If you are interested to learn more about this once-in-a-lifetime adventure and the riding segment ongoing from Luang Prabang then have a look at:

AROUND THE WORLD 2014 (Part 5): Luang Prabang > Bangkok > * The End *

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Rest day Luang Prabang

No Motorcycle needed today. Exception is the group of participants that join the tourguides in the morning on their visit at the SOS Childrens Village located in the suburbs of Luang Prabang. There they present a Edelweiss donation and to leave some toys and sports equipment with the kids . It´s a great experience to see how orphans with almost no opportunities for the future get a new chance and also use it: an above average high number of the pupils there finish a university degree ...

Formerly Luang Prabang was the capital of a kingdom of the same name. Until the communist takeover in 1975, it was the royal capital and seat of government of the Kingdom of Laos. The main part of the city is located on a peninsula between the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers. The city is well known for its numerous Buddhist temples and monasteries. Along with the magnificent wats a significant part of the old towns appeal are the many French provincial style houses. There is also a well-known night market in town. By the way - the best way to explore this beautiful city is to take a pushbike ...

Arrived at the Childrens Village

Director of SOS in Laos and Principal of SOS Village in Luang Prabang welcome the group

Having a walk through the Village area

Contact to the children ...

What a feeling sitting on a motorcycle ...

... and being watched in the same time! So cute!

SOS - A great family! And an even bigger one for a few hours ...

Claudia and Sid exploring the city!

Luang Pragang sights ...

Christmas preparations already???

Everything on two wheels - a Tourguide never walks ...

This way of transport a TukTuk never was made for - Georg trying the fresh air seat on the TukTuk´s roof

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Luang Namtha to Luang Prabang

First complete day in Laos. Winding roads through the mountains of northern Laos are sometimes gravel and sometimes asphalt as we head towards the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang, where we will stay our next two days.

On Laotian roads

Village scenery

Coffee stop

Georg and Jacec passing by

If you ever come to Laos, try them: sweet sticky rice sticks - GORGEOUS!!!

... like the Laotian nature!

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Mengla to Luang Namtha (Laos)

Today´s distance to Luang Namtha is fairly short. This will give us time to get our border procedure done quite relaxed. We will exit the People Republic of China and enter the People Republic of Laos. Thanks god we have guides on both sides to assist us getting all our documents and the procedure done quite smoothly.

Luang Namtha is the largest settlement in North-West of Laos. It is a popular tourist destination, and a base for treks, biking to the surrounding hill-tribe villages.

Approaching at the Chinese border.

Jacek seem to make a good deal - money change procedure at the border.

Saying goodbye to our chinese guides after being together for 30 days.

The bikes waiting for the customs procedure.

Heiri waiting for the exit procedures ...   What? Is this swiss voodoo???

The border to Laos ...

... and having it passed!

First lunch in Laos ...

... together with our Laotian police guide.

Laotioan street scenery - seemingly the one in the middle is getting a wintergarden ...

Beautiful rice fields.

Martin taking a reeeealy relaxed boot beer in Luang Namtha!

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Jiangcheng to Mengla

Today it is our last full riding day in China. We head towards Mengla, which is very close to the Laotian border. There we will prepare for the border crossing the following day. A last day through the jungle and, in retrospect, we realize again how many different facets this huge China actually has. What an amazing journey through a spectacular country.

Still life in China

Banana plantations ...

... as far as you can look!

More luggage than we? Where does he go???

More of south Chinese scenery ...

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Jianshui to Jiangcheng

South of Jianshui we see again more mountain roads and more jungle. On the way into the jungle we pass rice terraces and today is also a bigger part off-road on the menu. After Luvchen the road is going to be a nature road through the rain forest and its banana plantations. Enjoy the nature and the ride!

Jungle feeling south of Juanshui.

Green, fresh, humid, beautiful ...

... an enjoyable peace of nature ...

... and curves all day long!

Even the urban areas look tropic!

Waiting for customers ...

Did they really build the roads after the rice fields layout???

Riding the next challenge ... we love it!

So beautiful!

Typical Yunnan Barbecue in the evening on Jianshui´s roads!

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Kunming to Jianshui

South of Kunming today we enter the area of the Confucian school and in Jianshui we will have the possibility to visit the most important Confucian temple of China. Our way there is again laced with great mountain roads taking us south. Fleeing the last big city in China we start to feel more and more the tropical flair of South China. Jianshui itself is a dream of a small Chinese town. Old buildings, a huge Confucian temple and an incredible garden of the family Zhu make the little town perfect.

Chinese women keeping the road construction site clean! :-ooooo

Again road and surface become interesting ...

... challenging ...

... and sometimes also admitting defeat.

Good to know that the rules are for all!

Didn´t he have breakfast? Already at the coffee stop Heiri unpacks his private provisions.

Enjoying roads and curves.

He knows that Laos is close - Heiri and his new helmet.

Jianshui appears frienly with lots of friendly people ...

... enjoying their life!

What a service - hotel personnel taking care of our bikes in a perfectly equiped garage.

And after the wash it´s much easier to take care of a flat tire.

Chinese seniors and their leisure activity! Guess what ...

Exploring the beautiful old town of Juanshui ...

... and the Confucian Temple!

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Dali to Kunming

Heading out of Dali the road takes us through various mountain ranges that are famous for its wet conditionswe in the direction of Kunming, which is the capital of the Yunnan Province and our place to stay tonight. Kunming has a very steady climate and is therefore called “the city of spring”. It is one of China´s most ralxed and livable cities - a great city to explore for one night.

Exiting Dali in the early morning sun.

Beautiful nature everywhere around us.

And even the water is still with us.

Gravestones and chiseler shops along our way.

While our chef Claus is arranging the set meal for lunch ...

... we have the chance to enjoy the Chinese life around us ...

... as well as having insider discussions with Chinese bikers ...

... while inspecting their vehicles!

On the road again towards Kunming ...

... where we arrive in the mild evening sun!

Daily procedure: Riders briefing for the next day!

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Lijiang to Dali

From Lijiang, we head south towards Dali. Leaving the surrounding mountains we will see loads of rice fields and also the harvesting procedure. Epic scenery will caccompany our day. And, despite lengthy times to cover short distances because of traffic, it is still a great way to enjoy the eastern area of Yunnan province.

The beautiful town of Dali with 40,000 inhabitants is located between the mountains and the Erhai Lake. The Bai minority founded the place about 3,000 years ago and still today are living 1.5 million Bai in the area.

Rice fields wherever we look!

Buddhist mountain temple above Yangtse River

Main road!

Main road!

Main road!

Charming!

Typicall scenery!

Main road!

Main road!

Main road!

Main road!

The same main road - other view!

Stuck in a market again

Stuck on the detour form the market! ))

And here is the reason. They did not build for this kind of vehicle in the old times ...

Aproaching Dali at lake Erhai

Typical scenery again!

... and getting it fixed. Heiri is very relaxed about it. Look at the tube and you know why ...

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Rest day Lijiang

Today the tour members can either stay in Lijiang to explore the beautiful old town which is UNESCO World Heritage Site or ride their motorcycle 100km north to the Tiger Leaping Gorge. There again they will see the Yangtze River that has cut into the Shangri La Mountains.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge is 16 kilometers long, and the elevation difference between the Yangtze River and the snow-covered peaks of the mountains of Haba Shan is 3,900 meters. There a 40-minute walking trail leads down to the Tiger Leaping stone. Legend says that a tiger once jumped over the Yangtze River from this stone, and this is from where the gorge got its name.

The Yangtse!

Claudia taming the tiger!

Not to tame - the Yangtse in the gorge ...

Exploring the old town of Lijiang ...

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Miyi to Lijiang

Shangri La - what a name! Thats the area we are going to today. Leaving Miyi and passing the huge city area and crazy traffic of Panzhihua we will find mango trees, endless turns and great scenery along our way. In Panzhihua we also make our first crossing of the famous Yangtze River (locally called Jinsha Jiang). Following the endless turns and mountain passes uphill, we find, on a beautiful plateau on 2,400 meters above sea level, the very famous and beautiful city of Lijiang.

The Yangtze River, with a length of 6,418 kilometers, is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world. Interesting fact: Although if China is an unbelievable large country with a population of almost 1.4 billion people around a third of them is living at the Yangtze River.

Crossing the Yangtse

Typical roads these days

Typical activities these days ...

Typical truck going downhill - it´s not broken - they still use a water cooling system for their breaks

And finally nature and scenery pure ...

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Chengdu - Shimian - Miyi

Leaving Chengdu area with its 14 million people we head into the wilderness of South China. The nature, our perspective and the riding is changing a lot now and we reach China as we know it from movies and stories. Forests, architecture and villages are so different to what we experienced up north. And don’t forget, wilderness also means a lot of turns…

The next day we still follow the G108 from Shimian  to Miyi. Mountain roads and curves are our highlight of the day. In the morning we will visit the Moon Lake up in the mountains, which is a very small lake where we still find wild monkeys living.

Facing another construction site while leaving Chengdu. Take it literally - it´s a new HIGHway!

Turns, turns, turns ...

The weather stays rainy ...

... when we stop for lunch in Ya´an at it´s famous ancient bridge.

Waiting for the Hot Pot!

Moon lake!

Its could in the mountains and we decide to warm up while having an early first lunch!

Even the locals are feeling cold and enjoy a place at the brazier.

Chinese sceneries in nature ...

... and urban!

Second lunch place where Alois found two new friends!

Why the hell do they cover their trees with gold???

Nature again is changing - it´s becoming more tropic: Banana, Bamboo, etc.

How does she know where to ride????

Another gate!

Liquid Jade!

And curves without an end ...

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Guangyuan to Chengdu

Today we ride into the Sichuan province and its capital Chengdu, where we stay the next two nights and also will have the chance to do some motorcycle maintenance. The whole province is very famous for the Sichuan kitchen. There we can expect fantastic food and a great city in the centre of China.  By the way - Chengdu was founded already 316 B.C. and has about 7 million inhabitants today.

Teahouses and Mahjong – a very famous game that is played in every household and teahouse over the whole city – as well as many parks in the city centre are a major part of the cities flair. So, all in all Chengdu seems as being a very peaceful city ...

Lots of temples and traditional buildings along our way

Coffee stop at a scenic place ...

... with a great view into Sichuan province

Yin and Yang everywhere! It´s China ...

 Approaching Chengdu - have a look at the street lighting - like Magnolia flowers

Workshop boys - at the brandnew BMW-Workshop in Chengdu

A must have seen in Chengdu - the famous Anshun bridge by night

Thats the way you get your table ware ...

Friends waiting for dinner ...

... and after they have there ears being cleaned professionally!

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If you are interested to learn more about this once-in-a-lifetime adventure and the riding segment leading to Guangyuan then have a look at:

AROUND THE WORLD 2014 (Part 3): Hami > Guangyuan