Adventure Silk Road
The first day of our trip together started off with a short introduction of everyone and a briefing about what is to come. We explained a little bit about what we will experience during the tour, as well as some practical things we need to keep in mind along the way. One of those practical topics is the fact that we all need a temporary Chinese driving licence to be allowed to ride motorcycles here. This means that tomorrow we will first go to the local police station to register as temporary residents, and then head to the Traffic Police to arrange our Chinese driving licences. This will take a little bit of time, but afterwards we will still have enough time to visit the famous Terracotta Army here in Xi’an. I’m sure this will be a spectacular sight and a great way to start exploring the area. After we had explained everything about tomorrow and all the paperwork that needs to be taken care of, it was time for a lovely dinner together. As is customary here, we had a great shared dining experience, with different dishes revolving on a big plate in the middle of the table, so everyone could simply pick whatever they wanted. It is safe to say that we will probably not have to worry about going hungry during this tour… A great start to our trip, and let’s see what tomorrow brings! It will certainly be an interesting experience to visit the local police station and get everything sorted.
Today started off with an overwhelming number of choices at breakfast, as they had so many different options. From French toast to eggs, Danish pastries, traditional Chinese dishes, fruit, and many other things. Luckily for us, the next part of the day would be a bit more structured, with not nearly as many choices for us to worry about, as we were going to get our Chinese driver’s licences. Our first stop was the local police station to get a temporary residence permit. There weren’t many people there, so it was very straightforward, and we were done very quickly. From here, we went on to the traffic department. Here, we had to split up, as anyone over 60 years old has to do a small physical test that younger drivers don’t need to do. It turns out that the way the questions are formulated can make their meaning very confusing. This meant that they had to make a little exception and let us try the test one more time than you normally can. And then it all worked out. Besides this physical test, there are just a few different places where they say something in Chinese, we look questioningly at Daisy, Kim, or Elly, and they tell us what to do. After we all got our licences, we made our way to the Terracotta Army. Luckily, we were the only ones there. It was not chaotic or claustrophobic, and you didn’t have to squeeze yourself through a crowd to take a picture. Oh wait… that’s not exactly how it went… But in the end, we did get to see the unbelievable craftsmanship that went into making all of this. Talking about craftsmanship, I am sure that all the statues in the gift shops are handmade, but nobody believed me. Maybe that’s why I was the only one to buy a souvenir. Well, their loss. I now own a handcrafted Terracotta Warrior 😋
Our first rinding day! Daisy made some amazing drawings for our Daily breifingsd every day, so today was the first one we got to marvel at and see what we would be ahead of us for today. The ride started of with making our way trough Xi’an and from our hotel to a main road heading west. This ment we first wound our way around for a little bit and got a sightseeing tour of the city. The main road heading west was parallel wo the Weihe River. This ment that the road was very green around us and gave us some nice view of the river. You could really see why that this area is very fertile and therefor was a good place to settle all those years ago, when the first settlements where formed here. This is the reason it is now know as the cradle of Chinese society. Along the road we came past a few different Cities and got to see one or two Skyscrapers here and there.. Very impressive to see all these huge buildings in clusters together and just imagine how many people live in these places. Lunch was shared dining, but this time with a manually spinning plate in the middle to rotate the food around. I am pretty sure João thinks the manual ones are more fun than the automatic ones, because with these you can play around. After Lunch we had to adapt the route a little bit, because it turned out that the place we watend to go for coffee was not an option, because this area is not open for international travellers. This ment that we followed the road west for a little longer before turning in to the mountains. As soon as we turned south away from he main road, it was only a few kilometres before the Skyscrapers made way to lush green forrest and mountain roads. You would have no idea there is millions of people living just behind the corner. Here we wound our way trough the mountains and got the first taste of the great riding in china. A group off motorcycle is quite a site and draws a bit of attention. So much so, that even the Pig was climbing on its little wall to get a peek at what we were doing here. A few drops of rain made for some very welcome cooling, and it made sure the bikes look like we are on an adventure instead of being to clean. Now we arrived in a little boutique hotel in the middle of the forrest. A Beautifull place to spend our first night on the road !
Today started with a little bit of extra sleep because we moved our briefing by one hour. The ride for today would be 200 km through the forest and mountains, so since it wouldn’t take us too long, it was a good chance to sleep in a little bit. Breakfast was served with a lot of care, so we could start our day well-rested and fuelled. The first stop was in a small city with a giant golden bird statue in the water. This made for some cool pictures with high-rise buildings in the background. There was also a very nice market there, so we could stroll around for a little bit whilst drinking our iced coffees. After our coffee stop, the road got smaller and took us through some areas where it doesn’t feel like a lot of people come through. It was a wonderful ride, although there are some areas with sand in the corners, so this meant we had to be careful. It also made for some unintended off-roading, but luckily everyone made it back on the road and we were all back on track on our way to lunch. After lunch, it was time for a stop at a temple. Since this wasn’t the original plan, we weren’t sure what to expect, but it was a pleasant surprise. A very big, colourful complex with a lot of different temples around a little lake. A beautiful spot to stroll around for a little bit. We took a lot of pictures of the buildings and the people, and a lot of people took pictures of us. Dieter and Waltraud even made a new friend. For a while, I thought one of them would have to take her on the back of the motorcycle, but in the end, our group stayed the same size as it was. Then there was another option to visit other monasteries, but Teruya was the only diehard to go with me and visit the caves. It was a bit of a walk, and we had to do a lot of steps to get to the temples carved into the cliffside, but it was a cool place to visit and another memory for our trip!
Today would be one of the longer riding days of our trip, as we had a lot of kilometres to cover. In the beginning, the roads were wider but already offered amazing views of the mountains around us. After a little while, we got into some more traffic and had to find our way through a bigger city again. Here, it took a little time to weave our way around the city, but once we made it out, it instantly became a vastly different landscape. There were mountains all around us and some farm fields in the valley between the road and the river. There was little traffic, and we could make our way through the valley easily. The last kilometres before lunch, the road became a lot smaller and twistier, giving us the first experience of what the rest of the day in the higher mountains would be like. This made for some amazing views over the surrounding landscape. The restaurant for lunch was located directly in the orchard, so we were surrounded by greenhouses filled with fruit trees. We were served hot pot, so it was a different variation of the shared lunches we have been having. After lunch, it was time to wind our way through the valley again. Although, not long after, we made our way up higher and higher, until we came to some beautiful hairpin roads winding up to the highest point of the road today: a viewpoint overlooking the valley at 3,001 metres of elevation, according to the GPS. A very good spot to take some group photos, as well as make a drone video of the group riding up and down the twisty road. Something to look forward to! It was very interesting to see that the peaks around us, which go up to about 4,000 metres, were still very green. There were trees growing basically all the way to the top, and it was all a very lush green colour. Very different from the European mountains, where there pretty much aren’t any trees after 2,000 metres. From this stop to the hotel, it was twisty all the way, with beautiful landscapes. A short picture stop by the river, and then on to the gas station. Filling up here took a little longer, as they wanted to check all our passports before filling up the bikes. Judging by the fact that people keep asking to take pictures with us, I think it is because we are famous, and they just wanted to know our names in the passport. Now we will, of course, have a lovely dinner together and prepare for tomorrow. Our hotel for tomorrow will be a very nice surprise, so please be quiet and don’t let anyone in the group know there will be something special. It will be our little secret.
Today our main focus was making our way to the Labrang Monastery, so the whole day was planned around this. It was only about 200 kilometres, so the ride wasn’t too long, meaning that we had time to do some picture stops and enjoy the surroundings. The first stop was overlooking the road we came up on, which wound around the mountains, with a bridge and beautiful mountains in the background. There was also a sign with a very interesting English translation here… The second stop was at about 3500 metres of elevation. Here we could look in every direction and see the grass plains of the high plateau of the Tibetan province. A great spot for some pictures and small souvenirs. João bought us all a little good luck charm, so a nice memento to keep with us and bring us luck. Lunch today was in a beautifully decorated Tibetan restaurant. They started off by showing us how to make traditional zanba, a dish made with sugar, local flour, hot water and butter. After this, it was another amazing shared dinner, but this time with more traditionally Tibetan dishes. Dieter mentioned it was the best food so far. He has said this at least two times before, so it seems like it all just keeps getting better. Then, at our destination of the monastery, it was a very interesting visit. In 1709, a monastery was founded and built on the plateau at nearly 3000 metres. At its heyday, there were over 4000 monks here. Currently, there are about 1500 active monks who study different subjects, varying from medicine and astronomy to philosophy. All based on Tibetan origins. The monastery complex is huge, so there were a lot of different small temples we could visit, and the monk who was guiding us would tell us about them. Not only did he tell us about the history and the practice, but he also spoke in some riddles, making us think about ourselves. Whether we know ourselves, our six souls, our thousands of hopefully mostly good karmas, and whether we know how to clean our souls. Of course, we got riddles and questions, but for the answer, I guess we have to start meditating and find it out for ourselves. Luckily for us, the ‘hotel’ we stay at tonight would be a good place for meditating. We are staying at a campsite with little freestanding pods with big windows overlooking a vast landscape of the plateau. We are at about 3000 metres, but the mountains around us are towering to over 4000 metres, making the landscape look incredible. A good backdrop for contemplating our thoughts. Or we could meet in the restaurant and have a toast to another amazing day!
Today we put the Adventure in the Adventure Silk Road Tour! We had a lot of miles to cover, but that also meant we would have a lot to see today. The ride consisted of two different plateaus, the Qinghai and the Loess Plateau, divided by the Laji Pass. One side is more green grassland, while the other has the loess soil, which flows into the Yellow River, giving it its colour and name. Our ride in the morning started overcast, and after just a little while, we were in the fog and couldn’t see too much. This meant that we took it nice and easy. To compensate for the easy bit, we soon made it onto a much smaller road that went parallel to a small river. The road was washed out in some places and covered by mud and dirt in others. This made for some very adventurous driving, with water crossings and all. Everyone made it through in one piece without any troubles. As the saying goes, “stranded in sight of the harbour”, one of our guests also had absolutely no problem with the mud and gravel, but did have a tiny mishap with parking. When the curb is further away than you think, the legs might just be a little too short. Don’t worry, Waltraud, we won’t tell anyone what happened. The whole day had breathtaking views. The mountains surrounding us had low cloud cover around the tops, making for some amazing sights. The road winding up to the Laji Pass was also very nice, and this was a new highest point for our ride so far, taking us over 3,800 metres. From there, we wound our way down until making it onto a highway. It was really nice to be able to go a bit faster, let the wind blow in our faces, and enjoy the view of the vast landscape. On the left, we had some mountains; on the right, there were grasslands stretching as far as we could see. In the distance, Qinghai Lake was slowly showing itself and becoming bigger and bigger as we got closer. On the far side, we could already see the sand of the desert. Our hotel is a very futuristic-looking building with amazing views of the lake. This will be something special to wake up to. Tomorrow is our rest day, and it seems like most people will take the option of sleeping in and enjoying some time at the hotel.
Today was our rest day, meaning we would spend two nights at the same hotel. Of course, we do offer a ride, and it was a beautiful one. Already directly behind the hotel, the road went up from around 3,400 to almost 3,800 metres, with some lovely wide hairpins and twists taking us up there. The sun was shining, and we had amazing views of the mountains surrounding us. A big part of the ride took us along the flat grasslands, with views stretching into the far distance and mountains surrounding us. This also meant that we encountered some sheep by and on the road. Surprisingly, we even encountered a horse in the middle of the highway, just standing around. Not something you see every day. Lunch today was also a bit unexpected here, as we were served French fries, pizza, and fried chicken. To our delight, it came with some really good coffee as well. Whilst we were on the ride, the others stayed back to relax and enjoy the hotel. Or, in Daniel’s case, go for a run and experience first-hand that the altitude at 3,400 metres makes a big difference to your performance. After we have all had a good rest today, we will be on the road again tomorrow for another long ride, with a very interesting historical stop along the way.
Today went a little differently than expected. The route we had originally planned went around the lake. Daisy went ahead this morning to check the route for us and found out there were multiple police checks. They were telling her that international tourists can’t travel on these roads. At first, we didn’t know why we had to find a detour, but by the end of the day, we found out this was due to the fact that there are nuclear power plants in this area, and they don’t want to risk any international travellers with bad intentions getting close to them. As a result, we had to take quite a long detour and basically spent most of our day on the highway. We did have some nice views of the mountains around us, but of course, we would have preferred seeing them from a little closer and from a more curvy road. Our main stop for today was the historic site of Eboa. This used to be a hub along the southern Silk Road and was an important military point as well as a trading hub. There used to be huge 9-metre-high walls and fortified gates. Nowadays, there are only small parts of the wall left, and the southern gate has been rebuilt. This gave us a nice chance to park our motorcycles next to it and get a drone shot of our bikes next to this massive gate building. From there, we were on a smaller road through a national park. It was more winding, but sadly, due to the rain and low clouds, we couldn’t see too much of the national park. The day definitely didn’t go as planned, but because we used the highway, we actually got to the hotel early and have some time to relax here and be ready for another day of smaller roads tomorrow.
To start our ride, we had to make our way from Minle back to where the Ebao site was. This meant conquering the twisty road between the mountains, with a lot of trucks again. Since some of the car drivers really need to get somewhere, apparently, we really have to keep eyes in the back of our heads, because sometimes, when there is no gap, they will create one. But we were all careful and paid attention, so we made it all the way through without any trouble. The good thing was that we basically compressed all the traffic for today into the first 60 km, because after that there was almost nobody on the roads we were taking. The first part was past the flat valley, with a straight road and stunning views on all sides. Then, after lunch, we made our way into the Qilian Mountains. They started off very green and relatively low at first, but they would gradually get higher and higher. Before we really went up high, we had another small stop for coffee. This gave us a good chance to marvel at the sights around us, made even more picturesque by the flag tents in front of us. It also gave us a chance to do a little bit of off-roading while Daisy was flying the drone, so we will have some very cool shots in the future. From here, we wanted to go up the old pass to the glacier, but this road has been closed, so we had to take the tunnel. This tunnel is still at 3,850 metres of elevation, so very high. On the other side of the tunnel, the view was vastly different because here it was a lot more rocky, and it felt like we were much higher than it did on the other side. The backside of the pass had some good hairpins and twists for a fun ride down, dropping over 1,000 metres of elevation in a short time. Towards the end of our ride, the road was winding through the mountains, which had gradually become much more rocky and sandy, so the colour changed from green to reddish rock. At the very last part of the ride, we could get a feel for what we will see tomorrow. We are currently directly in front of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is known for its rainbow-coloured mountains during the early morning hours. We therefore will get up early tomorrow, take a shuttle bus, and then walk up to the viewpoint to get the best views over these amazing mountains.
Already the second-to-last day. The time really flew by. But we really made the most of our day! We started off early today because we visited the Danxia Mountains, a colourful mountain landscape with different tones of rock formations caused by differences in the mineral composition. We set off at 6 am so we could beat the sunrise and be at the first viewpoint early. There were big wooden platforms to walk around on and get different angles of the mountains. A great spot for some nice pictures! From here, we went on to a second viewpoint to see some other formations and take more pictures. After that, we had some beef noodle soup for breakfast and met up with the people who preferred to sleep in instead of walking around this morning. Our ride from then on took us back into the valley between the rocks we had visited yesterday, and then further towards the desert. From there, the landscape became mostly flat, more barren and drier than what we had seen before. Then, of course, one thing you can’t miss when in China is the Great Wall. So, after we dropped our bikes at the hotel, we took a taxi to explore it. We spent some time walking around this part of the Great Wall and looking at some of the impressive structures. Just walking around and taking in the sheer scale of it was spectacular. Then, of course, once again we had a lovely shared dinner. This one was even more special because the restaurant wasn’t actually open—they only opened specifically for us, making it a very pleasant experience. Tomorrow, on the last day, we will cover a lot of kilometres towards our final destination. Lots of chances to think about the amazing trip we have had together!
Our final day of riding, the ending of an unforgettable adventure. To reach our goal of Dunhuang, we had over 400 km to cover, but since we are now really at the beginning of the desert, the road was fairly straight and we could make good time. On the way, we did of course have some nice stops, one of which was a place where the rocky ground starts to form some of the first sand dunes. Here, we could see two different sculptures. The first one was a large Great Wall gate made out of wooden beams. The second one was a very large sculpture of a sleeping baby. The 3D-printing technology has really been used in a great way here, so you can even see the little dimples in the baby’s hand. Then, the arrival at the hotel was of course a moment for celebration, as we had all made it here together and had an amazing adventure. Along the way we even encountered a stretch of gravel that was much longer than expected. This made for a challenging and dusty ride, but will also be something we all will remember. Just like in the old days, the Silk Road goes through the desert and is not easy going. Then we of course had to finish the day with another shared dinner around a round table, including the much-loved dumplings. And then we moved on to the rooftop terrace, where we could go over everyone’s highlights and the things we will remember. Daisy was even so nice as to give away her drawings, so we all got to take a little piece of the tour home with us. At night, we could see the contours of the sand dunes, but in the morning, at breakfast, it was even better, as the hotel offers an amazing view of the Gobi Desert.