Bishkek to Bangkok 2023: Chengdu and west to "Tibet" (ish)

The (wrong) road to Chengdu

In Sichuan province, bikes are absolutely banned from the highways, so leaving GuangYuan we were strictly on the national roads. This was unfortunate as the road out of town was closed and the GPS would only offer a route via the highway. I'd set off alone so stopped to consult a map to find a way around; at which point Gerald and Nigel roared past purposefully. As they looked like they knew where they were going, a gave chase. As I caught up with them, my GPS decided it did know a way after all. We got to a junction and they turned left, the GPS said right, so that is the way I went.

The road led through some nice twisty hills and I stopped to plug in my iPod at which point Gerald and Nigel sailed past, again. I caught up with them for a while and as Nikolay appeared from nowhere, a small, local 3 wheel truck turned from a field onto the road, one of it's wheels missing the ramp and finding the ditch. Over it rolled; shit! I stopped the bike and ran over (as did Gerald and Nigel, Nikolay had just gone ahead and missed it). As I approached the cab, the driver emerged with a huge grin on his face. We righted his truck (surprisingly light) and he tried to offer us cigarettes as a thank you.

Good deed for the day done, we set off again. I was at the back and got caught at some traffic lights at which point I glanced at the GPS which insisted I turn left (the others had gone straight on). OK then, left it is. This led me down ever narrowing lanes and on to a gravel track at one point before spitting me out on a 3 lane highway (non-toll). Then eventually on to another beautiful twisty road through some hills before dropping into the massive Chengdu. Somehow, I had managed to arrive first again. Incomprehensible!

What can't speak can't lie

Our hotel was quite a way from the centre as bikes are not permitted. When the others turned up, a few of the group hopped on the very clean and modern metro system to the bar district. Very pretty, but eye wateringly expensive. Lots of generic bars with live music (well, someone with an acoustic guitar playing plaintive love songs 🤮) and only selling warm bottles of beer in units of 12. We retreated to a more local bar closer to the hotel, where our Yuan would last longer.

Chengdu bar district

Chinese pun

My bike was still about 1000 miles short of it's scheduled oil change, but the opportunity to do it in Chengdu seemed too good to miss. Myself and Jah went to the mechanic/Moto district to find virtually everything closed for the Mid-Autumn Festival. A quick phone call to drag the mechanic out of bed and my old oil was soon being drained. It was a fetching shade of black, which wasn't good. So new oil (and I fitted a new air filter the next day to cope with the high altitudes to come and as the Xinjiang dust and sand had clogged the old one). They even washed my bike for no extra charge.

Oil change..... shouldn't be that colour!

Much needed wash

Afternoon trip to see the famous "face-changing". This is part of traditional Sichuan opera; and the show, set in an open air tea room, included singing, acrobatics, puppetry, shadow play, comedy and the highlight of the face-changing. This consisted of a series of masks that the performers changed in the blink of an eye. Very entertaining and much better than I expected.

Sichuan opera; surprisingly good

Master of puppets

Face changing

Then a wander to a famous new "old" town, but the masses of tourists meant a rapid retreat.

We managed to be in China as 2 big national holidays converged (Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day/Golden Week) so there were a sea of tourists everywhere. I had wanted to avoid this period, but compromises had to be made in order to combine with another group and make the numbers work.

Can you do non-spicy?

Another new "old" town

After the rest day in Chengdu, we headed West to the mountains of Eastern Tibet. We expected bad traffic leaving Chengdu, but it was easy enough getting out. The trouble started when we reached the foothills. JB, Colin and Olli had started later than the rest of us, but eventually glided past (as we were following Jahs pace). I decided to keep up with the "kids" and we were soon some way ahead. Stopping at a Panda sanctuary, someone asked, to no one in particular "do you want to see the pandas?" Gerald's quick reply "fuck the pandas!" And we were off riding again. Bikers ehh??!

Talking of bikers, there were a lot of Chinese 2 wheelers on the road, making the most of the extended holidays. They don't do the "nod" but instead sound their horns or give the thumbs up to acknowledge oncoming riders.

Fuck the pandas

Holiday traffic building up

As we coiled further into the mountains, the traffic got heavier and heavier. Whenever a scenic spot was approaching, a long line of stationary cars would block the road. Being on bikes, we filtered past the jams, but it was heavy going. Then JBs bike started misbehaving, again (losing power, not ideal when you need to do a sharp overtake on a mountain road). Then Colin got a puncture. We tried replacing the tube, but being the ham fisted monkeys we are, we managed to pinch the new tube in two places; so Colin's bike was back on the trailer, again.

Colin with another puncture

Eventually we reconvened in the next stopover, Xioa Jin, and a few beers were the order of the day.

Feeding time

The next day was more of the same. I opted to ride alone and there was a mixture of great riding and ridiculous traffic jams. At one jam, I filtered to the front to find a car stopped in the middle of the road, with the owner attempting to direct the traffic around it; must be broken down, I thought. But, no, he suddenly got in and started driving. Traffic backed up for miles in either direction because one dickhead stopped in the middle of the road for a photo!

The scenery just got better and better though. The afternoon saw a welcome thinning out of the tourist traffic as the road literally corkscrewed it's way down a valley; eventually coming to rest in Ya Jiang.

More mountain goodness

More like it......no traffic

The next day something changed. The best scenery of the trip so far, relatively quiet roads and just an awesome days riding. A lot of high passes, over 4500 metres, so maybe the thin air added to the euphoria of the ride??

Tibetan prayer flags, temples, Yaks, Buddhist effigies, high mountains, great weather etc. This is what I came for. Fabulous day.