Back up in Capital City Beijing = http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn during the summer, great weather as Beijing applied as candidate city to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Quite sure a few "polluting" factories and construction sites around greater Beijing region and neighbouring provinces have been temporarily shut down for the Winter Olympics selection process.



No extended lengthy overnight trips planned but free time always allows for great bike riding outside the Beijing city limits. Twisty mountain roads can be reached easily within approx. 45-60 min. riding leisurely using the expressways [up to today riding a motorbike using expressway / tollways only legally possible within the Beijing municipality]. Various pictures taken during rides around Sihai, Black Dragon Pool Road, Miyun Reservoir, Jiankou Great Wall, Yanqing, Changping, Huairou, Pinggu to give some general directions and ideas....

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Part two of Beijing region cruising....













































Good rest and meeting spot in the mountains, Sihai Sinopec Service Station (#92 only) = 40°31'44.8"N 116°24'12.9"E



Another convenient Sinopec Service Station ((#92 #95) for meeting and refilling, just out of Beijing Municipality in Hebei province beside the G111 National Road = 40°43'53.9"N 116°38'06.0"E



Some pictures above show road numbers and should be easy as putting together a few custom routes using the road data provided. Lots more road and touring options around the greater Beijing region but shredding tyres around the mountain ranges during free time and can't be really bothered to put up detailed GPS tracks and riding routes this time around.... Ride On!!!

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Touristy afternoon with a visiting mate from North Sydney as he has never been to the Beijing Summer Palace.
Summer Palace(Chinese Pinyin: Yí Hé Yuán), northwest of Beijing, is said to be the best preserved imperial garden in the world, and the largest of its kind still in existence in China. It is only a short drive (15 km) from central Beijing but seems like another world... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Summer Palace(Chinese Pinyin: Yí Hé Yuán), northwest of Beijing,

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Baihewan area in the mountain range besides the National Road G111 has a Offroad park (Baihewan Raceway, Liulimiao Village, Huairou) located at 40°40’04.6” N 116°40’56.7”E and a Red Bull sponsered competition during June 2015.

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Once again, more Baihewan Offroad Park pictures....

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Thank you for the great photos and info...

What a lovely Beijing day,over at the 798/751 Art-Districts again showing a visiting overseas mate involved in extreme arts (large wall murals / graffitis) some of the graffitis all over the area...

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Out cruising the greater Beijing mountain regions.... Jiankou section of the Great Wall of China is located in the Huairou district 73km North of Beijing between the famous Mutianyu (ten kilometers to the east) and the Moshikou sections of the Great Wall of China. The Jiankou section of the wall was constructed in 1368 during the period of the Ming Dynasty. It is made of large light colored rocks which can be seen from a great distance. Because of its connection with Mutianyu Wall, along with its relative sparseness in visitors, the Jiankou-Mutianyu Great Wall trail is one of the most popular Great Wall hikes today... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiankou

The small villages nearby have a few hostels so called "Folk Inns" and simple guesthouses for overnight stays to explore and hike the region, the most famous and popular one is called Zhou's Hostel located at Xizhazi village no.5 branch (40°27'54.3"N 116°30'43.6"E / phone: 010-6161-1762).

The closest location rideable with a Ducati MTS is located just above a small village and farmhouse settlement and marks the start of the small rocky and very steep climbing trail to the Jiankou Wall section (40°27’54.4"N 116°31’53.8"E). Someone placed two old lounge chairs in a very convenient location for relaxed Jiankou wall viewing.









Huanghuacheng Great Wall, about 85km North of downtown Beijing (40°25'1"N 116°20'20"E).
Huanghuacheng is a village in Jiuduhe, Huairou District, Beijing, the north of China bordering onto the Great wall of China. The town is famous for having several lakes in close proximity to the wall. The Huangcheng Great Wall is often called "Jintang Great Wall" as the lake (reservoir) by the wall is called Jintang Lake.







Back mountains of the Xiangshuihu Great Wall section (40°27'34"N 116°27'13"E), the wall connects from here to the Moyashike Great Wall area (40°26'43"N 116°28'31"E).
Great spot to start hiking around Moyashike Valley and Great Wall Spur Loop and over the mountain range to the Xiangshuihu Great Wall section.

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

It's that time of year again around Beijing: the time to sit outside on tiny stools, order way too much Chuan'r (roadside / outdoor BBQ Beijing style = skewered meat sticks), overestimate your ability to stand mala, and wash it all down with a mug of jiapi (that delicious draft beer).
Mates up here in Beijing always try but been in the lovely motherland for some years now and reckon had my fair share of roadkill, mystery meat and lousy tasteless greasy food full of MSG and not very fond of the native "food experience & adventure" anymore.

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Well ~ people always ask about my favourite places to eat while in Beijing, here we go with a short list of my personal new and old time favourites go-to places within reasonable city limits during June / July 2015.

Beijing's worst kept secret is back with tasty tacos and tequila, this time setting up in the Sanlitun area.
Tasty and super fresh Mexican over at the Taco Bar = http://www.tacobarchina.com















Solid great food, prepared - cooked and expertly smoked in-house, never had a wrong meal at Homeplate BBQ (Sanlitun) = http://homeplatebbq.com





Sanlintun MokaBros = http://mokabros.com ,good solid food and drinks and absolute great location for people watching. Food is split up in salads, sandwiches & wraps, savory & sweet crepes, and something they're calling "Power Bowls", which is rice and or noodle-based main courses. A fair amount of variance in each section with some pretty creative options.







Stuff'd located in the Jianchang Hutong / Doncheng District, English style gastro-pub Stuff'd specializes in food that is stuffed -- nay "Stuff'd" -- with other food. Everything on the menu is the glorious meeting of one thing inside another -- sausages, pits, pot pies, calzones, and more. Recommended are their homemade sausages and beer. Popular brunch special too = http://www.stuff-d.com adjacent to Arrow Factory Brewery Beijing = http://www.arrowfactory.org.cn









The ballers are back, this time with their first offline space, in a quiet Hutong just off Gulou Xidajie.
The Meatball Company = http://www.themeatballcompanybj.com ,not far from Bohai Lake district and the Bell Tower.

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Okra 1949 is a modern sushi bar and restaurant founded by Chef Max Levy features sushi, sake and cocktails in Sanlitun's 1949 -The Hidden City- / Beijing. = http://okra1949.com



















Same area (Sanlitun's 1949 -The Hidden City- / Beijing) has the famous JingA Brewery = http://capitalbrew.com



Chef Jeff's "Frost", serves a great tasty burger (different versions) located at 55 Xingfucun Zhonglu (in the alleyway across from April Gourmet Supermarket) Chaoyang District, 朝阳区幸福村中路55 (phone: 64175430).



Furthermore, one can't go wrong with well established food + beverage outlets owned and operated by Blue Frog: http://www.bluefrog.com.cn / Wagas: http://www.wagas.com.cn / Element Fresh: http://www.elementfresh.com

Fresh expert brewed coffee over near the big T-Square, Soloist Coffee = https://www.facebook.com/pages/Soloi...80438645530898







Furthermore, great coffee served by FlatWhite = http://www.cafeflatwhite.com with several locations around Beijing including a nice venue for people watching in the 751 / 798 Dashanzi, Chaoyang District: http://www.798district.com







Famous breweries are The Great Leap outlets with various locations across Beijing....Great place to bring visitors to Beijing that have had one too many Chinese meals and need a western alternative. Food is consistent and reasonably priced and the samplers are good for finding the brew you like best. http://www.greatleapbrewing.com



As with every hustling and bustling Capital City, places opening and closing just overnight, really good up to date listings to explore the food + beverage options available in Beijing: http://www.timeoutbeijing.com -- http://www.smartbeijing.com -- http://www.thebeijinger.com

Last but not least, all public spaces incl. bars and restaurants enforce the newly introduced NO SMOKING ban...

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

The Tail of the Dragon (Black Dragon Pool Road S310 "That road scared the shit out of me, let's do it all over again") riding once before departure from the greater Capital City Beijing region to other destinations....





































Unfortunately once again time to say goodbye to Beijing cruising till 2016...

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

ཨ༌མདོ
Amdo is one of the three main regions of Tibet found in the northeast corner of the Tibetan Plateau. Amdo is home to approximately 25% of the total Tibetan population. Parts of Amdo lie in northern and eastern Qinghai, southwest Gansu and northern Sichuan. If you think of Tibet as rolling grasslands filled with yaks and nomads, the Amdo region is what you are thinking of. Amdo covers an area of over 645,000 square kilometers and is slightly smaller than the state of Texas and slightly larger than Ukraine.....



Traveling around the greater Amdo-Tibet region one can't miss the awesome grassland scattered all over the various mountain ranges, pics below are taken around the greater Labrang / Langmusi / Rebkong area.

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR

Traveling around the greater Amdo-Tibet region one can't miss the awesome grasslands...

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Somewhere down the road in China since '89 ~ along the route I've learned the hard way that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everybody off is a piece of cake....TBR