China (Yunnan province, south-west China)

From our own experience (Yunnan province, south-west China):

Accomodation: Accomodation is everywhere available. Some small places have up to 3 truck stops and you will find hotels in places least expected. The easiest way to find a hotel or guesthouse/truckstop is to remember the last character of the word guesthouse (which looks like a ski cable car). Pitching your tent (except high in the mountains) is difficult there every spot is used for aggriculture or housing. Accomodation costs between 10 Yuan (2003: 8 yuan = 1 $) per person for a truckstop bed, if you're lucky with water, and 30 yuan for a guesthouse or cheap hotel. 40-60 Yuan for a descent hotel with TV and bathroom in a remote village. In touristic places the prices can be higher, In chinese hotel you are always welcomed with a thermos with hot water, we always brought our own tea and instant coffee. 

Money: ATM (Bank of China) available in major places (but don't count on it). Traveller cheques or Credit card payments everywhere, as long as it is a Bank of China. (2003: 8 Yuan = $ 1 ). 

Food: We found the food in China the most tasteful of our trip, next to the Curries of Thailand. Your average meal exists out of plates with light spicy pork, bambooshoots, potato, (fried or cooked) vegetables or Chinese fondue. When we ordered chicken around Kunming we got nice blocks of chicken. Outside of Kunming area we got a complete chopped chicken (incl. feet and head) in a bowl of water. Sometime the chicken needed to be butchered first next to the chicken. Bread can be found in the large cities, mainly factory bread. Most of the time we had breakfast with cookies, rice and popped rice cookies (very tasteful). Noodle soup is one of the best products to eat on route, there its not too heavy for cycling.  

Water: At every hotel you will receive a thermos of hot drinking water, bring your own tea and coffee. Water from the tap is probably not clean enough to drink but mineal water is widely available in 1,5 liter bottles.

Safety: We didn't experience or read anything about difficult areas or problems with locals or police. 

Visa: We issued a 60 day visa without any problem. 2 times extending is possible as it seems, but be aware where you request it. It seems that touristic places are already overcrowded with these requests and therefore denied.

People: After all; the bad stories about the hospitality of Chinese, we only experienced interested, helpful, smiling Chinese. Maybe its this province with the most ethnic groups (52) that makes the difference. 

Language: Trying to speak Chinese without any practise is quite difficult and to read impossible with 13.000 unique characters. The mandarin phrasebook with Chinese characters is very useful, just keep it simpel and let them read it. When they notice you don't speak Chinese you will often see the reaction that they expect that you can read it, and so they start writing what they want to say in chinese. This is based on the fact that chinese often can not understand each other in spoken chinese but the characters are the same. Roading signs is easy since names are mostely shortened to 2 or 3 characters which yu can find on your (chinese) map (+/- 1 unrecognisable character). 

Clothing: Northern Yunnan was wet during the time we were there, but not the tropical rains we had in the Southern area. The humidity in the mountain area to the north of Kunming is often high. Temperatures in October/ November ranged between 25 and 3 C (just after sunrise). Short pants should not be a problem, but 3/4 pants is better. 

Vaccinations: Southern Yunnan is a Malaria area.

Road conditions: Roads are (for 90%) in good shape with very smooth asphalt. Sometimes it is in very good shape but not for cyclists, there the road exists out of (fixed) cobble stones which asks a lot of your bicycle going downhill and a lot of technique going uphill. With luggage you really have the feeling that you are pushing your bicycle to the limit (we had front suspension), especially when its 35km downhill. There are enough road signs to guide you.  

Map: Try to buy a map with elevation lines at home (like an aviation map 1:1,000,000), there the mountain shapes are a military secret in China and not available. Buy a local map with the chinse characters to read the road signs and have a simple english map to translate them.  

Traffic behaviour: Good/ normal behaviour. Trucks are very polite while taking over to push upcomming traffic from the road before they cut you off. Lorries and trucks will press their horns when they pass you, which can be irritating and an ear plug is sometimes advisable. They also leave you often in a black smoke of their exhaust gasses when you are going uphill. Chinese drive on the right hand side. Busses drive fast, but controlled....

Public transport and bicycles: The sleeper bus or minibusses will just put the bicycle on the roof. Sometimes you have to do it yourself (preferrable). Bring some straps (normally used for backpacks and you will find them in any outdoor shop) to make sure you can worry about the driving of the (sleeper)bus driver instead of your bicycle. Sleeperbusses can be very comfortable, especially for the long haul. Don't be surprised if you smell all the feet of the persons in front of you or if you hear the sound of squatting on the ground (in your shoe?) or puking out of the window because of the drive style.

From the aiport: Taking a taxi (with two bicycles) from the airprt can be a bit difficult. They will charge you a lot and the taxi drivers think two mountainbikes will not fit in one taxi. Later it seemed that all taxis used their meter, without any (Asian) hassle. 

Bicycle parts/shops: Lots of moderen bicycles are sold, incl. the expensive ones. Trying to find parts is more difficult. French valves of your innertube are not used here, so bring enough spares from home. 

Post/Internet: The chinese postal services are very reliable. We have both sent and received several packages, all in 10 working days each. There was only one time we lost a package, books we had ordered via Amazon to the Poste Restante address in Kunming. Remember this is a communist country and officials will simply check all incoming post and sign for you before you do, taking your package (especially if the return address is in America). We found a chinese signature under the package we are sure of was ment for us. Internet is widely available in every smaller city. To keep it low profile, internet cafe's are not advertised clearly and are mostly not based on the ground floor and difficult to find. Ask young people and you will surely find an internet cafe with speedy connections mostly ADSL. But.... this is a communist country and some pages are blocked, and don't be surprised if you have to show your passport.  

China, From the World Factbook (2002):

Background

"For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences. But in the 19th and early 20th centuries, China was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established a dictatorship that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping gradually introduced market-oriented reforms and decentralized economic decision making, and output quadrupled by 2000. Political controls remain tight even while economic controls continue to be relaxed."

Geographical facts

Lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m. Highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.), 9,596,960 square kilometers, slightly smaller than the US. The coastal line is 14,500 kilometers long. The scenery is mostly mountainous with high plateaus, but deserts in the west, plains, deltas, and hills in the east. China is the world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US), the Mount Everest on the border with Nepal is the world's tallest peak.

Population

1,284,303,705 (July 2002 est.) with a 10% living below the poverty line (2001 est.)

Government and economy

Communist state, independent since 221 BC (unification under the Qin or Ch'in Dynasty 221 BC; Qing or Ch'ing Dynasty replaced by the Republic on 12 February 1912; People's Republic established 1 October 1949). National holiday: Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, 1 October (1949). "In late 1978 the Chinese leadership began moving the economy from a sluggish Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented system. Whereas the system operates within a political framework of strict Communist control, the economic influence of non-state organizations and individual citizens has been steadily increasing. The authorities have switched to a system of household and village responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprise in services and light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment. The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978. In 2001, with its 1.27 billion people but a GDP of just $4,300 per capita, China stood as the second largest economy in the world after the US (measured on a purchasing power parity basis). Agriculture and industry have posted major gains, especially in coastal areas near Hong Kong and opposite Taiwan, where foreign investment has helped spur output of both domestic and export goods. On the darker side, the leadership has often experienced in its hybrid system the worst results of socialism (bureaucracy and lassitude) and of capitalism (windfall gains and growing income disparities). Beijing thus has periodically backtracked, retightening central controls at intervals. The government has struggled to (a) collect revenues due from provinces, businesses, and individuals; (b) reduce corruption and other economic crimes; and (c) keep afloat the large state-owned enterprises many of which had been shielded from competition by subsidies and had been losing the ability to pay full wages and pensions. From 80 to 120 million surplus rural workers are adrift between the villages and the cities, many subsisting through part-time low-paying jobs. Popular resistance, changes in central policy, and loss of authority by rural cadres have weakened China's population control program, which is essential to maintaining long-term growth in living standards. Another long-term threat to continued rapid economic growth is the deterioration in the environment, notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table especially in the north. China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and economic development. Beijing will intensify efforts to stimulate growth through spending on infrastructure - such as water control and power grids - and poverty relief and through rural tax reform aimed at eliminating arbitrary local levies on farmers. Access to the World Trade Organization strengthens China's ability to maintain sturdy growth rates, and at the same time puts additional pressure on the hybrid system of strong political controls and growing market influences. Although Beijing has claimed 7%-8% annual growth in recent years, many observers believe the rate, while strong, is more like 5%."

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This page is last updated: May 2004