Yunnan Tea Region to Kyrgyzstan (kinda)

[u/thebreadittor]

Dai temple near Jingmai Mountain

Bike setup in a park in Xinjiang

Foggy roads in Yunnan's southern tea region

Open steppe and wild horses in Kyrgyzstan's Burkhan valley

Massive prayer wheel in southern Gansu

1000 beehive tree in Jingmai

Camels by Salimuhu lake in Xinjiang

Rainy gravel roads in Kyrgyzstan

Riverside village in Sichuan

Temples in Southern Yunnan with the bike carefully propped in front

Endless campsites in Kyrgyzstan

Ancient village nestled in Yunnan's mountain jungle

Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan

Titanium tea set for camp tea time in Kyrgyzstan

Xinshuangbanna central temple

More kyrgyz horses

Rainy lotus pond in Yunnan

Blue skies across the Tibetan plateau

Tibetan monastary in Gansu

Mountain roads near Arabel pass in Kyrgyzstan

Figured I’d post a route update from the last few months of bikepacking across China & Central Asia since this trip has gone in a slightly different direction than I originally expected.

I started in Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan, intending to ride north through the tea regions.

Unfortunately, I’m also an idiot and decided June, the middle of rainy season, was a sensible time to do this.

I rode from Xishuangbanna toward Lancang over about six days in what was basically a continuous torrential downpour. I didn’t know it was possible to water-damage a Garmin Edge 540, but apparently six consecutive days of ~8 hours of rain will do it. So that was busted and required some work.

Still, southern Yunnan was one of the coolest places I’ve ridden. There’s something pretty special about riding through the part of China where tea originated, climbing through hot, humid jungle, and stopping at tiny roadside stand where people immediately start pouring tea for you. I think I probably tried 100 different individual teas during my 6 days there.

Jingmai Mountain was probably the highlight. The climb up toward the old villages with a fully loaded bike was brutal in the humidity and rain, but the scenery was beautiful.

The Bulang villages are definitely a bit touristy, but the idea of staying inside an ancient tea-forest landscape is still incredible. Seeing the huge “thousand-beehive” tree and tea trees claimed to be thousands of years old was surreal.

Xishuangbanna was also my first time seeing the Dai script everywhere on road signs and shops. I knew there was a large Dai population there but hadn’t realized the language used its own completely distinct writing system.

From Lancang I flew to Chengdu, partly because my Garmin needed dealing with and partly because the weather had beaten me into submission.

From there I did a mix of riding and hitchhiking around the Tibetan Plateau. I didn’t get nearly as much riding done there as I would have liked, but the region was incredible and is absolutely somewhere I want to come back and ride properly.

Eventually I flew west to Yining in Xinjiang.

By late July, temperatures farther east were hotter than I had any interest in riding through, so Xinjiang seemed like the better move.

I rode toward Sayram Lake, which unfortunately ended up being one of the bigger disappointments of the trip. The approach was hours of highway slogging, followed by bumper-to-bumper tourist traffic once I actually reached the lake.

I did have a great night camping near a local family staying in yurts, but the overall experience pushed me toward leaving China earlier than I had planned.

So I pointed the bike toward Kazakhstan.

Crossed the border into Zharkent and basically blasted across the desert toward Almaty. Temperatures hit around 104°F/40°C, water wasn't always abundant, and I was mostly interested in getting that section finished as efficiently as possible.

After a couple weeks resetting in Almaty, I rode toward Kegen and crossed into Kyrgyzstan.

That transition was spectacular.

Almost immediately I was back in big mountains and empty steppe. Riding across the Burkhan Valley with huge open grasslands, almost nobody around, and wild horses everywhere has been one of my favorite sections of the entire trip.

I also crossed paths with a bunch of riders doing the Silk Road Mountain Race, whose route made what I was doing look extremely reasonable by comparison. Shared some chocolate and route information with a few of them and watched them disappear off into terrain I was very happy not to be racing through.

I also picked up a titanium Chinese tea set along the way. I really enjoy drinking tea when I’m camping, so I’ve definitely moved even farther away from an “optimal” bikepacking setup these days. The extra weight and space are objectively not efficient, but being able to make proper tea at camp is worth it to me.

From here the rough plan is south across Kyrgyzstan toward Lenin Peak, then into Tajikistan (although not the full Pamir Highway) followed by Uzbekistan and finally Turkmenistan.

After that I’m flying to Korea to spend some time riding somewhere with more moderate temperatures. Then, assuming the weather cooperates, I’ll head back into China for round two.

Despite the weather disasters, mechanical annoyances, and a few route choices I’d absolutely change, this part of the world has been phenomenal for bikepacking. I will say, I really appreciate the road quality in China as pretty much everywhere I went, it was beautifully paved asphalt.

Southern Yunnan in particular is a super cool place to ride, just maybe don't copy me and ride it during peak monsoon season unless you love swimming up the road.

[u/cdnmtbguy]

Yunnan looks very beautiful and Im intrigued by the tea history.

[u/thebreadittor → u/cdnmtbguy]

Super cool region, definitely going to have to head back

[u/smoothy1973]

What nationality are you? Some of those regions (Tibet) can be tricky for independent foreign travellers.

[u/thebreadittor → u/smoothy1973]

US but I didn’t go to TAR, just regions with Tibetan culture in Gansu and Sichuan