Matt Schiavenza

I can say without much exaggeration that the bike trip I recently took was among the best of all the trips I’ve taken in China. The pleasures of traveling by bicycle in Yunnan are many:

- the diversity within the province is amazing. Within a 60k stretch in the Red River Valley, we encountered groups of Yao, Miao, and Dai minorities as well as the still-dominant Han. Many of these minority people were dressed in traditional costumes, often idling up the road towing a horse behind them.

- within one province, and often within the same prefecture, there are breathtaking changes in altitude. In one four-hour stretch, we cycled from Gejiu (个旧) to a small town called Huangcaoba (黄草坝), a distance of about 60 kilometers across, and a staggering 1,800 meters down. Dropping nearly 6,000 feet in an afternoon was exhilerating. Of course, in Yunnan, 1,800 meters ain’t nothing. Up in the north, such heights are commonly exceeded. But realizing that I was suddenly at sea level and could breathe more easily was a weirdly cool experience.

- the altitude changes are accompanied, of course, by changes in altitude and vegetation. At 11am last Thursday morning, we were cruising at about 1,800 meters in a chilly mountain fog, wearing all of our clothes. By 4pm that afternoon, we were at sea level in t-shirts and shorts, cursing the blast of humidity hitting our faces as we cycled down the hill and being offered pineapples and bananas by the locals. Most definitions of Southeast Asia don’t include Yunnan, but geographically the region begins as you scale down the province’s plateau and are in view of the Red River that marks the border between China and Vietnam. Many of the ethnic groups straddle both sides of the border, most notably the Miao/Hmong.

-even though we surely paid laowai prices and were traveling during Spring Festival, the trip was comparatively inexpensive. Plus, given all the cycling we did, pretty healthy. The people were kind, gracious, and helpful. One boy came sprinting after us when he realized the directions he had just given us were incorrect.

-Once in Kunming, you can drink a Beer Lao, eat lasagna, and top it off with a gelato without feeling guilty.

A caveat: photos are pitifully few, I’m afraid. I just am not the world’s most prolific photographer, and the urgency of finishing the day’s trip before darkness meant that our breaks were usually fairly short. I’ll post what I can later.