In America we have RV’s, donut-wheeled motorized trikes, and dirt-bikes. We have jeeps and all sorts of pickups. Well, you know what? So does China. The Chinese love the sport of going “off road” and exploring China.
Here we are doing to have a brief review of this most awesome pastime. Just make sure that your trunk is filled with ice and a fine beverage of your choice. Myself, I prefer a nice icy-cold beer, but wine, VSOP, XO and whiskey are fine alternatives.
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The Chinese love to travel in groups
The Chinese love to travel in groups. They really do not like to travel alone. They view life as something that should be shared. And, I for one, can’t blame them.
Friendships are important and are important when you are involved in shared activities that everyone enjoys. Such things as travel, adventure and exploration are greatly prized by the Chinese. In fact, they form individual clubs and groups around these activities.
This is in many ways like what we in the United States used to do maybe three decades ago. That was before the federal government started to demand open membership in clubs and organizations. First it began with “men’s only” clubs being forced to accept woman, and now we have the Boy Scouts turning into the Queer trans-gendered scouts.
Sigh. America is a progressive utopia today.
Luckily, China doesn’t permit any of this kind of social engineering, so people are free to establish their own clubs and organizations totally independent fro the government. And, so they do…
Outfitting the camper(s)
Many of the Chinese take their four-wheel drive vehicles and outfit them as sleeping quarters. This is the same as what you would see in the United States with “campers” and other rigs of a similar nature. The only difference is that most of these outfitted vehicles are designed for off-road adventures on difficult terrain.
I have seen these vehicles decked out much the same way that the 1970’s van culture would do. They would have carpet inside the vehicles and on the ceilings just like we all used to put shag carpeting in the ceilings and dashboards of our vans and Camaros back in the late 1970’s.
Inside you can find refrigerators (you know, for some frosty beer), as well as high-end stereo and television systems. Some are outfitted with independent air conditioning, power generators, and heaters. It all depends on the owners.
Being China, bathroom necessities are generally taken cared for behind trees or within ravines.
Rather than having one-way tinted or mirrored glass, most Chinese vehicles have insulated glass to keep the UV light out, and a network of curtains that can be closed for privacy when needed. These curtains are often thick and used to help keep the interior of the vehicle at a pleasant temperature.
Many of the vehicles have “pop top” arrangements that open up to a kind of built-in tent. Thus you can have a nice sleeping tent on the top of the vehicle, or one that would fold outwards from the back or side of the vehicle.
Mud Slingin’ on quad bikes
Just like in the American South East, the Chinese have a love for Mud Slingin’. Here, it is often done with quad bikes instead of pickups, the the overall idea is pretty much the same.
No, this is not about calling people names or “digging up dirt” on people.
This is the actual act of throwing mud around – often in a four-wheel-drive vehicle. You can see this kind of activity all over “fly over country” (i.e. outside of the urban centers) in the United States. It doesn’t matter if the soil is red, or if it is black. If there is dirt, and there is water, then you can have loads of fun slinging it around.
Ahhh.
I well remember my first experiencing mud slingin’. It was in the boondocks somewhere between Rock Hill and York South Carolina. We were in this stand of tall pines (in the Carolina’s are there any other kinds of forests?) and a bunch of fellas with huge trucks, with these super massive wheels were tearing up this bog in the middle of a clearing.
The soil, of course, was red, and so was the mud. As they drove in and out of the bog, the mud would spray over everything. It was a geyser of wet red mud that got into everything. I’ll tell you what. But who cares anyways.
We’d ride around and then of course get some beer from the various trucks. Everyone was really open to sharing some of their fine frosty libations (that’s beer for those of you from Rio Linda), and some fine eating. We later went to a fish fry and I got my first taste of hush puppies. Good eating ya all.
Anyways, the Chinese are the same. They like the same things… fish… beer… motor sports… slinging mud… singing songs. Though they probably never heard of Charlie Daniels, they would certainly be willing to belt out a contemporaneous Country and Western tune or two with me.
You know, like Sam Hunt.
Dirt-Biking up and down the woods
Well, the Chinese also have a real love for dirt-biking.
Here we can see some quad bikes having some fun on some stairs. Of course, they should really be wearing helmets, but they don’t need to. In China, there aren’t laws to protect us from ourselves. They don’t have all these rules to make our life better and safer.
Instead they expect us to take responsibility for ourselves. If we hurt ourselves, then we suffer the consequences, and pay for it out of our own pocket. It’s not the government’s business. It’s ours.
Full Dressers
Here’s a chick on a fully dressed Indian. Don’t ya just love it?
Some cities in China have banned motorcycles, and / or electric scooters. I know that Shenzhen has banned them because so many of the people using them have little regard for the rules of the road and traffic safety. (It’s kind of amazing. You have this super difficult written test and a series of driving tests that you must take, and still people drive like maniacs…)
Heck, it’s like a scene from Momas Family.
Anyways…
So what the Shenzhen police did was just drive around in big box trucks and collect every parked motorcycle that they could find. They would drive over to the curb and just start loading them up. The Chinese do not mess around.
This, or course, ended up getting many people upset.
Though…
They shouldn’t have gotten upset. The police gave a six months notice that they would do this. But, you know, people being people just never thought that it would actually happen. So they started rounding up all kinds of motorized bicycles.
Anyways, big bikes are popular in China.
When the tariff issues are resolved between Trump and Xi Peng, (and they will most certainly get resolved) you can expect sales of Harley’s to really take off in China. The chicks really love those Harleys.
Caravans into the Hinderlands
Often the Chinese will organize into groups of like-minded folk and go on caravans.
Often they will arrange multi-week long trips and go out exploring the back-roads of China. Often they will communicate with each other by establishing a group video chat on We-chat. You just have the APP run on the dash and carry on with multiple conversations while you drive along.
Here’s another micro-video along these lines.
People, life is about living. If you are not out with your friends, doing the best to provide for your family, and eating well, then you are squandering it. You need to go forth and take the cup of life with both hands and gulp it down in big frosty foam-filled gulps.
Exploring Tibet
The region of Tibet is an enormous geographical area, comprising nearly 25% of all of China. It is mountainous with some absolutely amazing views. Many of my friends have outfitted their vehicles and explored this section of the country with all sorts of adventurous tales.
Conclusion
The Chinese love motor sports just like Americans do. They form clubs and groups and enjoy the pleasures of automobiles and adventure together with their friends. If you, have the same interests, I would suggest that you too go forth and enjoy yourself.
There’s a hill. Out there. Waiting for you.
What’s your excuse?
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