Two-up on a Jialing 150 looking for Gonga Mountain-China I

[CrazyCarl]

Putting up the review and short report of this recent trip got me thinking about the previous trip I took with the Mrs over the snowy mountain pass. That was actually a great experience. Although I don't think traveling exclusively two up for the rest of my life would be healthy or ideal, an advantage of having the opposite persuasion around is rewarding on many levels.

In China there are, or were, two major one week holidays being the first weeks of May and October. In May 2006 My wife, WenLing, and I went for a ride with my friend Zack and his SO. At that point we had been trying for abotu two years to find an unobstructed view of Gonga Shan (Mountain)...one of the many holy mountains in Tibetan lore. What makes Gonga so spectacular is not it's height, which ranks in the world's top 30 peaks depending on how you classify them, but it in it's chain also support dozens of microclimates, rare species of wildlife and a now receding glacier, at the botom of which is a monastary.

Day one, we follow Hwy 317 west until we reach Kangding, once capital of the Kham Kingdom of Tibet. Highways 317 and 318 are two E-W parallel roads leading into Eastern Tibet from Sichuan. Both are quite good close to the city but as you reach the border of Tibet, the road conditions become tolerable but tough.

Within a few hours of leaving the cloudy and polluted Sichuan basin you enter a land of roads that follow rivers and high mountain passes with scattered occasional grasslands. It's almost surprising how quickly the landscape become Alpine in nature sporting many dramatic vistas and some roadside cooling off entertainment.

- Waterfall on the way to Kangding -



Unfortunately, the whole way to Kangding is full of heavy truck and bus traffic. These overloaded beasts of the road regularly end up in rivers, mechanically desintegrate on inclines and constantly belch thick black clouds of smoke. This was the first time our ladies had joined us both and travel like this understandably takes some getting used to so we thought to make the first day short and stop in town for some rest, eats and an after-dinner walk around town.

-The now tourism developed Kangding at night-


Burried in the mountain at the confluence of two rivers, Kangding itself was once the capitol city of the Tibetan Kham Kingdom until getting annexed into the Sichuan province not too long ago. It's history goes back several hundred years and traces of it's history can still be found.

-Our ladies inside the old Buddhist temple at Kangding-


Although I'm sure the temple was still used for ceremony, it was positioned so far in the centre of town, now preparing for the onslought of May holiday tourists, that it seemed a little more like a tourist hang out. I often think it would have been nice to come here even only 100years ago. Times are changing fast!

Eager to set off the next morning we twisted deeper into the mountains and I noticed a funny found coming from the engine. I'm pretty anal about sounds and stopped to see what was wrong.

-Hmmmm....-


Everything seemed okay. I'm always a little weary of most Chinese bikes because sometimes they develop what I call "Mystery Problems". I and a few others have experienced problems with our bikes that, for some reason, no matter how much money and time you throw at it, the problem could not be fixed or made to go away. Doesn't make any sense.



Funny noises aside, we were blessed with beautiful weather. Deep blue skies spotted with puffy mountains clinging to snow capped mountains and an amazing road which led us up to this 4300m pass between Kangding and XinDuQiao.

Some of the photos in this post were taken by my wife and marked as (WLP)


- This is the view from the overlook. Roads like this fill my dreams-


All sorts of people and things gather at the top of passes and this pass was no different. In Tibet, as most of you already know, chortens (the huge white spires) and prayer flags are placed to bring your wishes and prayers closer to the heavens. Works for me! I got all kinds of wishes that could use a boost!

- The Pass Party- (WLP)


We chanced upon a group of Chinese touring riders - visible in the foreground - taking a moment to appreciate the sceenery at the top. What they call regular touring WE call "adventure" touring. Minimal clothes and camping gear as well as food and tools. No ultra-mega 4 litre opposed twins with indestructable unobtainium sidecases with GPS and lasers and missles and shit.

- Neighborhood of man! Yeah! - (WLP)


Most of them bring thier wife or girlfriend and pack amazingly little. The roads are often nasty and the weather something to endure. Although now slowly seeing more 200+cc bikes on the road, a vast majority of them are still 125-150cc cruiser type motocycles or scooters. When surrounded by people like this it didn't take me too long to realize I don't need a litre class bike to travel. I just need something that goes!

- Cheese! - (WLP)


Always sad to part way with good people, since we were heading in opposite directions we exchanged road info and wished each other well.

Shortly after coming down the pass you reach XinduQiao - a small village near the crossroads of where 317 heads north towards tagong, west to Tibet and south towards a town called JiuLong. We'd never been on this road before it turned out to be absolutely perfect, less than a year old. All along the side were beautiful farm houses and some 300 year old star shaped watch towers.

Not so long ago, the Tibetans of this area used an elaborate network of watch towers to send fire-beacon warnings down the valley should invaders approach - Lord of the Rings style. These houses and towers not only exist down in the valley but also along the very spines of the mountains themselves for hundreds of kilometers.




Plenty of river means plent of places to stop and stretch your legs...

[img[http://photos.imageevent.com/comradecarl/moto/mayholiday06/websize/MayHoli06-35.jpg[/img]

or visit with some local kids.

(WLP)

A finer point of being a female photographer when traveling like this is the ability to access a totally different side of the culture. Given the same pleasant disposition, small kids will be more likely to feel relaxed around women. I can't really blame them either. Here I am some big, hairy, ugly unusually reflective space suit wearin' space alien dude getting of a tiny bike with electronics bristling out of evey pocket.

Back on the road again, in order to get to this View-of Gonga-pass we were all so pumped to arrive at, we needed to first head back east about 70km of all dirt road. Woohoo!



Finally we reached relatively untouched lands. The water was clear and cool. The vegatation looked rich and green without a layer of grey dust on them and the air...fresh. Many of you live in places which have these things year-round and living in one of China's most polluted cities for the past 5 years makes you appreciate a clean environment. Don't take it for granted!

We were looking for a town named Liuba and figured out the there wasn't a praticualr town here but that it was just an area of small villages. We certianly weren't going to make the pass tonight and smelled around for acommodation. After pushing off a few people, we talked with a guy who seemed fairly earnest and stayed at his home for about 30yuan a person.

Dinner was NOT provided and we ended up heading down to the general store to pick up some military grade food like spam, some fish stuff and noodles. I ate too much crap that night and paid for it the following day.



It got cold and we slept on a series of cusions and blankets laid out on the floor. You can tell we were viewed as tourists as they had already prepared to recieve several groups of Chinese tourists that same day. I almost couldn't beleive that so many people would come this far out. Although they weren't centralized and easy to spot, the next morning reveal hundreds of people on "backpacking" trips.


(WLP)

The first 30kms the road to the pass was a blast. The trail was all dirt and a few slimey log bridges. EVentually the road turned into sharp broken rocks and narrow trails with various sorts of animal, people and tractor traffic. Thick mud joined the party towards the end of the trail. At over 4000m in altitude combined with a steep grade sapped the engine's power to nothing.



The extra hammering took it's toll on another part and a racka racka racka sound erupted from the motor. Getting off again to look I noticed the the two nuts holding the exhaust to the head came loose and one fell off. Seeing as how these nuts are usually torqued down quite well, I never expected them to fall off and didn't check. Um...my bad!

After tightening up the remaining screw as much as I could we muscled on maybe another 100 meters until the bikes literally couldn't make it anymore so parked them by the side of the trail as neatly as possible and knew we had to walk the rest of the way.



Now approaching 4300 meters, the air was as thin for our bikes as our lungs Strapped with camera gear in full armor, we walked the last 2kms uphill to the pass. We would take 10 steps and stop. My head was pounding. The trail was clear enuogh but it reached a point where we felt it was better to walk straight up rather then suffer the extra distance of the switchbacks.



This suffering only goes to show how out of shape we were as we watched this lovely woman cruise on by carrying not one, but two, tourists back backs. Are you really a backpacker if you don't wear your backpack?

- All Smiles! -

(WLP)

I was thinking to myself, "This better be some fan-fucking-tastic view up there." Meter by meter we made it towards the pass. Looking over the edge I could see the very tips of white mountains. I got excited and it gave me new energy. I hurried over the top to behold one of the most spectacular views of my life.

- Big Sky -


At 7550m asl Gonga Shan ranks in the top 30 highest mountains in the world (depending on how you classify peaks of ranges), has claimed it's share of climbers and was once the center of a small kingdom here in ancient history. After hundreds of years, directly at the base of it's now receeding glacier is the still functioning Gonga Monastary now also known to shelter backpackers.

- The peak of Gonga Mountain and proximity -


- A glacier starts to form shortly below it's knife edge peak -




The whole mountain range hosts dozens of micro-climates as well as rare species of flowers and animals such as the Golden-haired monkey. The actual expanse of the mountainrange itself is impressive, here only partially seen from the west side, over 50kms away.



The wind was biting cold and moved like it was in a hurry. I found a patch of snow and plopped my ass right down knowing the 'Stich's outter shell was so cold it probably wouldn't melt much snow and it turns out I was right.

- YES! -


(WLP)

Leaning back, the dentation in the snow gave me a bit of back support and was quite comfortable. There I sat in the snow - played in the snow really - looking around, taking pictures. Wen-Ling's spirits picked up right quick when she got to the top too. Heaven....

- Snow-chair Motography -

(WLP)

- It's amazing the little friends you'll find on your knee at 4500m! -


I enjoyed being surrounded by people in that "Wow" state of mind...that's how you know learning is going on. Everyone who's not worried about keeping people organized is smiling big time. Some people brought their photo gear and set up shop waiting for sunset. WOW! What a place this would be with a clear sunset red warming up the snow!

- Not a bad place for pictures! -


- Hikers on their way to Gonga Monastary -


Others enjoy the view but can't stop for long as they're en route to the monastary at the base of Gonga's glacier. That trail down below is no joke by the way. After a couple kilometers you get pressed against the cliff shimmeying your way down the trail. A writer for Lonely Planet turned up missing in Sichuan province last year on this trail. He was walking alone and disappeared - I believe there was a post in HUBB about it. Not too long ago they found his body. If I recall correctly, they figgured it looked like he was trying to climb to a vantage point and fell into the river below.

- The hikers' supplies and support go in and out by mule -


While I wanted to stay for much longer, I was reminded that if we were to make it to the Tagong grasslands today we'd need to get moving. Damn schedules and plans! I hustled into a few more positions to get a few more captures and packed up to go.

- An awesome experience to share with someone -


Now we had to make our way back down to the bikes and hope they start. Downhill, power wasn't a problem so we could ride two up again. I kept looking in the rear view mirrors to see if I could squeeze out a few more glances. As mountains go, after a few turns you're well out of sight and left only to concentrate on what's at hand. More riding to do!

Next: through the TaGong grasslands to Garther ancient monastary...

[Jim]

Looks like quite a trip

[CrazyCarl]

Originally Posted by Jim

Looks like quite a trip

Indeed. More to come....

CC

[Jim]

So what sort of camera equipment do you use? I bet it is worth more then the bike eh?

[CrazyCarl]

Nothing too fancy but I do tote a Nikon D70 with a few lenses. My wife was just using her small Fuji digital camera for her pics and the short video which you'll see at the end of the report.

Small point and shoot cameras are wonderfully convenient but I have never seen one with the resolving power of a DSLR...if not for any other reason than the quality of glass. That said, I think it's important to have both a small and large camera if you're really into capturing your trips.

Is it worth more than the bike? Sure is. For a 1000USD bike that's not too hard either. Hell I have one lens that was more than that bike. Good glass...ya gotta have it!

You a photog yourself Jim?

CC

[Jim]

Well I like taking pictures, but I don't really know a lot about it. I'd like to get into it more though at some point

[CrazyCarl]

If you're looking for a simple jump start, may I suggest the "National Geo Photographers Field Guide." It's a simple portable book which give a very good and concise into to field photography and talks about things like capturing everything from portraits to landscape.



It's a great little resource to carry around and when you're done with it, pass it on.

CC

[Jim]

Thanks, I'll check it out

[culcune]

Originally Posted by CrazyCarl

Everything seemed okay. I'm always a little weary of most Chinese bikes because sometimes they develop what I call "Mystery Problems"

Understatement of the year, Carl!!! :wink:

I really enjoyed this report. I wonder if Frostnbite can create a section for detailed rides like this, and your ride on your new Qingqi? Keep 'em coming--the pictures are really fantastic!! You must have followed the National Geographic book very closely.

[liverchip]

Awesome report Carl!

[ambassador]

Very nice ride report Carl, I am jealous and hope I will get a chance to ride anywhere half as magnificant as that... Looking forward to your next report...
One question though, how hard would it be for an American to fly to the East, buy a bike, and try to ride a quest like yours and how much of a language barrier would I encounter???

[CrazyCarl]

Originally Posted by culcune

I really enjoyed this report. I wonder if Frostnbite can create a section for detailed rides like this, and your ride on your new Qingqi? Keep 'em coming--the pictures are really fantastic!! You must have followed the National Geographic book very closely.

Well this is a ride report and this is the ride report forum so it should be okay.

From the administrative side, something could be done to speed the process for long and complicated posts. When I insert an image tag, or any tag for that matter, it automatically appears at the very end of the text. Not everyone composes these long posts on the submit page themselves and being able to easily insert images and links in their appropriate places would be very very nice. Does anyone else have this problem?

There's two more parts of this report to come and a video link but it takes a good amount of time to manually type in the image tags.

The National Geo book didn't say anything about this! :P

CC

[CrazyCarl]

Originally Posted by ambassador

Very nice ride report Carl, I am jealous and hope I will get a chance to ride anywhere half as magnificant as that... Looking forward to your next report...

This one's not done yet!

You live in a big country and there are plenty of amazing things to see within the US itself. I've been to Florida and while the weather can be nice it's not the most exciting riding state since it's so flat. Georgia has some great hills and the mountains of North Carolia are great. Have you done the Blue Ridge Parkway? That by itself is a great experience.

Heading west, past northern Texas is a great playground for amazing scenery and motorcycling. Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado. Ride to the top of Pikes Peak maybe? Lots to see and do there as well.

Originally Posted by ambassador

One question though, how hard would it be for an American to fly to the East, buy a bike, and try to ride a quest like yours and how much of a language barrier would I encounter???

In theory you could get a return plane ticket for 1500USD. Then buying a new 200cc bike (with taxes, tags, etc.) would cost you another 1500USD. If you got a used 150 (which is not a bad option if you can travel light) then about 500USD. The travel itself is quite cheap...maybe about 20USD a day (food, lodging) and then of course fuel which is now about .80USD a liter.

Language wise it would be a good idea to learn some basic Chinese before coming. Besides that, smile a lot and you should be okay.

CC

[Jim]

About the image tags, I think that if the forum we're the most recent version it wouldn't work like that, I think it works on the A.L. forums properly.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by CrazyCarl

Well this is a ride report and this is the ride report forum so it should be okay.

CC

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of a permanent "sticky" type of area, or turn all your posts into an article. The problem with forums for posts like yours is eventually these very memorable, photogenic threads go away. I had linked Daniel Montejo's story and video over a year ago, and now when new people join, they will not be able to find them. Your thread is just too good to allow to go away!