Mystery Ride 2024 (RAS2401)
Welcome to our Mystery Ride 2024! And welcome to our guests Gaby, Eva and Johannes, Gerda and Stefan from Austria, Emmanuelle and Philippe from Belgium, Georgia and Peter from the US, Ricardo and Mauricio from Chile, Thorsten, Jörg-Peter, Helmut, Ulrich and Günter from Germany, John from the US and Alex from Canada: Welcome to this tour and to China, the country of superlatives by all means! Mystery… because Rainer only, our CEO, knows what we will discover together during the next sixteen days.
Today we had to organize a lot of things, one was to obtain a chinese driving license. Oh yes, after all this years again..:-)
Today a bit of a challenging day ahead of us, 250km "only" ahead of us, but roads are challenging. Welcome to China! Since it is a mystery tour I am not allowed to say more:-)
In the morning we get back from our cute guesthouse to our bike parking where three buses of students from Yunnan await us...:-) In the cool morning breeze we ride down from the Hani rice terraces to the Red River, we hop a couple of valleys partially with the help of some highway stretches, about 400 km to be covered today! Doesn't sound much to you come to China :-) In the hills of the Pu'er region, THE tea region, we stay in a nice resort right in the middle of tea terraces...
This morning we visit Nakeli, a village just north of Pu'er, which is one of the most beautiful and authentic villages along the Tea Horse Road, one of only four villages in all of Yunnan to be inscribed in the prestigious list of the "Most Beautiful Chinese Villages for Leisure". More than a 1.000 years ago trading tea from Pu'er for horses from Tibet started in this region...
The morning ride from our remote place follows the valley out between two mountain ranges. Beautiful small scale agriculture beside the winding road. Later we climb a pass of 2.200m on a nice twisty road through the forest. We are close to the Myanmar border now. On our way some more tea plantations until we reach Fengqing.
A beautiful ride lies ahead of us today. Leaving Fengqing, we cross a couple of 2.000m passes. The mountains around us are getting higher. The river that flows alongside the Gaoligong Shan mountain chain is the Nujiang, one of the three biggest rivers coming down from the Tibetan highlands.
Today is our restday and some decided to do so in our great relaxing location outside of Tengchong. Others were keen on discovering the area around and that was a very beautiful ride! Passing some wetlands in the beginning, then on a windy narrow road following the Black River and passing a smaller volcano...Later, after an exceptional lunch in a BMW event location, we rode a small twisty mountain road through the thermal springs national park and popped out on the touristy side looking into the quite astonished faces of Chinese bus tour members..:-))
A long ride lies ahead of us today and we take a stretch on the highway in the morning. After we follow the Nujiang North, changing the side sometimes and the Gaoligong mountains around us are getting steeper and higher, the scenery is gorgeous! In this valley the majority is the ethnic population, most of them belonging to the Lisu, Bai and Nu...
In the early morning we ride down from "our" mountain and meet the river Nujiang again. Here we continue our quest north, still inside the mighty canyon of the Nujiang. The mountains to our left and right are becoming higher and higher, soon reaching 4.000 Meters or more. Just a few miles to the west is the border with Myanmar, but there is no road to the other side. This is a very remote area. Then we climb up a pass of 3.500m asl, firstly in a nice forest, later steeper and steeper until we reach the top, snow around us. A dramatic change of the landscape on the other side coming down through many curves to the Lancang river (more known as the Mekong) which we follow North.
The ride today will bring us to Shangri La and we have to say goodbye to the Meili Snow mountains. A lot of curves today and we will try to take another spectacular road over a high pass with 4.320m elevation. After riding down we will meet the 3rd of the three mighty rivers flowing down from Tibet, the Jinshajiang or better known as the Jangtze. We follow the Jangtze as it rushes through its deep gorge but not following the whole way of more than 6.000km until it empties at Shanghai :-). Our target for today is Zhongdian or better known as Shangri La, as it was renamed back in 2001.
Today will be super nice riding day! Even though we will not visit the Pudacuo national park itself its surrounding landscape with its snow capped mountains, blue lakes, some rural settlements, wetlands changing with meadows sprinkled with grazing Yaks and horses is just great for enjoying on the motorcycle. After reaching again 3.700m of height we will drop down around 2.000m on winding roads in order to reach the Tiger Leaping Gorge, as the legend says that once upon a time a tiger jumped over the Jangtze exactly here. Later we gain elevation again on a small twisty country road and pass the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains on our way to Lijiang. What a ride!
Lijiang is Yunnan's pride and joy. UNESCO World Heritage site, a city of music, flowers, water channels, and 300 bridges - with unique architecture. In addition, clear air, a mild climate, lush vegetation, and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain making it a picture postcard.
First we have to get out of busy Lijiang, then we hit a twisty road brings us to the small, ancient trading town of Shaxi, part of the former Tea Horse Road. Another twisty road, this one even smaller than the one before, leads us back across the mountain range and offers sweeping views of the valley we're about to descend into. Soon, Erhai Lake comes into view and announces our arrival in Dali which is our final destination of our Mystery tour! Another beautiful day comes to an end and our tour as well. Thank you very much for your participation in this Mystery Tour through Yunnan!