Posted: 火, 2005-11-08 06:21 | 件名: Re:Motorcycle Yunnan

Welcome to The Treehouse, zach

Seeing as you plan to motorcycle into Yunnan from Sichuan,
then it may be appropriate if we can first get wtanaka to make
some comments on the northern Yunnan border area adjoining
Sichuan Province.

wtanaka is in Xianggelila, (Zhongdian) Yunnan.

Posted: 火, 2005-11-08 07:12 | 件名: Re:Motorcycle Yunnan

It hasn't snowed much (yet) up here, so the roads are probably clear at the moment, but it's getting pretty cold. I can't imagine how much colder it will be on a motorcycle with the wind chill factor. Have you taken this into account?

All the areas bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region are good for alpine mountain landscapes, since they're on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. The prefecture west of here (called Nujiang after the river) gets a lot of positive comments about being yet relatively unspoiled by tourism and beautiful.

There are hilly areas in the south, but it's generally a lot flatter than the border with the T.A.R. There's some karst topography around puzhehei.

Generally if you just find places to stop that aren't along the normal tourist trail, you'll find villages. If the village gets enough visitors, there will probably be a place where you can stay for a small fee. And if they don't get many visitors, you'll probably find people willing to offer you some hospitality.

Does that help any?

By the way, Kham_Spokes has done a lot of cycling in the area. Hopefully we can get him to pipe in as well.

Posted: 火, 2005-11-08 10:36 | 件名: Re:Motorcycle Yunnan

Thanks wtanaka

I was in Zhongdian (Shangri La) in October 2004. This
is in the Tibetan Prefecture of northern Yunnan Province
The local tour guide mentioned that by November each
year, families start locking themselves & their livestock
away for the winter.

In late February/early March 2004 (end of winter), I came
overland by 4WD from Kathmandu (Nepal) to Lhasa (Tibet).
The temperature was well below freezing & the winds were
horrific.

Although Zach may not plan to go up too high on the Tibetan
Plateau, it may be worth bearing in mind that some people
do suffer acute mountain (altitude)sickness at different
lower elevations. For me, it sets in at about 3,250 metres.

wtanaka wrote:

By the way, Kham_Spokes has done a lot of cycling
in the area. Hopefully we can get him to pipe in as well.

In the meantime, check out Kham_Spokes' profile as well
as his Trails & Odysseys in south west China and Tibet ...

Posted: 火, 2005-11-08 19:05 | 件名: Re:Motorcycle Yunnan

wow, thats a big request, I'm always fearful of giving advice, being that I don't know what you are looking for, what sort of motorbiking your looking at doing and how comfortable you are village crashing. fill us in about on when you plan this trip and a little more on what your looking for.

off the top of my head I would be to look into the mekong river valley, and the Nu river (this one whould have to be a there and back as the road ends a little past Gongshan) but you could do a nice side trip into the Dulong. most of this follows the rivers and is warmer then a most of the north west of Yunnan.

the best advice could give you iss to stop in Zhongdian, find the Raven (not to knock the treehouse at all its a fine place) and track down the owners, Jason and Amy. they can sort you out on any motorized advice.

make sure to take the cut off from Litaing to Zongdian. stunning. but again, not knowing when you going to be doing this it hard to say, as this strip can be closed for days from snow.

good luck and have fun.

Posted: 火, 2005-11-08 23:41 | 件名: Re:Motorcycle Yunnan

Kham_Spokes wrote:

"... but again,not knowing when you going to be doing this it hard to say, as this strip can be closed for days from snow.."

Zach has indicated separately to me that he
plans to travel during January/February 2006

Posted: 日, 2005-11-13 01:00 | 件名: Thanks all

Thanks guys, I appreciate any and all advice. I've motorcycled through Tibet and Qinghai before, so I do okay with altitude sickness. On this trip I plan to spend a fair amount of time hanging out in villages talking to people and taking photographs. I guess I'm really after friendly people and beautiful sights. I was dissapointed with the locals within about 500km of Lhasa. They seemed accustomed to being able to rip tourists off, and some became agitated when I didn't want to pay ridiculously inflated prices. The monks at Mt. Everest actually got physical with me. These are the types of situations and people I most want to avoid.
I'll be going in January, so I'll probably avoid the coldest places like Shangrila. How cold is the Nujiang Valley in winter? How cold are Dali and Xishuangbanna in January? I want to spend time around the Loatian/Burmese border areas and have heard some negative comments about the safety situation. I camp out a lot, so this is a concern.
I like to avoid roads with heavy traffic and don't mind having to go slow on rough roads, as long as they are passable. I definitely prefer more remote areas. The only thing that usually can stop a motorcycle is a large water crossing or mudslide.

Posted: 日, 2005-11-13 09:38 | 件名: Re:Motorcycle Yunnan

I was in Xishuangbanna (Jinghong) at the end of
December 2004. The day time temperature was
very pleasant. I think between 12 & 18 degrees
celsius.

When we flew back to Kunming, the sky was heavily
overcast and the temperature about 5 degrees.

There are quite a few ethnic villages close near to
Xishuangbanna that should appeal to you, zach.
Information is easy to obtain in Jinghong.