We continued our journey to Zhengzhou. In China, most “Western apps” did not work without a VPN, and even with a VPN, some apps didn’t work as seamlessly as their Chinese counterparts. Instead of Google Maps, we used AMAP, a very nice navigation app that came with a lot of features, like showing the current state of traffic lights along your route.

When entering the perfect expressways, we had to show our Chinese license plate to the toll gate personnel. Most of them had to ask their supervisors what to do with it, and it usually took some time to get onto the highway, but the staff were always super friendly and motivated to help us.

And Rosinante weighed around 3.45 to 3.55 tons—not too bad considering everything we carry around with us.

We arrived on the outskirts of Zhengzhou and found a very nice parking lot close to our next climbing area.

There were a few mobile homes parked where some owners were living full-time. Many locals also arrived in all kinds of cars to camp in their vehicles or pitch tents for the night. It was lovely to see, and we guessed that for them, this parking lot and the small hiking area behind it served as a wonderful recreational getaway.

It was fascinating to see how the locals camped. Many had electric vehicles, so they brought induction cooktops that they plugged directly into their cars to cook meals. Some stayed inside their air-conditioned vehicles for most of the time, while others hung out in large, lively groups across the parking lot.

Of course, there were stray dogs as well. Compared to some of the massive stray Kangal dogs in Turkey, these strays were pretty cute.

After sunset, there was a lot going on along the small boulevard near the parking lot, which offered a great view over the city. Some locals practiced Tai Chi, while others just hung around, ate, played games, …

… or sang karaoke right at the bus stop.

Many people smoked, and spitting on the ground was a very common sight. We researched it and asked a few locals; the spitting seems to stem from Traditional Chinese Medicine beliefs that toxins should be expelled from the body. Even though smoking was widespread, there were still info panels highlighting the negative health effects of smoking.

The climbing area called 龙景 was a bit disappointing at first: from the parking lot, the trail to the climbing sectors was obvious, but the location of the first sector wasn’t right. Not a huge deal, we’ve navigated much harder approaches, but when we finally found the first sector, many bolts had been removed, making it unclimbable.

The second sector, right next to the first, had only a few routes, but they looked climbable.

We decided to push further to the third sector, and that one was absolutely beautiful! A impressive, large wall with well-bolted routes.

The rock was very unique: much of it was a mineralized stone that felt somewhat soft. It felt a bit strange at first, but we quickly got the hang of it.

We enjoyed the climbing immensely, even though the sun was beating down on the rock all day. As belayers, we draped wet towels over our heads to keep cool. Fortunately, there was a small creek running right next to the wall.

From the top of the higher routes, we enjoyed a fantastic view of the city. See details about the 龙景 climbing area on thecrag.com.

The massive “domino block” apartment towers of Zhengzhou.

And from the parking lot, the surrounding rock formations looked stunning as well.

We continued on to the world-famous Terracotta Army in Xi’an. It was a massive attraction and thoroughly impressive.

It’s unbelievable how much work and detail were put into building this grand mausoleum!

The sheer level of detail and individuality crafted into all the statues was mind-blowing.

This is one of the main halls, where visitors can see various stages of restoration. These are still covered statues—thousands of them.

Here were uncovered, broken fragments waiting for restoration.

And these were fully reconstructed statues. Thousands!

Every single figure had distinct facial features and a unique expression. Visiting the site was incredible, and learning about the history behind the Terracotta Army was just as fascinating.

In the commercial district of the site, there was an abundance of souvenirs and even more street food.

I bought a nice bracelet in hopes that it might help me practice a bit more patience in certain moments.

We found a overnight spot in the site’s massive parking lot. Coincidentally, we ran into two couples from our overland convoy with whom we had crossed the border into China. It was wonderful to reconnect and swap stories about our experiences in China so far.

We moved on to our next major sightseeing spot: The Great Wall of China! Since we didn’t want to make the detour to Beijing, we went to Xinzhou instead, which was right on our route. The first attraction was quite impressive… let’s just say tastes are individual.

After the massive stone structure, we caught this interesting little theatrical performance.

At first, we weren’t particularly impressed with our visit to the Great Wall because we couldn’t really see it—it was completely swallowed in fog.

Gradually, however, the fog began to recede.

And we really enjoyed walking along this restored section of the wall, talking about what life must have been like back then, marveling at how long the wall actually is, and reading up on its history. It’s a mind-blowing story.

The restoration work seems like a never-ending process.

We also took a short hike along the historic and restored merchants’ trail.

We made it to the other side of the scenic area, believing that a shuttle bus would take us back to our parking area as usual. But a very friendly local explained that there was no bus running there. So, we hiked all the way back to Rosinante.

On the way to our next destination, we tested what it’s like to spend a night at one of the expressway truck stops. It’s definitely not recommended with a pop-up camper!

A urinal that tests your urine automatically.

Century eggs in the supermarket.

A century egg out of its shell. I didn’t think the taste was too bad, but I certainly didn’t become a fan. Racki refused to try it.

We continued into the Wanxian Mountains for our first rock climbing session in China! As always, the Chinese expressways were stunning engineering feats—built seamlessly around and through the mountains.

And the rock formations looked incredible!

When we reached the climbing sector, I was a bit disappointed: we couldn’t park Rosinante near the crag and had to stay at a large, albeit beautiful, parking lot instead.

To actually reach the climbing area, we had to pay an entrance fee for the national park plus a shuttle bus ticket to get inside.

There were many Chinese visitors at the national park and parking area, and quite a few were very curious about us, asking where we were from and what we were up to.

We did our best to communicate using Google Translate, which worked remarkably well. We had heard from other travelers that locals in China might not respect personal privacy at all, but that wasn’t our experience at all. Everyone was extremely friendly, respectful, curious, and welcoming.

Right next to the parking lot was a small pond with a bit of trash floating in it. The locals didn’t seem to mind, bringing their fishing gear to enjoy a good time fishing, practicing Tai Chi, and playing bamboo flutes.

We paid the entrance and bus fees and headed into the national park.

The cliffs were absolutely spectacular!

Small roads wound their way through the national park.

There were plenty of attractions along the way, such as these massive, highly artificial, but extremely safe-looking water slides.

After some searching, we finally located our first Chinese climbing crag!

Climbing! We enjoyed it a lot. See details about the Wanxian Mountains climbing area on thecrag.com.

Yet, it felt both strange and a bit disappointing. The area seemed to have been very popular in the past, but didn’t look frequently climbed anymore. We did several routes in the sector we found, but discovered two other sectors were completely inaccessible due to landslides. On the approach to the last sector we wanted to try, we decided to turn around because it was getting late and we didn’t have a machete to clear the overgrown path.

Still, we thoroughly enjoyed the climbing and wore our custom-printed t-shirts: Climber’s Life for Racki, and From Another Point of View for me.

After a day of climbing, we left the parking lot and headed south to try the next climbing spot. Along the way, it was time to give Rosinante an engine oil change. Other overlanders had warned us that certain maintenance tasks can be tricky in China because mechanics aren’t accustomed to diesel passenger vehicles—they know diesel trucks well, but diesel cars, not so much. At the first shop, the staff were visibly relieved when we left after they did not manage to find an appropriate oil for Rosinante in their software database (even though we tried pointing out that one of their oils met our specs).

The second garage didn’t rely on software to select oil, but only stocked unknown local brands.

The third garage, however, had a good oil. It was a lovely, family-run shop, and we had a great time with them.

We also inspected one of ours tyres because it had gone flat after parking Rosinante at the national park for a few days. Fortunately, the tyre checked out completely fine, no punctures or holes found…