MerDragon China Rally 2010

[NaPTuNe]

15th Aug 8am.

Tai An ---> TengZhou (lunch) ---> XuZhou (around 300plus km, but it took us 9hrs. Terrible journey.)

 

A participant got food poisoning and he wasn't able to ride his bike that day. I heard it was due to eating some hot pot spicy food and his stomach couldn't take it. So, his bike became the first bike to go up the tow truck. Just for a day. You never would have guessed who's bike eventually went up the truck as well....

 

Me....

 

Below is Ah Poh helping to load the Harley into the truck.

 

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This is Ah Poh, he had this aura around his head in this picture. I'm not sure if its natural or is it because of the camera lens.

 

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We left Tai An and proceed to Xuzhou. The journey took us 9hours. It was a tough journey ahead. Lots of roadworks and terrible dusty air.

[NaPTuNe]

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On our way to TengZhou for lunch, we came across someone dead in the middle of the road. It had nothing to do with us. I have no idea what happened too. In fact i didn't see it, it was the rest of them who saw and took photo of it. The victim's neck was twisted.

 

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[NaPTuNe]

Our restaurant in Tengzhou set off fire-crackers to welcome us. During our trip, we received warm welcome everywhere we went. I don't know how the rest of them felt but I felt very fortunate. However, they are not suppose to do that, because 15th of Aug in China was a day of mourning for the victims of landslide & flooding in Gansu Province. No form of celebration is allowed, no toasting, and surely NO FIRE-CRACKER!!

 

For a moment I was worried we might be apprehended for causing this action of celebration.

 

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Teng Zhou Fan Dian -- Our restaurant for lunch.

 

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Its funny why the local waitresses like to crowd around our guys. This picture wasn't intentional, these girls simply like to stand around our guys...

[NaPTuNe]

Hi!

 

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I am here today to teach lady riders how to plait your hair so that it doesn't get messy during riding.

 

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First, you gotta split your hair into 3 parts...

 

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Then plait and pull the hair in front...

 

Don't ask me why I take such stupid photos... Not me... It was the photographer who had nothing better to do...

[NaPTuNe]

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We are sooooo~ loved by the local people!~

 

We set off on the road again. At 2.50pm, everyone was tired and thirsty. The air on that day was very bad. We went past many roadworks and when i breathe, i could feel i'm breathing in dust particles. Terrible. We went pass the poorest village during our roadtrip. The houses looked as though they are crumbling down, badly need to be rebuilt. And there's only ONE proper looking school in that town. This village is Han Juang. I certainly hope the next time i come to this village, it would be in a better state.

 

The tour guide knowing we are all tired and sleepy... She spoke to the guards of the school compound to allow us to park in it and have a quick rest. The local people were more than happy to welcome us.

 

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Han Juang Secondary School. This is i think the only proper looking school in the neighbourhood. The village looked so poor...

 

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The flag was at half-mass as it was a national mourning day for victims of Gansu Province landslide.

 

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The local people quickily gathered around us and were amazed by our machines...

 

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We had ice-cream and we shared it with the local villagers...

 

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Edited September 3, 2010 by NaP^TuNe

[NaPTuNe]

At a petrol stop enroute to XuZhou.

 

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Eng Chye having water.

 

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Everywhere we went, we draw crowds... They were staring at us.

 

And finally 5.15pm, we reached Xuzhou. The hotel welcomed us with big broadcast of our ride on their screen.

 

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"Warmly welcome Team27 - Ride Motorbike, Tour China , group of motorcyclists for staying in our hotel."

 

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The view from my hotel room.

Edited September 3, 2010 by NaP^TuNe

[NaPTuNe]

Dinner later that day...

 

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Peter gave a speech on our trip and prepared us for what's coming the next day. The next day is going to be the longest & toughest journey of the whole trip.

 

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These waitresses simply love our guys...

[NaPTuNe]

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These are the 6 marshalls for our roadtrip. They've done a terrific job controlling the traffic for our convoy.

Left to right: John, Peter, Vincent, Ah Poh, Eng Chye & Kelvin.

[NaPTuNe]

Remember the guy who had a bad stomach and couldn't ride for the day? Now he's alright, his bike unloading from the tow truck.

 

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His name is Erling. There he is, looking all good by the end of the day. And ready for the next morning's ride.

[NaPTuNe]

When we arrived at XuZhou's hotel, we got interviewed by the local newspaper team. There's a small colum featuring me being the youngest participant and also a female rider. Each of us received a copy of the paper as a sovenir.

 

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Do you see me inside the picture??

 

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[NaPTuNe]

16th Aug, 8am.

XuZhou --> Huai Yin (lunch) --> Nanjing.

415km, it took us almost 12 hours. I'll explain later.

 

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Above: Mark & Me. Mark, these pictures are for you.

 

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By this time, the trip had gotten so unforgettable that i wish it'll never end.

[NaPTuNe]

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Look out for cars... look out for pedestrians.... look out for goats....

[NaPTuNe]

Around 11.30am, 3hrs into our journey, Richard's bike broke down AGAIN... We stopped by the road shoulder to wait for him. I was feeling very sleepy and some riders are just so energetic to disturb me...

 

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%$&+#$#@!?

 

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Mah & his wife. Switching rider & pillion role.

 

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Edited September 4, 2010 by NaP^TuNe

[NaPTuNe]

Poor Richard & his bike...

 

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It was the dunno how many times the bike couldn't start. Sometimes it switch off in the middle of riding. We stopped 3 or 4 times that day because of his bike.

 

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Was able to have a quick wash of my bike during lunch.

 

When we neared Nanjing, the roads were terrible. Endless potholes and muddy water in it. This was the worse part of our journey. Check out the video below. I will appear around 4mins & 40secs in the video. I screamed into it. I didn't know it was suppose to be a video, I thought the pillion of the bike was taking a picture of me. I was so stressed by the road.

 

Check out the ice-cream vendor that appears on the 4.40sec.

 

 

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I couldn't sit properly on my seat. My Duke became an ALL TERRAIN VEHICLE!!!

Edited September 4, 2010 by NaP^TuNe

[NaPTuNe]

Thanks to the unpredictable condition of the road and our dear friend Richard's bike keep breaking down... we reached Nanjing 7.30pm.

8am to 7.30pm My God.

 

And my bike is dirty as hell. Help!!!!

 

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I was soooo tired i went nuts. I began bragging how amazing a 1098 is... it actually took me thru terrible roads, potholes, took in all the mud and cement and kept me safe. My all terrain vehicle, a superbike which i tortured it long-distance and never once brought it to track. It hadn't fail me.

 

I literally worshipped my bike, therefore the picture below...

 

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And Nelson also went nuts, he hugged my bike...

 

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You know things people do when they are nuts...

[NaPTuNe]

Dinner later that night.

 

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Left to right: Ah Poh, Vincent, Neil, Me, Li, Richard (BMW) Not the one who's bike broke down, there's 2 Richard, Jack Sim & Nelson.

 

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Left to right: Nelson, ??, Xiao Yi, Tong Kak, John, Eng Chye & Ah Poh (seated).

 

The two ladies in the above photo are our tour guide for our entire trip. They followed us from Beijing to Shanghai. They've done a great job coordinating the trip, handling the logistics and taking care of everyone. Everytime we stop for petrol, they bought mineral water & ice-cream for us. I posted photos of us stopping in a school compound earlier yes? That wasn't suppose to be the plan, but the tour guide could tell we were tired and needed a break. So they approached the school guard to allow us to park in the school. Little things they do that make everyone's day.

 

So much good about them yet I couldn't remember their names. My bad. I only know the one in Orange, her name is Xiao Yi, (Yi Xiang Dong) from E Holidays Pte Ltd based in Singapore.

Edited September 5, 2010 by NaP^TuNe

[NaPTuNe]

Following what happened that night was one of our wildest night on the trip. Our hotel happen to have a club on the 4th floor. All we wanted was to chill and have some drinks. We headed down to the club and it was a hostess club. They provide local ladies for companionship. We got ourselves a karaoke room and the mamasan showed us the girls.

 

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In case you don't know what i do for a living, I am a mamasan in a hostess club at Havelock Road. So going into a hostess club is like going back to a familiar ground. The guys whom i went to the club with started acting in a weird way. Perhaps they put into consideration that i am a female so they tired to act more gentlemen or something... The hostesses parade in front of us waiting for us to choose who we want. The guys were "shy" and nobody did anything.

 

Heck, I saw a pleasant looking girl who appeals to me so i picked her. I became the first one to "do something". Then slowly the guys got themselves girls as well. But what I didn't expect was the girls started stripping an hour or so into the party. They all got up from the sofa, stood in front of the tv and started doing a strip show. They stripped down to only their G-strings left and danced for all to see. okay......hmm....

 

We didn't expect that but it was very nice of them.... Before engaging them, the mamasan already informed us that their booking fees for the night sitting with us would be 300RMB (S$60). But we didn't expected them to strip. And to earn only S$60 for that. They can't drink well too. My lady was drunk and her hands were all over me. I felt i should be the one getting tipped instead...

 

Look at what i'm doing to her! She's so drunk she don't even care.

 

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And I was getting drunk as time passes...

 

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Everybody went crazy....

 

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I woke up the next morning feeling like Sh1t...

Edited September 5, 2010 by NaP^TuNe

[NaPTuNe]

17th Aug ---> Nanjing sight-seeing day.

No Ride Day. And due to previous day of long hours on the road plus all that action at night, we had a late start of day at 12pm.

 

2pm, we arrived at the ChangJiang Bridge. Also known as the Yangtze River Bridge.

 

The Yangtze River Bridge was constructed between 1960 and 1968. It is a self-designed, self-constructed bridge by China during Mao's rule. A time when technology is not so advance, China and its people are very proud of their achievement for having built this bridge. As the longest bridge with dual functions of highway and railway listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

 

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Do you see two hands on the lower end of the photo? haha~~

 

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The significant double-deck construction. The upper deck of the bridge is a highway with a span of 4,589 meters. There are sidewalks on either side of the highway each measuring over 2 meters in width. The lower deck holds a twin-track railway with a length of 6,772 meters. This is a big big project.

The completion of the bridge has reduced the river crossing time from about 2 hours by ferry to only several minutes by vehicle.

[NaPTuNe]

Below are the views taken from the watch tower of Nanjing ChangJiang Bridge.

 

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[NaPTuNe]

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The concrete colums holding the bridge, photo taken below the bridge.

 

Slogan during Mao's rule:

 

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"We gather, to achieve a greater success."

 

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How do i translate the above meaning.... "Long live to the world's bonding"? Don't sound right, didn't quite made sense...

[sp2]

Following what happened that night was one of our wildest night on the trip. Our hotel happen to have a club on the 4th floor. All we wanted was to chill and have some drinks. We headed down to the club and it was a hostess club. They provide local ladies for companionship. We got ourselves a karaoke room and the mamasan showed us the girls.

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Naptune/DSC_0283.jpg

 

 

 

In case you don't know what i do for a living, I am a mamasan in a hostess club at Havelock Road. So going into a hostess club is like going back to a familiar ground. The guys whom i went to the club with started acting in a weird way. Perhaps they put into consideration that i am a female so they tired to act more gentlemen or something... The hostesses parade in front of us waiting for us to choose who we want. The guys were "shy" and nobody did anything.

 

Heck, I saw a pleasant looking girl who appeals to me so i picked her. I became the first one to "do something". Then slowly the guys got themselves girls as well. But what I didn't expect was the girls started stripping an hour or so into the party. They all got up from the sofa, stood in front of the tv and started doing a strip show. They stripped down to only their G-strings left and danced for all to see. okay......hmm....

 

We didn't expect that but it was very nice of them.... Before engaging them, the mamasan already informed us that their booking fees for the night sitting with us would be 300RMB (S$60). But we didn't expected them to strip. And to earn only S$60 for that. They can't drink well too. My lady was drunk and her hands were all over me. I felt i should be the one getting tipped instead...

 

Look at what i'm doing to her! She's so drunk she don't even care.

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Naptune/DSC_0517-1.jpg

 

And I was getting drunk as time passes...

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Naptune/Niteclub01.jpg

 

Everybody went crazy....

 

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http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Naptune/Niteclub03.jpg

 

I woke up the next morning feeling like Sh1t...

 

Power!! the most happening day throughout the merdragon trail... Thumbs up!!

[NaPTuNe]

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There's a gift shop at the ground floor of the watch tower. Which sells glass sovenirs with paintings drawn from the inside of the glass bottle.

 

Next, we visited the Nanjing Qin Huai River. A shopping & eating district with plenty of tourists. Did i mention i was so sick of eating chinese food during the trip? I managed to find KFC and I dashed in and ate FOUR drumsticks.

 

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[NaPTuNe]

Power!! the most happening day throughout the merdragon trail... Thumbs up!!

 

I puke until the next day 1pm still vomiting in the coach bus... Can you believe it?!

[NaPTuNe]

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The very rich in Nanjing... Check out his number plate!

 

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The faithful loyal bird...

 

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I am quite into the mythical tales of the Gods of four different directions. They are:

The Eastern Green Dragon

The Western White Tiger

The Southern Phoenix &

The Northern Snake & Turtle.

 

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What a creative way to showcasts our colourful shoes...

Edited September 5, 2010 by NaP^TuNe

[NaPTuNe]

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Later part of the evening, we make a quick trip to the entrance of the Museum of Nanjing Massacre. It wasn't part of our plan to visit the museum. But due to several request by the riders, who are interested to see the place, we dropped by the entrance for some photos. It is already night-time and the museum is closed.

I've been to the museum 5 years ago. It is very sad inside. The things, the photos and the stories told by the surviors are cruel and inhuman. To this very day, Japan refuses to admit there had ever been a massacre. The total number of innocent killed, 300,000.

 

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The stone statue of a mother carrying her dead child.

 

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