Just after the summit at Chola Pass, Sichuan Province. Resuming our Chinese adventure, we now launch on the legendary (/terrifying?) Chola Pass, currently the only way to the town of Dégé. This is the 10th instalment in our 2016 Chinese adventures after Beijing, Xining in the Qinghai province, the Chinese car dealerships of Xining, Tongren, Xiahe in the Gansu province,…
Chana Mini Truck on the Kangding to Dégé road We now leave Kangding to undertake a strenuous 14h and 586km / 364 miles bus journey to the small town of Dégé, the closest to the Tibetan province I am allowed to reach as a foreigner without a special permit. This is…
VW Jetta Taxi After Chengdu, we are now flying 325km / 200 miles south-west to Kangding, still in the Sichuan province. This is the 8th stop in our 2016 Chinese adventures after Beijing, Xining in the Qinghai province, the Chinese car dealerships of Xining, Tongren, Xiahe in the Gansu province, the mountain road back from Xiahe to Xining and Chengdu in…
Chengdu street scene This is the 7th instalment in our 2016 Chinese adventures after Beijing, Xining in the Qinghai province, the Chinese car dealerships of Xining, Tongren, Xiahe in the Gansu province and the mountain road back from Xiahe to Xining. We are now flying south-east to Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province and home to…
Snow covered the surrounding mountains overnight. After two days in Xiahe in the Gansu province, it's time to take on the bus trip back to Xining for further Chinese adventures. One full day of snow completely transformed the landscape to the point that the 7-hour return trip is worth a…
Great Wall Wingle 6 in Xiahe This is the 5th stop in our 2016 Chinese adventures after Beijing, Xining, the Chinese car dealerships of Xining and Tongren. There is only 107 km / 66 miles east to Xiahe across the border in the Gansu province, but it takes over 3 hours because we drive through…
Sulky boy and VW Jetta in Tongren, Qinghai province This is the 4th stop in our 2016 Chinese adventures after Beijing, Xining and the Chinese car dealerships of Xining. We travel 165km south to the small town of Tongren (pronounced "Toungjen"), still in the Qinghai province. The road from Xining…
Huanghai N2 After exploring the cars of Xining, we now go on a tour of the small Chinese car dealerships of the capital of the Qinghai province, the ones specifically located along the few blocks near the intersection of Bowen and Baiyi Lu. The photos give you an idea of which models are…
Xining Railway Station After traversing the Australian Outback to Birdsville, it's now time to resume our annual Chinese exploration. This article launches our new annual series of Photo Reports for China. In 2014 we travelled to the extreme West of the country to the Xinjiang Uyghur province all the way to the border…
We're baaaaack! (click on any picture to enlarge) This is the last instalment of our Report on driving Damo, a Haval H8, from Sydney to Birdsville and back, to see whether the #1 SUV brand in China can tackle all that the Australian Outback has to offer. You can view the…
150km past Birdsville, the dirt track transforms into an emergency airstrip. This is Part 7 of our Report on driving Damo, a Haval H8, into the Australian Outback to see whether the #1 SUV brand in China can deal with the worst road conditions this country has to offer. You can view…
Damo proudly posing on the Big Red sand dune at the start of the Simpson Desert. This is Part 6 of our Report on driving Damo, a Haval H8, into the Australian Outback to see whether the #1 SUV brand in China can deal with the worst road conditions this…
The Birdsville Track in all its glory (click on any picture to enlarge). This is Part 5 of our Report on driving a Haval H8 - baptised Damo - into the Australian Outback. See also Part 1: The Stakes, Part 2: Sydney to Broken Hill, Part 3: Orroroo to Lyndhurst and Part 4 Lyndhurst to…
Let the unsealed track fun begin! This is Part 4 of our Report on driving a Haval H8 into the Australian Outback. See also Part 1: The Stakes, Part 2: Sydney to Broken Hill and Part 3: Orroroo to Lyndhurst. You can view the entire series here. It's 9am in Lyndhurst and the Lyndhurst-Marree…
Damo in Lyndhurst SA This is Part 3 of our Report on driving a Haval H8 into the Australian Outback. See Part 1: The Stakes and Part 2: Sydney to Broken Hill. After sneakily pushing through the night past Broken Hill, our second shut-eye stop is in the bizarrely-named town of Orroroo…