- 10 months ago
Two seasoned YouTube vloggers bike 5000km through southern China's weirdest and wildest back roads. --- 0006-2007_0006-2022
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Short filmTranscript
00:00My name is Winston Sturzel, also known as SerpentZA on YouTube.
00:03I'm Matthew Tai, otherwise known as C-Milk, and on YouTube, I'm known as laowhy86.
00:08I've been vlogging about China for the past seven years or so.
00:11In fact, as far as I can tell, I'm the original China vlogger.
00:15I vlog out of China in order to show people what China's really like. Because of vlogging on YouTube,
00:20we were able to come together and share our passion for motorcycles, which led to us opening up Churchill Customs, our motorcycle shop.
00:27We're about to embark on our biggest adventure today.
00:29We're going to be going through five different provinces in southern China.
00:33Guangdong, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan.
00:36We'll be traveling over 5,000 kilometers on our hand-built 125cc motorcycles.
00:42Most people don't think such a small bike is up to the task. We're out to prove them wrong.
00:46We're going to be riding on some of the toughest roads China has to offer,
00:49eating some of the strangest and most exotic foods,
00:52and we'll have the chance to meet some incredibly interesting people, including China's ethnic minorities.
00:57No guides. No translators.
01:00We'll show you the real China.
01:07So we're headed to Guizhou, which is supposed to be awesome.
01:09I just wish the weather was a little bit more friendly to us, because if the weather forecast is correct, it's going to be even colder.
01:15The third leg of our journey sees us cross the border into China's poorest province, Guizhou,
01:20where we're forced to camp out in the middle of nowhere.
01:22Not too worried about animals, but I am worried about people.
01:25We travel to Kaili City to try a local specialty, cow dung hotpot.
01:30This is really, really, really, really, really disgusting.
01:33We head into a tiny mountainous village to learn about the world's most consumed alcohol, Baijiu.
01:39Oh, that's strong.
01:40And we head to Qianxingnan, one of China's most beautiful scenic spots.
01:44We were a little skeptical.
01:51Let's cruise.
02:09All right, guys, so we've stopped off at these lovely tea fields on the way to Guizhou.
02:12We're about 100 kilometers out, right?
02:15And, well, looking forward to heading to Guizhou.
02:18Well, looking forward to heading to Guizhou?
02:19Yeah, I can't wait to see another province, and I'm thankful for the lack of rain.
02:34Guizhou is actually the poorest province in China.
02:37We've driven through here before, and we had some pretty, pretty rough rides.
02:41So we know that driving at night here is just a terrible idea.
02:44So, actually, I brought the tent in my bag just in case.
02:47I didn't want to have to use it, but tonight we'll be camping.
02:51All right, guys, so we've been forced to basically pull off the road
02:54because it's pitch black here in Guizhou and the roads are terrible.
02:57We found a place where we can camp for the night.
02:59But if you take a look at some old abandoned shack,
03:03I wonder if there's anything inside.
03:06Welcome to my home.
03:10So let me show you our accommodations in this wonderful home that we found.
03:15This is the master bedroom, as you can see.
03:17Very clean.
03:20Sturdy.
03:21Looks like some rat trappings over there.
03:23That's not what I wanted to hear.
03:25That's disgusting.
03:26What else we got?
03:29We have our lovely fire pit here.
03:32I don't know how to explain this egg massacre.
03:35Very big omelette.
03:36It was an enormous omelette.
03:38And this person over here, they had a massive party.
03:41And I hope it was more than one person
03:43because otherwise they would be a massive alcoholic and egg addict.
03:47I hope this has been here for a long time
03:49because actually I don't want to run into any unexpected guests tonight.
03:57Tent's only there for like shelter from rain and shit.
03:59It's not going to make it any warmer.
04:01And then we have to put it on...
04:02No, then we have to put the tent on the goddamn floor and get all wet.
04:06Here we got a plank. We can sleep in the sleeping bags.
04:08All right.
04:09Spiders crawling all around.
04:11Come on, man up. It's okay. You'll be all right.
04:14We're not going to sleep, dude.
04:15Yeah, we are.
04:17I'm getting some kindling so that we can make a fire.
04:19All right, so we're going to be starting a fire,
04:20but it's wet out and we need an accelerant.
04:22So what I'm going to do is take a little bit of petrol out of this bike.
04:25I've only built a fire only a couple hundred times.
04:28Actually, no, I did a survival trip for about a month when I was 13 in Yellowstone.
04:33Disconnect the fuel line from the carburetor.
04:35There we go.
04:36See a little bit of fuel popping out there.
04:38We were just living off the land and catching fish
04:40and camping out in the middle of nowhere, and it was fun.
04:43Ran into some bears and moose and all kinds of good stuff like that.
04:46That should be plenty.
04:48We don't need that much to get a fire going, I don't think.
04:50Okay, and obviously I need to reconnect it.
04:52Don't forget that part.
04:53Otherwise, I'm not going to go very far in the morning.
04:55Not too worried about animals, but I am worried about people,
04:58and that is the greatest threat,
05:00especially out in these more poor regions of China,
05:04especially in Guizhou and Hunan that has been known for roadside bandits
05:08and that kind of thing.
05:09Okay, now we're going to put some petrol on here.
05:11Guys, don't try this at home.
05:12You have to be safe.
05:13We're going to try and light it.
05:14Light it with a remote lighter like this twig that we're going to use.
05:18All right, so just a bunch of petrol in there, all over there.
05:24Okay, ready? Let's do it.
05:32Right, we may have used a little too much petrol on that fire.
05:37When you're going to light a fire that's got some accelerant like gasoline on it, petrol,
05:41you can't go up and light it with a lighter.
05:43You need to have some kind of a long stick or something to try and light it,
05:46just in case it explodes like it did.
05:49For those of you wondering what it is we carry around in our bags,
05:52well, for one, we've got these little awesome sleeping bags.
05:56First time we're going to try them.
05:57I bought them just before the trip, so hopefully they do the trick.
06:00But in my bag, at least, I always like to carry some emergency beers,
06:05just for occasions such as this.
06:11Good night.
06:14I'll get the light.
06:20It's going to be a pretty crappy night.
06:22See you in the morning.
06:35Oh.
06:43That was literally one of the worst attempts at sleep I've had in a long time.
06:49We're going to basically pack up our stuff and head off to... where are we going?
06:55Kaili in Qiandongnan of Guizhou province.
06:58Yep.
06:59Anyway, my hips actually feel like an old man, I feel like a grandfather.
07:03Just terrible, terrible sleep.
07:05Love camping, but this is a new level of discomfort.
07:09When we woke up this morning, there was a man that was...
07:13I couldn't tell if he was pleased or not pleased,
07:15but he informed us that this is, in fact, his friend's house.
07:20And he was very surprised to see us sleeping in this little shack.
07:25So we're going to clean up here and try to make an exit
07:28before he decides to call his buddies.
07:34It's raining.
07:46Living in Guangdong province, we never get roads like these.
07:49I think we're kind of spoiled, and I've realized that now, riding through Guizhou.
07:53The mud gets saturated, and this place is really known for getting a lot of rainfall.
08:04And these roads just kind of fill up.
08:06The potholes fill up like little bowls of mud soup.
08:09And you don't know how deep they are sometimes,
08:11so you're just crashing around, it's telescoping your spine.
08:14And after about 20 or 30 k's, you realize you've had enough.
08:17I'm actually enjoying them, I think these roads are awesome.
08:19It's really just like off-roading.
08:21These bikes of ours are not motocross bikes,
08:24they're not off-road bikes by any sense of the word.
08:26But it does wear you down, I don't think I could do it for a whole bloody day.
08:30So unfortunately we have to.
08:38In Guizhou, there is a rule where you're not allowed to fill up motorcycles at the pump.
08:43Apparently years ago, a motorcycle exploded somewhere, and so they have this rule.
08:49What you have to do is you come fill up a teapot with petrol.
08:53It's really ridiculous.
09:00Incredibly safe, just carrying this open pot of petrol with me,
09:05over to the bike section over here.
09:08Bikes get thirsty too, you know.
09:10So yeah, that's about 8 liters in a teapot of fuel.
09:15The problem with this is that it's often not enough,
09:18and then you have to go back and get another pot.
09:31Guizhou, China
09:49A subscriber of mine actually left a comment on one of my videos,
09:52saying that since we're in Guizhou, we better try something really special.
09:55What does it seem like?
09:56Kaodeng hotpot.
10:26Kaodeng hotpot.
10:56Dongzhu or Miaozhu.
10:58Baichao soup.
11:00This is ancient.
11:02At least it's from a long time ago.
11:04Dongzhu or Miaozhu.
11:06About a thousand years ago.
11:10About 600 to 1,000 years ago.
11:16Let me ask first, why do you like to eat this?
11:19It's good for the stomach.
11:21Do some people find it a bit strange?
11:24No, some people find it a bit strange.
11:27They say it's something you can eat,
11:29and we eat it.
11:30Some people just happen to eat it,
11:32and that's how it is.
11:34But you guys are human, and so are we.
11:36I told them, we eat it.
11:38We ancient people have eaten it for generations.
11:41It's nothing special.
11:43It's a good medicine.
11:45It's good for the stomach.
11:47It won't harm anyone.
11:48Thank you, thank you.
11:50Thank you very much.
11:52Let's start eating.
11:54We can start eating now.
12:22Let's do this.
12:29Not bad.
12:31There's a bit of a hint.
12:33There's definitely like an unnatural,
12:35grassy sort of a taste in there.
12:39If you didn't know what it was,
12:41take a look here.
12:43Take a look in the pot.
12:45You can kind of guess what it is.
12:47It's not that bad, to be honest.
12:49I'm okay with it.
12:51I'm not going to go seek it out,
12:53but I'm really lucky that I was able to try
12:55something like this with a long history,
12:57and something that they actually feel like
12:59really helps their digestion,
13:01and people come all over to try it.
13:03I'm absolutely shocked that this didn't repulse me.
13:05I think it's actually fine.
13:07And this local rice wine that they actually made
13:10actually comes in the same teapot
13:12that we filled our gas tanks with.
13:14How convenient.
13:44The next morning, we returned to the
13:46not-quite-Kowloon hotpot restaurant
13:48to find out exactly how they make
13:50their unique, grassy broth.
13:52In this bag, on the floor,
13:54is the cow stomach.
13:56It's really heavy, and inside is the grass
13:58that the cow ate at 2 a.m. last night.
14:00It's horse-fed, the finest grass,
14:02and they're going to cut it open right now
14:04for us to see and actually how they make it.
14:07It actually smells like cow dung.
14:10Take it home.
14:20It really smells like a public bathroom
14:24where someone's had diarrhea.
14:26If they ate, like, a lot of grass
14:28the night before.
14:30Can you see the little bits in it?
14:32This is really, really, really, really disgusting.
14:35This is no other way to put it.
14:37I can see bits of corn.
14:39Oh, it's just like a tracer food,
14:41just like when we eat corn.
14:43Oh, that's horrible.
14:47You ate that last night. How do you feel?
14:49I wish I didn't know.
14:56Yeah, I can't really stick around here.
14:58Sorry, guys.
15:20They don't actually put the grass in there.
15:23They just put the juice in there.
15:25It's just straining it.
15:31It's squirting on my jeans.
15:33Yeah.
15:41I can't wait to tell my grandchildren
15:43in the future that I...
15:46Squeeze it like this.
15:48Squeeze it out of it.
15:50How does it feel?
15:52It feels like you'd expect it to feel.
15:54It's grassy and gross and it's just...
15:58Well, it's a pretty shitty job,
16:01but sometimes...
16:05It's incredibly cold as well.
16:07I imagine when it came out of the animal
16:09it was not cold.
16:11Yeah.
16:13I imagine when it came out of the animal
16:15it was not cold.
16:17Okay.
16:34The good thing about hotels is
16:36you can wash your boots in the shower
16:39and wash your clothes in the sink.
16:41We went through some absolute rubbish mud yesterday,
16:43so all of our stuff's really filthy.
16:45So we've got a bit of a rest day today
16:47and we're going to make the most of it.
16:49I'm surprised that any of the hotels we've stayed at
16:51give us our deposit back, to be honest.
17:00One of my subscribers, luckily,
17:02pointed us in the direction of a Baijiu factory.
17:05And Baijiu is the most famous drink,
17:07alcohol, of China.
17:09You may actually have heard of Maotai.
17:11If you come to China, you will hear about Maotai,
17:13which is the most revered Baijiu.
17:16It's incredibly expensive.
17:18All government officials like to drink it
17:20and it's just like the top of the pops.
17:22Maotai is made not very far from here,
17:24about 100 kilometers actually north of where we are now.
17:27But we decided rather than go to some big factory,
17:30state-owned company,
17:32we'd go and see like a local little distillery
17:34and see exactly how they make it.
17:36And we came to this absolute desolate,
17:38foggy town in the middle of Guizhou, yeah.
18:08Now most Baijiu is actually made out of sorghum,
18:22which is a grass.
18:23And there's also rice-made Baijiu.
18:25I've actually never seen corn Baijiu,
18:27so this is pretty interesting stuff.
18:28Really, really good.
18:31From what we understand,
18:32the wholesalers come through with the best corn
18:34they have to offer
18:35and they buy sacks and sacks and sacks of it.
18:37Then they steam the corn
18:38and then they throw the yeast on top of it
18:40and actually seal it off into plastic bags
18:42and let it ferment for about 10 days.
18:55After this sits in the bag for a while,
18:57the condensation builds up in the bag
18:59and then tomorrow he'll actually cook this batch.
19:01I think it's actually quite awesome
19:02because we're basically up here in the mountains
19:04and there's actually mist rolling through the windows here.
19:06It's almost idyllic.
19:08It really looks fantastic.
19:13The old master basically said that
19:15although the process looks easy on paper,
19:17it's actually really complicated
19:18because there's many days
19:19they can't actually produce this alcohol.
19:22Now they basically have to follow the weather.
19:24If it's too cold, the actual corn won't ferment.
19:27And if the air is too dry,
19:29they actually can't get the corn to ferment either,
19:31so there's no way they can actually produce this Baijiu.
19:36As long as it's over 40 degrees Celsius,
19:38it's the same as the human body temperature.
19:40It's dead.
19:41There's no alcohol in it.
19:42So it's got to be a little warmer.
19:51And that's why all the famous Baijius in China
19:53actually come from this province.
19:59He said you can drink this juice inside.
20:07He said if you eat too much of this, you get really drunk.
20:12Once it's finished fermenting,
20:14they take it out with a big spade,
20:16throw it in a massive vat,
20:18cover the vat up, seal it up,
20:20and then steam it again.
20:21And then attach a pipe to the top of the one vat
20:24all the way to another,
20:25and it's just a natural distillation process.
20:27The other vat is, you know, submerged in water,
20:30and it has a little pipe
20:31which the alcohol just pours out.
20:34It's actually quite interesting
20:35and actually quite simple at the end of the day.
20:42Twenty-two years that he's been doing this.
20:55It's like a corn sauna in there.
20:57Only cold.
20:59The rest of the family also has their own
21:01The rest of the family also have another one of these
21:03corn Baijiu distilleries,
21:05and it's just right next door.
21:06And they said that the alcohol's
21:08right about ready to come out of the spigot,
21:10so we're going to go over there and check it out
21:12as it comes out and maybe give it a taste.
21:14This is the owner of the winery.
21:45The first batch is 70%,
21:47then the middle batch is about 50-plus percent.
21:50That's the good stuff.
21:51And then they have the last amount
21:53that comes out is 20%,
21:54and what they do is they actually mix the 70%
21:57and the 20% together to kind of even it out
22:00and sell it.
22:01But they say the best is 70%.
22:03And then the last batch is about 50%.
22:05So the next batch is about 50%.
22:07And then the last batch is about 50%.
22:09And then the last batch is about 50%.
22:11Kind of even it out and sell it.
22:13But they say the best is the middle,
22:15you know, the 50-something percent that comes out.
22:18Oh, I see his drip.
22:19First drip.
22:20First drip.
22:27Alright, so I'm actually going to give this a try.
22:33Wow.
22:37That's, yeah, wow.
22:41Wow.
22:50Smells just like the corn.
22:59Wow.
23:02Oh, that's strong.
23:11Alright.
23:29Busy taking some photos
23:30since you don't get to see this kind of scenery every day.
23:42We came across a sign about 50 kilometers back
23:44which said that this area had China's most beautiful scenery.
23:48We were a little skeptical.
23:53Guizhou is without a doubt
23:54the most beautiful province in China that I've ever seen.
23:57However, it has the worst roads in China that I've ever seen.
24:01Actually, along with some of the best, too.
24:03Guizhou basically offers the most extremes
24:05that China has to offer in terms of scenery,
24:07Guizhou basically offers the most extremes
24:09that China has to offer in terms of scenery, roads,
24:11and all that kind of stuff.
24:12It's absolutely beautiful,
24:14but its remoteness means that many people
24:16actually don't have a chance to come see this stuff,
24:18and that's why I feel so lucky to actually be here.
24:20It's been awesome.
24:21Tianxin Nan is an absolutely amazing way
24:23to finish off our Guizhou trip.
24:25We're probably heading into Yunnan this evening
24:27or tomorrow morning early.
24:28I'm really going to miss this place,
24:30and I can't wait to come back to Guizhou.
24:32Yeah, we'll be back for sure.
24:38Next time on Conquering Southern China,
24:42the final leg of our journey takes us through Yunnan.
24:45We stumble across a hidden conspiracy
24:47deep in the ancient wells of Jianshui.
24:49He showed us where all the pollution's coming from.
24:51We get our hands dirty catching fish
24:53in the rice paddies of Yuanyang.
24:55I got it.
24:56We learn the traditional fire dance
24:58of China's Yizhou minority.
25:00And we end our epic adventure meeting our loyal subscribers.
25:03That's so rough.
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