Anyhow, it was a great honeymoon, we had a ton of fun and yes, it was hard, but not that we expected this to be a walk in the park.... I think it was on that same hill that I had her on tow and she looked up, smiled and said "I married into the harsh life now, didn't I?" hehe, yes you did dear :)
We found Peter online at www.bikechina.com and he was extremely helpful and very flexible on what we needed from him, he usually organizes all-inclusive bike trips but all we needed were two bikes, all the peripherals and a couple of maps and we were good to go... he got us all that for a very fair prize, and was very helpful onsite when he picked us up with his recumbent bicycle! Probably the only one in china, but certainly the only one in Chengdu, he gets a lot of stares and laughters about it....
So after a day of exploring Chengdu we were off... we had planned a very nice route through the mountains to cut from Chengdu to Lanzhou, and I knew that even at best case scenario we would probably not make it without taking some buses, especially since we intended to hike and horseback ride along the way as well....
Yumay is all packed and ready to embark on the bike trip of her life!
First day took us through the outskirts of Chengdu (a 10+ million city it takes a few hours to bike out of it!) to some ancient irrigation systems north, about a 50 mile ride away... we left very early (4am) and made it there, hiked around and had enough time to get into the mountains before dark, since we wanted to get away from the massive traffic early on....
We made it up into the mountains quite a bit, though in the later afternoon the skies opened up and we were soaked through and through, it is the rainy season after all.. fortunately we were still at low elevations and in the south so it was quite ok temperature wise.. we cycled with these three teenagers that did a 2 day bike trip, with their beater bikes and in jeans and cotton tshirts... man o man!
Roadblock!! Glad we werent biking right when that happened (15 minutes prior!)
Little rest and warm cup of noodle soup with our new friends..
Rainy season... very very rainy!
Yumay s about to get VERY wet and dirty :)
Enjoying the terrific food of the Sichuan Province
A little rest on the bus...
The next day with combination of rising early, biking and taking the bus we made it up to our first destination, Songpan, where we did a two day horseback riding tour to hot springs in the mountains... well they were not really hot springs but the smelled sulfury and came out of the ground so two out of three counts I guess :)
We had a great time up there, riding horses all day and then camping in old fashioned yurt style while our guides cooked us some yummy dinner....
Horseback riding in the mountains...
Enjoying a cup of tea...
Gorgeous scenery...
Dinner, not the most "presentable" but very good!
Tired legs...
After that trip it was time to head out and get three solid days of Biking in, each day with thousands of feet of elevation gain.... we were the only Bikers, in fact according to the locals the only bikers ever they had seen there... I really wonder if that is true because this seems such an obvious trip to make, local or foreginer.. sure its hard when not speaking the language but one can get through (fortunately Yumay is fluent and I am quite ok at speaking it so it was easier for us)... and the sceneries were just a million bucks!!
The climbs were long and hard, but the payoff was plenty with mountain tops in the 6000m range, and being totally immersed in the non-touristy china... well when not being in the actual tourist spots.. HuianLongSi and JiuZaiGou are laden with chinese tourists, proably because they are so beautiful, but once one goes beyond the main spots the views are just as spectacular but one finds themselves alone instead of immersed in a sea of "follow the flag" and "wear the same hat"...
This was a terrific trip, and we will be back in probably two years either finishing up the trip to Lanzou (which we only got about half way) or going down south more.....
On our way to HuanLongSi...
Incredible waters...
HuanLongSi
JiuZaiGou, where "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" was filmed....
We found Peter online at www.bikechina.com and he was extremely helpful and very flexible on what we needed from him, he usually organizes all-inclusive bike trips but all we needed were two bikes, all the peripherals and a couple of maps and we were good to go... he got us all that for a very fair prize, and was very helpful onsite when he picked us up with his recumbent bicycle! Probably the only one in china, but certainly the only one in Chengdu, he gets a lot of stares and laughters about it....
So after a day of exploring Chengdu we were off... we had planned a very nice route through the mountains to cut from Chengdu to Lanzhou, and I knew that even at best case scenario we would probably not make it without taking some buses, especially since we intended to hike and horseback ride along the way as well....
Yumay is all packed and ready to embark on the bike trip of her life!
First day took us through the outskirts of Chengdu (a 10+ million city it takes a few hours to bike out of it!) to some ancient irrigation systems north, about a 50 mile ride away... we left very early (4am) and made it there, hiked around and had enough time to get into the mountains before dark, since we wanted to get away from the massive traffic early on....
We made it up into the mountains quite a bit, though in the later afternoon the skies opened up and we were soaked through and through, it is the rainy season after all.. fortunately we were still at low elevations and in the south so it was quite ok temperature wise.. we cycled with these three teenagers that did a 2 day bike trip, with their beater bikes and in jeans and cotton tshirts... man o man!
Roadblock!! Glad we werent biking right when that happened (15 minutes prior!)
Little rest and warm cup of noodle soup with our new friends..
Rainy season... very very rainy!
Yumay s about to get VERY wet and dirty :)
Enjoying the terrific food of the Sichuan Province
A little rest on the bus...
The next day with combination of rising early, biking and taking the bus we made it up to our first destination, Songpan, where we did a two day horseback riding tour to hot springs in the mountains... well they were not really hot springs but the smelled sulfury and came out of the ground so two out of three counts I guess :)
We had a great time up there, riding horses all day and then camping in old fashioned yurt style while our guides cooked us some yummy dinner....
Horseback riding in the mountains...
Enjoying a cup of tea...
Gorgeous scenery...
Dinner, not the most "presentable" but very good!
Tired legs...
After that trip it was time to head out and get three solid days of Biking in, each day with thousands of feet of elevation gain.... we were the only Bikers, in fact according to the locals the only bikers ever they had seen there... I really wonder if that is true because this seems such an obvious trip to make, local or foreginer.. sure its hard when not speaking the language but one can get through (fortunately Yumay is fluent and I am quite ok at speaking it so it was easier for us)... and the sceneries were just a million bucks!!
The climbs were long and hard, but the payoff was plenty with mountain tops in the 6000m range, and being totally immersed in the non-touristy china... well when not being in the actual tourist spots.. HuianLongSi and JiuZaiGou are laden with chinese tourists, proably because they are so beautiful, but once one goes beyond the main spots the views are just as spectacular but one finds themselves alone instead of immersed in a sea of "follow the flag" and "wear the same hat"...
This was a terrific trip, and we will be back in probably two years either finishing up the trip to Lanzou (which we only got about half way) or going down south more.....
On our way to HuanLongSi...
Incredible waters...
HuanLongSi
JiuZaiGou, where "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" was filmed....
No comments:
Post a Comment