major cities and on all of the massive inter-city expressway system mentioned above (watch the video at the end of this article to see an apparent exception made for a huge group of Harley bikers). Even international cities like Beijing and Shanghai have major restrictions on where motorcycles can and can’t go, with restrictions placed on plates or even outright bans in certain areas. Finally, though these restrictions are typically only loosely enforced, you are still left at the whim of the current regulation “of fashion” as they are more accurately inconsistently enforced, fostering an atmosphere of uncertainty that doesn’t sit well with those weighing the decision of making a significant investment in a motorcycle.

Nonetheless, it seems Harley Davidson is aware of these obstacles and prepared to take them on in an effort to tap into the world’s largest consumer market (by volume of people). As a recent Business Week article, “Why Harley Can’t Rev Up in China“, discusses, as the company plans to increase it’s dealership numbers in the country, it will simultaneously be petitioning the government to loosen restrictions on motorcycle travel. The article also points to Harley’s efforts to foster more of the motorcycle and leisure-riding culture among the Chinese through various initiatives, including helping to build up local H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) riding chapters, in an effort to build up awareness for the brand.

China is a tempting market for any company to want to penetrate. The trick though is how to generate excitement in a country that already has its own deeply rooted culture so different from those in the West with fully integrated traditions that trace back farther than any other society in the world. There are many reasons for Harley to believe that there is potential for them in China, reasons the company must clearly believe exist as they continue to increase their efforts despite their uninspiring sales performance in 2010. With 28 dealerships planned in the coming years and surely many future promotional events, rides, and clubs intended to generate buzz, it will be interesting to see how they fare as the culture of motorcycles in China continues to develop.

In the meantime, there are still the 268 new Harley riders as of last 2010 that will be trying to get the most out of their new rides! You can see a group of them that some friends of mine were able to catch on video on an expressway outside of Beijing (how they were allowed on to the highway though, we are only left to guess at).

Our Top Five Favourite Celebrity UK Motorcyclists

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:41:09 +0000

Motorcycling is certainly not a new phenomenon; in fact, the very first official “motorcycle” was invented back in the nineteenth century. Ever since then, many notable figures have become known not only for their day jobs but also for their love of the open road and passion for biking. Here are our top five favourite famous UK motorcyclists…

5. A famous name which you might not associate with motorcycling, but believe it or not, Roald Dahl, the legendary British children’s author was a huge fan of motorcycling and from an early age they became a huge part of his life. Some speculate that his passion for biking may even have seeped into his writing. For example, one of his best loved work, ‘The B.F.G’ which in the book stands for the ‘Big Friendly Giant’ just so happens to share its name with a popular motorcycle tyre company, ‘B.F Goodrich’.

4. Number four on our list of famous UK motorcycle fanatics is none other than the future heir to the throne, Prince William. A keen biker from a young age, the Prince and his brother both got on their bikes for an eight day charity biking trip across South Africa in 2008, covering a distance of over 1,000 miles. He has also been spotted riding a Ducati 1198s and rumours have it that the Prince was the lucky recipient of a Ducati Diavel Carbon in celebration of his tying the knot to Kate Middleton earlier this year.

3. Much has been made of the transformation that comic and actor Hugh Laurie undertook for his character in the hit U.S television series ‘House’, but there is a similarity between the British thespian and his on screen persona – they both adore their motorbikes. Laurie has admitted that he has been in love with motorcycling since his teenage years when he first rode for fun in a field at the age of fourteen. Since that moment, the actor has, in his own words “been hooked” and he has been quite outspoken about his favourite pastime on many occasions.

2. and 1. Though there have been many celebrated riders in the past, the number one spot on our list has to be shared as these two famous faces have pushed the very concept of motorcycling into the public eye in a very strong manner over the last few years. Yes, topping our list are the famed motorbike lovers Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. Since their hugely popular series ‘Long Way Round’ hit our screens back in the mid-naughties, these two actors have become synonymous with touring motorbikes and epic road trips. In this well received documentary, both McGregor and Boorman travelled across the world on their BMWs and in doing so, introduced the concept of motorcycling to viewers across the globe. For this reason alone, these Brits have the honour of this well-earned the top spot.

This post was brought to you by Bennetts – the UK’s No.1 Bike Insurance Specialist. We would love to know who you would consider your favourite UK celebrity bikers. Do you agree or disagree with our list? Let us know in the comments below!

RIP Marco Simoncelli

brent — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:51:01 +0000

“Marco was flamboyant on and off the track. When someone dies, everyone always says they loved life. But he had a very vibrant personality. He already had a huge fanbase around the world, partly down to aggressive riding – but also because he was just a cool guy. He didn’t take himself too seriously and would have been a big star for next year.”

~Matt Roberts, BBC MotoGP presenter

No related posts.

Day 7 of the Qingdao Road Trip- Hightailing it back to Beijing

Bucko — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:09:58 +0000

Our last stop of the trip before the final 60km stretch to Beijing

Last day of the trip today, and I’ve gotta say, it certainly was nice to wake up on the last morning in our “Seaview Gardens” hotel bed. Went down to the hotel restaurant to a great Chinese buffet, definitely the best breakfast of the trip and we also were able to order coffee and toast (not part of the buffet since we were the only foreigners and thus the only people in the hotel that would be interested). After packing up our stuff and sorting out directions, we were off.

I was a little worried about managing directions for this stretch since we got lost in Tianjin on the way down, but luckily we had a good game plan this time around as Amy navigated from the back seat. So with relatively open roads, no navigation problems, and good weather, we made great time into Beijing. It’s always a thrilling sensation starting to see signs for your final destination and seeing the signs for the 6th Ring Road of Beijing was no different. What was the most surprising though was upon entering the city limits of Beijing how relatively relaxing the driving felt. Though drivers were still pretty pushy, and the traffic was actually much denser, everyone overall seemed to be generally more competent. There was no fear of being obnoxiously pushed out of my lane, cars coming the wrong way down the highway, and road rules were (for the most part) followed. This isn’t to say that Beijing drivers are by any means good, far from it, but this trip down the East Coast of China has certainly given me a great appreciation for the drivers here compared to what I could be dealing with.

Overall, it’s funny to think what a haven of “western” “civilization” Beijing has become in China. As we were nearing the end of the trip, I started to relate the anticipation of being back in Beijing to the sensation every ex-pat in China is familiar with before they return to their home country. The feeling of looking forward to returning to a sense of normalcy, the comfort of not being stared at everywhere you go, having a higher standard of cleanliness, and also having access to certain Western luxuries such as food, English language TV programs, and an Apple Store! God Bless Beijing! (uh…)

One little treat is that on the final approach, as we were already within the 6th ring, a couple of Harley bikes caught up with me and I managed to ride along with them for a little while, even overtaking them at one point. I don’t think they were as excited as I was, but oh well, I got a video of them anyway!

The real unfortunate thing is the holiday schedule in China, which is that after a nice long holiday like the one we just had, you have to make up for some of the time lost from work. So after getting back today on Friday, tomorrow it’s back to work! That’s right, work on the weekend, which also consequentially means a 7 day work week. Nothing better after an exhausting vacation right?

Putting the bike away at the end of the journey

Day 6- Smooth Sailing for our last full day

Bucko — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:24:11 +0000

Not too much to report today actually. Amy and I were able to get some real solid distance behind us while at the same time being able to enjoy the Chinese scenery.

We made it out of Pingdu without incident, as luckily no pieces seemed to have been stolen from off of the bike over night. The weather was not as favorable as it had been on the trip down with pollution significantly worse (something that’s not to be desired when you have wind going by at 90km/hr for 8-10 hours a day), but luckily we were both equipped with face masks and I had my Respro mask with a filter specially for urban pollutants. The drivers as well were as obnoxious as ever with several trying to run me off the road, but this wasn’t really anything new. You learn to yell at them, flip them off and be on your way. There certainly are times though when I wish I kept some ball bearings on me in case of “emergencies”. No lesson that a handful of ball bearings to the windshield won’t teach! One guy I actually pulled up next to at a red light and when he rolled down his window and I yelled at him, he seemed to genuinely be oblivious to the fact that he randomly just swerved into my lane for no observable purpose other than to run me off the road.

We were making good enough time that we ended past our stated goal for the day into a city called Huanghua, which is almost to Tianjin and on the way to Beijing. Though it seems to be an industrial port town, we lucked out with our hotel this night. We first pulled into am extremely glamorous, out of place looking hotel in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. The price was extremely cheap and the room amazing, but after going up and looking at it, the front desk informed us that they couldn’t admit foreigners! This was not something we were expecting but when they offered to have a driver (with no license plate on the car by the way) escort us to another hotel that could, we soon acquiesced. The next hotel was just as nice though a little pricier but they also treated us like royalty. Since it was our last night, we stank, were tired, and as a make up for the night before, we decided to fork over the 300 RMB for the night (bargained down from 380). This one actually came with breakfast in the morning and they would prepare western coffee and toast for us in the morning if we requested ahead of time (Chinese typically don’t have either so they need ample warning). They also had a gated area where I could keep my bike and someone who helped us with our one piece of luggage off of the bike. The staff seemed particularly intrigued not only by foreigners speaking Chinese but that we were traveling such distances by motorcycle. Finally, after settling into our room and becoming increasingly excited at the prospect of a proper shower, they delivered fresh coffee and fruit straight to our room! What service!

Day 5- Out of Qingdao Shaking the Remnants of the Flu

Bucko — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:41:04 +0000

It took about 14 hours of pretty much continuous sleeping, eating nothing but soup and a few pieces of toast for nearly 24 hours, and taking whatever Chinese medicine Amy could rustle up (tell a clerk 拉肚子 -la duzi- and you’ll find something) but I had mostly shaken whatever bug I still had, enough to get back on the bike at least. It turns out we didn’t even really have a choice in the matter since check out was at noon and there were no rooms available, even the one we were currently occupying. So I stayed in bed until 11:30 and then Amy and I packed up and moved out.

After hanging out a bit longer in the hostel cafe and going down to visit the Qingdao beach and the iconic pagoda from the Tsingdao beer labels with our friends, Amy and I packed up the bike with only the essentials to keep down the weight in an effort to help me out for the remainder of the journey. It took me a while studying the city map on my phone to figure out how we were going to get out of the city since I wanted to avoid the trouble of non-existent roads that we had on the way in. Unfortunately however, it seemed there was no easy way out, so we set a map to lead us to the expressway and hope they would let us on.

Needless to say, they wouldn’t allow a motorcycle onto the expressway and we again found ourselves on invisible roads that GPS systems couldn’t acknowledge existed. So after about an hour and a half of maneuvering we finally found our way out, and that’s when the driving really got treacherous.

I have never seen roads in this bad of condition before, ever. There were maybe a solid 20 kilometers of completely unmaintained roads. These were real “developing world” conditions where the progress China has been making over the past 30 years was no longer on full display. The potholes came on all of a sudden with barely a warning and didn’t really let up. The bike was being tossed around so violently that it was a wonder pieces didn’t just start falling off. The dust was everywhere and the drivers were as awful as ever. I would try and maneuver around all road obstacles as best I could but sometimes the best option left was to just take it head on and hold on tight. And when I had resigned myself to enduring these conditions for the next 50km to the next city, it finally let up and allowed myself to exhale.

Despite driving for over 4 hours, between the awful roads and getting lost in Qingdao, we only covered about 130km and this was while I was recovering from what must have been the flu. We ended in a real hodunk town called Pingdu. The whole place had a creepy vibe thats not easy to explain, but you got the feeling that a tumbleweed would come rolling through any minute. That combined with the dust and pollution that seemed to have descended on the town did not make for a welcoming feeling. We eventually found what seemed to be the nicest flea-bag motel we could find at a major intersection to settle down for the night and rest up before moving on tomorrow. One welcoming thought though was that we were more or less back on the route we used on the way down, which meant that there shouldn’t be any more surprises. Now we just have to hope we dint actually get any fleas!

Days 3 and 4- Exhaustion Sets In

Bucko — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:05:38 +0000

After the 13 hours of riding the day before, both Amy and I were feeling properly tired, and a rest day in Yantai was definitely in order. I was feeling particularly sore, almost as if I had gone through full body workout the day before and it was just catching up to me.

The rest day in Yantai was well worth it though, taking in the sites as we enjoyed some european style architecture from the time the Europeans had colonized the area, visiting a wine museum where we were able to sneak in and do some taste testing for free, and climbing up to the highest point in the area at the top of a lighthouse to see the sunset.

The next day though, it was time to move on to Qingdao, so up bright and early again to make the 200km SW with time to enjoy the city once we got there. The driving was relatively easy and the distance short compared to what we’d been doing which was nice. We ran into some problems though once we approached Qingdao. First of all, to get to the hostel there was quite a bit of maneuvering necessary and of course the streets still weren’t marked properly. To add to the confusion it seemed as if the whole city was in expansion mode as often we’d make a turn that turned out not to even be on the GPS map, not even the Chinese version of Google, called Baidu, had some of these highways. At one point we ended up on a major highway where most exits weren’t even complete yet and it seemed like we weren’t the only ones who made that mistake as there were cars turning around going the wrong way down the street!

Well after much confusion and several wrong turns we eventually made it to the hostel, and at about 3 o’clock we had plenty of time to spare. However, it was beginning to become clear that all of the driving and probably something in the water was beginning to take its toll. I started to become very sick very quickly. I had managed to catch some sort of stomach bug that was having me run to the bathroom at every opportunity. When I wasn’t doing that, I started feeling myself get weak and light-headed. In not too long I had a fever and it became clear that I’d have to cut the site-seeing short and spend the rest of the night in bed. This clearly wasn’t preferable as I missed out on the late night shenanigans with the rest of the group as they discovered Qingdao’s specialty of beer served on the side of the street from a keg into a bag.

Oh well, health and safety first! Hopefully I’ll be fit enough to get back on the road soon enough.