First Days in Yunnan

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Before our trip started, one of the major conundrums I was mulling over was exactly how to write about motorcycling. Sure, the adventures of our non-riding days would surely make for great stories, but how exactly do you write about 500km of highways? It’s easy enough to write about problems on the road, but what about when the path is smooth? When Point A and Point B meet with ease?

I know now that retelling the ride isn’t the problem. The problem is actually getting off the bike and taking time to write.

Our first days of adventure and misadventure deserve a lengthy rehashing, but for now a quick recap of the major highlights, more a teaser for the stories to come:

Day 1 – Kunming – Jan 29

Yes, we got our bikes. On the Friday before Chinese New Year, our bikes arrived at a massive logistics center outside of Kunming. For whatever reason, the center was moving operations to a facility on the other side of town. The move had to be finished before the New Year’s holiday, so as you can imagine, the place was pure chaos. 

Yet through the madness, our bikes emerged unscathed, packed tightly in wood frames, ready for the trip ahead. We hired a truck to carry the bikes to a nearby street of repair shops. We just needed a few simple tools to get the bikes ready to roll, but lo and behold, none of these shops had tools… So off to our good friend Zhao Feng’s moto shop.

Once set up, we needed a place to park the bikes overnight before heading out in the AM. Kunming does not allow motorcycles in the city center, so we figured a hotel outside of town would work. When we couldn’t find one, we did the next logical thing – stash the bikes in an underground parking garage at an under-construction apartment complex. The lack of electricity in the lot helped hide our smuggled goods.

Day 2 – Kunming to Tonghai, China – Jan 30

And the Great Ride begins! Good to finally be on the road. The bikes were in good form, but it was a bit of trial and error getting the bikes staged with all our equipment/bags. We are guesstimating that all our additional luggage adds 80-100 lbs to the bikes – Hans carries most of our spare parts, I carry all of our electronics in a hard Pelican case.

Just a bit out of Kunming is the city/development of Chenggong. On the train ride, a woman told us that Kunming plans to relocate its “downtown” to Chenggong. We assumed she meant mostly government buildings and maybe some larger businesses, but the development was overwhelming. For miles around us, massive apartment complexes shot up as enormous roadways crisscrossed the valley. Twenty 20-story buildings were on the left, across the street from another twenty 20-story buildings. Rows of “official-looking” buildings lined the major thoroughfare, crisp and clean in their newness. The scale of the Chenggong development is hard to imagine, yet one critical component was missing…people. We didn’t see a soul as we rode out, just a few miles south of Kunming, and considered turning around on the massive highway as we were sure we were heading the wrong way.

We rode a few more hours to the “small” town of Tonghai, crashing for the night at a new hotel. Just 200 RMB a night got you a great room…right across from the loudest Karaoke bar in China.

Day 3 – Tonghai to Yuanjiang – Jan 31

While we had hoped to travel further south to the town of Pu’er, a late morning meant we needed to find a closer destination. We were in luck – a beautiful new highway stretched from the town of Honghe to Yuanjiang, snaking along a winding river valley. In our initial trip planning, we sketched out routes to ride along China’s “B Roads,” smaller highways or village roads that were not major thoroughways for the country’s million-strong trucking army. We figured the riding could get hairy, but worth the absence of traffic. But down in Yunnan, we found that most of these B roads were in impeccable shape, most were newly paved, fresh tarmac as far as the eye could see.

So we put our faith in the river valley road, flying most of our day’s route in a few short hours. We’d surely be in Yuanjiang before sundown. And if the highway’s construction had been complete, we would have.

About 80 km outside of Yuanjiang, along a bright black stretch of new road, sits a 10-foot dirt pile. The end of the road…for some.

The motocross-looking dirt mound had a small hard-packed trail along it’s left side. Before we rode across it, we jumped off the bikes to make sure it didn’t lead to certain death. On the other side, several motorcycles parked in waiting, the rides of the road’s construction workers. While the dirt road on the other side seemed less than ideal, the workers assured us you could ride all the way to Yuanjiang.

So off we went, blazing a trail on a yet-to-be-completed trail. Dirt hard-pack was occasionally broken up by cement slabs awaiting their pavement. Following the river along the valley, the lack of guardrails on the roadside was a bit fear-inducing, but I told myself to just look straight.

One stretch of road saw us speeding up a muddy hill. While my skills on the bike have come a long way, this was a serious challenge. The Chinese workers flew up the wet hillside with ease, and Hans assured me it wasn’t too difficult. I only dropped the bike once…and I’m sure I can too it flawlessly now… (Video to come)

We cruised into Yuanjiang well past sundown. The additional headlights we purchased for the bikes came in handy on Day 3, though we promised to never ride at night on Day 1.

Day 4 – Yuanjiang to Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan – Feb 1

Our last major stretch in China saw us to the city of Jinghong, capital of Xishuangbanna Autonomous Region in southern Yunnan. Yunnan is home to an incredible number of China’s ethnic minority groups, and Xishuangbanna’s primary residents are the Dai people, who share many cultural and linguistic traits with Yunnan’s Southeast Asian neighbors.

The highway, devoid of traffic, was a long but relatively easy ride. No major surprises - all roadways were complete and in working order. Hans has been giving me grief because as we rode along Yunnan and our elevation dropped, I repeatedly made the comment that it was getting more “jungly” than the forests up north. It wasn’t. Along 90%!o(MISSING)f the roads we traveled, the hills were lined with perfect rows of oak-like trees (I’m bad with tree descriptions), thanks to what could only have been a Chinese government effort at either erosion protection or “beautification.” The hills would have been prettier without the symmetry, so we are going with erosion protection.

We took lunch in the “famous” city of Pu’er, known for it’s famous tea. I say “famous” because the city was only recently named Pu’er, long after the tea became famous. Tourism is big business, and “Pu’er” was just following in the footsteps of it’s northern Yunnan brother, Shangri-La (originally named Zhongdian).

Most of the route was actually a toll road. While Chinese law actually says that bikes over 650cc can travel along these superhighways, cops and tollboothers will never allow a motorcycle on the road for “safety reasons.” Our bikes are well under that limit at 200cc, but the toll roads are actually far safer (and convenient) than the country roads that wind for miles. Our bikes don’t go fast enough for high speeds to be a concern and there are almost zero cars out on these roadways.

At most toll booths, we’ve just gone around the lowering arms and continued on our merry way. No one has stopped us, and in most cases, the locals tells us it’s the only way to go. Outside of Pu’er was a different story. Three cops and 2 toll attendants stopped us dead in our tracks as we tried to slip by the arm.

Now the way this highway was set up, there was no way for us to simply turn around and head back the other direction. Instead, the cops directed us to a dirt trail along the side, assuring us that it will lead straight to the country road. One harrowing cliffside journey later, we reached the country road…which led directly back to the toll road. But this time, no tollbooth.

We hopped on the freeway and began jetting to Jinghong, just a 100km or so away. We quickly realized, however, that something was wrong. Finally on the freeway, but headed in the wrong direction.

No matter. A “No U-Turn” sign along any road is a sure sign that an opportunity for a U-turn lies just ahead.

We arrived in Jinghong mid-afternoon, crossing the Mekong River and ready for a day of relaxation before making our way to Laos.

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For an up-to-date map of our route, see the Great Ride Forward Google Map

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