A long travel across Asia and Europe is full of chal- lenges and attraction due to many uncertainties.I set out from Hefei riding a motorcycle of a Chinese brand. On the first day, I rodeacrossAnhui, Jiangsu,Shandong, Hebei and Tianjin, responding to the aspiration of free travel.

My plan was to leave from the Manzhouli port of Inner Mon- golia to Yekaterinburg of Russia, and then back to the Khor- gos port ofXinjiang via Kazakhstan, with an overseas touring distance of nearly 8,000 kilometers.

The exit formalitiesfor motorcycle includes: ATA documents, passport and visa, driver’s license endorsementand its trans- lation, Russian compulsory insurance, rubles.

It took 20 hours to pass through the customs at the Man- zhouli port, then I made my way along Russia’sTrans-Siberian railway, and arrived at the Lake Baikalin the evening. Immers- ing in the sunset glow by the side of Baikal, I felt completely

relaxed and all the travel fatigue was worthwhile. The lakeside town of Baykalsk, which is less touristy than Irkutsk, is especially recommended. The woodland near the lake is perfect for RV camping.

The road to the west was long. On the Siberian plain, the road is flat with large areas of coniferous forest. On average, I rode for more than 800 kilometers every day and experienced rain and sunshine every day.

Arriving in Omsk, I came across an Austrianmotorcyclist–the old man had just recovered from a dangerous illness, and he quit- ted his job to pursue his childhood dream of riding motorcycle across Europe and Asia. Born in the hometown of KTM, he rode a Honda African Twin. He planned to ride all the way south to China and then to Vietnam.

Along the way you could always see people ridingmotorcycles of different domestic and foreign brands. The Chinese give you a thumbs-up, the Europeans shrugged it off, and the Russians waved at you.

Leaving Omsk, I rode to Russia’s fourth largest city, Yekaterin- burg. This is where the Ural mountains and the Ural River form the boundary between Asia and Europe. In a strict sense, I com- pleted my first trans-Eurasian ride.

I was extremely impressed by Russian’s personal quality on the road: drivers do not rush, they take the initiative to give way to others, andturn on the emergency flasherto express their appre- ciation while overtaking others.

Then I left Russia and entered Kazakhstan, arriving atAstana, a very young capital city. The 5-day transit visa is too short for touring country.

China’s “One Belt and One Road” initiative has benefited the country: I saw highways that had been built with the aid of China.

long travel across Asia and Europe is full of chal- lenges and attraction due to many uncertainties.I set out from Hefei riding a motorcycle of a Chinese brand. On the first day, I rodeacrossAnhui, Jiangsu,Shandong, Hebei and Tianjin, responding to the aspiration of free travel.

My plan was to leave from the Manzhouli port of Inner Mon- golia to Yekaterinburg of Russia, and then back to the Khor- gos port ofXinjiang via Kazakhstan, with an overseas touring,distance of nearly 8,000 kilometers.

The exit formalitiesfor motorcycle includes: ATA documents, passport and visa, driver’s license endorsementand its trans- lation, Russian compulsory insurance, rubles.

It took 20 hours to pass through the customs at the Man- zhouli port, then I made my way along Russia’sTrans-Siberian railway, and arrived at the Lake Baikalin the evening. Immers- ing in the sunset glow by the side of Baikal, I felt completely

After more than 2000km’s riding in five days, I was looking for- ward to returning home. When arriving at the Helgas port, the Chinese border guard said “welcome home” to me, which made
me feel gracious, pride, and comfortable back home. (Source: WeChat: jichew)