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Hanging with the Portrait of an LBX and guests
Met up with Evan and Andy of Portrait of an LBX here in LinChuan. Along with 2 recent riders, Dave and Ellen, and recently aquired Pete.
Hell of great people.
Some good laughs of similar stories and thoughts. And of course we have all spotted the Chinese brand “BullTitanUS” and the local department stores. Along with chugging OJ “to keep the scurvy away”.
They depart this morning for the North, hopefully making it back to Beijing by the second week of September.
We head South to get Jason on an airplan and I’m onto Kashgar. The word on the streets is that I have to go see Yunnan.
Tailwinds.
All Signs Pointed to “No Go”…and more…
The last time I visited here, we were going to ride around Mongolia.
Well, it was frigid and there would be intermittent rain – BESIDES the hell of a wind. I can deal with wind when I know there is a town ahead, because you can’t camp in this type of wind. We moved about 30km in about 3-4 hours.
We passed an Italian that had crossed over from Russia and he had a mountain bike. The road would disappear and the terrain would be trying.
After sitting on the side of the road debating, feeling defeated, we turned around.
I woke up with a cold, and lied in bed, stuck in Ulaanbatar for a week. We decided to take a train back to Hohot/Huhehaote (bad idea).
What I learned about cycling Mongolia – I was very ill prepared. My advice:
1-travel North to South, the wind is hell.
2-extreme weather, pack accordingly and drop the panniers and add a cart (food, lots of water, winter gear, 4 season tent, etc.)
3-mountain bike necessary
4-a gps device to give you coordinates OR a satellite phone OR be fluent in Mongolian/Russian
5-a high tolerance for drunks and boiled lamb…lots and lots of boiled lamb
I lost a considerable amount of weight because of my sickness and the awful food.
Would I like to attempt Hell-golia again. Sure. Better prepared. You bet.
It’s been awhile since this so my feelings aren’t so hurt, but I did feel like a failure. I have to remind myself that being an explorer sometimes means having to turn back. Jason was even less prepared and the last thing I wanted to do was drag him out to the middle of nowhere – just to send him back with hypothermia and a broken bike.
Oh, don’t let anyone tell you that Mongolians know English – bull.
We were lucky to find a man at the train station, that reminded of my dad. (There is a possibility that American Indians came from the Mongolian region). He spoke enough English to speak to some random dude because we had to fill out paperwork for customs.
I was afraid of this but didn’t want to admit to it.
It took 4 hours and a lot of paperwork, footwork, and money.
Well….when we finally arrived in HuHeHaote, you could of found me crying in the train station. Turned out that we had to get off at the border to take care of paperwork for our bikes. When was my luck going to turn…really? God, can you hear me???
We have to go back to the border.
No train tickets, only 2 trains a week. Go get bus tickets and we are approached by a private driver – we can leave that day! 125rmb a person,he even helped us find a bingguan for 70mb.
So, if you have ever lived in China – you know the drill. Guess how long it took to take care of the paperwork?!?!
Literally, 3 minutes and 4rmb!
We go back to HuHeHaote the next day.
With all this extra time there, we pass the time at a video arcade.
The bikes arrived – safely. Found a shop to repair my derrailleur – only one cog ring doesn’t work now – rather than 3.
Nothing too noteworthy since leaving HuHehaote – oh, Jason replaced my point and shoot camera with a Canon S90 – it’s pretty friggen awesome!
We did stay in a prostitution hotel, and was awoken twice by our neighbor being serviced. Prostitution here is strange, to say the least.
Route 110 from HuHeHaote sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The first day to BaoTou, we looked like coal miners. The coal mining and the trucks loaded with this was flying everywhere. We have had only 1 day out of 6 (left HuHehaote last Thursday am) where we weren’t rinsing grey water off our bodies.
3 days ago, the side wind was so bad it was blowing Jason and I all over the road. It was a dangerous wind. It always happens after 5pm and of course was coming from the North….
Except today!!!! We are traveling South and have a hell of a headwind.
I finally exited Inner Mongolia today and landed in NingXia.
Yesterday, as we are riding along the Yellow River, you see a strip of sand (that we are riding through), then a stip of green, the river, another strip of green, then MASSIVE SAND DUNES!!!
Hey China! You are turning into a giant sand box. There are hundreds of dried river beds that once branched off from the river. I’m riding through imagining what this part of the country looked like 200 years ago. I bet it was the land of milk and honey…seriously.
Hey China! Quit strip mining, at least have some beautiful mountains in your sandbox.
The pollution has been outrageous since leaving HuHeHaote and traveling West. Grey skies and the sides of the road are grey/black from the coal particles. I really can’t imagine what my pink lungs NOW look like.
I’m now 50km North of YinChuan. I got yelled out today because I took pictures of some men striking outside a power plant. Jason translated the signs saying “Goverment workers are people too”. I got surrounded by a bunch of men and just deleted it just to get them off my a$*. The last thing I need is the cops arriving.
Well China…now that you are #2 in GDP, you are going to have to face up to a lot of stuff. And this announcement is very loud and EVERYONE knows about it. Even the poor government workers barely making a living wage.
Good luck with that.
Don’t think I’m hating…I’m really glad to be back in China. The food, the language – THE PEOPLE. I LOVE THE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even the prostitutes…they haven’t really been given another option to make a
Brick Wall, Brick Wall, too many brick walls in Mongolia
We got to the border and couldn’t ride across. We had to pay 100rmb per each to hire an old russian jeep to charter us across the border.
Got to Zamyn Udd – hottest city in the country. Roads disappeared and a sandstorm hit. We were stranded for 2 days and finally caught a train to Ulaanbatar. Had to leave our bikes behind on a separate train.
Ambushed at the train station – my new point and shoot Nikon got stolen and other random needless things out of my pocket. Must have happened before waving down the police officer when they loaded our luggage and then wanted way too much money.
All bad luck – but our bikes arrived safely.
We have been at this hostel for 2 nights now and I woke up losing my ambition and drive – I have got to get back on the road. The people here are great and there is a group producing a pilot which they interviewed me – so America – look out, I could be a tv star…ha, yeah right.
The first day here, I walked around crying – overwhelmed and confused. Today is better, just some down time hanging out with folks at this newly opened, and confused hostel. It’s completely occupied by Americans and Israeli’s – strange for Mongolia right?
I’m adjusting to the country but can’t quite come to terms with the alcoholism. I went to try and see about a bike repair and they tried sending me to the black market, with “it’s not too late, they aren’t drunk yet”. No thanks, I’ll wait for China….oh China, I miss you.
This country needs a lot of help. I see too many older kids that look like beaten puppies majority of the working class seem to be women. On the train and at the station there are signs asking that you please don’t get drunk and hang out on the train tracks. I see drunks fighting in the morning (man vs woman) or a woman nearly passing out at 1 in the afternoon with what looks like ketchup down her shirt.
If I ever hear another Chinese person tell me how poor they are I will smack them silly and send them here…this place has NOTHING except for a lot of sand.
When I was in Zamyn-Udd and trying to hitch a ride up North, there were 2 boys riding a bike around us. One would ride and the other would push. They were hanging out around us and were a little worried because of the traffic and hoping they weren’t going to get killed because of us. I gave each of them an American penny after the boy on the bike tried to give me some cash. I had some really great pics of them but they were stolen – my photos stolen. I’m sure he used the money to buy more booze and not clothes for his kids. Hopefully he doesn’t have any children….I don’t know what to think about this country….
We head out tomorrow for 2 weeks…..
Sometimes you just have to throw in the towel…
Mountains to XiLinHaote
Okay, so I’m trying to speed through the mountains with 4 non functioning cog wheels. I figure, “oh, we will just cut straight West and travel on these very small country roads (they are the thin red lines on a China Road Atlas).”
Well…sh*t! We encountered a mountain that took us 2 hours to push our bikes up. We found out from the workers on the mountain, installing sand bags that the road is for tour buses only. That’s why we weren’t allowed to ride down the other side – yeah, talk about a bummer!!!! We got loaded into a tour bus and driven down the other side of the mountain.
I’m still not sure where we were, or how we got there…but somewhere smack dab in the mountains between XiLinHaoTe and LinXin.
Needless to say, that’s the 3rd and final time (maybe 😉 )through that mountain range.
We’ve hit the Inner Mongolian Plateau (which is my second time). Jason has asked, “how much more of this up and down?!?!” We had a head wind to boot one day and now he understands what I was facing in Hulun Buir. He tells me what hurts and what he hates…and I COMPLETELY 110% understand…I’ve been there…over and over again.
I’m praying for overcast skies and a tailwind tomorrow to get us to the Mongolian border in 2 days. I wanted to be in Mongolia 2 weeks ago…and when I didn’t forsee that a month ago- I said August 1…well, I’m behind.
It’s nice to have a partner right now…it keeps my sanity at points, especially when every thing seems to be breaking.
I’ve added a Nikon Coolpix 6000 to my equipment, that has really captured some great moments that I miss when I can’t pull out the big guy. I also sold a 50mm prime for a 300mm prime.
Expect my next post from Ulanbatar in 8 days.
Back On the Road
This time I have company, my “teammate” Jason Yen. He is riding his handbuilt frame he made at UBI in Oregon. It’s a real beaut’.
I had my front fork replaced in Chifeng and my chain.
We left Chifeng on Saturday in blazing heat. Before leaving, my derailer begin to have problems. We had about 10 people from Chifeng riding with us, which Jason and I don’t really like…but that’s okay. They meant well.
Jason and I continued on after lunch together and met up with Qi Ge at our next town. We are headed to some “Mongolian Festival”…I don’t know…
The next morning, “Mr. Know it All” rode along with us. He ended up calling his cronies to pick him up in an SUV. Besides being a Know it All (as we had met him at that bike shop in Chifeng) he is also a fake and a braggert. On top of this, he orders me around. He got in Jason’s way when Jason tried to buy us a snack. He orders me to eat and eat until I’m about to die. We take a rest at the police dorms (where he use to work) and then doesn’t want to ride because it’s 34C outside…so now he is a baby too. I don’t like this man AT ALL.
His cronies make fun of him because a woman can ride harder and better than him. He will have to live with that shame.
I say I’m leaving…either way. We head out. Jason and I arrive at the next city without them and we find a bingguan…too late…Mr Know it All orders us to stay at his house…with no shower…and no AC…I have to sleep on the floor in my underwear to try and stay cool. No fan…you would think that a man that carries around a Leica digital camera and drives a Toyota RAV4 could splurge for a fan or even AC.
The next day he takes us to a joke of a repair shop and I finally put my foot down and I say I’ve had enough. Jason and I try to make adjustments and I AM NOT going to the festival…I’m fed up. We load up after Lotus arrives, and it’s a heartfelt goodbye.
We hit mountains for 3 days, now the Inner Mongolian Plateau.
It took us 2 hours to walk our bikes up a mountain – it was no joke. I’ve ridden 500 km, moutains, and the plateau with 3-4 useless cog wheels. There is nowhere for repairs.
My pants won’t fit because my thighs are now crazy big.
Broke:
-iPod
-fake GShock watch (my sweat flooded it after 2 days)
We camped the night before last…went 3 days of riding without showers – I was rank.
Today is a rest day in Xilinhot.
We should be at the Mongolian border in 3 days max.
KIVA.ORG – have a couple bucks to loan?….
Jason and I are both
To see what I helped fulfill, click here
Cycle’d Route
View First 5050 Km and 2 months in a larger map
My only friend for the past 2 months…
When I look at Lieutenant in these photos, she really does take on a personality. She has been the only thing that I see every single day – she is the only constant in my life.
taken June 20 2010, somewhere around HaiLa'er