Cruising around greater Sanya area and hitting the various beaches between meetings..... Love the village sign on the outskirts of Sanya city....
Sad news, the Jialing JH600 sidecar got crated again and is on the way back to Shanghai after all the fun in the sun around Hainan Island (Southern China). Great relaxed riding around Sanya and the rest of Hainan Island and lets not talk about the pleasant weather every day, empty beaches and mountain regions (easy to avoid the touristy scams, crap and traps). Visited some nice areas during the island stay like Sanya, Dadonghai, Riyue Bay, Shimei Bay, Haitang Bay, Boao, Wenchang, Haikou, Rifan Bay, Sanya Bay, Serenity Coast Marina, Wuzhishan, Longmu Bay, Monkey Island, Clearwater Bay, Wuzhizhou Island, Yalong Bay, Ledong to just to name a few of the well-known spots. The Jialing JH600 sidcecar had no problems, never missed a beat at all during the 5000k+ daily riding and bike tours and only required minor regular maintenance like drive chain lubing and once drive chain adjustment. Southern China and Hainan Island cruising will continue in the near future as I am frequently down on the island....
This pics are for inmates that never been to China and visited a so called "wet market". Here we go, #1 Sanya downtown market.... some simple shopping for a BBQ....
Bit of a farewell BBQ cook-off with mates at Sanya Bay before leaving the island back up to Shanghai and normal life.....
The Sanya to Shanghai moonshine rum run was a full success and herewith mission accomplished as the JL sidecar was delivered to the HQP Roadhouse (Shanghai) after 8 days trucking the crate up from Southern China. No damage to the sidecar bike and rum bottles to report....
Upgraded the Jialing JH600 for China long distance ADV touring and rego'ed the bike in Huzhou (Zhejiang Province / China) just after Chinese New Year 2013. As I really hate the ever changing current spring weather in Shanghai this time of the year, got a bottle of sun lotion out of the cabinet, loaded the "Dingaling" JH600 for a decent run-in ride and heading South on my latest China road trip......
Went straight through Hangzhou city in Zhejiang province, actually rode very close to the West Lake area (painful slow riding as they build new elevated roads in city once again) following my GPS directions, got quite a few strange looks from car drivers and cops at stop lights due to the "no motorbike ban" in Hangzhou. Never got stopped by the ever present cops and two gave me actually a thumbs up sign, must be bikers themselves. Between Hangzhou (Zhejiang) - Quzhou (Zhejiang) passed a lot of stone carving displays for sale at the road side, the stone / concrete carvings are everywhere in all sorts of shapes and sizes.........
Passing a area called Longhushan along the #320 National Road, good scenery but misty and becoming sort of warm and humid, off comes the base and waterproof goretex layer.....
After covering quite some distance starting from Quzhou (Zhejiang) the bike died with no electrics working at all, quick check (hate ever changing Shanghai weather and electrical vehicle problems) found out the battery was totally fried. No charge at all in the middle of Jiangxi province at a small Sinopec gas station. The station attendants were very helpful in letting me charge my phone, Schuberth helmet and iPad, offering me oranges / tea and getting a bike repair guy from a nearby village over to source a battery suitable to mount into the JL to get me back on the road again. Battery is not the original full size (half the height actually) but works fine. The two guys at the gas station refused any tip and just filled up a bit of gas (73RMB) but handed over 200RMB and drove away leaving some beer money for the assistance....
The bike was performing well all afternoon on the way to Ganzhou (Jiangxi) and passed quite a few nice signs and sights.....
Had very long day with approx. 700k's covered (Quzhou / Zhejiang > Ganzhou / Jiangxi) and rode well into the night passing a tree right in the middle of the road in a village..... awesome emergency brake set-up in case your vehicle brakes fail for some strange reasons. Skipped a visit to the "Long March Starting Point of the Central Red Army" in the dark but got pictures to proof that I was very nearby during my ADV cruise to the Sun in Sanya. Why roads always turn to pot-holed nightmares in the dark, makes you wonder, eh?
Checked into a suburban hotel in Ganzhou and they only had a suite available with the full on set-up like mahjong table, TV sets, tea ceremony set, gourmet cup noodles, coffee, tea, various condom packs, pink female shaver displayed in a glass ashtray (somehow that "thing" looked like a potato peeler), male / female lubrication, playing cards, business towel, lounge area, bathroom and a bedroom equipped with a bed as hard as a concrete road slab for the royal sum of 258RMB (the suite had easily 95-100sqm. space). Just case your in town and need first class accommodation in Ganzhou: Tialong Hotel http://english.ctrip.com/hotels/Ganzhou-hotel-detail-72080/tielong-hotel/ The food and snack bag packed back in Shanghai came in handy once again... I am not a big fan of the MSG laden Chinese food served at roadside stalls and cheap restaurants.
Ganzhou (Jiangxi) is known as the "Orange Capital of the World" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzhou Did not spot a single orange tree and on the way South passed many sawmills, looks like they cut the trees down to make wooden pallets and chopsticks.....
Just down the road from Ganzhou everything became a typical China countryside industrial wasteland for a 100k's, boring to ride - polluted and dusty....
The National Road #105 improve a lot and became much wider with no traffic, great long sweeper bends, good relaxed riding while listening to music....
Rolling down national highway #105 passing a nice mountain range near Relong Hot Springs not far from the Jiangxi / Guangdong province check-point......
With all the warning signs and crashed car displays along the roadside it was time for some good luck temple stops.....
Dongguan (Guangdong): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongguan Nothing special to report, rolled into the city known as "China's Sex Capital", with the prostitution sector - consisting of brothels, massage parlours, nightclubs, sex hotels, sauna centres and karaoke bars - estimated to contribute 20 to 30 per cent of the total output of the city's service industry, employing between 500,000 and 800,000 people) and the "Jialing ADV Cruiser" will have a well deserved five day pit-stop in a mates garage near Song Shan Lake due to my business commitments in Guangdong province. Dongguan is also well known as a massive production area for shoes (Nike Town) and electronics - Foxconn just as an example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn and has the worlds biggest "ghost shopping mall" called New South China Mall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_China_Mall Quick weekend weather forecast check about my final destination brings a smile on my face....
