Recky tour - Chiang Mai to the Tibet border / Kawa Karpo at 6,740 meters (22,113')
- Thread starter KTMphil
- Start date
Midnitemapper
Senior Member
Great stuff Phill,
Killer photos and a great story a trip worth looking forward too.
Killer photos and a great story a trip worth looking forward too.
KTMphil
Senior member
Gnasher328
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2012
- Location
- Chiang Mai / New Forest, England
- Bikes
- Ducati 851 & Mille S2, HD FXR, Trumpet R3, BMW R100RS, CRF 250
Great trip, pics and write up.
T.
T.
KTMphil
Senior member
Reed's recollections around Yuan Yang
Post # 15
Dateline: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 midnight (but posted 3 days late).
Welcome to the "Shangri-La Here We Come" blog.
Present location: Yuanjiang, Yunnan Province.
Riding distance from Jianshui: 310 kms.
GPS Track-Jiangshui to Yuanjiang
Driving (moving) time: 6:39
Moving average: 46.5 kph
Highest elevation reached: 2055 meters
Total trip cumulative distance: 3704 kms.
Complete trip GPS track below:
Shangri-La Tour Cumulative GPS Track
Tomorrow's destination: China-Lao border crossing at Boten.
Riding distance: 500 kms approximately.
Approximate riding time: 6 hours.
Phil Gibbins is taking a ton of photos, way more than me. He is posting them online on his RideAsia.net rider forum. But this url changes daily. To see the photos from our ride to Yuanjiang and our rest day in Jianshui, you can view them at the following url:
http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-...karpo-6-740-meters-22-113-a-13.html#post30147
Hello Interested Parties,
Sorry for this delayed trip post. Last night I was just too tired and fell asleep immediately after dinner. And the night after that the internet connection was not working.
Anyway, on Wednesday we had another great day blasting around Yunnan Province. Glorious sunny weather blessed us in total contrast to our last day's riding in a dismal all-day drizzle. But this was coupled with a seriously wide range of temperatures. We started out in the morning from Jianshui at 13.5 C, hit 10 C at the top of our first mountain pass and ended up the day at 33.5 C. This is because Jianshui is situated at 1300 meters in elevation and Yangjiang, in the Red River basin, sits at a lowly 400 meters. The bracingly cool and dry weather on this tour is now history as we are now fully off the Himalaya Plateau and in the subtropical region of Southeast Asia. Temperatures will dip and climb in a smaller range than what we have become accustomed to. This will happen when we climb up and over several more high mountain passes.
(Despite the wide range of temperatures, I have kept myself quite comfortable using a combination of only two outer coverings; a cotton hooded sweatshirt and a waterproof, windproof, unlined, zip-up jacket. When it is cold I wear the hoodie under the rain jacket. When it warms up, I take off the hoodie and wear only the rain jacket. When it gets hot I wear only a synthetic long-sleeve pullover shirt under body armor that always stays on, and that is it.)
Today's riding can be broken down into three separate segments; all of them superb. The riding was so good and ended on such a high note, that for the life of me I cannot remember what our morning ride was like. The only reason why I know it was great is because I have written in my notebook, as a reminder, that the morning ride contains excellent video footage so it must have been terrific.
(It will take a couple of weeks for my video editors to whittle down the 375 gigabytes of video I recorded on this tour into an hour or two of watchable riding segments. I will send out further notices when these videos are posted online. I will make notifications of these video postings on my website and on ASIAN MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES' Facebook page.)
After the great ride in the morning that I cannot remember anything about other than it was fantastic, we drove up into the Yuanyang rice terraces. These terraces basically cover every square inch of an immense box canyon, climbing up the slopes and walls all the way to the ridge line, and are a marvel to behold. They remind me a lot of Sapa's rice terraces in northern Vietnam. I pulled out my map and saw that these two places are only around 40 kms apart as the bird flies. Being that the topography, weather, and soil in both places are identical, and that this region is populated by basically the same ethnic groups, it dawned on me that this entire region, thousands upon thousands of square miles, must be one gigantic terraced rice growing area, and that anywhere in this region that you looked at or drove to would be equally spectacular. I would love to fly above this region in an ultralight.
China claims these rice terraces are the largest in the world. I don't quite agree with that claim as I have visited the Batad and Baangan rice terraces at Banaue in The Philippines, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Unfortunately, the Banaue rice fields are deteriorating because there are no longer enough people around to work them. Most of the younger generation choose instead to pursue an education to escape the rice-growing life of constant toil.
We drove our mcs in a big loop around the Yuanyang rice terraces. The road was superb and in excellent condition, and the locals were all colorfully-dressed Hani and Yi ethnic minority and curious about us and our motorcycles. It was hard to drive even half a kilometer before needing to hop off our mcs to take a photo of a new vista that opened up before our eyes.
Below is a gps riding segment track from today's ride.
GPS track of Yuanyang rice terraces.
Once we left the rice terraces, we changed directions and started driving northwest up the Red River Basin. The Red River is another of the important rivers in this region. Its source is near Dali in Yunnan Province and it flows into north Vietnam in basically a straight line before emptying into the Gulf of Tonkin.
The Red River road followed a contour line for the most part and was nearly devoid of other road users. The road condition for such a little-used road was in excellent condition, except where the road bed subsided under the asphalt causing big cracks and waves in the road surface, and except where huge and medium-sized boulders fell from the surrounding cliffs and winded up sitting on the road for who knew how long. It was great fun running through this obstacle course of boulders and this road was far different from anything else we had driven so far on this tour. The scenery was equally spectacular as anything else we have seen but in a completely different way.
If I had to describe the roads on this tour using two words only, they would be 'outstanding variety'.
It was late afternoon when we pulled into the small city of Yuanjiang and checked into the only high-rise hotel in town. We had great views across the river valley from the 14th floor. Yuanjiang is said to have the tastiest mangos in China, and grows over 200 varieties. We missed the annual mango festival by a day so they were selling for ridiculously cheap prices. We didn't buy a single one.
Dinner tonight was another great meal in a weird-looking restaurant that looked like a hospital clinic. Most Chinese people do not look at a menu. Instead the wander into the kitchen, inspect the produce and meats, and discuss with the cooking staff how best to prepare it. A foreigner would find this impossible to do so Pae and our ground handler did all selecting. Phil is the only problem eater in our group. He doesn't go hungry or anything like that because there is always a lot of fresh veggies and rice, but he is picky and choosey about what type of meat and fish goes into his mouth and won't eat anything with egg in it, unlike the three of us who eat, and want to try just about anything.
Until tomorrow, Bye, bye.
Post # 15
Dateline: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 midnight (but posted 3 days late).
Welcome to the "Shangri-La Here We Come" blog.
Present location: Yuanjiang, Yunnan Province.
Riding distance from Jianshui: 310 kms.
GPS Track-Jiangshui to YuanjiangDriving (moving) time: 6:39
Moving average: 46.5 kph
Highest elevation reached: 2055 meters
Total trip cumulative distance: 3704 kms.
Complete trip GPS track below:
Shangri-La Tour Cumulative GPS TrackTomorrow's destination: China-Lao border crossing at Boten.
Riding distance: 500 kms approximately.
Approximate riding time: 6 hours.
Phil Gibbins is taking a ton of photos, way more than me. He is posting them online on his RideAsia.net rider forum. But this url changes daily. To see the photos from our ride to Yuanjiang and our rest day in Jianshui, you can view them at the following url:
http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-...karpo-6-740-meters-22-113-a-13.html#post30147
Hello Interested Parties,
Sorry for this delayed trip post. Last night I was just too tired and fell asleep immediately after dinner. And the night after that the internet connection was not working.
Anyway, on Wednesday we had another great day blasting around Yunnan Province. Glorious sunny weather blessed us in total contrast to our last day's riding in a dismal all-day drizzle. But this was coupled with a seriously wide range of temperatures. We started out in the morning from Jianshui at 13.5 C, hit 10 C at the top of our first mountain pass and ended up the day at 33.5 C. This is because Jianshui is situated at 1300 meters in elevation and Yangjiang, in the Red River basin, sits at a lowly 400 meters. The bracingly cool and dry weather on this tour is now history as we are now fully off the Himalaya Plateau and in the subtropical region of Southeast Asia. Temperatures will dip and climb in a smaller range than what we have become accustomed to. This will happen when we climb up and over several more high mountain passes.
(Despite the wide range of temperatures, I have kept myself quite comfortable using a combination of only two outer coverings; a cotton hooded sweatshirt and a waterproof, windproof, unlined, zip-up jacket. When it is cold I wear the hoodie under the rain jacket. When it warms up, I take off the hoodie and wear only the rain jacket. When it gets hot I wear only a synthetic long-sleeve pullover shirt under body armor that always stays on, and that is it.)
Today's riding can be broken down into three separate segments; all of them superb. The riding was so good and ended on such a high note, that for the life of me I cannot remember what our morning ride was like. The only reason why I know it was great is because I have written in my notebook, as a reminder, that the morning ride contains excellent video footage so it must have been terrific.
(It will take a couple of weeks for my video editors to whittle down the 375 gigabytes of video I recorded on this tour into an hour or two of watchable riding segments. I will send out further notices when these videos are posted online. I will make notifications of these video postings on my website and on ASIAN MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES' Facebook page.)
After the great ride in the morning that I cannot remember anything about other than it was fantastic, we drove up into the Yuanyang rice terraces. These terraces basically cover every square inch of an immense box canyon, climbing up the slopes and walls all the way to the ridge line, and are a marvel to behold. They remind me a lot of Sapa's rice terraces in northern Vietnam. I pulled out my map and saw that these two places are only around 40 kms apart as the bird flies. Being that the topography, weather, and soil in both places are identical, and that this region is populated by basically the same ethnic groups, it dawned on me that this entire region, thousands upon thousands of square miles, must be one gigantic terraced rice growing area, and that anywhere in this region that you looked at or drove to would be equally spectacular. I would love to fly above this region in an ultralight.
China claims these rice terraces are the largest in the world. I don't quite agree with that claim as I have visited the Batad and Baangan rice terraces at Banaue in The Philippines, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Unfortunately, the Banaue rice fields are deteriorating because there are no longer enough people around to work them. Most of the younger generation choose instead to pursue an education to escape the rice-growing life of constant toil.
We drove our mcs in a big loop around the Yuanyang rice terraces. The road was superb and in excellent condition, and the locals were all colorfully-dressed Hani and Yi ethnic minority and curious about us and our motorcycles. It was hard to drive even half a kilometer before needing to hop off our mcs to take a photo of a new vista that opened up before our eyes.
Below is a gps riding segment track from today's ride.
GPS track of Yuanyang rice terraces.Once we left the rice terraces, we changed directions and started driving northwest up the Red River Basin. The Red River is another of the important rivers in this region. Its source is near Dali in Yunnan Province and it flows into north Vietnam in basically a straight line before emptying into the Gulf of Tonkin.
The Red River road followed a contour line for the most part and was nearly devoid of other road users. The road condition for such a little-used road was in excellent condition, except where the road bed subsided under the asphalt causing big cracks and waves in the road surface, and except where huge and medium-sized boulders fell from the surrounding cliffs and winded up sitting on the road for who knew how long. It was great fun running through this obstacle course of boulders and this road was far different from anything else we had driven so far on this tour. The scenery was equally spectacular as anything else we have seen but in a completely different way.
If I had to describe the roads on this tour using two words only, they would be 'outstanding variety'.
It was late afternoon when we pulled into the small city of Yuanjiang and checked into the only high-rise hotel in town. We had great views across the river valley from the 14th floor. Yuanjiang is said to have the tastiest mangos in China, and grows over 200 varieties. We missed the annual mango festival by a day so they were selling for ridiculously cheap prices. We didn't buy a single one.
Dinner tonight was another great meal in a weird-looking restaurant that looked like a hospital clinic. Most Chinese people do not look at a menu. Instead the wander into the kitchen, inspect the produce and meats, and discuss with the cooking staff how best to prepare it. A foreigner would find this impossible to do so Pae and our ground handler did all selecting. Phil is the only problem eater in our group. He doesn't go hungry or anything like that because there is always a lot of fresh veggies and rice, but he is picky and choosey about what type of meat and fish goes into his mouth and won't eat anything with egg in it, unlike the three of us who eat, and want to try just about anything.
Until tomorrow, Bye, bye.
KTMphil
Senior member
Excellent article in the NY Times about moving 250 million rural Chinese into newly constructed cities:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/w...g-moving-250-million-into-cities.html?hp&_r=0
BEIJING — China is pushing ahead with a sweeping plan to move 250 million rural residents into newly constructed towns and cities over the next dozen years — a transformative event that could set off a new wave of growth or saddle the country with problems for generations to come. The government, often by fiat, is replacing small rural homes with high-rises, paving over vast swaths of farmland and drastically altering the lives of rural dwellers. So large is the scale that the number of brand-new Chinese city dwellers will approach the total urban population of the United States — in a country already bursting with megacities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/w...g-moving-250-million-into-cities.html?hp&_r=0
BEIJING — China is pushing ahead with a sweeping plan to move 250 million rural residents into newly constructed towns and cities over the next dozen years — a transformative event that could set off a new wave of growth or saddle the country with problems for generations to come. The government, often by fiat, is replacing small rural homes with high-rises, paving over vast swaths of farmland and drastically altering the lives of rural dwellers. So large is the scale that the number of brand-new Chinese city dwellers will approach the total urban population of the United States — in a country already bursting with megacities.
MastaMax
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2011
- Bikes
- 19 ktm 300tpi 6 days / 15 Yamaha YZ250F / 08 Husky 450SMR / 13 ER6N / 13 KTM 300XCW(sold)
What I understand: article in the NY Times about deporting 250 million rural Chinese into newly constructed ghettos (so they can better be controlled).
Excellent article in the NY Times about moving 250 million rural Chinese into newly constructed cities:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/w...g-moving-250-million-into-cities.html?hp&_r=0
BEIJING — China is pushing ahead with a sweeping plan to move 250 million rural residents into newly constructed towns and cities over the next dozen years — a transformative event that could set off a new wave of growth or saddle the country with problems for generations to come. The government, often by fiat, is replacing small rural homes with high-rises, paving over vast swaths of farmland and drastically altering the lives of rural dwellers. So large is the scale that the number of brand-new Chinese city dwellers will approach the total urban population of the United States — in a country already bursting with megacities.
KTMphil
Senior member
Reed's account for our passage from Yuan Yang, China to Luang Namtha, Laos , looks like a good read:
Post # 16
Dateline: Thursday, June 13, 2013, 10 a.m. (but posted 4 days late).
 
Welcome to the “Shangri-La Here We Come” blog.
Present location: Luangnamtha, Laos
Riding distance from Yuanyuang, China: 544 kms.
GPS track of ride from Yuanyuang, China to Luangnamtha, Laos.
Driving (moving time): 6:15
Moving average: 87 kph.
Highest elevation reached: 1689 meters
Total trip cumulative distance: 4248 kms.
Complete GPS track below:
Shangri-La GPS trip route from Chiang Mai to the Tibet border, return, at Luangnamtha.
Tomorrow’s destination: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Riding distance: 500 kms approximately.
Approximate riding time: 7.5 hours.
Phil Gibbins is taking a ton of photos, way more than me. He is posting them online on his RideAsia.net rider forum. But this url changes daily. To see the photos from our ride to Luangnamtha in Laos, you can view them at the following url:
http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-...karpo-6-740-meters-22-113-a-13.html#post30147
Hello Interested Parties,
In Yuanyuang, Phil and I decided to wrap up this tour. We had seen enough and experienced enough to know we discovered the best motorcycling terrain in Asia, at least the best doable motorcycling terrain that is feasible to reach within a reasonable amount of time from our home bases in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Quite a few qualifications there.)
So we got on our bikes and rode, rode, rode, and rode some more, stopping only for a quick lunch, a piss or two, and a couple of petrol fill-ups. This portion of the route (the same portion we rode up on) was an excellent, high speed, limited access, dual carriage way with a perfect asphalt surface. Our speedos hovered between 120-130 kph and we blasted past every other vehicle on the highway. We even roared past a couple of police cars who didn’t seem to mind at all.
We hit the Chinese/Lao border by mid afternoon. Doing the paperwork in reverse, we had no trouble leaving The Middle Kingdom. The trouble seems always to be getting into these Asian countries; not getting out of them. For whatever reason they are only too happy to see us return from whence we came.
Entering Laos was a snap because this was the 2nd time we were entering Lao on this tour, and we had the drill down pat: immigration, customs, insurance. After a two-hour ride over a pleasant mountain road we checked into a pleasant guesthouse in Luangnamtha, a large town in the middle of Bokeo Province, and sat in the shade on a picnic bench sipping ice-cold Beer Laos. It feels so good to finally stop moving after so many hours on the throttle.
There are still so many roads, regions, towns and cities left to visit in Yunnan that it will keep Phil and myself busy for years. The topography of northern Yunnan Province is no less than the Himalaya Plateau itself, and the southern reaches of Yunnan are located in the Himalayan foothills, so anywhere you point your mc you will encounter outstanding riding. People who are familiar with the riding available in Northern Thailand, Northern Laos, and Northern Vietnam will have some idea of what this previous sentence suggests. Except in southern Yunnan, the mountain passes are higher, the valleys lower, the roads virtually empty, and the road conditions superb.
The Chinese locals were delightful; friendly, open, warm, and curious. They were eager to practice their budding English skills on us. Yunnan province gets lots of tourists from the rest of the motherland, and everyone here in Yunnan was out to have a good time and the three of us on our bikes were part of their good time. My expedition-equipped 4×4 was an equally big hit with the locals.
I found the food at every meal delicious. But after around two weeks of three meals a day of Chinese fare, I did get a hankering for Western food. Western food (in name only-not in taste or appearance) and fast food outlets like McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut are available only in the larger cities and tourist areas.
Coffee is nearly impossible to find (next tour I am bringing my own coffee brewing equipment). Cold drinks are also unimportant to the Chinese as they believe cold liquids put inside your system are inherently unhealthy. (Next tour I am buying for the support truck a 12 volt cooler. Maybe an expresso machine as well.)
Lodging choices throughout this tour were extensive and we always stayed in a hotel or guesthouse loaded with local charm.
I would’ve liked to stay longer in Shangri-La to visit the surrounding region and Tibetan culture in greater depth. I would have liked to jump off my bike more often and wander around the truly authentic and untouched local villages we roared past. But this was impossible to do because of the distances and time involved. Next time.
The weather was delightful (except for a single day of light rain and drizzle). The roads for the most part were in excellent condition and excellently engineered. The highways we rode in China were the equal, if not superior to anything I’ve ridden in The States (from a motorcycling standpoint.)
Which brings us to the $50,000 question: which is the best type of motorcycle to ride on this tour?
Phil and I both thought the BMW F800GS’s were perfect. They were powerful enough for the highways, robust enough to handle the occasional crappy roads we encountered (not many, thankfully), handled great, were 100% reliable, had a large fuel capacity, and were comfortable enough to ride hour after hour, day after day.
Could a road bike do this tour? Like a Harley or a Ducati or a Kawasaki Verysy. Yes they can.
But around 5-10% of the roads would make a rider miserable if he was riding one of these bikes. However, those same bikes, on around 5-10% of the roads would be in all their glory, especially on some of the winding, rolling, high speed highways we motored on during the southern portions of our route.
What about a motorcycle like a Kawasaki KLR 250 or anything else in that class? Well that bike could easily handle each and every road we rode on this tour. They would be underpowered on the highways and that would negate a lot of the fun riding we had on this trip. And if you did not have a support vehicle like we had, you would be saddled down with luggage and gear and would be awefully cramped in the saddle. All the extra gear would slow you down even more so. But bottom line; a tour in Yunnan is doable on a 250 dual-purpose bike.
If a rider is skillful in handling a large capacity street bike in large Asian city where no traffic rules and regulations seem to be in play, and if a rider is skillful enough to be able to handle his street bike over the occasional ugly road sections that we hit, then he will do fine.
This is not a tour for anyone who is not used to Asian city riding techniques. This is not a tour for anyone who is not 100% comfortable riding a large capacity motorcycle on an ever-changing variety of roads.
However, I strongly recommend taking a dual-purpose mc on this tour. Any mc at least 650 cc or over would be ideal (non-fuel-injected models will have trouble with some of the altitudes we hit on the higher passes). Riding a dual-purpose motorcycle, a rider can fully enjoy 100% of the roads on this Shangri-La tour just like Phil, George and I did. In fact, George rode a 250cc dual-purpose bike for the northern part of this tour. We did have a couple of days of highway riding leaving and returning to Kunming, and George, on those sections, was not a happy camper. But he did it, no sweat.
Tomorrow is going to be the final post of this blog. Because tomorrow all Phil and I have to do is ride home safely and we will be back in our homes in Chiang Mai by suppertime. For all intents and purposes, this tour is now history.
That’s it for now. Bye bye.
Post # 16
Dateline: Thursday, June 13, 2013, 10 a.m. (but posted 4 days late).
 
Welcome to the “Shangri-La Here We Come” blog.
Present location: Luangnamtha, Laos
Riding distance from Yuanyuang, China: 544 kms.
GPS track of ride from Yuanyuang, China to Luangnamtha, Laos.Driving (moving time): 6:15
Moving average: 87 kph.
Highest elevation reached: 1689 meters
Total trip cumulative distance: 4248 kms.
Complete GPS track below:
Shangri-La GPS trip route from Chiang Mai to the Tibet border, return, at Luangnamtha.Tomorrow’s destination: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Riding distance: 500 kms approximately.
Approximate riding time: 7.5 hours.
Phil Gibbins is taking a ton of photos, way more than me. He is posting them online on his RideAsia.net rider forum. But this url changes daily. To see the photos from our ride to Luangnamtha in Laos, you can view them at the following url:
http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-...karpo-6-740-meters-22-113-a-13.html#post30147
Hello Interested Parties,
In Yuanyuang, Phil and I decided to wrap up this tour. We had seen enough and experienced enough to know we discovered the best motorcycling terrain in Asia, at least the best doable motorcycling terrain that is feasible to reach within a reasonable amount of time from our home bases in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Quite a few qualifications there.)
So we got on our bikes and rode, rode, rode, and rode some more, stopping only for a quick lunch, a piss or two, and a couple of petrol fill-ups. This portion of the route (the same portion we rode up on) was an excellent, high speed, limited access, dual carriage way with a perfect asphalt surface. Our speedos hovered between 120-130 kph and we blasted past every other vehicle on the highway. We even roared past a couple of police cars who didn’t seem to mind at all.
We hit the Chinese/Lao border by mid afternoon. Doing the paperwork in reverse, we had no trouble leaving The Middle Kingdom. The trouble seems always to be getting into these Asian countries; not getting out of them. For whatever reason they are only too happy to see us return from whence we came.
Entering Laos was a snap because this was the 2nd time we were entering Lao on this tour, and we had the drill down pat: immigration, customs, insurance. After a two-hour ride over a pleasant mountain road we checked into a pleasant guesthouse in Luangnamtha, a large town in the middle of Bokeo Province, and sat in the shade on a picnic bench sipping ice-cold Beer Laos. It feels so good to finally stop moving after so many hours on the throttle.
There are still so many roads, regions, towns and cities left to visit in Yunnan that it will keep Phil and myself busy for years. The topography of northern Yunnan Province is no less than the Himalaya Plateau itself, and the southern reaches of Yunnan are located in the Himalayan foothills, so anywhere you point your mc you will encounter outstanding riding. People who are familiar with the riding available in Northern Thailand, Northern Laos, and Northern Vietnam will have some idea of what this previous sentence suggests. Except in southern Yunnan, the mountain passes are higher, the valleys lower, the roads virtually empty, and the road conditions superb.
The Chinese locals were delightful; friendly, open, warm, and curious. They were eager to practice their budding English skills on us. Yunnan province gets lots of tourists from the rest of the motherland, and everyone here in Yunnan was out to have a good time and the three of us on our bikes were part of their good time. My expedition-equipped 4×4 was an equally big hit with the locals.
I found the food at every meal delicious. But after around two weeks of three meals a day of Chinese fare, I did get a hankering for Western food. Western food (in name only-not in taste or appearance) and fast food outlets like McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut are available only in the larger cities and tourist areas.
Coffee is nearly impossible to find (next tour I am bringing my own coffee brewing equipment). Cold drinks are also unimportant to the Chinese as they believe cold liquids put inside your system are inherently unhealthy. (Next tour I am buying for the support truck a 12 volt cooler. Maybe an expresso machine as well.)
Lodging choices throughout this tour were extensive and we always stayed in a hotel or guesthouse loaded with local charm.
I would’ve liked to stay longer in Shangri-La to visit the surrounding region and Tibetan culture in greater depth. I would have liked to jump off my bike more often and wander around the truly authentic and untouched local villages we roared past. But this was impossible to do because of the distances and time involved. Next time.
The weather was delightful (except for a single day of light rain and drizzle). The roads for the most part were in excellent condition and excellently engineered. The highways we rode in China were the equal, if not superior to anything I’ve ridden in The States (from a motorcycling standpoint.)
Which brings us to the $50,000 question: which is the best type of motorcycle to ride on this tour?
Phil and I both thought the BMW F800GS’s were perfect. They were powerful enough for the highways, robust enough to handle the occasional crappy roads we encountered (not many, thankfully), handled great, were 100% reliable, had a large fuel capacity, and were comfortable enough to ride hour after hour, day after day.
Could a road bike do this tour? Like a Harley or a Ducati or a Kawasaki Verysy. Yes they can.
But around 5-10% of the roads would make a rider miserable if he was riding one of these bikes. However, those same bikes, on around 5-10% of the roads would be in all their glory, especially on some of the winding, rolling, high speed highways we motored on during the southern portions of our route.
What about a motorcycle like a Kawasaki KLR 250 or anything else in that class? Well that bike could easily handle each and every road we rode on this tour. They would be underpowered on the highways and that would negate a lot of the fun riding we had on this trip. And if you did not have a support vehicle like we had, you would be saddled down with luggage and gear and would be awefully cramped in the saddle. All the extra gear would slow you down even more so. But bottom line; a tour in Yunnan is doable on a 250 dual-purpose bike.
If a rider is skillful in handling a large capacity street bike in large Asian city where no traffic rules and regulations seem to be in play, and if a rider is skillful enough to be able to handle his street bike over the occasional ugly road sections that we hit, then he will do fine.
This is not a tour for anyone who is not used to Asian city riding techniques. This is not a tour for anyone who is not 100% comfortable riding a large capacity motorcycle on an ever-changing variety of roads.
However, I strongly recommend taking a dual-purpose mc on this tour. Any mc at least 650 cc or over would be ideal (non-fuel-injected models will have trouble with some of the altitudes we hit on the higher passes). Riding a dual-purpose motorcycle, a rider can fully enjoy 100% of the roads on this Shangri-La tour just like Phil, George and I did. In fact, George rode a 250cc dual-purpose bike for the northern part of this tour. We did have a couple of days of highway riding leaving and returning to Kunming, and George, on those sections, was not a happy camper. But he did it, no sweat.
Tomorrow is going to be the final post of this blog. Because tomorrow all Phil and I have to do is ride home safely and we will be back in our homes in Chiang Mai by suppertime. For all intents and purposes, this tour is now history.
That’s it for now. Bye bye.
KTMphil
Senior member
Getting home - Reed's concluding account of our trip to the Tibet border and back
Post # 17. Last and final post of this blog.
Dateline: Friday, June 14, 2013, 8 p.m. (but posted 3 days late).
Welcome to the "Shangri-La Here We Come" blog.
Present location: Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Riding distance from Luangnamtha, Laos: 481 kms.
GPS track - Luangnamtha, Laos to Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Driving (moving time): 7:22
Moving average: 67 kph.
Highest elevation reached: 1038 meters
Total cumulative distance: 4729 kms.
Overall riding distance for entire tour (including side trips, etc.):
4914 kms.
Complete GPS tour track below:
Shangri-La GPS trip route from Chiang Mai to the Tibet border, return, at Luangnamtha.
Tomorrow's destination: None. This tour is now history.
Phil Gibbins is taking a ton of photos, way more than me. He is posting them online on his RideAsia.net rider forum. But this url changes daily. To see the photos from our ride from Luangnamtha to Chiang Mai, you can view them at the following url:
http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-...karpo-6-740-meters-22-113-a-14.html#post30265
Hello Interested Parties,
Home sweet home. Safe and sound. Feels soooo good to finally stop moving.
What an adventure this has been. Best ride of my motorcycle career. Can't imagine anything ever topping this trip. I will definitely return.
Phil and I departed Laos hassle free and reentered Thailand hassle free. All we had to do now was drive the final 300 clicks back to Chiang Mai in the same condition we left it in, which we did successfully accomplish.
My big job now is to go through the 375 gbs of images I shot on this tour. Several video segments will be put online as soon as my vdo editors can process them. And most ot the photos I shot with my still camera still have not been looked at.
When the vdos go online and my still photos are put into a slideshow of some form, I will send out another email announcement. This may take several weeks.
I would love to receive some feedback about this blog from whoever is receiving it. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. My name is Reed Resnikoff (in case you forgot) and you can contact me at: info@asianbiketour.com
As I said at the very beginning of this blog, this was a recce tour. I wanted to see if this tour would be any enjoyable one; get a feeling for the roads, terrain, culture, food, and lodging facilities.
If I liked what I encountered, I would then want to share this tour with other motorcyclists.
I not only liked what I saw, I have become enchanted by it. I would love to share this trip with other motorcyclists who have a keen spirit of adventure.
I am planning another trip to Shangri-La and its environs during the last week of September through the first two weeks of October, 2013. This period promises to be the best weather window of the year. We should miss the rainy season in the south portions of the route and reach the Himalayan Plataeu way before winter sets in. Being right after the summer, the landscapes should be at their greenest and most lush.
For this trip I invite other riders to join me and my crew. I would like to go out with at least ten bikers and the maximum would be about twenty. My support vehicle and mechanic will accompanying us. If anyone has interest in participating and would like further details, please contact me at: info@asianbiketour.com
I thank everyone once again for their interest in this blog.
Best regards, Reed Resnikoff, ASIAN MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES. Asian Motorcycle Tours - Motorcycle Tours throughout Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and more
Post # 17. Last and final post of this blog.
Dateline: Friday, June 14, 2013, 8 p.m. (but posted 3 days late).
Welcome to the "Shangri-La Here We Come" blog.
Present location: Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Riding distance from Luangnamtha, Laos: 481 kms.
GPS track - Luangnamtha, Laos to Chiang Mai, Thailand.Driving (moving time): 7:22
Moving average: 67 kph.
Highest elevation reached: 1038 meters
Total cumulative distance: 4729 kms.
Overall riding distance for entire tour (including side trips, etc.):
4914 kms.
Complete GPS tour track below:
Shangri-La GPS trip route from Chiang Mai to the Tibet border, return, at Luangnamtha.Tomorrow's destination: None. This tour is now history.
Phil Gibbins is taking a ton of photos, way more than me. He is posting them online on his RideAsia.net rider forum. But this url changes daily. To see the photos from our ride from Luangnamtha to Chiang Mai, you can view them at the following url:
http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-...karpo-6-740-meters-22-113-a-14.html#post30265
Hello Interested Parties,
Home sweet home. Safe and sound. Feels soooo good to finally stop moving.
What an adventure this has been. Best ride of my motorcycle career. Can't imagine anything ever topping this trip. I will definitely return.
Phil and I departed Laos hassle free and reentered Thailand hassle free. All we had to do now was drive the final 300 clicks back to Chiang Mai in the same condition we left it in, which we did successfully accomplish.
My big job now is to go through the 375 gbs of images I shot on this tour. Several video segments will be put online as soon as my vdo editors can process them. And most ot the photos I shot with my still camera still have not been looked at.
When the vdos go online and my still photos are put into a slideshow of some form, I will send out another email announcement. This may take several weeks.
I would love to receive some feedback about this blog from whoever is receiving it. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. My name is Reed Resnikoff (in case you forgot) and you can contact me at: info@asianbiketour.com
As I said at the very beginning of this blog, this was a recce tour. I wanted to see if this tour would be any enjoyable one; get a feeling for the roads, terrain, culture, food, and lodging facilities.
If I liked what I encountered, I would then want to share this tour with other motorcyclists.
I not only liked what I saw, I have become enchanted by it. I would love to share this trip with other motorcyclists who have a keen spirit of adventure.
I am planning another trip to Shangri-La and its environs during the last week of September through the first two weeks of October, 2013. This period promises to be the best weather window of the year. We should miss the rainy season in the south portions of the route and reach the Himalayan Plataeu way before winter sets in. Being right after the summer, the landscapes should be at their greenest and most lush.
For this trip I invite other riders to join me and my crew. I would like to go out with at least ten bikers and the maximum would be about twenty. My support vehicle and mechanic will accompanying us. If anyone has interest in participating and would like further details, please contact me at: info@asianbiketour.com
I thank everyone once again for their interest in this blog.
Best regards, Reed Resnikoff, ASIAN MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES. Asian Motorcycle Tours - Motorcycle Tours throughout Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and more
WarProfiteer
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 17, 2013
- Bikes
- currently renting & deciding
An awesome, awesome read.
Looking for rotational work right now... should I find it, and the rotations work out, I'd love to rent a Versys and come along when you return...
Looking for rotational work right now... should I find it, and the rotations work out, I'd love to rent a Versys and come along when you return...
KTMphil
Senior member
One from Reed at the Tiger Leaping Gorge
Nice on Phil ...
KTMphil
Senior member
Reed's going through his 4,000 photo's & 326 GB of GoPro footage, he says it will take more than a week of solid work!
A couple of shot's he's emailed over while sorting them
Going into the tunnel north of Deqin, 30km from the Tibet checkpoint
A couple of shot's he's emailed over while sorting them
Going into the tunnel north of Deqin, 30km from the Tibet checkpoint
rhiekel
Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2011
Amazing changes. That tunnel section near Deqin was dirt when I was on it...
This is one of my favorite photos. It was shot just on the outskirts of Shangri La. I had stopped to do something on the bike. Next thing I know these kids run up, and break into a song and dance number. After they finished, the scrappy boy demanded money because I took a photo. After some negotiations, I paid them with a smile...
This is one of my favorite photos. It was shot just on the outskirts of Shangri La. I had stopped to do something on the bike. Next thing I know these kids run up, and break into a song and dance number. After they finished, the scrappy boy demanded money because I took a photo. After some negotiations, I paid them with a smile...
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