Ovi presents Lukas world bike tour: China’s southwest

Today I have one more update from our friend Lukas on his crazy (I mean it literally) world bike tour. Can you believe that from Finland (where his journey started in July) he already covered the distance to Malaysia via China’s southwest? There he is, with his amazing pictures and ...

Today I have one more update from our friend Lukas on his crazy (I mean it literally) world bike tour. Can you believe that from Finland (where his journey started in July) he already covered the distance to Malaysia via China’s southwest? There he is, with his amazing pictures and captivating stories.

-Pino (@haikus)

I didn’t cycle that much in China. Firstly, it wasn’t in my itinerary and secondly my 30 day visa was too short for this humongous country. So officially my biking continued from the very southern tip of Yunnan to Laos and then onwards to Thailand and Malaysia. I also cycled without my speedometer in the two cities I visited, Chengdu and Kunming.

However, as I’m relaxing and composing this blog post on the beach of Langkawi island in Malaysia, I think posting about southwest China could be more interesting than about frequently visited southeast Asia. So here it goes.

After the long Tibet train ride, walking out from Chengdu railway station was heaven for my ears. All the honking I got used to since Black Sea was only an echo in my head. Traffic rules were obeyed and bikers had their own paths next to cars. What a punctuality and order I cheered! When I once cycled the opposite direction, I was stopped by a traffic police and was very lucky not to get fined. I was so excited about China the first day, that I had to inform my mom immediately how great it was. Everything appeared to be so organized. There was a worker for everything including traffic inspectors and street sweepers.

The clean and cheap hostels I stayed, had (among other facilities I longed for three months) hot shower, heating, WiFi, DVD room, laundry service and of course a ping pong table. Seems to be normal in Europe, but not for couple of euros per night! According to Lonely Planet, southwest China is somewhat cheaper than the east coast, so I had no problems to keep my €10 budget including accommodation and food. And in addition, the Chinese food I had for less than €3 in one local restaurant had the tastiest dishes so far on my trip (pork on pepper and fried beans with rice).

I enjoyed Chengdu and its wonderful parks and riverside walks for one week before I continued with 18 hour train ride to Kunming, known also as the spring city. The weather got warmer, reaching almost 20°C during the day, but nights were still chilly. In Kunming‘s youth hostel I met another world cyclist, who too was shortening his trip in vast China by other transportation. So even though I was tempted to extend my Chinese visa in Kunming in order to cycle again, the climate made me choose for a bus to Jing Hong. From there I cycled along Mekong river south, passing some beautiful landscapes and traditional culture before crossing to Laos.

All in all I stayed in China for more than three weeks and it felt way too short for it. I still have seven months left of this trip, but I’m already planning my next trip to the eastern China. I heard it’s awesome in a different way.

-Lukas

Source : http://blog.ovi.com/2011/01/20/ovi-presents-lukas-...