Epic Journey Archives - Page 14 of 15

Tour Development Status and Plan

By the time this trip begins I will have thoroughly scouted it and will have finalized the itinerary. I was in Russia twice in 2013 to perform scouting. On my second trip, I also scouted Mongolia from the Russian border at Kyakhta, south of Lake Baikal to the Chinese border at Zamiin-Uud. Since I left [...]

Tour Development Status and PlanAyres Adventures2017-05-18T21:48:20-05:00

Ron’s scouting trip in Russia and Mongolia

[satellite gallery=53 caption=off auto=on thumbs=on] I was in Russia last June to set up two tours that we'll operate in 2014. The June trip provided the opportunity to do some scouting for The Epic Journey as well. I posted articles to a blog on the website (Ron's Travels) and each blog has some [...]

Ron’s scouting trip in Russia and MongoliaAyres Adventures2017-05-18T21:48:21-05:00

Kirilov, Vologda Region

[SlideDeck2 id=7783] June 1, 2013 It seems as though it’s been much more than four days since I arrived in Moscow to begin scouting our first tours here. Svetlana met my flight and we were soon weaving through traffic that’s as heavy as New York City - perhaps even a bit worse. I sometimes whimsically [...]

Kirilov, Vologda RegionRon Ayres2017-05-18T21:48:22-05:00

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October 6, 2015 December 5, 2015
Our last day on this Epic Journey - and we wake to overcast skies and drizzle - a fitting end! We met our mini-bus and tour guide in the lobby and headed out into the wet wind. The first stop was up on Victoria Peak above the city. It was very windy. Next stop was […]
October 5 , 2015 Shenzhen to Hong Kong December 5, 2015
The guys took the motorcycles to the port facilities early this morning. Last night, we emptied everything out of the panniers. Somehow everything has to go into our luggage for the trip home. We shipped all of our riding gear over to Latvia in the bike panniers. However, since the motorcycle is now going back […]
October 4, 2015 Guangning to Shenzhen December 5, 2015
Today was another rainy day and there wasn't much to see. This was our last riding day, and we were making a run for Shenzhen where we will say zài jiàn to our motorcycles. Tomorrow we will take them to the port facilities, where they will be shipped to their next destinations. Our motorcycle will travel to […]
October 3, 2015 Yangshuo to Guangning December 5, 2015
We were up and ready for eager for today's ride. Our stay at the Yangshuo Resort provided a needed break from the vigilance required for riding in China. Our bike has seen cleaner days... So we mounted our loyal but filthy steeds... ...and down the park road, saying goodbye to the spectacular karst mountains... and […]
October 2, 2015 Free Day in Yangshuo December 5, 2015
Our rest day in Yangshuo turned out to be a great day. We were up early to head upriver for a bamboo raft ride through the karst mountains. Hardly anyone else at the hotel was awake. A group of women were washing clothes across the river from the hotel grounds. The grounds of the […]
October 1, 2015 Sanding Dong Village to Yangshuo December 5, 2015
We awoke to chicken clucking and crowing outside our window onto little balcony. We had a few minutes before breakfast to wander around the village one more time before heading out for today's ride. What happened to the newly clean bikes we had yesterday morning?! John led us back across the "wind-rain" bridge but then […]
September 30, 2015 Rongjiang to Sanding Dong Village December 5, 2015
Everyone was in a good mood this morning, including tour leader John. He left the hotel with a spring in his step. We met by the nice clean bikes, hoping they would remain clean through the day. What do you think? Our morning meeting was brief and we headed out into the morning traffic. Rongjiang has […]
September 29, 2015 Xijiang Miao Village to Rongjiang December 5, 2015
At last - a day with sunshine. The planned route was relatively short, so we slept in a bit. Everyone walked down the street a short distance to get on the motorcycles, which were parked in a narrow alley beside our breakfast restaurant. We climbed back out of the valley and headed off for new […]
September 28, 2015 Fuqua to Xijiang Miao Village December 5, 2015
It was disappointing to wake up to another drab, misty day. However, we brightened upon discovering that fellow BMW riders had ridden 130 km overnight to greet us in Fuquan. The news had gone out over social media that we were in town and they just wanted to come spend their holiday morning saying hello. […]
September 27, 2015 Renhuai to Fuguan December 5, 2015
Today did not start well. It rained hard overnight and was misting by the time we left the hotel. Of course construction mud was part of the morning grind as well. At one point, we had quite a bit of fishtail going on, but David pulled us through in an upright position. Both he and […]