Yunnan, China

[xyz]

So i'm heading to the Yunnan region of China for a month in a few weeks. I plan on exploring the usual sites in the northwest but with a bike focus, maybe some bike packing village to village, fast and light type deal. Otherwise, base camp style out of small towns with day trips out to the mountains.

I'm aware of the general riding in the areas around Dali and Shangri-la etc but I'm curious if anyone here has traveled the region with a mountain bike and has some beta. Or perhaps you've hiked in the region while wishing you had a mountain bike...

Thanks!

[grskier]

Holy crap that sounds like an awesome trip! Have fun.

[daver]

I'm flying into Chengdu in about 5 weeks. Wasn't planning on any biking, just hiking. Are you bringing a bike over? Getting the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine? I'm going to have my winter gear packed up back home ready to ship over in case I end up staying for the winter.

[dft]

i'm sure you have seen this thread since you mentioned Dali.
Let us know how it goes.

[xyz]

I'm flying into Chengdu in about 5 weeks. Wasn't planning on any biking, just hiking. Are you bringing a bike over? Getting the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine? I'm going to have my winter gear packed up back home ready to ship over in case I end up staying for the winter.

I'm bring a steel 29er hardtail. I don't typically do vaccines for travel. Never had any issues.

[alfajores]

don't typically do vaccines for travel. Never had any issues.

Yogi Berra said, "You always find it the last place you look." Same applies to tropical diseases. YMMV

Survived polio, 2010 Tajikistan.

[rod9301]

I would get the vaccine.

China is the most unsanitary place I've ever seen, worst than any place in Africa or south America.

No sense of personal hygiene, think the worst, and it's not even close.

[daver]

Been trying to take care of these the last few weeks, some info for usa people:

Hep A/B twinex - series of 3, first, 1mo, second, 6mo, third (my insurance covered it)
Typhoid - one shot - $80
Polio - one shot (my insurance covered it, didn't get it, yet)
Japanese Encephalitis - Two shots about a month apart - $312 each (!!)
Rabies - Available in China fairly easily (ahah, the shot that is)

[rod9301]

Rabies probably too.

[muted]

I'm flying into Chengdu in about 5 weeks. Wasn't planning on any biking, just hiking. Are you bringing a bike over? Getting the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine? I'm going to have my winter gear packed up back home ready to ship over in case I end up staying for the winter.

My stomach rolled over just hearing Chengdu. Bring som pepto.

I haven't biked there, but this pic looks promising from the area:

[muted]

Been trying to take care of these the last few weeks, some info for usa people:

Hep A/B twinex - series of 3, first, 1mo, second, 6mo, third (my insurance covered it)
Typhoid - one shot - $80
Polio - one shot (my insurance covered it, didn't get it, yet)
Japanese Encephalitis - Two shots about a month apart - $312 each (!!)
Rabies - Available in China fairly easily (ahah, the shot that is)

With rabies, if I remember right, don't take my word for this, but if you go to a hospital right away after being bit you will be fine. Getting rabies is super slim unless you eat a dead bat or start petting random dogs. I got everything but rabies shots. Don't think Japanese Encephalitis was a thing when I went though.

[daver]

Supposedly issue 43 has some info on mountain biking in Sichuan. I haven't been able to download the 10mb pdf with my internet though . http://www.chengdoo-magazine.com/

[xyz]

So I'm in China and don't have Gmail access (or Facebook - but I can live without it).

Does anyone know a work around to gain access to gmail? I'd Google it, but that's blocked too, and bing sucks.

[daver]

http://www.greycoder.com/best-vpn-china/

ExpressVPN: Engineered to be fast and reliable in China. Servers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the US West Coast. Many apps available. They have a 30 days “no quibble” money-back offer. They accept many forms of payment — Paypal, major credit cards, Bitcoin, Unionpay, Alipay, Webmoney and CashU.
VPN.AC: They have many optimization for Chinese users (including the ability to make OpenVPN traffic appear as normal SSL traffic). They have three servers in Hong Kong, one in Singapore and three on the US West Coast, with peering with China Telecom and China Unicom.
PureVPN: I’ve heard some reports that PureVPN is currently working in China.