Erlangen - Beijing
Five VW Käfer on their trip to China
A Movie by Sigurd Roscher

January 21st 2011, 7 pm
Ofenwerk Nürnberg, Klingenhofstr. 72

presented by Dr. Michael Eckart
Onkologische Schwerpunktpraxis Erlangen

A Film by Sigurd Roscher
Length: ~56 Minutes

If you want to get the DVD feel free to contact
buero (at) sigurd-roscher.de

The DVD is available at the fair.

Also available is a 142 page extra edition of the Brezelfenster magazin about the Trip.

You can find us at hall 8.1 at the stand of the „Brezelfenstervereinigung“.

More information on the fair

Videos by Bjarne Erik

Please leave comments on Youtube! More will come over time.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BjarneErikRoscher

An old American Jeep picked us up at a station on the highway. When arriving at the museum we were welcomed with drums and loud music. Five Hong Qi limousines were already ready to leave, one of which a Cabriolet. We went on a quick tour through the museum which consists of about 160 exhibits, 25 Hong Qi’s amongst them. After some short speeches we formed a convoy of the 5 Beetles and the 5 Hong Qis and left to the Great Wall, where we would receive our certificates. This tour was certainly the first Sino-German Vintage Car Parade at the Great Wall, just appropriate for the occasion of the 60 year anniversary of the People Republic of China.

What a great experience to see Thomas and Waldemar sending greetings from the open Hong Qi, just like real country leaders.

After a short lunch and a visit of the Great Wall we returned to Beijing and cleaned up our cars before handing them over to Volkswagen and to prepare them for the transport to the port and back to Germany.

I still took my 49 Beetle one more time to drive into the city center to take some more pictures on Tiananmen Plaza and in front of the Forbidden City. Around 19.00 pm we all met at the Volkswagen showroom to handover our Beetles to Mr. Schadewald. Of course we felt a bit sad when we had to give away our Beetles.

We said good-bye to each other and I drove back home, together with our guests Roland, Thomas and Heinrich.

A lot of follow-up work was waiting for me back home and I am already very much looking forward to design a slide show with the best pictures and to start writing a book about our journey.

It has been a fantastic experience with ups and downs. We were freezing and sweating, we were laughing and serious, we had fun and were arguing. We made all these experiences and in the end we all understood how long 11.000 km distance and 10 hours of flight can be. Also I had to start thinking about this.

I would like to thank all those who have supported me with the organization and implementation of this adventure, especially Volkswagen, Lufthansa, TUI China, Gute Fahrt and all other sponsors. And I would like to thank my family, especially Anna, who has always supported me.

This is the end of the diary of the Vintage-Volskwagen-Challenge-2009. We would like to thank everybody the interest in our journey and the many and great comments you gave to us. These comments have always encouraged us to move on and not give up.

Richard

Text Richard, Fotos Richard

In the early afternoon around 13.30 pm we reached the Great Wall nearby Badaling, where a photo shooting was scheduled together with the New Beetle Club of Beijing. The German ambassador in China, Dr. Schaefer and his wife joined this event and already welcomed us in a white New Beetle Cabriolet

Around 14.30 pm we started our final approach towards Beijing which we entered first through the 6th and then through the 4th ring road in direction of the German embassy. I felt home again, a very good feeling.

The arrival in the embassy was at least as exciting as the start in Erlangen. Some hundred guests and numerous journalists joined the event. Our sponsors Volkswagen, Lufthansa and TUI had prepared a welcome party, supported by the German restaurant Landgraf. Several speeches were given by the ambassador the main sponsors and me, with a good moderation.

It was very hard to believe: We had passed 11.000 km without major problems, had not been involved in an accident and could stick to our time lines despite some obstacles. The Beetles did a great job, the team did hold together despite some turbulence here and there, which is normal.

To end this great day we went to the Capital Club where we had some bites and drinks with a great view over Beijing at night from the 50th floor.

I was very much looking forward to sleep in my own bed in Grand Hills, which is my home in Beijing.

Tomorrow, we will drive together to the new Beijing vintage car museum, and then go on again to the Great Wall escorted by some old Hong Qi’s which had been used in the 1960ies and 1970ies by the leaders of China. A meeting of two car classics of the two countries Germany and China.

Michael will already return to Germany on 31. August to continue work in his private medical practice. Bernd B., Claus, Rainer, Steve and Alex will still spend some time traveling in China with their families. Bernd O. and I will have to get back to our offices here in China. Also all the others will fly back to Germany later this week.

Our Beetles and the support cars will be taken to customs in Tianjin on Tuesday to be shipped back to Germany. They can then take a 6 weeks rest in their containers.

Tomorrow’s blog will be the last one of this journey. But I am already thinking about the title of a book about this incredible journey. How about “Little cars on big journey”…?

Text Richard (Translation Bernd O.), Photos Richard, Roland

The monastery was very impressive, build into the mountain line a birds nest, protected from rain and wind. We spent about one hour walking around and I have to admit that I did not always feel very comfortable walking too close to the edge of the stairway which would definitely not pass any German construction inspection.

On the way back to Datong and to the Yungang grottoes the team experienced for the first time a Chinese lunch and I had the impression that everybody liked it.

To reach the Yungang grots we had to cross Datoog during rush hour which worked out surprisingly well. The driving lessons in Chinese traffic already had its impact. On this route Anna was my co-pilot and Waldemar enjoyed the soft seats of my company car.

When arriving at the grottoes we found a gigantic construction site and it seems that Datong is getting ready for future mass tourism. The site was extremely impressive. In total 20.000 Buddah statues can be found in several hundred caves, including the tallest stone Buddah in China and very nice rock paintings which are quite well preserved.

After a guided tour of about one hour we returned to our hotel and had our second Chinese meal of the day for dinner. On the way back, Moritz and Philipp accompanied me in the Beetle to get a little taste of the 11.000 km distance which we had just completed. But may be we will together also go on such a tour some time in the future …

In the meantime, the wives of Bernd B., Rainer, Claus and Steve had arrived in Beijing and had already started their sightseeing tour. They will meet us tomorrow during our short stop at the Great Wall.

In the evening I went back to my hotel room to write some new Blog texts and to pick the best photos for the Blog.

Tomorrow will be the last day of our journey. Time has passed so quickly and we have had so many experiences.

Richard

Text Richard, Fotos Richard

With the help of our Mongolian guide the formalities at the Mongolian border were quite quick. Also the process on the Chinese side started out quite smoothly and also here we used the help of a travel agency. Already inside the customs zone numerous journalists with photo and video cameras were all around us to capture our convoy when entering China. This may also have helped a bit to motivate the customs officers to process our case a bit quicker.

While our paper work was processed we were allowed to drive our cars in front of the customs office building and to hold the press event which was prepared by Volkswagen China. Two short speeches by the Volkswagen China GM Mr. Schadewald and myself followed by a foto shooting.

After the event we wanted to get into our cars and drive to Datong as I knew that Anna and the kids were already on their way from Beijing to Datong. But then we found out that we were still missing two signatures from customs officers who had left for lunch. I got really upset given that we were really early at the border and had hired an agency to support us with the process. Well, the agency did its best to get the missing signatures and finally, at 13.30 pm everything was done and we could start the engines after around 5 hours at the border, which, frankly speaking, is not a bad time to clear such a convoy.

We stopped at the next bank and at the next gas station to draw some cash and to fill up our cars and finally could get on our way to Datong accompanied by numerous cars from journalists and photographers who took pictures and movie clips all along the way.

We made good progress on our way through the wide lands of Inner Mongolia. And what a difference – here a high quality 4-lane highway, yesterday on the other side of the border a bumpy dirt road.

After one more stop at a gas station we reached the hotel in Datong at around 9.00 pm where Anna had prepared a wonderful birthday and welcome party in front of the hotel. We parked our Beetles on the left and right side of the prepared wooden tables and conquered the buffet with excellent German food and beer which was prepared by Schindler and transported 400 km from Beijing. The evening developed very nice and everybody was in a good mode. After a final drink with the “party committee” Mrs. Heinke and Mrs. Schindler and with Moritz and Philipp we went to bed around 1.00 am.
A long and important day in our journey lies behind us with the last border crossing and arrival in our country of destination China.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow which we will spend with sightseeing in the area around Datong.

Richard

Text Richard, Fotos Richard

To make it short, it turned out to be a very eventful day with two flat tires, an “emergency operation” in the desert and lamb stew in a Mongolian family for lunch. But it was also a wonderful day on roads which for sure no other old-timer car had passed before us. Sometimes we even had the impression that no other car before us had been driving on these roads.

But now one after the other:

First we visited the so called Shambala, the spiritual center of energy of the Mongolian Buddhists. Although built only 4 years ago the large site with numerous stupas and small temples was really impressive and worth visiting. Nearby, we also visited a monastery in which an old monk teaches his wisdom to his students.

The road from our last camp up to here was quite reasonable, although a dirt road. But then we had more and more the impression that our guide wanted to take us to most remote corners of Mongolia without realizing that we were not driving modern 4-wheel-drives but vintage cars. After all, it became a long drive.

One time, Egon got stuck in the sand and the Toyota Jeep had to pull the T5 out. But none of the beetles ever got stuck in the sand and that means something.

Around lunch time the Toyota Jeep had a flat tire which could be fixed quite easily. But during this “forced” lunch brake, Bernd B. did cut himself very badly in his hand while cutting bread with his Swiss Army Knife. The cut did bleed quite heavily and Roland had even to close the cut with some stitches. “Emergency Operation” in the Gobi desert …

At one point it appeared that our guide had lost orientation and we felt that we were driving back. So, after some kilometers in the wrong direction we had to turn around and on top the Toyota Jeep had the second flat tire of the day. A 20 cm long piece of steel did stick in the tire. Luckily, and due to experience, the driver had a second spare tire with him and we could go on quite quickly.

The landscape did vary quite a bit, from endless plains to areas with little humps covered by grass. And here and there Mongolian tents and herds of cattle, horses, sheep or camels. In one of the tents we were invited to have lamb stew for lunch. Some of us were brave enough to try and those were rewarded with a very tasty experience. After a final group photo we went back on our way.

The drive took us until around 8.00 pm when we reached just after sunset the Mongolian railway tent camp at the border between Mongolia and China. The camp was of very low quality, no water, washrooms in very bad shape and the tents did smell like pigs. But a short night we will survive.

Tomorrow we will enter China. I feel a bit strange, but I am looking forward to roads in good condition in China.

Text Richard, Fotos Richard