The Great Ride of China is the story of Buck Perley and Amy Mathieson’s 21, 000-mile, record-breaking trip around one of the world’s oldest and most diverse countries. What started out as an idea for a month long road trip, became a journey that took the couple from the grass plains of Inner Mongolia to the deserts of Xinjiang and up to the Rooftop of the World in the Himalayas.
As the story follows Buck and Amy, two foreigners fluent in Mandarin, through all 33 provinces of Mainland China, the reader will have an opportunity to not just learn about the challenges they encountered along the road, but also about a country in transition. Experiences that include 20-mile traffic jams in the center of coal country, visits to cities whose histories span millennia, and a chat with a resident of a cave dwelling equipped with satellite TV offer a unique view into a country that today is often heard of but rarely understood.
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Introduction
Part I- Beijing to Inner Mongolia
Chapter 1- A Record, a Charity, and a Motorcycle
Chapter 2- The Road Angles of Manchuria
Chapter 3- The Russian Capital and Mongolian Plains
Chapter 4- The Rains of the Steppe
Part II- Inner Mongolia to Kashgar
Chapter 5- Smog, Silt, and City Walls
Chapter 6- Sheep Guts and a Funeral
Chapter 7- The Western Wall and Silk Road Oasis
Chapter 8- Growing Tensions in the Xinjiang Desert
Chapter 9- Meet the Competition
Interlude- Visa Run to Kyrgyzstan
Part III- Kashgar to Chongqing
Chapter 10- From Deserts to Snow Storms
Chapter 11- Barren and Holy Lands
Chapter 12- “People Mountain, People Sea”
Chapter 13- The 12th Annual CIMA Motorcycle Exhibition
Part IV- Chongqing to the Pearl River Delta
Chapter 14- Giant Buddhas and the Final Days of Sichuan
Chapter 15- Old Towns, Chinese Bohemians, and our Broken Rack
Chapter 16- Fundraising in Paradise
Chapter 17- A Race Against Time and Typhoon
Part V- The Pearl River Delta to Beijing
Chapter 18- The Pearl River Delta and Celebrity Golfers
Chapter 19- The Motorcycle Crews of Southeast China
Chapter 20- When Everything Comes Full Circle
Appendix I- Chinese words and phrases
Appendix II- References