19th of august was the day that we marked in our plan as the day we gonna leave china. I would have never believed it...but we gonna get over the border on that exact date... If the chinese bureaucracy allows it. We heard some horror stories about a long procedure and some expensive documents that we dont really own. But we where confident that we can talk our way out of this and drove off to the border in Huoergosi.

It took us a while to get out of the city the next day. Because of the motorbike ban in urumqi nobody wanted to sell us fuel and on top of that the whole city like the rest of china is under construction. So it was already eleven when we where all filled up and ready to head to yili. Our last stop before we head to the chinese border and cross to kazachstan.

Next day it was decission time. What road to take to Urumqi. Our first big stop where we gonna service our bikes and a few days time to sort things out. That would be our last big stop in China. We either take the highway for 1000 km. smooth roads. Plenty gas stations. Or we make a detour to Ruiqiang and cross the taklamakan. 1600km straight trough the desert. Planning the trip we talked with some kind of scar-yrespect-excitment about crossing the taklamakan. Are we now men or pussies? Of course we are pussies. But we took the long way trough the desert anyway. Its now or never.

This morning we slept long in the hostel. Being lazy and having no plan other than visit the famous magao grottoes and stroll around the city felt good. After a big breakfast we arrived at the entrance to the caves at three in the afternoon.

In the morning the nice spy lady stuffs some breakfast into our faces, after asking us in her whispering voice if we want eggs and veggies while showing them with pantomimic hand movements. She makes it clear to us that we need something in out stomachs if we want to ride bikes.. "waaaaaaah!" is the motorbike sound that she makes. 
We set off with a very warm farewell of spy lady and her laoban. and all of our initial suspicious feelings against her seem silly and embarrass us. 

From Qilian to Sunan it's only 170 km, so we expect to arrive there in the early afternoon and still have plenty of time to go see the Danxia Landform park - an area of brightly colored layered sandstone cliffs, hills and canyons. But as so often the highlight of the day should come by surprise..

Next morning we got on the road quite late. Labrang was hard to leave. The hospitality of the people and the interesting scenery made us very curious about tibet. Maybe one day we can make it to the source of this interesting crazyness - xizang (Tibet, at one point tibet was on one of our alternative routes, but chinese government made it way too expensive for foreigners to go there on their own).

Today we took a day off from riding and relaxed in Xiahe. This place is famous for the Labrang Monastery, The city itself is very interesting. We enjoyed Tibetan food like Yakjoghurt and Tsampa with the locals. Tibetans are very nice and kind people. The culture is very different from anything we have seen in china so far - I would say there is no connection to China at all...just that they have life in China. You all know the history. But seeing now in person how strong the people are and how deep the culture and pride is embeded in every single person walking on the streets puts a wholedifferent light on the whole story. 

This day we planned to ride to labrang. There is the biggest tibeatan monastery outside of tibet. As the chinese government didnt want us to go to tibet we will go there. Its just 220 km so we still have time to find a good breakfast and do some sightseeing in the town. Langmusi is a very interesting mix of chinese and tibeatan cultures living together. A small town shadowed by the buddhist monastery and chupa with golden rooftops. That is all surrounded by green meadowy mountains.

The morning starts with the sound of heavy rain and we both play with the thought of just staying in our beds and wait it out. But that's not what we are here for. 

Next morning we went to the park. I was a bit worried as i heard horrorstories that the touristmasses that come every day. (1.2 million people visit the park every year) would have ordered all the tickets already online weeks ago and for us there would be just a big "meiyou" at the ticketcounter.

The rest day was good. Almost too good! we don't wanna leave this peaceful place, but we also want to push on and see what other amazing things are yet to come. 
What a fortunate coincidence: we are having breakfast with Bruce and a friend of his, a photographer who's already traveled all over western china and even rode his car to Italy not long ago. together we look on the map and eagerly circle places and roads worth traveling. His advice easily covers our route planning for the next week. We fire some test shots with his crazy powerful slingshot into the rice field and get going. 

Some pictures of our restday

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Einige Bilder von unserem Pausen-Tag

When we woke up the next morning the tourist machinery was already on full throttle and we where surrounded by a lot chinese tourists who where eager to do some touristy things.
The sun was up, but on the mountain it was fresh and not hot at all. A good change. The day started off very good. The road looked like it was just finished a few minths ago and the tarmac was perfectly smooth. We drove trough winding roads, music in our ears - just perfect. After lunch the roads got worse and worse and we come onto at a bumpy strech that was just being prepared to be a big new road again. But not yet and the bumpy road took its toll-we met our worst enemy. the flat tire monster. It is time consuming and frustrating and doesnt take "no" for an answer.

Next morning we left the comunist hotel after a quick breakfast. The buffet was vast but we could just find a few things that fit the western breakfast taste. Some might say- come on guys- eat what the locals eat- you are travelling!... But if you ever had congee with stinky tofu for breakfast you might think different.

We felt shattered getting up in the morning. the heat of the past few days just took its toll and the thought of our rest day as planned seamed suddenly like a very good idea. 

Next morning we woke up and saw the scenery in all its beauty. There was even a small buddhist temple on the other side of the lake. The sun came up early and strong and there was no way for a long sleep. We took a nice morning dip in the reservoir... In the meantime came another member of the gang on his BMW and delivered breakfast for all of us.. The hospitality just doesnt stop. We had some nice mantou and bouzi and packed up. Then sun was hot. Wuhan - our destination for today showed 37 degrees - so we where wet already when we finally left the camp and drove back into the city to meet some other members of the gang.

Today we slept like dogs and a liitle bit too long as we where superdead from last day. We rode 2 hrs longer than we actually planned and that took its toll. So rise and shine in huangshan. After a quick chinese breakfast that we pimped a little bit with our instant coffee and cookies we where off to jiujiang - our next point on the map. 

We definitely have to work on our morning routine. Even though we got up at six it took us 3 hours to  get going. 
But the swim in the lake just before getting into our astronaut uniforms again was too good. 

We got news from the embassy. Matthias can pick up his visa by today and we can finally start on friday. The three days delay was not that bad. Thuesday was raining heavily the whole day and we had time to sort things out and have another - probably already the fith- farewell drink with friends.

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Minus einen Tag – schon wieder!

Wir haben Nachrichten aus der Botschaft. Matthias kann sein Visum heute abholen und wir können endlich am Freitag starten. Die drei Tage Verzögerung war nicht so schlimm. Am Dienstag gab es den ganzen Tag starken Regen. Das gab uns Zeit, Dinge zu sortieren und eine weiteres - wahrscheinlich schon das fuenfte - Abschiedsbier mit Freunden zu trinken. 

This is the last day in Shanghai...tomorrow we will start the trip. At least we hope so.

Its still a lot of stuff to do and packing for the trip and moving out of the appartment at the same time was a challenge and its still not done completely.