China accomodation

Hi Peter,

I was thinking about buying a mountain bike in Yangshuo and riding it down to Laos. Is it easy to find accommodation for every night in between Yangshuo and the Laos border? Do I need to make a careful plan for this trip or even carry a tent or will I have plenty of options?

thanks,
Frendy

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China accomodation

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Sep 04, 2009

Bicycle bags
by: Peter

Some cyclists I met in China, simply bought some materials and went to a shop to let them make a bag. However, you should be able to get some bags through the Giant dealer. I am not sure where he's located.

What you can do is ask Alf of the Buffalo Bar. He organizes bicycle tours and can get your probably easy to the right place.

And as you say, you're not much of a planner. If you have the time, no worries. Just go, I did it that way, changed things on the way. China is easy.

Sep 04, 2009

thanks
by: Frendy

Hi Peter,

Thanks a lot for your answer, a lot more than I expected, very usefull.

Right now I'm planning to fly into Guilin, so don't know if I'll make it to HK.

Also my plans are not set yet, I'll start of with rock climbing in Yangshuo, after that some biking would be great.

Heard that there's a Giant dealer in Guilin that sells decent bikes. You know if they sell bags for on the bike in Guilin as well?

Never been much of a planner and we'll see what happens, but doing a long trip so time is on my side..

cheers,
Frendy

Sep 04, 2009

Yangshuo to Laos by bicycle
by: Peter

Hi Frendy

Buying a mountain bike in Yangshuo is not a good idea. I would buy it in one of the better shops in Guilin or in Guangzhou. An even better choice is to get one in the Flying Ball shop in Hong Kong. You can easily take the bike on the train or bus to Yangshuo.

However, if you decide to buy a bike in Yangshuo, fine, make sure you also buy some basic tools as some of the cheaper Chinese bikes have the tendency to get a bit loose after a while.

But even if you buy your bike in Yangshuo/Guilin, and you fly in from Hong Kong, give the Flying Ball a visit and get spare materials here. Whenever I fly to Hong Kong with my bike Jim, I visit them. There's always something I need.

Riding from Yangshuo to Kunming. You have probably read my
cycling in guizhou page. Should you go more or less in a straight line, it will take about 3 weeks (2000 km).

Do you need to plan? Hmm.. to be honest, if you have time, no worries. It depends a little, and really a little, how many km you make a day. Consider about 70-100 km a day and you will always find a place to stay. Guaranteed. In the 2 years I cycled in China only 2 times I had to camp out as I couldn't find a town to stay. (once in north Yunnan - from Zhaotong south to Kunming, the first stop, and once on the southern route from
Yunnan into Guangxi, and that was not even really necessary.

The other good part of the story is that you can always in bigger towns drop your bike on a bus, should the weather require that, or should you run out of time.

Bring a tent or not. After my experiences, I will never bring a tent anymore. Every town has accommodation. It might not always be top notch, but as long as you can stay somewhere safe it's fine. In other words, almost every town has some kind of accommodation.

Yangshuo - Kunming - around 3 weeks
Kunming - Laos, 2 1/2 weeks. You can of course take longer, or if you have an excellent bike and want to race, it may take a bit shorter, but this is what you have to expect roughly.

Rest the question if you have to plan carefully... well.. you already know by now... NO NEED. Just bring your bike, make sure (and that IS important) the bike is in good condition, bring a set of spare tubes too and some basic tools and off you go.

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