Lvchun, Yunnan Province China, Town on a Knife edge

Lüchun China, town on a knife ridge. Our ride out from Mengzi was dry to start with then the rain came down ....so much so with the road flowing.

New bike, new tyres, new road, unfamiliar with any of this meant we were tip toeing our way carefully, a bunch of scootas in a group, one of which was two up came up behind us, some overtook us and the two upper was last so we followed his lines.

On the corners were red painted areas which are normally slippery as hell, these had a bit of grit in the paint so ok but still no knee dragging to be done.

Bit by bit pushed a little more feeling the bike and getting confidence with the rubber on the road contact which I am comfortable with now and have to say the tyres are pretty good for our level or riding, the road surface however with tarseal base, water laden with fine clay mud and marble stones is defo be careful material, a couple of times the front wheel felt loose from aquaplaning.

We arrived in Lüchun to our hotel safe and sound after a beautiful ride despite the damp, the scenery was outstanding and we really are in the back blocks of the real China.

Lvchun from the air, this is not our photo, we stole it off the net.

That evening we received phone call from Xiao lan, dads wife, dad had fallen very ill from his long battle with cancer, it didn't sound good as he was in hospital.

Another call later that evening from the doctor confirmed things were going downhill quickly, at 11.08 pm, 9th June Shifan Luan (dad) left us.

Although not unexpected it didn't help on the day with tears galore.

Wednesday 10^th June, for obvious reasons our mission had taken a complete U turn, our VISA runs out on the Monday and our plans to exit to Laos turned upside down.

Now our focus is getting Ellen back to Beijing for family stuff.

With no urgency for our VISA which expires on Monday when we will become illegal aliens and we are around only 4000km away, only 1000 km a day, given we cannot ride motorways or expressways here in China because we are two up that is simply impossible, our only option is Mengzi which is 220 km away to plead our case

Some frantic phone calls, emails to the New Zealand Embassy in China and obtaining documents to get a special purpose S2 VISA was priority, then came the kicker.

As Ellen has blood connection no problem but me …problem child, we needed our Marriage certificate to show we are married, easy done only 10000 km away at home and have no idea where it is.

Now, we can apply for a Marriage certificate no problem but they will only post it and the website says most people get the certificate in two weeks, we have 4 days before when we become illegal then shit deepens 10 fold with Chinese beurocracy.

Emails to a JP verifying our marriage etc …gezz the mission of proving who you are and are you marriage while standing right in front of them….FFS

So, we recommend, as little as it may seem to include a PDF or whatever of your marriage certificate (assuming you are married of course) in case this situation arises, of all the moto travel we have done this is a first time but add brother, mother sister etc into the equation and you have difficulty if you are on a travel VISA, just something we had never considered.

We will get through it but the hoops, within hoops, within hoops (and doing it blind folded, hands tied behind your back LOL) it surely is a test.

R.I.P Shifan Luan        

Jianshi

Town and about, being a tourist trap so has everything really spendie that you don’t need.

Our first afternoon was immigration to find out about a time extension but first was lunch and saving a three wheeled scoota rolling off down a road for which the lady was extremely grateful, she knocked the block out from under the wheel then it started to get away on her, she yelled out to her mates for help but I was right there so I grabbed it and stopped it much to her surprise because she was still looking the other way screaming and I had already stopped it from running away….she took a second to grasp why it had stopped, whiteyfoowheelchoc at your service mam. 

Jianshi vibe is cool, the people are very nice … and cos they wonna sell ya something, my Chinese has improved by immersion into their society and ways, I cannot spell any of the words but I can understand more and more as we go and can parrot the sounds to make them understand me.     

During todays walk we came across Walmart…LOL, last thing I thought we would see in China but it did have some westyfoo wine so we got a bottle to have.

Some funny things here, certainly different to Kiwi style and that is what makes traveling cool.

Some of the places....

Its not the size of your shop it is the way you sell from it.

Dude has more dance skills than me

Jianshi old town sunrise gate

Double dragpn bridge or 17 arch bridge

Little house on a bridge

Part of the old town square

 

Kunming To Naguzhen To Jianshi

Our first official trip with luggage and all out into the wilderness and adventure of China, after the pre run shake down and setup runs and everything went well, a few adjustments made which were.

Took the rubber inserts out of the foot pegs mainly because of me knees which like a little more space and the nearly 20mm extra room is coul. Also the rubbers when wet were a little slippery...take that how you will, Kevin I know what you prefer LOL.

Adjusted the rear brake pedal down because the pegs height was lowered.

Set the rear static spring sag for the weight, there was basically no spring preload so it was saggy in the bum so with two up and a 3 cases although only 87L total the rear spring needed tightening (maybe too much duck and pork belly LOL) to take fatso on the front.

Adjusted the forks to be more compliant …at least to start while everything is new and tight but now it sucks up Chinese road bumps better than a (insert your favourite sucker here), also dropped the forks through the clamps 10 mm for standover assistance (insert your favourite dwarf joke here)

After viewing some footage from our on board camera the front is slightly on the piss so I straightened that out…sorry and no you were not drunk.

Set the height for the centre stand to rest up properly to give us more ground clearance.

Some other minor adjustments to levers etc to my preference so nothing other than customizing the positioning to my liking and comfort.

First trip out was to Naguzhen city near a lake, we made a fairly epic navigational fuckup along the way which turned into a coulas road through little villages and rolling hill country, not sure were we missed our turn but the travel Gods looked after us.

Our hotel, 5^th floor with very very quiet neighbours, they were all dead as it was a cemetery, the Police came and passported us in which is standard practice, there are some hotels we simply cannot stay at but this one was good, the Police were very friendly and helpful and the dude at the front desk had a Landrover 110 model toy, must be a good bastid.

Out for dinner across the road that evening to a Muslin based eatery, the ladies were very nice to us and the food was outstanding, nice to be writing this in amoungst the crap we get fed everyday about extremists as these guys were just doing their thing ....like us.  

After an uneventful night and a good sleep with AC we piled off on our next stop Jianshi which was only 90 km away, we planned to stay two nights here but on arrival turned that into three nights, what a cool place, as luck would have it we rolled in the door and got sorted with heavy rain tailing us so we made it in without getting wet by the skin of our teeth.

The road in through the city was an education with lane marking meaning pretty much nothing so it provided entertainment with vehicle ripping through spaces skinnier than a size 00 supermodel.

Jianshi....more to come.

Pick Up The Bike And Our Stunt Ride Home With First Impressions

Pick Up The Bike And Our Stunt Ride Home With First Impressions

Welcome to the family Xiao Lyu, (pronounced in English shou luh) in English means Little Donkey.

Following our good lady home from the dealership she was on her little electric scoota and she was slashing through traffic aggressively like a stars wars fighter scene so it was fun but a little stressy as we were 2 up with our cases on (wide-ish) and a new bike that I had ridden only a coupla hundred meters to the workshop and back prior to this.

Being an “efficient rider” (maybe slightly aggressive) I bought into her riding style pretty quickly, my mirrors were out of adjustment so I could see all the flights coming into Kunming but not the swarm of electric scootas jamming themselves through a ½ scoota space on either side of us, this was daunting at first because of the pace and flow.

After a few minutes of racing I felt pretty comfy and just had to look left and right to make sure Houdini wasn’t trying an unexpected maneuver. We made it home safely and in one piece so a major hurdle past and happy to have Xiao Lyu at home so we can adjust the mirrors, set up the navigation etc.

We are fitting radiator protection mesh (about $8 kiwi) as Xiao Lyu does not come with anything and a front and rear camera system hopefully to avoid any dispute should something ugly happen, insurance fraud from “deliberate accidents” for money is rife here so a good idea to record it.     

First Impressions, having only ridden a short distance around 25 km we didn’t get to “quietly” look, learn and listen but comfort wise she is excellent so far.

The ergos I set it up roughly for me before leaving the shop so some fine tuning with levers and bar position will be done, this will come with some riding time under the belt.

The power delivery is very smooth with no vibration and the wee 450 I believe will be an absolute pleasure for our travels, it is no power pack but is more than adequate and very easy to ride even tho she is still as tight as a dutchman having to pay for something. The factory tires despite looking like Pirelli STR’s which are reasonably quiet are very noisy but I am not bothered by this, how they stick to the road is important so time will tell.

Our riding space on the seats seems very good, we positioned the rear case quite specifically so Ellen can rest against it given it has comfy back rests.

The footpeg to seat ratio is fine for both of us, some taller riders remove the rubber inserts on the rider pegs for more room but being longitudinally challenged I don’t think I will need to, again time will tell, Ellens ergos are fine.

The 6 inch colour TFT dash is readable in any light and auto dims when you go through a dark spot like a tunnel or under an overpass and even the switchgear is backlit…although I hope not to ever see this as it would mean we are riding at night which we do not do.

That is it for now, waiting on the weather to play ball so we can poke some miles on her and see Yunnan Province.  

A small vid for the way home.

 

The Paperwork Mission 19th May - 28th May

19^th May 2026 to 28th May 2026, The Paperwork.

In this part we will tell you our experience and torment in getting on board legally here in China, while I am not a total fan of being system obedient, in China you really have no choice, there are cameras EVERYWHERE, even cameras watching cameras so your offense is already known by the feds before you have committed it.

I will add at this point that Chinese is Ellen's native tongue, while I could do the paperwork being a Kiwi whiteyfoo it would cost an enormous amount with a guide and translator and taxis....as well as mental health. 

1^st, Temporary Residence, we needed a Chinese address from a rate paying citizen (or a hotel booking) so you better of having a good friend or it will cost you lots more money.

2^nd, Rider/Driver License and Test: the test is a random selection of questions from a pool of over 900 questions, the license questionnaire/test is 100 questions and must be completed in 45 minutes, anything you have not answered within the time frame is counted as a fail. You need to accomplish a minimum of 90 correct answers comprising pictures, multi-choice and yes or no answers. You can sit the test in either Chinese or English. The problem is there is only a Chinese official list of questions you can study. We searched on Google (use VPN purchased before went into China) and found an English version. But there is no guarantee this is the one all the test questions will be from. Some of the translations make no sense, even Chinese person would not understand.  Many questions are worded very ambiguously or misleading and many multi choice questions are very very similar in the answer but they want a specific term only.

I got 90 correct, I left 6 on the table through my own fault but once you click on an answer that is it, you cannot change it even before the next question, stupidly I was nervously gripping the mouse and while reading the question I accidentally tapped on a blatantly wrong answer ….TOO BAD BUCKO!!!, the others I tapped my answer then thought more and wanted to amend before the next question, again TOO BAD BUCKO!! 

There are no second chances once you select your answer, it cannot be amended or changed before the next question and is locked in, being a whiteyfoo doing a foreign test in a room full of yellafellas under a strict time constraint…. no fucken pressure eh LOL.

I will do more study particularly for road signage as a lot of signs do not have engrish particularly when getting out in the provinces.     

3^rd, …but we did it first, vehicle purchase, rock up to the shop (s) huge industrial shopping center for everything Moto. Refer back to the 1^st step, MUST have Temporary Residence or forget it and take a taxi. Now to my (our) advantage I have Ellen doing the talking, while I can understand roughly what they are chatting about the specifics get lost in the tide and I am screwed, having someone speaking the native tongue will save you a fortune in time, money, stress and 100 other words that mean the same.

All went well, I won’t bore you with our selection stuff again but essentially you can pick and chose what you do and don’t want with almost side by side comparisons to other makes and models, our lady we dealt with was excellent and very accommodating allowing us full access to their workshop (Also Benda Motos) with their staff who were very cool and bloody good to and with us, they had never worked with a whiteyfoo before so new to them which created laughter and curiosity, we all learned something new.

4^th, Vehicle Purchase Tax, you cannot get vehicle registration paperwork until you have paid the govt taxes, once you have paid and have your receipt that you have paid you can then go forward to apply for and get compliance and registration, compliance (wof in NZ) is simple being new, registration for a foreigner requires, Passport, Temporary residence and everything else mentioned earlier. The registration center is quite simply it is a clusterfuck of shouting, pushing in (even tho your have allocated ticket numbers) perseverance and most of all patience, I bought a large bag of patience at the local market prior LOL.

Unfortunately during the clusterfuck our bike got dropped breaking the front brake lever, damaging the right fairing and mirror, the shop is replacing it all and the lady (although completely out of her control) was extremely apologetic and embarrassed.  

 

Insurance For Moto, two types, first Mandatory state insurance, you CANNOT register your bike let alone go on the road without it and if you get pulled over without it it is 12 points (Maximum to lose license is 12) and your driving license gets revoked and lost for minimum 3 years, second but optional, don’t hit a Ferrari insurance, you cannot gain full cover for your vehicle but it will cover you if you hit an expensive car and don’t want a mortgage, so if I bin our bike TOO BAD BUCKO.

Translation For Rider License, first with an Engrish licence you have to get a formal translation done by specific registered (specific or approved) translation company, these buildings are typically across the other side of the city, in fact everything seems to be on the other side of the city even if it is the same department.

Once we had this we could then take it to the other side of the city to the licensing place, first you must prove you can see the road with an eye test, then you take your hopefully passed test to the counter and they do heap more computer work to give you a slip of paper, but at least you do not have to go to the other side of the city for this surprisingly 8-D

Then (as we discovered) you should have already booked in the week prior to sit your test, now the people at this particular licensing place were outstanding, nothing less, the entire center was full of smiling, joking and helpful people (no joke) and Ellen asked if we could possibly be allowed to sit the test there and then, Ellen was asked to hand write an application of Emergency test request. Easily done by Ellen, a coupla calls and game on the stress landed at my feet as they said no problem you can do it right now.

So, my test as explained above went well considering stress levels were exceeding safe limits and again not from the great people at the licensing center but me quietly shitting myself as the team results were squarely on my shoulders.

Flucken awesome, got my license bro.   

 

I am extremely grateful to all the people along the way that have helped and assisted, some of which could have just said no…just because.

So from the 16^th May till the 28^th May we got a temporary residence, 6 year driving license, bought a bike complete with legal insurance, registration and compliance, got a bank account in my name, got Wechat pay and Alipay apps installed with bank cards linked etc in terms of China and whiteyfoo foreigner this is speed camera material.     

So, it is doable but there are hoops within hoops and without either a good translator or partner that can translate it would be hard, also on the Moto specific side when asked questions Ellen answered with precision what we wanted having known me for 26 years and formally been attached 20 years ago on the 20^th May which was our anniversary.

….there you have it.....I need a drink.

The new bike finished and waiting my driving license.

  

A summary how to make life easier in China (apart from staying in New Zealand)

1.      Get a Chinese phone card – a real one recommended not an esim (this may change with technology).

2.      Download Wechat – Mandatory

3.      A temporary Chinese residency address

4.      Go to the bank and open a Chinese bank account – you need passport, temporary Chinese residency paper and your Chinese phone.

5.      Download Ali pay in the bank and ask them to help you – being foreigner you have to do it in the bank.

6.      Download Wechat pay – you can link the bank card yourself after a few attempts and a lot of swearing.

7.      If you only have Wechat pay or Ali pay, it will work. The difference is Wechat needs data to operate and Ali pay can be off line with NFC on.

8.      Download Amap and Baidu Map, you can then go everywhere, buying public transport tickets or call taxis – the world is your oyster.

You can still use small cash but most places you just pay by your phone, even the little street corner venders.

A summary of how to get a driver’s license and a vehicle in China

1.      Translate your driver’s license into Chinese use a qualified translations company only. Ask DouBao (a Chinese App for searching everything)

2.      Take your passport, driver’s license and translation, temporary residency paper to Police traffic administration office – you can have a temporary driver’s license less than 3 months or you can take a theory test to get a full license for 6 years. If you want to take the test make sure to book a head. Full story see above.

3.      To buy a bike and register is straight forward. Find the bike you want and pay. You need to purchase a third party insurance to register your bike. The dealer can help with all the paper work.

Our pick up at the shop with the lady, she even took us home via roads we were allowed on in the city as riding 2 up on a Moto you cannot go on the expressway or some inner roads, Morini Kunming city gets the double thumbs up from us, they know customer service well and thoroughly impressed us.

 

Chinutta - Yunnan Province The Start From Kunming

15^th May 2026

There is enough Jet fuel to escape New Zealand to China for our long planned riding trip to Yunnan Provence, China.

This time the weather played ball and everything fell into place with flights on time no dramas.

Hainan Air we took from Auckland to Haiko, the airline comes thoroughly recommended and to be fair on par with Air New Zealand if not better, our experience was second to none.

Hainan Air again from Haiko to Kunming, our final stop in the air and the start of the overland China adventure.

Back to the future, 2017 - Hong Wen, his wife and their daughter came to New Zealand and met us in Wanaka, Hong Wen had been following us on our blog on the Americas trip. I cooked venison straps on our bar b q which he vividly remembers and loved (which we didn’t remember at all). Hong Wen and his wife Lingling have helped up tremendesly, words can’t express our appreciation.

Fast forward 9 years, we have kept in contact now we are here starting the next phase of travels, we didn’t realize the influence we had had on his life as he bought a BMW F750GS and was loving riding, discussions over the dinner table at their home would establish he was bitten by the bike bug and every day he goes to work and sees the bike it brings a smile to his face, in kiwi terms I say it gives him wood, what a cool as thing to learn that through no attempts from us he has been inspired, rock on moto world!!

16^th May 2026, Moto Morini, CFmoto, QJMoto, Voge, Kove……..the selection was enormous in the 450 segment which is what we were looking to get, having travelled on the KTM 950 Stupid Enduro with more grunt than a paddock full of pigs to the WR250 solo trip across Russia and the Stans (perfect weapon of choice) we decided a 450 would fit the bill as we don’t travel fast.

18^th May 2026, using my wide range of Moto and travel knowledge and our eyes as to what we like (remembering the bike needs to give you wood) because feeling cool and loving what you ride is a major part of riding a motorbike at least for me, as Jeremy Clarkson once said “It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you look cool doing it” ….works for me.

The choice came down to 3, QJMoto, very well priced, very good level of equipment comes factory on the bike but the fit and finish was average at best and their reputation amongst Chinese riders was NO…..sooooo ....do as the locals do.

CFmoto, a definite contender, lower seat height, good back up network, similar level of gear as the others +/- but the aesthetics looked out of place to me, the Chinese love ripping off looks from other brands, fair enough no point in reinventing the wheel, they like to make a small capacity bike look big which they do well but the oversize bulk at the front and the amount of frontal busy-ness I felt uninspiring, there is so much plastic widely out the front I think in the event of a binning it would smash into a thousand pieces on the floor like your favourute dinner set.

A big plus for travelling is a centre stand which the CFMoto does not have, it was a game of give and take but with the CFmoto there seemed to be more to give and less to take….and the slimy salesman was an arrogant wanker ....not to sugar coat it, all in all it was more on the no side than the yes side.

Moto Morini, the Alltrhike 450, this interested me the most from previous comparisons and reviews….apart from the name which you need a university degree to say. Seemingly a little simpler, didn’t have the up-front bulk or beaks that ALL the other 450 – 650 range have, aesthetically this just looked better and slimmer as well as less junk up front allowing visibility of the front wheel in times where you NEED to see where to place the front wheel in difficult slow conditions, no difference at road speed cos ya should be looking down there.

The dealer network is not as strong as CFMoto however the engine (CFMoto), frame, forks, shock, wheels etc are all identical, the outside skin, electronics are different so really it is like choosing a girlfriend who might get tetchy with you but just wear a different dress….time will tell.

Our Selection, it came down to the university degree LOL. The Moto Morini while not ticking all the boxes it ticked more than all the others, my (our) decision based on the following.

21 inch front, 18 inch rear, tubeless tick

Centre stand, tick

Ergos for not so tall rider, short tick 

CFMoto based components for servicing, tick

Lighter weight, supposedly, tick

Refined electronics and less of em, tick

Aesthetics…gives me wood, double tick (from both of us)

We have purchasd the base model without heated seat, heated grips or indicators on the handguards, we have bought ally framed bark busters, aftermarket heated grips and I can still fart like a pro so no need for a heated seat....done.

This is her, meet Xi ma (Tin Horse)

Given our choice I hope we have made the right one which we believe we have. When we travelled from AZ, USA through South America on our KTM 950 SE a lot of people scoffed at us saying it was a bad choice and not reliable, we did 93000 km reliable km on her and she never left us on the side of the road because she was simple, a rear attribute in today’s over the top digital world and although we can’t escape over tech heavy monsters we can choose more simple travel friendly options.      

As time progressing we will give an honest Kiwi take of the Moto M and we will see how she treats us…stay tuned.

Paperwork, fuck me, there is SO much computer work goes on then you carry a slip of paper with stamp you could forge easily LOL…real tech there.

To be very fair, China now is getting more traveller’s friendly so better than it was, we have only seen one white face so far and we (Ellen) helped him with his registration of his car, I still get the “hey that one is a different colour” look but 99% of people now are curious and polite.

I have to mention we have been for 20 years on May 20th so we found an awesome coffee shop to sit and celebrate, it was a very col spoy with beautiful coffee.

Apart from tired eyes etc it was great.

And to our surprise, with me being a classic car lover just above us was a pic of a 1958 Corvette C1, something we did NOT expect to see in China.

And of course after coffee there is always a dunny stop, the doors on the dunnies were very cool.

To take a break from the paperwork monstrosity we flew to Beijing to visit Ellens dad, he is now very unwell at 87 which is hard to take however not unexpected.

A walk down from his place there is  cool market, 2 pics from day to night same place

The Paperwork, next episode.