Tǎgōng (塔公)
Sunday, April 27, 2014 Just a short update as we are a little short on wifi. Drive from Lǐtáng was wonderful, although the road was under construction and the tunnel through the mountain was not complete. This forced us to…
Stephen
Lǐtáng (理塘)
Saturday, April 26, 2014 The mountain drive today was even more magnificent than the previous day. We really gained some elevation, peaking out at 4,708 mts (15,446 ft), which is higher than any point in the lower 48 states of…
Xiāngchéng (乡城 )
Friday, April 25, 2014 Everyone hit with the tummy bug were strong enough to get back in the cars and head North. We had a long-ish drive planned for the day and wanted to get going. Lun advised us to…
Shangri-La County (Jiàntáng/建塘镇)
Wednesday, April 23, 2014 Tiger Leaping Gorge was a wonderful stop and although we were there for only an afternoon and a late morning start, it provided a much needed break. We left the gorge on the same road we…
Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014 An easy drive through the mountains. Started off back-tracking down the beautiful toll road before heading up a new valley to Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze River. It is also essential part of the UNESCO…
Lìjiāng (丽江)
Sunday, April 20, 2014 25kms (15 miles) North of Dàlǐ is the old town of Xizhōu with its Bai architecture. We pulled off the highway to check it out, only to find they wanted ¥60 (USD $10) per person to visit. We…
Dàlǐ (大理)
Saturday, April 19, 2014 Today we headed to Dàlǐ, which was 280kms (174 miles) north. Although the road continued to wind through mountains valleys but was remarkable fast. There are bridges over the valleys and long tunnels through the mountain.…
Líncāng (临沧)
Friday, April 18, 2014 Up very early, well very early for us (6:15am). We scoffed down breakfast, checked out and were ready to join the others by 7:30am. Still quite early actually, for us. It was 418km (260m) of lovely…
Jǐnghóng (景洪)
Thursday, April 17, 2014 We both slept like logs. The last two days had been extremely exhausting and draining. And just as well, as we had a huge day. Our hotel was located about 2kms from the customs checkpoint. At…
Arrived in China
Yes we made it successfully. We are having a few issues updating the blog (due to the great fire-wall of China) and getting connected. Just wanted to let everyone know we made it. More details on Sterlin to follow.
Laos: Border Crossing and Documentation
This post is about the government documentation we needed and obtained to bring our car and ourselves into Laos. Laos In General There is basically nothing on the Laos customs website on the process to temporarily import a vehicle. But…
Nong Kiau
Tuesday, April 8, 2014 Long drive through the mountains. The journey time was 7:30am until 4:00pm, or 8.5 hours to complete 309 kms. That is a average of 36 kph, or, not fast at all. The road was in very…
Xam Neua
Sunday, April 6, 2014 We had a lovely long drive through the mountains from Phonsavan to Xam Neua. Only 240 kms in distance, but average speed was around 40 kph, so it took 6 hours to do the drive and…
Phonsavan
Friday, April 4, 2014 The road north along National Highway 13 and then east along National Highway 7 to Phonsavan was just stunning. The road weaved itself through the forested mountains and Laos villages. Lots of potholes but we were…
Vang Vieng
Wednesday, April 2, 2014 The road north to Vang Vieng was good with only the occasional car destroying pothole. We didn’t hit any. And it was nice to be driving through mountains again. Sterlin was running extremely well after the…