Crossing the border, part 1

May 8th: The sole border crosser....

That morning, I was on the way already around 9:30am. So, with only 10 km. to do and the border opening at 10:30 am., I was well on time!

It was a beautiful morning, nice temperature, no people and no traffic at all!
"It seems that out of the 1.3 billion Chinese people, only a Belgian guy wants to cross the border today" I thought.....
Great! "This is going to be a quick peace of cake".....

However, the more I approached the border, the more something seemed not to be right!
And indeed, that day, as well as the previous and the next 3 days, the border was closed.
Reason: on Kazakh site they were celebrating the "end of the West War", which is the same as the end of the second world war.

Bad luck: border closed....

Sayram Hu paradise

I had to stay for  another 3 days in Korgas. Too much!
Then let's move on to plan B!

I was told that there was a nice lake, Sayram Hu, some 90km. North-East.
And what can you do if you have a bike, tent and cooking gear: camping!

There I went.  But what I did not check was that the lake was at an altitude of 2000 meter, so I had to climb for about 1500 meter.

A little bit Holland in China. Broken windmill with chimney

 

I was biking in 'relax mode', which means arriving 11 hours later, having a lot of stops for the nice scenery along the road.

Arriving at the lake gave you just another amazing view:


Sayram Hu lake

Yurt camping

I saw a man which offered me to sleep in one of his yurt....which I gratefully accepted. 

No tent camping but yurt camping....

 

He gave me 2 blankets for the night and the next morning I knew why! I woke up with -9.6°C!!!

Inside the yurt

After breakfast, I went back from where I came the day before. And as it was all downhill, I arrived 3.5 hours later....


Tomorrow the border is open again......let's see!

Done with the (Chinese) dessert, there are the mountains again.....

The last couple of days were just great!


I had a plan!

That evening in Tikanlik I checked the weather forecast which did not look very promising for the next day. Winds of 30km/h, gusting to 40km/h at 8 am. in the morning and coming from the North-West.
And where do I have to go? ....right: North/North-West!
Towards noon time the wind should drop to 10km/h coming from the North-East.

So, this weather forecast gave me a very good excuse not to wake up early.



Sandstorm near Korla

I started as planned around 1pm. with some tailwind. Along the way that little tailwind became a "nice" tailwind, ending in a sandstorm, this time in my favor.





My plan worked out and I did that day over 200 km. thanks to slightly (read opposite) wind conditions.....

I arrived in Korla which seems to be another Sinopec Oil city.

May 1st. is labor day, also for the CrazyBelgiumBiker, so no ride that day...

The "military secrets" of  Balguntay

 

I decided not to go via Urumqi as  I had enough of big cities for a while. Instead, the plan was to go via the G218 to Yining/Ili.
This route turned out just wonderful.





My next planned stop supposed to be Balguntay. Beside passing some copper (or iron) mines it was an uneventful day, except...... 



I am not a geologist but I think this is a copper mine (sister, please help me out...)



........arriving at Balguntay and looking for a place to stay there seemed to be an issue. I was again in a "no foreigner" zone.

Balguntay, I was told by the police, has a lot of "military secrets". Discussing and negotiating to stay did not work this time....I had to go back to the previous town, Heijing, 60 km South.
My bike could stay at the police station where I could pick it up the next morning...

The police was already "arranging" my deportation. This goes like this:

• Police man and me jump in car
• Police car chase random passing car in town
• Police car block road and car
• Police man ask if car goes to Heijing
• Police man arranges fee (20 RMB ~ 2.5 Euro)

On the way to Heijing it was a deja-vu.....seeing the road for the second and the next morning third time.....

That morning, the policeman already was waiting for me and we went together for breakfast.
Curious about the Balguntay military secrets he told me: there is a tank division and some IT intelligence operations.
Waaaaooohw......I was really impressed!
He must have pity me because he paid for my breakfast.

Wild horses, wild cows and.....wild women


The following 2 days were again great and the cherry on the Chinese cake: Perfect roads, almost no traffic, nice weather & beautiful scenery!
And it seems that Aeolus, the God of the wind, must be in a good mood as well as he also rewarded me for these last couple of days....


Wild horses...
 



Wild cows....
 

and (a little) wild women.....

 

 

 

 

 

In camping mode

Camping near the Gongnaisi river

I know that there is a blog fan (F-ke.D from 'Yellow' City...) who is concerned about my light weight tent but with all these nice landscapes, favorable temperature, a lot of wild horses and sheep as potential "military secret" and a perfect place to stay, it was the right time not to stay in a hotel but instead to deflower my tent, going into camping mode.



The next day, the initial plan was to stop at Gongliu but because the sun sets late (9:40 pm), temperatures still around 25°C and it went all well, I decided to continue to Yining.

Along the road: Nomad shepherds with their typical yurt

 

The honey road. As mostly in China: where you have one, there are others

With again more then 200 km. that day I was tired but was treated with a very nice sun-set.

 

JIT

I am in Yining now and preparing to cross the border.

As my Kazakh Visa is only valid starting May 8th., it went all as planned and JIT, Just In Time.....
Let's cross fingers and hope all goes well.

Talk to you next time when on Kazakh soil......


For the once who like biking or hiking and still don't have holiday plans for the next year, I can recommend: do the G218 route from Korla to Yining during April-May time......it is just amazing!!!!

Women know it all too well....

The wind-factor

The way to Baxkorgan, my next planned stop, went initially well. Along the road I passed 3 police check-points where they, for the first time, really checked my passport and Visa.

How far can you go....letting the local police do a "JUMP SHOT"

After that check-point it went first uphill where after I came in a valley. It was around 5pm and I only had to do 35 more kilometers which takes me normally 2 hours.
Then the trouble started. I was in a wide open area and the wind increased. Due to this strong headwind and uphill, the speed went down to only 5km/h. (try this out.....this is REEEALY slow!!!).
This meant I had to do 7 more hours and will arrive at midnight.....
Not a good motivator.

Love the sign! More of this please........

Good that after 15 km, I again was in the mountains and the wind dropped. Even better, the last 19km. it went downhill.

The place where I arrived was a kind of weird. A lot of stones laying all over......Asking what they were doing, they replied: "We are protecting the minerals", which means in reality: illegal mining!

The "protecting minerals" headquarter

Super day!

The women know it very well: What goes up, also goes down!

The next morning, the first 34km was only downhill!
Not 1 push for the first hour and descending from 2500 meter to 700 meter, following a river in a beautiful canyon like environment. Really enjoyable!





No words.....

Arriving at Milan, I needed to make a decision. Going strait to Ruoqian or making a shortcut, saving around 100km.
I checked 3 maps and consulted a dozen truck drivers and although they had not all the same opinion, I gave it a try. This time it turned out all right.


LUAC promotion team

I was now riding in the middle of the dessert again and thought: "With a population of less then 0.000001 heads per square kilometer and wearing a nice T-shirt,  this might be the right place to make some promotion for LUAC, the best soaring club in the world."
So I did...... 
(Hartmut and LUAC Co, in case someone from Xinjian region wants to become a member, at least you own me a Hoegaarden!)



Multi-tasking, 3 in 1: Doing a pee, giving the dessert the so needed water and making promotion.....

The truck stop that suppose to be there on my planned stop was vanished...instead there were a group of oil drill workers. I could stay overnight however, their "leader" had some doubts and thought that I might be a dangerous person. To prove I was not, he requested to see my luggage. Of course I did not present my bag with my laptop and camera, instead I showed him the bag with my dirty underwear.
It must have been dirty enough because I passed the "dangerous man" test.
Passing or not, I did not feel welcome and left.
33km. further, a Muslim family offered me a bed and with 230km. total cycling that day,  I slept fantastic. 

I am now in Tikanlik, 200km. SOUTH of Korla, and beside meeting some friendly truck drivers on the way, it was just another, sandy day.....



The truck drivers informed me: according Chinese law, every vehicle needs to have a license plate 



What do you find in the Takelamagan dessert? Right!
Sand, sand and speed cameras.....

Nomad "New Style" - Pilgrims - Prohibted area - Dead road - Sandstorm

These are some of the key words of the last days.......


In Tibetan area

After Xining I entered the Qinghai region and took the G109, south of the beautiful Qinghai Hu Lake.

Qinghai region with the beautiful Qinghai Hu Lake

During a short stop I met a local store owner who spoke perfect English. He gave me a short explanation about the history of the Tibetan empire. He also explained that I was actually in former Tibetan area and warned me that weather in Tibet could change very quickly and very often…something I experienced a few moments later.

The weather went from blue sky to very windy, to hail, to snowstorm, to nice sunset. All in a timeframe of less than 5 hours.



Nice weather with at the back the Qinlian mountains

Then it started to hail.....

.....followed by snow....



......to end with a nice sunset!

Due to that snowstorm I decided to stop along the way with a kind of “Modern Nomads”. These friendly people were owning sheep and cows, 2 horses and a donkey. “Modern Nomads” means: living in a pre-fab container, having solar panels and driving a Chevrolet car.

They offered me a pillow and a place to sleep which I grateful accepted. What I didn’t know….”Modern Nomad” also seems to mean: allowing your kid to do a pee (and the other thing…) in the middle of the living room. Lucky I was sleeping somewhere else!

Pilgrims

The next morning, I almost called 911 when I suddenly saw 2 women laying on the ground in front of me.

In fact it were pilgrims making a tour around that same Qinghai Hu lake.
The way they did was: 3 steps forward, hands up, hands down, a little pray, kneeling and laying on the ground.



I measured: 1 cycle took them around 3 meters and they did it in 15 seconds. I was thinking: “What should it take to do this from here to the world city of Dessel, Belgium?” and quickly calculated: 4 million times falling on the ground and about 700 days…..realizing that I am happy to do it by bicycle!

Continue westbound, I had to cross the Xiangpi pass @ 3870 meter.

Hallucinating?

As you might know, riding at high altitude can have some physical consequences like difficulty to breath, fatigue, headache and in worst case hallucinating…..which I did, seeing road signs with opposite directions for the same city…..

A lot of accidents also on that same road….

It just happened a few moments before......lucky the tank was empty!

On sale......

Prohibited area

After a long day I was happy to arrive in Delingha. That joy only lasted for a moment….
After check-in and paying the room, they suddenly changed their mind and told me that I could not stay. I started to question the reason which they could not give. The police and translator came explaining that I was in a prohibited area for foreigners. Of course I heard about this, I only did not realize that I was actually in this kind of “no foreigner” zone.
However, as mostly in China, they helped me out, offering another (better) hotel but telling that I had to leave as soon as possible the next morning!
Knowing that you are in a prohibited area and that you have to leave ASAP did not gave me a nice feeling!



Good that the other "homeless" man didn't came home that night

The next two days were though. 87km. before Dachaidan I stopped because the wind was too strong. I slept that night in an abandoned container like a homeless, tired man.

Back to pathfinders time

The next night, as Yuka city was a dead city, I found some construction workers where I could stay overnight in their tent.

 

Cities are no-cities, roads are no-roads and no-roads are roads

My next stop was planned to be Chalengkou, laying on the G315. Although not given on my map, that road suddenly split. I had to make a choice: 40km ahead to Chalengkou or 172km. SOUTH to another city. Sure I choose for the 40km. Unfortunately, that was a wrong decision as this road ended in a sand road where even a 4x4 sometimes should have had difficulties. I had to turn back and slept that night again in a tent with very friendly and welcoming workers along the road.

The road that ended in no-road.......

April 23rd. …. A day to remember (or quickly forget)

I started a little late, around 10 am. It went all well in the beginning: Nice weather and favorable SLW (=SuperLiesWish) wind. I was riding in between the beautiful salt lakes.

Beautiful salt lakes near Chalengkou

I also saw the end of the G315 that I initially wanted to take to go to Chalengkou two days ago and realized: If I had continued that road, it should have been suicide.

After the salt lake, the weather became overcasted with again a lot of wind. I had done so far already 160km. and needed to do another 49km. Due to the wind, the speed dropped as low as 7-8km/h. The road also went uphill. It even went worse when the strong wind transformed in a sandstorm.
Good that I got some support (VERY GOOD SUPPORT) from the Changchun basecamp telling me that a little further, after a sharp curve, there should be a place to stay.  I reached the curve but was disappointed when I saw only an abandoned factory. I ended after midnight completely exhausted and with more than 200 km. in the legs and with nowhere else to go, I decided to try my MacGyver skills and broke in (Don't tell my mother!). It was cold but I slept relatively well.

And guess what: the next morning, I discovered that  there was a truckstop around the other curve.....300 meter further.


The so wanted place to rest, just a few hundred meters around the other turn....

 

SINOPEC City

The following 2 days, although still in the middle of the dessert the road became more and more busy. Soon I realize why: I am riding in the middle of the oilfields owned by SINOPEC (a big Chinese petrochemical company). But very strange.....most of their equipment seems not to work. Should it be because they were mistakenly drilling in the wrong area or was it because their equipment is "made in China"......???

Oilfield with a lot of idle equipment.......

While nearing Huatuguo, a car stopped and we talked for a while. Afterwards I got a 6 km. personal escort to the center of the town.

After 1 week of dessert, you can not imagine how happy you get being back to civilization and seeing the first traffic light and beautiful women (sorry, beautiful women and traffic light.....).
I am wondering why they don't call Huatuguo "SINOPEC city" as everything (buildings, banks, apartments,...) seems to carry their yellow-red PetroChina logo....

My personal escort insisted to pay my hotel and later that evening we had some nice time......

In Xining now

Again a couple of days further and I arrived in what will be the last big city for a while: Xining.

3 weeks on the way already so time for a short summary:

·      2880 km done

·      21 days on the way

·      average +/-135km/day

·      ½ day of rain

·      3 flat tires….

In Hongsibu, while searching for a place to stay, I met 2 nice ladies.

I must have look completely exhausted as one of them offered to take care of the bike which I, of course, did not refuse.

 



2 nice ladies willing to help a tired man......



 

The next day to Xinren was a day to forget: first wind, then rain and last but not least a flat tire….

The road I was following, the G109, seems to be a kind of coal route. An army of trucks coming and going….the whole day.

Big power plant near Baiyin

I wanted to know where they came from and where they go to.

At least on one of the questions I got an answer: supplying a big power plant.

 

 

On that same road there was another mystery. I saw a lot of satellite antennas in the gardens. Sometimes two or more. Why?

 

 

I figured out: One for sure must be to watch one of the 500 or so Chinese CCTV state television channels.

The other one, I thought, must be to watch the popular TV show “Wauters vs. Waes” on the Belgian VTM channel.

I was wrong!

 

In fact, it was Philips latest model and extreme compact water kettle

Philips 2014 model water kettle

 

For the way from Baiyin to Lanzhou the map showed a shortcut but the GPS did not.

Uncertain if there was in fact a road and as I like the unknown, I gave it a try.

However, my GPS toy did not like my adventure and blocked twice (lucky I could save the data).

After all, the SHORT-cut turned out to be a LONG-cut in regards of time but at least I was able to see the beautiful Chinese farming countryside!

 

Farming countryside

 

A selfie, countryside near Lanzhou

 

After my successful shortcut maneuver, I got a little nervous while riding through Lanzhou. Lots of people were carrying water.

I later discovered that there was not enough tap water anymore because of few rain the last months resulting in the lack of ground water.

 

 

 

But no water……. no problem!
Good that I like beer and you know, as a Belgian, Chinese beer is like water…..  ;-)

 

My last leg to Xining went well. I even got joined by 2 other bikers also on the way to Xining.

Both were member of the TOTOFE cycling team, riding on a full equipped bike, including a sound system.



TOTOFE bikers or......hikers?

 

"This is going to be though", I thought, especially with my 40kg. luggage handicap.

But after 10km they stopped and wanted to take a picture. After another 30 min. they stopped again for a drink.

Then, 10km further, they wanted to stop again to take a rest……

I said: “Sorry guys but I need to be in Belgium before it gets dark…….”

Either way: or they didn't understand or they did not know where Belgium is but I left them….wishing them a lot more TOTOFE to go……

The more you go to the West, the more you come in Muslim land. Beside the typical dress you also see a lot of mosques like below one in the middle of Xining city.

 

Beautiful mosque in center of Xining

 

Today is a rest day. And rest day means this time: long sleep, treating my body for a massage, cleaning and tensioning the chain, preparing the route for the next days, update the blog, visiting the local street market eating delicious Halal food.

Tomorrow and the following days my way continues westbound passing the Qinghai Lake. On what I have heard this should be a beautiful area.

Looking forward already…..