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Tips for Long Distance Travel in China

September 12, 2016 by Pierre 10 Comments

Traveling in China is completely unlike travel I have experienced in other countries. First of all, China is a huge country, much bigger than people realize. So when you are traveling within it’s borders you are likely to encounter flight times that are much longer than you anticipated and train and bus journey times long enough to make you think of intergalactic space travel. Beam me up Scotty and prepare for warp speed.

When you are traveling long distance in China things like travel times are beyond your power to control. They will be what they will be and all you can do is try to grin, bear it, and make the best of it. The good news is there are choices that you can make to help make your long distance travel more comfortable and restful. So, without further ado, (drum roll please…) here are my tips for long distance travel in China.

Ow, My Freakin’ Ears!

So, you have traveled by high speed train in Japan and Korea, and consider yourself an accomplished train traveler. You are ready for anything. Wrong! What awaits you on Chinese trains is a far different experience. You can forget the peace and quiet of rail travel in those countries. Prepare for noise and get yourself some ear plugs.

When you first get on board you may be struck by the clamor. It seems like there are overladen people heading in every conceivable direction and then some. They all seem to be in a panic to get to their seat before the train starts moving. Boarding and getting to your seat is chaos. Finally, you manage to evade the endless stream of people carrying enough food for a week’s grocery and get to your seat. You expect that the madness will gradually subdue. Except it doesn’t.

China travel — Interior of a typical high speed train. Looks peaceful and quiet now. Just add people. Photo courtesy of beijing-shanghai.net.cn

When traveling on the train system in Japan and Korea there is seldom any loud noise to draw one’s attention. In Japan in particular, it is so quiet that a rider may think they have stepped into a mausoleum. In contrast, there are times when traveling on Chinese trains that feel as though I am on the wrong side of the safety glass at the zoo. People are constantly milling about. They lean against the side of other people’s aisle seats infringing on their space. People talk to each other from a few feet away at volumes better suited for a conversation held from opposite ends of a football field. Children are running and climbing as if the cabin space were a preschool playground. On one of my train rides this summer one kid was even playing a harmonica! Really dude?? And then, on the train to Chengdu, there was the doll!

Across the aisle from me was a kindergarten aged girl. She was sweet and nice in all the ways that a kid that age can be, except clutched in her arms was evil in plastic cast form with long luxurious synthetic blond hair and perfect makeup. She had a singing doll!

The voice on this foul beast would make fingernails on a chalkboard sound soothing. And she kept playing the same song over and over and over. I conceived of any number of heinous plots to send that foul beast back to the abyss from whence it crawled, but for the sake of the child I relented. I assumed she would tire of it eventually, or her mother would have a limit to how much of that thing she could tolerate. Just when it seemed there were no limits to the love and/or tolerance for this creature, the entire car seemed to shut down for nap time. Ahh. A respite from the depths of the Inferno. Temporary I knew, but a respite all the same.

Some time later as the car slowly awoke from it’s slumber the voice of the mass produced plastic demon once again split the air. This time it gathered more followers. At one point there were 4 young girls standing in the aisle singing and dancing along with the wretched crow of the tinny voiced diva. They moved their little feet in unison as they waved their arms in the air, eyes clenched tight in rapture like some weirdo backwoods occult spiritual. I thought to myself, if that little plastic thing starts levitating and people’s heads start spinning in full rotations I am out of here! Fortunately, it didn’t come to that. But yeah, bring ear plugs.

(Note: I have found that domestic flights, sleeper trains and sleeper buses are substantially quieter than the high speed trains.)

I have the Power!!

Yeah, okay, settle down there, He-Man. Changing into a superhero is not the kind of power I am talking about. I am talking about battery power. And if you are planning a long trip whether by train or bus, you best bring a portable charger for your electronics.

Many trains in China provide an outlet in each group of 2 or 3 seats where you can plug your adapter directly into a power source, but many don’t. I had traveled on several trains in second class seats and had a power supply readily available. On my trip to Chengdu I took a first class seat so I assumed there would definitely be a power supply available. I assumed wrong.

At this point I hadn’t yet bought my portable power supply, but was instead relying on 3 batteries. This turned out to be a mistake as there were only 2 outlets in the entire car. Pretty soon my phone was eating through batteries and the available outlets were in constant use so I was unable to get a charge. Finally, in desperation I disconnected the phone of the person who had been hogging the outlet and plugged my own in. I wouldn’t have had to resort to this if I had had a good power supply.

There are many quality chargers available to suit your purposes. Mine is a Pisen (pictured above) and has a power rating of 10,000 mAH. At full power it can recharge my phone fully 4 times.

An alternative, or addition, that you may also want to consider is a Chinese V-adapter (see photo right). Pretty much any outlet in China has a regular slotted receptacle as well as one that has the two prongs turned inward to create a V-shape. In my travels I have never seen anyone with the adapter so those slots have always been open. If I had had mine on my 15-hour trip I could have had a power source to myself for its entirety. I bought mine at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, so I imagine that they are available at other major international airports with direct flights to Hong Kong and China. And of course they are readily available in the country as well.

That’s Entertainment!

Whether it’s 15 hours on high speed train to Chengdu, 14 hours by sleeper bus to Lanzhou, or the 52-hour sleeper train ride to Urumqi that I almost took you will definitely want something to keep you entertained during your journey.

I am not really a games person so my go to gadgets for entertainment are both sources of reading material: Kobo and Texture.

Kobo as I am sure most of you- maybe all of you- are familiar with, is an app that you can easily download to your phone or tablet. All it takes then is a trip to the Kobo Store to search their impressive data base of books and magazines and find some reading material to suit your taste, complete your purchase, download, and read away.

Texture, on the other hand, may be unfamiliar to a lot of people. It is strictly a magazine provider, but like Kobo it is easily downloaded to your phone or tablet. If you are a magazine reader, Texture is well worth the $10 CAD+ tax per month for a subscription. It provides you with access to dozens of popular magazines from a wide variety of genres, including Rolling Stone, National Geographic, and Good Housekeeping. For an additional 5 CAD per month you can get a Premium membership and get access to great weekly magazines like Time, Maclean’s, and The New Yorker.

One thing that you should keep in mind is that downloading on Kobo and Texture in China requires a VPN. If you are already living here, you are already familiar with VPN’s or you soon will be. A VPN is a Virtual Private Network and it enables people living behind the Great Firewall of China to access such social media sites as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as many new and information sites. So if you are coming to China for a vacation, download plenty of reading material before you come here to avoid being frustrated later on.

If you are already in the country and you are interested in purchasing a good quality VPN then I would recommend either of Express VPN or Vyper VPN, both of which are available either as a month-to-month or 1-year subscription and offer free trials.

If you are a reader that hasn’t yet switched to e-books then I suggest you bring as much reading material as you will need for your trip with you. Outside of major centers like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, books and magazines in English are practically non-existent.

Are You Sitting Comfortably? Then Let Us Begin.

When you are setting off on your long distance trip, dress comfortably. It may seem absurdly obvious to some people, but I see many people clambering aboard trains and long distance buses dressed more appropriately for a fashion runway than a 15 to 20-hour train or bus ride.

I recommend dressing in loose fitting pants and shirt with easily removable shoes. I would also suggest keeping a warm sweater or equivalent within easy reach in case you get a little cold under the steady breeze of the air conditioning. Comfortable clothing is most essential on the long distance sleeper buses as you are more or less confined to your reclined bed while on board as is there is really no room to stand up and walk about.

BYOP! What?? Oh, Bring Your Own Paper!! Toilet Paper That Is…

If you are newly arrived in China and your first foray into a bus or train station convenience store has left you bemused as to why there seems to be an infinite supply of small packets of tissue, you will learn very well why the first time you find yourself hovering prone over a squatter toilet and searching the small cubicle desperately for toilet paper why they have so much in the little shops.

Public toilets in China are the thing of which nightmares are made for many a reason and the lack of provided toilet paper is only one of them. The little tissue packets are so wide spread they are practically an accessory. I hope for your sake that you are a slightly faster learner than I was. My being slow to pick up on the lack of TP put me in a most awkward position in a rest stop in northern Sichuan. Details are not really necessary. Suffice it to say, I was happy I was wearing shoes and socks and not barefoot in flip flops…

So that’s my list of tips to help you survive your long distance travel in China. You may also want to consider bringing your own food and snacks, especially for a train ride. There are things available on the train but like traveling on an airplane it is overpriced and of questionable quality. A lot of people bring quick serve noodles that only need hot water added, and hot water is available on all trains. The bus offers no on-board snacks but makes relatively frequent stops so you can top up as you go. I would also suggest you pack as much patience as you can muster. China is a beautiful country with a lot of amazing places to visit. Getting there can test your resolve, but in the end it is well worth the little annoyances you will encounter along the way. Happy travels!

China Summer Riding Tour: Thanks for Riding Along

August 29, 2016 by Pierre 14 Comments

There are many sayings about where your home is. Some say that home is where your heart is, or where you lay your head at night. It may be where you park it, or where you hang your hat. This afternoon, after several days of being in transit and a grand total of 6 weeks of amazing travel throughout China, I have arrived back to my little home on the 14th floor in my little city of Jian’ou. Including the love of friends and family which I carry with me everywhere I go, everything I own in this world, except for a few books in my parents’ basement and a few other odds ends scattered hither and thither, is here with me. It is where my heart is, and it is where I lay my head at night. It is where I park it, if you consider “it” a bicycle, and while I usually throw my hats in a closet rather than hang them, this is where they are, too.

Gansu Qinghai — The beautiful terraces of southern Gansu

I have to say, it is really nice to be back. To open closets and see so much fresh clean clothes and a washer outside to do more when I should need it? Makes me feel like a rich man. No more washing clothes in sinks with shampoo or cheap hotel soap and hanging it off the bike the next day to dry as I ride down the road. No more chronic pit smell or dubious underwear. No more shaking the sand from socks before putting them on again the next morning, or covering a rare clean pair with plastic bags to try futilely to ward off the inevitable wet feet that come with rainy days. No more of that. For now, at least. It may sound odd, but I am really going to miss that. I have already started to. I love the open road, warts and all.

I am sitting at home now with my road music playlist drifting out from my TV and I think back to all the incredible places that I was so blessed to see and visit and all of the wonderful, warm and welcoming people I met along the way. I think of all the things that I carried with me that I humped up and down many great hills and mountains, through scorching thirsty deserts, and into the face of spirit busting strong winds: a camera, phone, and laptop and their requisite chargers. Multiple changes of clothes, extra shoes, rain gear, riding gear, a hatred of wet feet, tent and sleeping bag, air mattress, cooking gear, pot and pan, stove fuel, food, water, toiletries, spare tubes, extra spokes, chain oil, tools, toilet paper, a near constant craving for a cheeseburger, patch kit, a power cell, and the undying dreams of a teenager.
But the single most important thing I brought with me is you! If it weren’t for all of you that follow along on my travels, they would be a great deal less special than they are. And I do bring you with me. All of you that look at my photos and writing, from the most casual observer to my most long standing and dedicated followers, you are with me on those roads. You are in every stroke that I make on the pedal, and you are in every word I write and every photo I take. It is you that makes VeloTramp. Without you it could not exist. And it is knowing that you are with me, that you are part of this, that provides me with motivation to get out and shoot photos on the days that I am tired and maybe don’t feel like I want to, or dig deep and find the words on days that I would otherwise be silent. And if I were alone and doing this entirely for me, it would be so easy to keep the camera in the bag on those days. It would be so easy to leave the pen hidden in my pack. But wanting to share with you these beautiful places that I am so fortunate to visit keeps me going, keeps me working.

When I rode a camel over those massive sand dunes and scampered to the top of the highest one, you were there. When I climbed the 660 steps to the top of a 700-year-old section of the Great Wall of China and gaped in wide eyed wonder at the seemingly infinite Gobi Desert below, you were there. The day that I climbed a long and steep mountain without pause and surpassed 12,000 feet of altitude and whooped with joy and beat my chest in triumph, you were there! And when I reached 2000-kilometers in distance with a rapturous shiver and quiet but beaming satisfaction and a small degree of disbelief, you were there. And on the long hot, hard day that I struggled so mightily up a great hill into the teeth of a gale that threatened to blow me off the road at times and I screamed and howled with rage and frustration at the unrelenting elements as I ran ever more perilously low on water, you were all there, helping me up that hill. And when I finally managed to reach the top of that beast and saw it laying at my feet defeated and was gifted with enough water for two or three days by many kind and generous Chinese people, and was rewarded for my efforts by a 40 kilometer stretch of downhill that was the most joyous and liberating ride of my life, you were there then, too, yelling joyously right long with me. You are always there, and I am so fortunate to have that motivating factor. I am so thankful and grateful for your kind words and encouragement. They make each memento and memory that much sweeter.

So to each and every one of you that follow along in any way great or small, my sincerest thanks for your contribution to my endeavors. It just wouldn’t be the same without you.
Until next time 

Altitude: The VeloTramp in Gansu

July 22, 2016 by Pierre 9 Comments

The ride out of Lanzhou was a silky smooth transition of leg over leg as I pushed my way up the gradual but insistent incline. I felt strong as I pushed my heavy laden bike up the narrow byway to National Highway G309 at which point I took a sharp turn to the west and headed toward Yongjing County. But a funny thing happened along the way. Suddenly, almost inexplicably, I felt short of breath in a way that was a little alarming. I am in better shape than this, I thought to myself. Am I sick or something? I had a touch of a cold but nothing that would account for the level of struggle that I was having. I didn’t know it at the time, but for the first time in my life I was experiencing the effects of altitude.

Gansu Terraces — The first terrace I saw seemed to have been forgotten and was rather moribund and dead looking. Then I saw this one and I was in love.

In my time riding in China I have deduced that there are certain characteristics of “National Highway” level roads. Typically, they are wide, well traveled and busy roads that have a good to excellent surface, occasionally have long hills but of a reasonable pitch, and they can generally sustain speeds of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour. This road was none of those things. It was a long narrow traverse up an endless series of slow and difficult climbs with a surface that became more broken the deeper into the region I got.

I should have known it right from the start when the opening stretch of the highway was a woe begotten thing that more resembled the well worn entry to a lumber yard or back country auto wrecker than that of a highway. A few hundred yards and the road improved into something that better mimicked other national routes that I have ridden. And almost immediately the incredibly steep climbs began, and with them came the panting and gasping, and heaving of chest. Am I having a heart attack or something? Onset of emphysema? Tuberculosis? What the hell is wrong with me?

I struggled to the top of that first climb and was given a slight reprieve. I was still going up but at a much more reasonable pitch. At just the moment I felt I was catching my breath and started to think that maybe the rest wouldn’t be so bad, I took a turn and had standing before me an even longer and steeper climb than the first one. I made it better than half way to the top and then I did something I usually only do to take pictures. I stepped off.

I pushed myself as hard as I could. I was gulping like a fish out of water, my heart was pounding, and my chest expanded to levels it may have never reached before. But I couldn’t catch my breath. So I stopped. And I pushed the bike up the hill. I can’t remember the last time I did that. I kept this up throughout the day: riding as much as I could, and pushing the bike when I couldn’t. It was frustrating. At times I looked at the hills that defeated me and was disgusted by what I saw. I have climbed hundreds and hundreds of hills much more difficult than some of what I saw that day and had no issue. What is wrong? Is this cold actually a lung infection or something? No. It was the altitude.

In my preparation for this trip I looked carefully at many things: possible routes, equipment, bike prep, clothing. Altitude was one thing I never gave much thought to. I have been able to deduce that prior to this trip the highest altitude I have ever cycled at is a measly 2500 feet. When I set out from Lanzhou I was already at nearly 5000 feet. After a few hours of riding nearly all up hill I was getting into altitudes that were in the neighborhood of 8000 feet, occasionally exceeding that number. This is the altitude, give or take a few hundred meters depending on the individual, that altitude sickness can begin. Some symptoms of altitude sickness include a breathlessness that can make you feel old and terribly out of shape, along with some dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, and rapid pulse. Fortunately, I didn’t get the nausea or dizziness but I sure had the others. I had learned many years ago, or thought I had learned, that those effects didn’t start until between 11 and 12 thousand feet. Add in the ill effects of a cold and 30+ degree temperatures and it made for some difficult times over the next two days. But they were worth it.

As much as I struggled, as much as I wished I had chosen a different route, as much as I cursed the heat and the dust and the broken road and the fumes of passing trucks, there was no way I could turn back once I caught a glimpse of the beautiful mountain terraces that were hidden deep within those mountains. It was like discovering a hidden paradise. The hillsides were a tapestry of interwoven shapes and colors each more beautiful than the last. The effort, determination, and the time that it took to create these plots must be incredible. During the rare times when I was able to ride at my leisure and enjoy the experience it was a sense of awe that I carried with me. What a prize to find this.

The long sweeping descent into Yongjing County with it's otherworldly landscape. Gansu, China — The long sweeping descent into Yongjing County with it’s otherworldly landscape. Gansu, China

Late in the second day I finally escaped the clutch of the mountains that I thought would never let me go. I swept down effortlessly into a deep and narrow valley at the bottom of which I intersected with a much improved highway. I camped on the edge of a farmer’s field as I had the first night in the mountains. The one difference was that the night at altitude was quite chilly while down in the valley was so warm that I slept in t-shirt and shorts on top of my sleeping bag.

Street market in Yongjing City. Everybody seems to sell the same stuff. How do people deceide where to shop? Gansu, China — Street market in Yongjing City. Everybody seems to sell the same stuff. How do people decide where to shop? Gansu, China

The third day was a relatively easy 45 kilometers than ended with an incredibly rewarding 20 kilometer downhill into Yongjing County and a small city on the banks of the Yellow River. It is a good place to rest up and recuperate from this cold I have. Shortly I will be back on the road. Now is when the work must begin in earnest. For I have a long way to go and only so much time to get there.

The Deserts of Northwest China: A VeloTramp Summer

June 21, 2016 by Pierre 13 Comments

4 to 5 weeks riding the historical Silk Road through the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts. Man, I love the sound of that! One of the reasons I was so interested in coming to China to teach English was the large amounts of vacation every year. Typically, there is one month of vacation in winter spread between January and February, and then 2 months in summer over July and August. I took advantage of the winter break to do some great cycling in amazing Vietnam. Then came the decision of what to do with my summer break.

deserts of china — Flaming Mountains of Turpan. Photo Courtesy of Absolute China Tours

Often times I find that the most difficult decisions are made when there is a lot to choose from. And there certainly was a lot of different options to choose from, but in the end there really was only one choice. It was the route I had first thought of when I imagined China and all of the amazing places to see here. The next decision then was route, and it didn’t take very long before I settled on the 2000 kilometer west-to-east stretch between Urumqi (pronounced Oo-lu-moo-chi) and Lanzhou (Lan-joe).

The Silk Road is really a network of roads that were used by traders to carry goods back and forth from China to central and west Asia, and beyond to Europe. These are the roads travelled by Marco Polo on his journeys from Europe to China in search of trade in that most valuable and sought after commodity: silk! Specifically, Chinese silk, from which the network of roads gets their name.

deserts of northwest china — Yueya Spring. Photo courtesy of China Tour.com

My route will take me through some of the most beautiful and unique places that China, and in some cases, the world, has to offer. Some highlights of the trip will include the 2500-year-old city of Turpan. Situated in the northeast part of the Taklamakan desert, Turpan is home to the Flaming Mountains: the hottest place in China where temperatures can reach as high as 48 Celsius in summer, and the red rock of the aptly named mountains, that absorb so much of the great heat, glow and shimmer with extreme surface temperatures of up to 70 degrees Celsius. Here also I will explore some of the many vineyards and sample some of the sweet desert grapes that this area is famous for. In addition, just beyond the eastern edge of the city is an area of massive sand dunes that should make for some great photos.

One of the highlight areas of the entire trip is the city of Dunhuang. Here I plan to take advantage of some camel trekking to see some of the amazing things that the area has to offer, such as Mingsha Mountain, known as Echoing Sand Mountain for the constant sound of shifting sand; Mogao Grottos, a large series of Buddhist caves, the first of whicch was chiseled around 1700 years ago, and is home to a treasure trove of well preserved Buddhist art work and relics; and the beautiful Yueya Spring, a beautiful crescent of clear blue water standing boldly in the midst of a sea of advancing sands.

Some other highlights include Jiayu Pass, the western gate of the Great Wall of China; the great grasslands and mountains of southern Gansu province; and last but not least, the magical Rainbow Mountains which have to be seen to be believed. And even then many can’t believe their eyes aren’t fooling them, such is the incredible beauty of this natural phenomenon of colored rocks and hills. If time and fortune shine on me I may even have the good fortune to spend a couple of nights living in a yurt with a traditional nomadic family and do some horseback riding.

These are just a few of the many wonders it will be my pleasure to share with you over a 4 to 5-week period in July and August. I hope you will all ride along and join me for this great adventure.

See you out there.

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