Time: January 1–3, 2013
Method: Self-driving our own Outlander, initially part of an off-road e-group convoy, though eventually only a Grand Cherokee stuck with us all the way
Route: Starting from the Fifth Ring Road on the Beijing-Chengde Expressway, take the expressway to the Shuangluan exit, head toward Weichang County via Provincial Highway 256, pass through Yudaokou to Hongjun Horse Farm, and arrive at Mechanical Forest Farm — a total of 450 kilometers. Returned the same way.
Fellow travelers: Yu (picked up snow driving secrets), Xijia (set a personal record for the most layers worn), Jiuge (vowed never to look down on group tours to Hainan again), Shanzhai (too cold to even get out of the car for photos), Liubalu (a sweet-natured girl who was game for anything, dressed in her usual winter attire), and Langzi (a cool dude with rich driving and repair experience, managed to siphon fuel from a drum in one go PF, also wore little; sadly, he gave up his biggest dream of a cross-country drive just to travel with us, and apparently plans to come back soon...).
Expenses: For three days of food, accommodation, fuel, tolls, etc., the average cost per person was 850 yuan. Overall, spending in Saihanba is quite reasonable, with no strong sense of tourist traps.
Accommodation recommendation: Saihanba Grand Hotel, contact Yang Dajie at 15028971043
Tips: There are very few gas stations along the entire Beijing-Chengde Expressway, so it’s advised to fill up whenever you see one; on our way back to Beijing, we had to borrow fuel from the Grand Cherokee’s jerry can.
The biggest takeaway from this trip was experiencing temperatures below minus 40 degrees, surviving the thrill of sliding on icy roads, and managing to free the car from snowdrifts; hahaha... Bunny was shivering from the cold, refusing to walk without shoes and just plopping down on the ground with legs in the air, or hiding in the car wrapped in fleece with me, occasionally darting out in little shoes to run a few steps. Here we come.
On New Year’s Day, the sky was clear, and after a series of meet-ups, around 8 a.m. we headed to the first rest area on the Beijing-Chengde Expressway to rendezvous with a brother from the off-road e-group whom Yu had arranged to meet. To this day, I still don’t know his surname — maybe Shen??? Anyway, he was driving a Mitsubishi Pajero. The confusion over the team was because we missed the rest area exit and ended up at the entrance, forcing us to stop on the highway emergency lane.
The convoy included a Pajero, X-Trail, Landwind X8, Grand Cherokee, FJ Cruiser, and Pajero Sport. Well, once on the highway, the lead vehicle sped ahead, first paying the 65-yuan toll (same price both ways), then arriving at Jinshanling for gas at 9:39, where we paid another 35-yuan toll. Having been fined for speeding in Inner Mongolia last time, and also because our walkie-talkies couldn’t match the range of vehicle radios, we soon lost the group at the Luanping exit — I was the third car. As I recall, our original plan was to exit at Shuangluan. Changing formation, we continued toward Longhua and planned to regroup for lunch in Weichang. Arriving at Provincial Highway 257 toward Weichang around 11:30, we reached Weichang County at 1:00 p.m., gathering at a noodle shop. A big bowl of noodles with meat and egg cost 8 yuan — hearty and salty, leaving that taste in our mouths all day. After eating, we hurried toward Yudaokou. As we neared the archway of Yudaokou, the road surface became noticeably icy, with some snow that hadn’t been compacted or melted due to light traffic. Most vehicles drove along the right wheel tracks of previously driven paths. As newcomers, we underestimated the snowy road conditions. One of our companions, Lu Feng, reportedly didn’t engage four-wheel drive and rolled the vehicle — luckily, no injuries. Because of this major incident, everyone became more cautious. The lead Pajero urged everyone to engage four-wheel drive, switch to manual mode, and generally stay in second gear, avoiding hard braking and moving slowly. Though we were familiar with driving techniques, on actual icy roads, our XO 3.0 felt like a light boat constantly swaying, the steering wheel seemingly having no control over direction. Even so, we couldn’t keep up with the car in front (even just the X-Trail — this has always been a mystery of our trip: how could that X-Trail drive so fast without drifting?). We just floated along slowly. Predictably, our car began to slide sideways, spinning 180 degrees before finally stopping just before going into a ditch. Later, we were entirely reliant on Shanzhai, who claimed to have driven in icy conditions before, to steer us carefully toward Hongshan Horse Farm. The original seven-car convoy split up: one car waited at the accident scene for rescue, two headed to Duolun (reportedly better lodging there than at Mechanical Forest Farm), and the remaining four of us — the Pajero, X-Trail, XO, and Grand Cherokee — set off for Mechanical Forest Farm. At 14:21, we refueled again. Passing under the Yudaokou archway was sheer torture; the seemingly short distance had both drivers and passengers nervously insisting we take it slow since time wasn’t critical. What felt like dozens of kilometers took forever to drive, with the front of the car too light and drifting. We couldn’t even go over 30 km/h, and the lead car quickly disappeared from view. The Grand Cherokee stayed dutifully behind us, slowing down. In Saihanba, the sun sets around 5 p.m., with no streetlights, only the light reflected from the snow illuminating the path ahead. Our mood at that moment could be summed up in four words: inseparable. We kept calling around for accommodations. Most hotels in Saihanba close for the winter, but we managed to find a room at Saihanba Grand Hotel at a reasonable price. Oh, and it was interesting watching the outside temperature drop — starting from -19°C, we got excited as it kept falling, reaching -28°C by the time we arrived at the Saihanba Grand Hotel in Mechanical Forest Farm at 17:30.
The hotel facilities were basic, but the heating supplied by the Mechanical Forest Farm was quite effective. We didn’t feel cold all night. Yang Dajie kept warmly attending to us — efficient, cheerful, and always bustling about. Perhaps because there aren’t many open hotels, her business was doing quite well. Liu Balu from the Grand Cherokee and Langzi ended up joining our group of five for the rest of the journey.
Dinner cost a total of 400 yuan with several main dishes: chicken stewed with mushrooms, potatoes with beef, plus home-style stir-fries, accompanied by vodka brought by Shanzhai. Drinking vodka in the bitter cold instantly warms you up — now I understand why Russians love it so much. After dinner, we played some cards together, having a great time, and went to bed around 9 p.m. By the way, before sleeping, we had discussed having two cars idle overnight to prevent the engines from freezing up the next day. I even covered the engine hood with a prepared blanket. Langzi was diligent and actually went out to warm up the car in the freezing cold. We slept soundly until dawn.
On the morning of the 2nd, after breakfast for 50 yuan, we worried that driving our own XO deeper into the scenic area might get it stuck, so we ended up renting a local driver’s domestically made off-road vehicle (a larger kind of Cherokee) for 600 yuan to explore further. The driver’s vehicle was a diesel model, with quite powerful hardware, though rather rudimentary — forget about cabin heating, the inside temperature didn’t get very high even with all of us dressed in thermal leggings, two pairs of wool pants, one windproof pair, a thermal shirt, a regular shirt, a down jacket, a windbreaker, two pairs of socks, and three heat pads — my feet still went numb and yet somehow felt like they were emitting some heat. Bunny, meanwhile, shivered against me or Xijia, and eventually I wrapped her in the fleece. The driver drove steadily, partly because the vehicle was heavy, so even on thicker snow, it didn’t sway like a boat but bounced up and down on the uneven mountain road.
That day, we visited Xiaohetou and Hamaba, two photography spots highly recommended by the driver. Despite temperatures between minus 30 and 40 degrees, photographers from all over braved the cold with their long lenses, their hands gloveless and going numb within seconds, faces exposed to the cold as if they weren’t their own, while breath vapor freezing on eyelashes turned instantly into frost. It felt like cameras were redundant — too cold to fiddle with settings — and iPhones were pointless too, since touching the screen meant taking off gloves. Getting out of the car for even a moment meant facing the biting wind, so we quickly got back in. Still, the scenery was unique — we saw halos around the sun forming phantom images as if three suns hung in the sky, galloping horse herds across snowy fields, and villages adorned in white snow showcasing their quiet charm. The driver, used to taking photographers along this route, dropped plenty of professional terms like lighting, angles, and framing.
After descending from Hamaba, Langzi finally gave in to his off-roading urge and charged down a brand-new, untracked slope. Thinking there wasn’t much snow, the weight of the 2–3 ton vehicle caused it to collapse, getting the car stuck on its underside. At first, we tried digging ourselves out with shovels — starting with the wheels, then the front and rear undercarriage — only to discover the snow was nearly half a meter deep. Aside from photographers, this area attracted off-road enthusiasts. We found a small Jeep and used steel wire and then nylon ropes to pull the Grand Cherokee free after an hour of struggle. At 1:30 p.m., we had lunch in the village for 230 yuan. The morning’s hard work made the meal especially satisfying. At 3:00, we returned to Saihanba Grand Hotel, picked up our own car, and decided to head back that day, aiming to reach Weichang. Departing at 3:30, thanks to all the earlier chats with the driver, Yu drove calmly and collected on the snowy roads, slowly and steadily. The car seemed to behave better, with only slight drifting but no real scares, and we successfully navigated several challenging sections. At 4:40, we broke through the snowy road at Yudaokou, and when we passed the spot of our earlier spin-out, we cheered our farewell to Saihanba. Arriving in Weichang at 6:00, we found a decent hotel at a good price, stayed the night, and then enjoyed hotpot, Scotch whisky, card games, and sleep.
On the 3rd, we set off back to Beijing, arriving in the city in three and a half hours.