Unfortunately we didn’t get too far before one of the sidecar bikes had a spark plug problem. A lot of sputtering, loud backfiring and a new spark plug later and we were on the road again heading south through the Qinling Mountains. Once you can get over the first peak and down the other side most of the tourist traffic is lost and you’re on your own through the twistys.

While the mountains were no problem for the big 750cc sidecar bikes, they posed a bit of a problem for me on a weighed down 125cc bike. So on the steep inclines I actually kicked Jiafei off to sit on the jump seat of a sidecar bike so I could make it up the hill! She didn’t like that too much, but it beats walking!

There was, of course, our fair share of rain and cold weather as we cruised along though southern Shaanxi. But I must say, the new jacket I got just before the trip shed the water nicely and kept me pretty warm. The cold rain pelting my face did finally lead me to buy a helmet on the third day, and after having it on for a few kilometers I didn’t know why I hadn’t gotten one earlier!

As we road along the small highways we passed village after village and whenever we stopped they were simply amazed to see not only one foreigner but many foreigners. The big sidecar bikes drew particular attention and a lot of talk because of their loud rumbling and their history in the Chinese military from way back when. Either way, nearly all of the attention was good attention, people were just interested. They wanted to know where we were from, what we were doing, and why we were doing it. Many Chinese don’t quite understand the concept of a road-trip yet, vehicles are still something that’s used out of necessity rather than as a pleasure vehicle. In fact, when I told some of my students about our planned trip they simply asked “Why don’t you just take a train?” Well that’d kind of defeat the purpose. I explained to them that the whole point is the journey, we didn’t really care where we went or where we stayed at night, just that it was a nice drive and there were things to see.

There was definitely things to see. Southern Shaanxi and Gansu are both beautiful areas which haven’t been ruined by urbanization. There are villages and relatively clear air, clear skies, and a slow pace of life.

Of course, a trip wouldn’t be a trip without a few breakdowns or wipeouts. We had our fair share of those, but mostly they resulted in bruised elbows, bruised egos, and a slightly busted up, but quite fixable or rideable bikes.

After 1100+ kilometers and 5 days of riding at least six hours per day, we were thrilled to be back home. But not for too long. We’ve got another plan in the works for a spring time outing!

• Added about 100 new photos of the area around my school and interesting things I snapped with my phone cam.
• Tomorrow evening I’m heading to train station for the first leg of my trip to Taiyuan. My vacation is finally starting!
• Keep checking back here as well as on Twitter, I plan to take a little bit of time and make some posts as well as update pictures throughout the trip.