Traveling to Qiandao Lake by RV | Road trip Easter 2021 | Day 1

First day and first time of road trip China. As usual we got late start and needed to boondocking for night at service station

Check out the review

Petri 大P

Writing about our travels in the vast land of China by RV with passion to do the difficult way

Traveling to Qiandao Lake by RV TRIP day 1

As usual, we packed the car in a rush and tried to get on the road as fast as we could. Where is my driving license? I still have not found it as I write this blog. Wonder what the penalty in China is for not having your driving license with you? Able to rent the RV with wife’s driving license as required, I wonder what she does with it as she never drives here? We did not let this stop us and drove to the shop (if you can call it a shop, check the Easter 2021 Road Trip day 0 blog). KIA Sorento 2.2CRDi is a big car, but in this case, two adults/ two kids/ and a dog + one week of changing clothes/food + we took our bed sheets which are taking up a lot of space. Next time we will leave them at home.

KIA was packed full and headed for the road to reach the rental promptly. Of course, while driving, our cleaning lady sent a picture of the kids’ luggage in their room waiting to be picked up. This means we need to drive back thru Shanghai. Additional 40km on the elevated road back and forward. Hah, what a fantastic start to the day.

Ready for the trip. Guard dog included. Kids were excited to head for new adventures and enjoy the road trip. My wife felt more comfortable when having the dog, as it would start to growl when someone is getting too close to the RV.

Warning for the roads in China

Some words of warning for the highways in China. Try to avoid driving in the dark and when it is raining. We have seen a huge risk of accidents in these weather conditions, and the highway will be jammed. The evening after dusk with rainfall, there were four accidents in a short distance, the road was blocked for extended periods, and travel time exceeded what we planned.

Crawling with the RV at 30-40km/h. The white flashing lights are cameras and take pictures of everyone when driving on the road. Not only when you are over-speeding. Very annoying.

Night stay at Tonglu Service Area

Due to this, we decided to stay overnight at the service station parking lot. KFC shone in the night, welcoming us with “Eat me!”

It would be much safer to continue the trip in the morning. As a relief, these big service stations have restaurants/shops and toilets in use 24/7, and security is always available. Mention, nice to have a Latte in the morning fresh from Starbucks.

This would be the end of the first day of our journey of 8 days. Continuing the second day soon when arriving at Qiandao Lake with beautiful views and fresh air!

Early morning wake up and prepare to continue the Traveling to Qiandao Lake by RV

After waking up at Tonglu Service Station and enjoying Starbucks + morning brushing my teeth, we headed for the road again. Roads were much more empty, and we could drive at average speed. For RV in China, I have not checked out the speed limit, so I drive 80-90km/h. That is also the comfortable and economical speed as the pots and pans keep noise.