China Day 3 – Ulanqub to Beijing and the Great Wall of China

There were not many plans for today. It was a long journey to Beijing. Mostly highway and barely any sights to see, we hit the road opening up the engine to the max. 

Somehow Tsevtan and Me still can’t see any of the other bikers despite constantly running at 120km/hr. We were left in the dust basically as their higher HP bikes all run full throttle.

We had marked out three potential locations to visit the Great Wall of China before entering Beijing. The recommended one was Badaling Great Wall, but it was famous and expected to be touristy. 

View at the Highway Reststop

Andres took a shot at looking at the map like I did the day before trying to find hidden gems and mapped out another part of the Great Wall to visit but there was no info so it was a random hit or miss which we had to decide on our own.

There was also a third one somewhere on the northeast side called Mutainyu Great Wall scenic area, but it was too far for a detour that we discarded it almost immediately. 

By mistake, when it came time to navigate off the highway, I made a turn too early and hit another highway going the wrong way for nearly 30 km. Poor Tsvaten just following me behind not knowing that I made the big blunder.

Once I could finally exit the highway and check bearing and time, we decided to just head for Badaling since there was not enough time to turn back to try and explore the unknown one. Along the way to Badaling Great Wall, I saw signboards for the Great Wall of China and slowly we could see the great wall in the horizon on the mountain ridges.

Juyongguan Great Wall

Juyongguan Great Wall

Juyongguan Great Wall 

A chance finding and a split decision made, I turned off the road following the signboard to Juyongguan Great Wall of China navigating purely by signpost at this stage instead of GPS. 

The other that headed via Andreas marker to the unknown one turn out to be flob as we asked the rest later and Badaling Great Wall turn out to have no tourist at all but closes at 530pm which made the visit time for most of them very short.

Tsevtan & me was the only two at Juyongguan Great Wall by luck and chance and here it was opened all the way to 9pm allowing visitor to hike the wall during nighttime where it was lighted up. 

Juyongguan Great Wall of China

Juyongguan Great Wall of China

Juyongguan Great Wall of China 

Apparently, we were there during a special event, and they extended the opening hours. We did two climb, one at the east before sundown and another in the west after sundown.

Juyongguan was a fortress in a way with the Great Wall forming a circle with two mega gate building entrance. The experience and luck were just precious. I would pick up more followers in the future due to this as many begin to trust my instinct to find hidden gems.

Juyongguan Great Wall at Night

Juyongguan Great Wall at Night

Me & Tsevtan - Juyongguan Great Wall of China - Night Time

Juyongguan - Great Wall of China at Night 

Hence it became that the second day riding and Tsevtan & me would ride again at night to reach Beijing after fully absorbing and appreciating the Great Wall of China.

Travelled on: Nov 2024

China Day 2 – Splitting Away from the Tour Group making my own Detours

New group and slowly getting to know everyone but it was surprisingly quite seamless. We had six bikers including myself and a total of five campers’ vehicles. It was a quick and easy group up as the bikers all more or less stick together with hotels and had our first group dinner yesterday.

Campers had separate place to camp, so I guess we were bonding in different ways. The group chat was also full of positive vibes which makes the starting so much a relief for me. It was a great group and all really independent travellers. The bikers were also all rugged and worn down traveling through Mongolia so expectation was not high and easily met.

Erenhot Monument - National Highway G331

Inner Mongolia - China

We started from Eranhot late morning with all of us going for petrol then to the traffic police station meeting up at 11am. This time the checks and license issuance took barely half an hour, and we were free to go on our own. Our tour guide Joe was a really chill guy barely saying much but always solving every problem like lightning quick.

Bikers all needed coffee but ended up having brunch instead in Eranhot. This delayed the setting off, but all was well. The roads were now good in China, but what I did not expected was the horrible cross wind battering constantly since we were still in Inner Mongolia.

The original route given by www.drivechina.com had no detours for this segment going to Ulanqab city. However, I had way too much time the day before at the customs waiting hence intensive looking at the map and just looking for alternative hidden gems. By chance I saw Wulanhada Volcano Geopark and that became an optional detour for the group.

Wulanhada Volcano Geopark was a string of volcano mount in the flatlands, and I picked out No.6 to do a visit. Tsevtan was following me as we were the two smallest bike and slowest in the group. 

Wulanhada Volcano Geopark No.6

Wulanhada Volcano Geopark No.6

Wulanhada Volcano Geopark No.6

By the time we reach the park it was nearly sunset. Trying to go for the shorter route led us to go off-roading to visit the volcano through the rear side. It was beautiful and a quick stop.

By the time we left the Geopark we had to ride at night to Ulanqab. We found out later that only two of us did the detour. Dropped the bags in the hotels in Ulanqab and quickly we all grab a taxi together to the small street food night market for dinner. 

Edward & Sarah (One of the campers) joined us bikers and after it was back to the hotel with all eight of us plus a dog and cat jumping in the campervan where Diego the van dropped us off.

Travelled on: Nov 2024

Border Crossing from Zamin-Uub (Mongolia) to Eranhot (China) with a Malaysian Motorcycle.

I had successfully crossed Mongolia from the western most point all the way to the China Border near the southeast. At this point at the border in the early sunrise glimmer, I knew that I was safe from all the police in Mongolia.

Riding through without the Venice Convention International Driving Licence seems like not a big deal in a way. I still had legal customs temporary import permit for the bike and insurance, so I guess the poor Malaysian that crossed over a few months ago was just unlucky to meet up with some nasty police causing trouble.

The border gate opened at 8am and bikers was ushered through first and we were happy quickly riding into the Mongolian Border Control. For some reason, or because we were the first to go through the gate, the first customs stop and checkpoint barrier was opened and we rode pass it. 

Exit Mongolian Border - Zamin-Uub

It was chaos after that everyone following someone else like a duckling and I decided to split from the group to process it slowly. I went back to the second customs checkpoint and with some translation managed to get help. 

I was walked back to the first shed custom post where the customs officer proceeded to key in all of Bragge particulars into their system. Next was the custom building on the right and this time they had my information in their system asking me to point out the plate number.

A custom officer followed me to have a quick inspection of Bragge and then I was told that all was good to go. Riding through customs clearance was quick and lastly was a small post where Immigration for riders/drivers was done.

The rest of the group went through the confused chicken/duck way. The riders and drivers all parked their vehicle and went through immigration on the left building which was actually for passengers. They then backtracked to fumble through customs and got stop at the last immigration post confusing the officers further on how they managed to get the exit stamp.

Entry to China Border - Eranhot

Still, it was a simple error and by 9am we were all through the Mongolian border and on our way to Eranhot Border (China). Our guide was already waiting for us as we rode into the customs compound, and we were quickly processed through immigration. 

Then it was parking and waiting for a good five hours while China customs did something in their office which we were not aware off. We just had to wait and there was nothing much we could do. At 4pm two customs officers came out to check all our Vehicle Chassis number and that was it. 

Waiting at the Erenhot Border Control 

Little town of Erenhot - China 

We were good to leave the border and enter China finally. We managed to cross over in a day and avoided having to leave the vehicles in the custom compound for the night. The 5 hours wait was frustrating, but the bright side is that we did not encountered any unexpected delay.

The bikers were released first to move on to the hotel in Eranhot while the bigger monster vehicles had to undergo another Vehicle Technical inspection before being released for the night. 

We all still had to get the local China license plate and driving license the next day at the Traffic Police but that was more or less the extend of the border crossing.

Lots of waiting and doing nothing. We are in China and I have a new group to get to know over the span of 29 days.

Traveled on: Nov 2024

From Ulaanbaatar to the Erenhot Border with a Detour to Genghis Khan Monument

Ulaanbaatar the capital of Mongolia and this was where one chapter ends and another would begin. My ride with Aishish through the trans-mongolian highway ended here. A few days in the hostel where we prepare for the next upcoming journey going our separate ways. 

I was preparing for the final segment of this adventure, the crossing back into China and finally back to South East Asia. Aishish was going to put his journey on pause here in Mongolia, storing the bike and waiting for next years summer before picking it up again to try and ride the road of bones in Russia. 

Shakyamuni Buddha - Ulaanbaatar

Gandantegchinlen Monastery - Ulaanbaatar

Exploring the City of Ulaanbaatar was surprisingly simple and nice so long as one walked. Traffic was stupidly frustrating so i just walked everywhere to see the sights. A museum here, a temple there and a few bazaars around make Ulaanbaatar a fun city to explore with many things to do.

It was a stark contrast compared to the entire Mongolia that we were exploring for nearly a month. Usually it was vast empty nothing but here in the capital it was brimming with life and movement. 

Sukhbaatar Square - Ulaanbaatar

Sukhbaatar Square - Ulaanbaatar

Sukhbaatar Square - Ulaanbaatar

Pushing off from Ulaanbaatar I did the detour to see the Genghis Khan monument in the south which was a large sculpture of him riding a horse made entirely of stainless steel. It was ok nothing special but just a good photo-stop to rest and wait a bit.

Originally the plan was to meet up at the monument with Yassine & Tsvetan (New China Group) where we would ride together all the way to Zamin-Uub but along the way to the monument, I got a message from Tsevetan that Yassine bike had some problems, and he had to go back to the workshop. 

Chinggis Khaan Statue Complex 

Temujin - Chinggis Khaan - The Great Conqueror 

Tsvetan rolled up while I was about to leave and we then started the ride together down south. The ride from Ulaanbaatar to Zamin-Uub was broken into three days.

Yassine joined up with us at the first stop after fixing up the bike and going on crazy speed later which was a small town called Choir 200km distance from Ulaanbaatar. A night sleep and the next day it was three bikers united.

From Choir another 200km through boring landscape full of crosswind to Sainshand Town. I was weary of this place since it was here that the police gave a few Malaysian troubles for the Geneva Convention International Driving Licence. 

Sunset on the way to Choir 

My initial plan going alone was to skip this town entirely and stay at the hotel along the road 20km outside of the town, but when Yassine and Tsvetan rode in I just followed and luckily no encounter with police.

It was a simple last few days in Mongolia with most of us ready to leave and more exited to start the China leg of the journey. At Zamin-Uub all six bikers showed up at the same hotel and we were ready to hit the border the next day. 

Meeting up the new convoy campers 

All participant gathered at the border crossing in the morning. 

The vehicles campers all form into another group, and we all met up super early in the morning at 630am trying to cut the queue line for the border crossing into China

Travelled on: Nov 2024

 

To Khakhorin with a little off-roading and a little unexpected fall

Arvaikheer was a simple stop. Reach in the evening, found a good hotel and dinner before bed. The next day push off and we ride towards Khakhorin. It was supposedly an easy 150km ride to Khakhorin but I should have known better. Every time I think it would be easy, something would go wrong.

At the 100km mark, the road branching off to Khakorin was dirt road. It was time to finally do some off-roading in Mongolia and based on the quality of the path, it was to be a good off-road condition when compared to Central Asia. 50Km off-road, easy.

Slip & Skid & Fall - Towards Khakorin

I don’t know how and I don’t know why but somehow on a perfectly flat and wide off-road path, I managed to slip – skid – and fall. I concluded that I have lousy off-roading skills. I thought I had developed a pretty good riding skills after going through Pamir Highway but apparently my off-roading skills were crap.

That fall hurt me a little especially my pride. Bike was ok, I seemed fine other than some chest pain which seems to be from my own elbow that compressed toward my chest when falling down but no visual bruise could be observed. After the fall I had to go down a gear and ride even slower, so we reach Khakhorin fairly late in the evening.

Little Detour to visit Shankh Monastery

The Vast Open Land of Mongolia 

Two nights in Khakhorin it was decided and the free day was spent exploring Erdane Zuu monastery. We thought that there would be the ancient capital of Mongolia to be explored as well. Karakarum City or what is left of it turns out to be totally gone. Nothing remained.

All the expectation built up, since Khakhorin was allegedly a popular tourist day trip destination from Ulaanbaatar and one of the most tourist visited place in Mongolia turn out to be very disappointing. 

Erdane Zuu Monastery 

Erdane Zuu Monastery

Erdane Zuu Monastery

It could have been a one-night stop and 2 hours sightseeing before hitting the road type of destination, but I guess we also needed the rest day, and I was also recovering from my fall.

Two days later it was time to finally make a mad dash of 360km to Ulaanbaatar. Roads were boring and once we hit the city, traffic was mad crazy. Mad Crazy. 

I have no idea how to describe the mix of still standing Mongolian traffic jam coupled with crazy driving habits that each of them just seems to use their vehicle like a wedge suddenly jerking out a junction after having locked eye contact for five seconds knowing very well that you are riding through.

We reached hostel by late evening and the three nights in Ulaanbaatar was spend walking around which was way faster than any bus or car or bike. I have a mixed feeling of Ulaanbaatar. It was a vibrant city, but traffic makes it annoyingly distasteful. 

People ware more vibrant and stylish and there were things to see and do but at the same time it was also a city that one could chill and do nothing

Travelled on: Nov 2024