Lee-Ann and Dave's Epic Eurasia Motorcycle Adventure

October 6, 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 Repulse Bay and a park where everybody and their mother donated a statue.

Well...duh. Ya gotta love the translations.

This guy look like a Simpson's monster character.

Dave was thrilled to find the Tesla showroom close by Repulse Bay

But we were disappointed there was no Hong Kong-branded Tesla accessories to take home.

The Hong Kong tour was disappointing. We spent a lot of time driving around and really didn't see anything memorable.

But the evening meal made up for it. We were on the top floor of a tall building in a fancy nightclub and restaurant. The sushi and food was great. We were all in a celebratory mood. We've traveled over 12,000 miles in 72 days. It was an amazing trip.

October 5 , 2015 Shenzhen to Hong Kong

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 to Latvia, we have to make room for our gear in the luggage that is going home. So we spent the better part of last night stuffing, pushing and pulling until we got everything into our two Ogio bags and the extra duffle we brought for this purpose. It weighs a TON! - actually it's over 100 pounds. We'll be paying for it at the airport.

And at the China/Hong Kong border! We took a bus to the border facility, and then had to drag everything through customs. Poor Dave had a time moving the duffle bag from counter to counter and then back out to another waiting bus. But we finally made it into Hong Kong. The weather wasn't cooperating (raining hard), and pictures were impossible through the bus windows.

We arrived at the JW Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong to a room with really nice view of the harbor.

Tonight we will relax and look forward to our tour of Hong Kong tomorrow.

October 4, 2015 Guangning to Shenzhen

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 Riga, Latvia, where Janis has graciously agreed to store it until we return for our Nordic trip next year.

But before we pack them away for the return trip...

they get one more bath.

October 3, 2015 Yangshuo to Guangning

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 hello to the crazy Chinese drivers.

Some parting shots of the karst mountains.

We were traveling down the road, making pretty good time, when all of a sudden these men pulled a rope across the road and blocked our progress. They were preparing to bring down a tree across the road. Geez...we thought, we're probably going to be here for an hour or more!

But no - they cut the tree down with a chain saw and then a crew of about 10 workers...

limbed the tree and cut the trunk to pieces.

They pulled the branches to the side of the road.

and then a backhoe grabbed the large pieces of trunk and moved them aside.

We were on our way within 5 minutes.

This work crew was well-organized.

Unfortunately, we didn't get very far down the road when we ran into another roadblock. We waited while Mike and John scouted out various possibilities - either go around to the right or...

maybe we could make like a scooter and squeeze between the concrete blocks.

At first we though we might have to take off our panniers, so some of the guys started to take them off.

But David found there was actually just enough room to get by with an inch on either side. Success.

Soon we are back into traffic and all the craziness that it embraces.

At first glance, it appears as if there are snow covered mountains just beyond the polluted haze. But no, the mountains are being mined for the stone.