China Day 9 – Pingyao Rest Day & Learning the China Medical System

Pingyao was a double night rest day. I am really liking this pace where every three to four days we get a double night rest day having a full free day to laze around and kick back a little bit. 

Still, I also knew that those precious days are usually planned to be at interesting places that even a week won’t do it justice so it’s like a blessing but still a slight curse because there is too much things to see and do.

Pingyao Ancient City

Pingyao Ancient City

Pingyao Ancient city was one of the best-preserved Han architecture Ancient City in China and most of us woke up early in the morning to go exploring after breakfast. The weather for this precious free day however was cold and pouring rain for the whole day. That did not stop any of us thou and everyone gear up with raincoats and went strolling around.

John was feeling not so good, so I first went with him to the pharmacy to get more cough meds. The group was supposed to meet up at the south gate to explore Pingyao Ancient city together but as expected, every one of us got distracted either on the way to the gate or when exploring the inner walls.

John split up quickly going for the main central tower then headed back to the hotel to rest. The rest of the group just walk around meeting and splitting doing our own exploration. I have seen many Ancient Cities in China by now and after a while all of them blends together a bit to look like a tourist gimmick street.

Pingyao Ancient City Private Residential Photoshoot

Pingyao Ancient City Private Residential Photoshoot

Pingyao Ancient City at Night

Pingyao Ancient City however was slightly different as there was pristine private residential of wealthy merchant in the past which are now converted to hotels or photo shooting places. The details and multiple mazes once going off the main street made Pingyao a heaven for hidden gems while exploring.

It was a nice day off with no crazy sightseeing beyond just walking around the Ancient City and with facilities catered for tourism, we also managed to find some long-required foot massage. That evening when I got back to the hotel for a short rest, John was out of commission. He started to have a fever. It did not seem that bad, but he skipped dinner with the gang.

That night I would have the opportunity to experience the Chinese Healthcare system through John. Joe our guide got a message from John asking for help to see a doctor and after dinner I accompany John and Joe to the hospital. 

Follow the Blue Line to CT Scan room

CT Scan in Public Hospital of Pingyao

It was interesting to see how China medical system works. We went to the nearby public hospital and got John registered and immediately the doctor examines him.

There was no queue and barely any patient at 9pm. The doctor ordered a CT scan, Ultrasound and also a blood test which was done also immediately without any queue or delay. The results all came back within 20 minutes and by then the doctor was in deep thought diagnostic on John case.

My best guess was it was nothing serious, but the doctor still asked for a second doctor's’ opinion and then a third doctor opinion before all agreeing that a simple medication would suffice. 

Overkill would be a generous term. In Malaysia John would have to wait maybe four hours before seeing the doctor since he was still happily chatting away with a slight fever.

John did not feel that he could do the long journey the next day to Gouling Village, so some backup plans had to be made. Joe said he could ride the bike and John could piggyback on one of the campers and rest. I asked Joe what kind of bike he had ridden before and the reply was a soft three-wheel motorcycle.

I must be getting old and could not really register the information. I did however made John let Joe go for a test ride once we got back to the hotel that night even though it was late. 

When John had to explain how the clutch and gear works, I was laughing internally, slowly taking out my camera and getting ready to take a video.

Sure enough, Joe barely moves before he tumble down unable to figure out how to balance a heavy Africa Twin bike. Backup plan B it was and John stayed put in Pingyao while we all push on for the next two days. 

The plan was that he would join us directly at Xian two days later giving him more time to rest and recover in Pingyao.

Travelled on: Oct 2024

China Day 8 - Wutaishan to Pingyao via Xinzhou Ancient City.

Today we all breakaway in our own journey. Tsevtan that was following me most of the time due to having no navigation now tried to ride on his own after borrowing some cable tie to strap his spare phone onto an improvised holder.

The other bikers mostly took national road, and I decided today would be my lazy day hence the first opportunity I got, I hit the highway. The ride was still scenic but very soon became repetitive and boring. Near lunch I turn off the highway to have a change of pace for it was dangerously close to me falling asleep on the handlebar.

Xinzhou Ancient City 

Exploring Xinzhou Ancient City

Exploring Xinzhou Ancient City

Tourist signpost kept popping up for Xinzhou Ancient city so I thought it would serve as a good detour to find lunch. It turns out to be a proper fully enclosed Ancient city mostly intact with people living their daily lives in it. 

I could not resist the temptation to have a little exploration and parked the bike smack in the ancient town to take a walk finding food and maybe some photograph.

A short detour for lunch became a two-hour detour as I did a quick walk around Xinzhou Ancient city. After that while I pushed off to continue the journey south to Pingyao, I nearly hit a kid going through a school zone even thou I was in first gear going almost in walking pace. Emergency break like mad and luckily all was good.

Scenery Riding to Pingyao

Back on the highway and it was a simple ride all the way to Pingyao where for the first time in China this trip, I managed to arrive while the sun was still in the sky. John was just parking his bike at the hotel when I arrived and the other bikers trickled in slowly later.

The day was late and we all went out for some simple dinner while messaging Tsevtan which somehow got lost and arrived nearly 9pm at the hotel.

Travelled on: Oct 2024

 

China Day 7 – Towards Wutaishan

The days are starting to blend together although it has barely been a week since we entered China. Even with more rest days and lesser travelling distance compared to May 2024 when I went through Tibet & Xinjiang, it still feel fast pace and that we don’t have enough time to visit everything properly.

Today was a ride from Yuxian to Wutaishan. While we did not have time to really visit Yuxian sights, I did a quick ride around the city just to have a glimpse then immediately hit the national roads towards Wutaishan. Tsevtan and John was following this time round.

Off a random highway and we see Autobots 

Towns with Corn Harvest everywhere

Beautiful View going through the Mountain Pass

At the first break after some winding national roads, I asked John if I were too slow for him. Riding an African Twin having so much horsepower must be hard trying to match my slow pace which was underpowered 250cc. Without any hesitation he replied immediately that YES, I was too slow for him, so we split up further with him disappearing within seconds leaving me and Tsevtan in the dust.

I mixed the route between 80% national road and 20% highway today and by lunch time we found a rest area with nice noodles. John message went into the general chat group that he found another section of the Great Wall of China. It was only 20km from where we were having lunch and the re-route was set.

A Section of the Great Wall of China 

No Tourist and Free Section of Great Wall of China 

This section was completely rebuilt but then again, it was free and along the waypoint so fairly nice pit stop for some photos. Continuing on, somehow, I lost my way and pulled over to double check the route. There was a few recommended route that would take us a big loop detour to get to Wutaishan and a shorter route with a warning colour I had not seen before. Blue with lots of warning marks.

Another quick message into the general chatgroup for info support from drivechina.com and apparently it was narrow road warnings. Since we were on bikes, Tsevtan & me decided to take the shorter narrow route which turn out to be so scenic we spend way too much time stopping every few kilometers just to take photos.

Hairpin turns after Hairpin Turns with no Vehicles - Mount Wutai

Hairpin Turns after Hairpin Turns - Mount Wutai

The View can't be captured by camera ... 

The roads were continuous hairpin turns after hairpin turns and when we got to the peak of the mountain pass to look back down it was just amazing to imagine that we were just a moment ago at the bottom below. Any more stops for photos and we would really be reaching late in Wutaishan missing the main sights for the day.

We reached the tourist parking spot around 430pm and thought all was ok but then there was another 30minute bus ride to get to the central spot where most of the temples were. Only manage to visit one temple which was Pusading Temple and soon it was sunset and time was up where everything started to close.

One of Many Temples at Wutaishan

Buddha Statue inside a Temple in Wutaishan

Wutaishan

Wutaishan 

Wutaishan was a holy mountain place for Buddhist and in realization that this place would take a few days to explore we knew that China was just not possible to do it right in a month.

Travelled on: Nov 2024

China Day 6 - Riding from Beijing to Yuxian with more Unofficial Detours

The day’s ride was around 240km from Beijing to Yuxian. The group split up naturally and some gravitate to one another. For myself it was only Tsevtan and Myself and I was the navigator. It took us nearly an hour to get out of Beijing running close to 60km radius and that was with good traffic.

The journey really started then after getting out of the Beijing 6th ring road and finally hitting the national road G109. I remember riding this road in Tibet a few months back and a little smile creep into my mouth as I know it would be a nice scenic ride. 

Viewpoint on Mini Mountain Pass outside Beijing

Viewpoint of Mini Mountain Pass outside Beijing

What surprise me was, almost immediately after hitting the road was a mini mountain pass which was delightful taking corners and just getting more scenic views after views.

Very quickly though the mountain roads became flat and we were riding through villages along a river for a long time. It got a little boring, and my mind started to wander and when some tourist signpost in brown came up saying Huangdi Historical Ruins at 13km detour, I stopped the bike and had a chat with Tsevtan which agreed to check it out.

Octopus Monument 

Huangdi Historical Ruins which we briefly read but somehow almost immediately forgot was some kind of three kingdoms in the area nearly 5000 years ago. I wondered if it was part of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms history but sincerely had no idea. 

There was a brand-new humongous octopus like monument erected in 2022 just outside the main gate and paying the entrance fee of 70 yuan looks fair with the AAAA tourist attraction mark.

Huangdi Historical Temple

Huangdi Historical Ruins - Totally gone

We went in and to our disappointment, the so call ruins was really a destroyed flat field with nothing visible of the old Kingdom. 

This detour was a failure in a way but that is the nature sometimes or most times when going off tangent trying to find hidden gems on our own. We made a dash then for Yuxian but it got dark very fast after 6pm.

We were forced to ride at night, and it was not fun even with my double powered spotlights. Trucks were beaming high beams all the way from the opposite direction and the ride was constantly blinded everywhere and being pressured by oncoming trucks overtaking and just forcing us onto sidewalks which was very risky without being able to see properly.

By some luck, not falling into a ditch, pothole or even running over wild animals, we made it to Yuxian safely and checked into the hotel quickly dumping bags into the room and running out for food. John had already arrived at the hotel two hours ago and woke up from his nap to join us for dinner.

Dinner - Pancakes & Dumplings 

Local place for Dinner in Yuxian

Tsevtan , John & Me having local food for dinner in Yuxian

Round the corner of the hotel, we found some local street food ordering BBQ skewers, pancakes and dumplings while exchanging stories of the ride for the day. 

The restaurant ladies were so fascinated with John and Tsevtan (European) that they kept taking photos and when John manage to exchange wechat contact with one of the girls, she made him a tiktok reel full of hearts and pink love.

We had a good laugh for sure that night

Travelled on: Oct 2024

Exploring Beijing Tourist Attractions

We had a total of three nights in Beijing. It was luxury with time this round with the tour where not every day a rush to get to the next destination. While we reach Beijing fairly late on the first night, we had two full free days to explore Beijing.

Beijing Summer Place Entry Ticket Booth

Beijing Summer Palace

The first day morning was spent exploring the Summer Palace and after a quick lunch, afternoon was spend exploring the Forbidden City. Although most of us started out together in the Summer Palace, I lost everyone halfway in and was just walking alone to explore the place.

While we met up again at the Summer Palace Exit, it was clear that this group had no qualms to split and explore independently. Hence other than the first day crossing the border, we barely see everyone at the same time. 

Beijing Summer Palace

Beijing Summer Palace 

Tourist Resting at Beijing Summer Palace 

I ended up starting the Forbidden palace with John and Abrar then somehow bumped into Yassine, Andres, Joe, Steppi & Lukas but very quickly inside we all split again and that was how our Beijing excursion would be.

I finished the forbidden city and waited for Tsevtan at a cafe and after we all gathered back for a hot pot dinner or at least most of us.

The Forbidden Palace - Beijing

The Forbidden Palace - Beijing

Forbidden Palace - Beijing

Second free day in Beijing and I had to do chores. Morning was laundry and then a quick lunch with John before heading out on my own. I think everyone spend the day on their own today doing their own thing. I headed for the temple of heaven seeing the sights and just walking around.

Unexpectedly, I took nearly three hours exploring the Temple of Heaven and its surrounding compound. By the time I left it was already closing time (5pm) and I decided there was time for a quick exploration of Beijing Hutong Street.

Temple of Heaven

Temple of Heaven

I was in one of the least popular hutong riding a bicycle just exploring the eerily empty narrow streets when I got a message from Tsevtan to meet up. He was fairly near, so I continued exploring the Hutong along the way while he grabbed a bicycle to head my way as well.

We visited Dashilan Hutong and the surrounding mostly and the Hutong’s could be super touristy or super bland depending on the parts explored. It was definitely worth just letting instinct guide us to wander around going into dark alleys and then popping out into tourist pedestrian street before droning into another alley and emerging into some modern and massive pedestrian street that linked up to Tiananmen Square.

A random Hutong in Beijing

A random Hutong in Beijing

A random Hutong in Beijing

Darshilan Pedestrian Street - Beijing

What felt like a luxury at first having three nights in Beijing quickly turn out to be a very short time in Beijing. Short as it was I think I won’t be returning to Beijing anytime soon. It’s a weird feeling I think for Beijing since there is so much things to do and see in Beijing but at the same time it did not feel like those places that will keep on making you astonished day after day.

Interesting things to see and do every day yes but not a place that would give me a feeling of never enough. I have seen the main sights in Beijing, and it would last me a while I suppose.

Zheng Yang Men Jian Lou

Qianmen Pedestrian Street

Qianmen Pedestrian Street 

Travelled on: Nov 2024