Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅴ

Day7: July 11, Jixielinchang-Weichang, 80km

Time flies, today we would leave the beautiful Grassland and arrive at Weichang County——back to the “First Stair” again. However, I was not satisfied with what we’ve seen. So before we set off, I get up early while An Bo was still sleeping. I rode alone the road that we rolled yesterday until the Source of Luanhe River. The air was not very clear, but the forest was peaceful in the morning fog.

Flowers carpeted on the forest ground

Peaceful morning picture

the sunrise

There were huge amount of hungry huge mosquitos in the pine forest. They bit on my arm even I was dressed in a long-sleeve autumn coat and full of essential balm! Maybe I was the only mammal they could found here…

I hope it could help me to destory some mosquitos…

fairyland

The following pics were taken on our way to Weihang County.

forest lane

The birch forest

birch trees

Here must be more beautiful in autumns

This is another steep slope, fortunately, it’s only 1km

Horses were drinking at Moon Lake

Moon Lake is another resort for city vacationers

A lovely deer. Local people use it as prize to attract visitors to play their “easy to win” games.

Poor deer, where is your mother?

Trollius chinensis is a kind of famous flower on grassland.

The Saihan Tower, located top in this region. There was also a Saihan Temple nearby, which is said to be the smallest temple recognized by Kangxi Emperor.

The Jixielinchang is the name of this forest farm. “Jixie” means mechanical and suggests that the forest was aerial planted

some local specials of Saihanba

The portal of Saihanba National Forest Park. Actually, we entered the park from its back gate. Now it’s time to say good-bye to Bashang.

Day8: July 12, Weichang-Chengde, 140km

Today’s journey was the longest amoung the daily trips. An Bo was exciting. His families were waiting him to back home. Yes, he’s a Chengde guy. The day became sunny again. I kept dreaming of taking marvelous pictures on grassland under such blue sky and white clouds…

scenery on the way

Although the distance was the longest, we rode very fast. In the afternoon, when we arrived at the foot of a 4km slope, An’s father suddenly appeared. Following his motorbike, we soon reached the top. The last gift was a 30km slope to Chengde. “ I’m Home!!!!”, An Bo disappeared in a rush.

7:30, we had sat in a Chengde’s restaurant, enjoy our gee feast with An's parents. I took a comfortable bath and lived in An’s home. Chengde is famous for its Summer Resort. What a cool night!

Now An Bo had completed his journey, but another 200km to Beijing was still waiting for me…

More About the Trip

Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅰ
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Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅲ View Map
Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅳ View Map
Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅴ View Map
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Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅳ

Day5: July 9, Duolun-Yudaokou-Jixielinchang, 100km

It’s another sunny day. We were going to arrive our final destination, Saihanba National Forest Park. We got up early and had some Mogolian breakfast in the restaurant we patronized yesterday. Today’s journey was the easiest. We arrived at Yudaokou soon. After we had our lunch, turned north, we began to march to Saihanba.

our Mongolia breakfast

scenery on the way

Border of Inner Mongolia and Hebei Province

Riding to Saihanba was enjoyable. The road was in good quality and we still rode before the wind. What’s more, not like the way to Duolun, there were lot of flowers, butterflies, cows instead of pure grass. The hight is about 1500 here, not very high, but it not easy for us to come here from Beijing which is only tens of meters above the sea level. At a down slope, I refeshed my speed record: 62.5km/h!

On the way to Jixielinchang

At about four o’clock, July 9, 2008, An Bo and I reached at Jixielinchang successfully, with a distance of 540km.

We lived in a inn called Red Moon Inn, which provided imitative Mongolian yurts. “Extreme joy begets sorrow”, as the saying goes. When we were hanging around in the town excitedly, An Bo tried to jump over a deceleration bar but failed with tumbling. What we can do now was only sitting down peacefully to enjoy Bashang barbecue. Ok, that’s the end of today.

We’ve rolled 540km from Beijing

Street barbecue. This guy behaved dishonestly when we checked out

Day6: July 10, Jixielinchang-Ulanbutong-General Pond-Ulanbutong-Jixielinchang, 20km×2

Today we made a round trip to Army Horse Ranch and General Pool, both located in Ulanbutong. I’ll write brief description under each photos instead of writting essay here.

The Source of Luanhe River

The General Tong Guogang, uncle of Kangxi Emperor, sacrificed in the battle against rebel army

The rock pile called Obo, which is something religious in Mogolian culture

Obos are used for sacrifice now, but their initial usage were showing directions or territory. It is said you will be lucky if you walk three circles clockwise and three circles counterclockwise around it.

The Grassland of Ulanbutong. We planned to try ridding horses, but the expense was too expensive.

The Grassland of Ulanbutong. The weather was not very good

Unfortunately, the desertification is frightening the beautiful grassland

Imitative Ancient military camp. Yurts are special houses for Mongolian and other nomadic groups on the grassland because they are easily to be moved.

It’s a sea of flowers. However, hundreds of years ago, the beautiful grassland was cruel battlefield of Qing dynasty and their rebel army.

The General Pond was named in honor of General Tong Guogang. As I’ve told you, he died in the battle against rebel army from west. It is said this is the most beautiful place of the area. but I don’t think so.

An Bo and his bike

And this is my bike

Archery is a popular and necessary skill for Mongolian people. You can have a try here.

The left target was An Bo’s, and the right one was mine…

In the Mongolian yurt. The people in the paint was Genghis Khan, a great Mongolian leader who expanded Yuan’s territory to today’s Europe and built the largest empire in human history.

On our way back to Jixielinchang, a heavey shower suddenly came. We even didn’t have one more second to find a shelter. It was the first rain since we left Liulimiao.

Back to Jixielinchang, we ate a roast lamb leg

More About the Trip

Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅰ
Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅱ View Map
Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅲ View Map
Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅳ View Map
Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅴ View Map
Bike Tour - Bashang Grassland Ⅵ View Map1 Map2