Ride loop from in Yunnan from Kunming to Dali and Lijiang

[Nickerington]

Hi all,

I am planning on making a trip from Kunming to Dali and then to Lijiang before returning back to Kunming. I will be using www.ridechina.com for the rental, who have advised me on a few precautions of which I should be aware. I'd like to ask the forum if they have any direct experience of this before I go ahead and book the trip. To keep things simple I'll post related info in bullet points:

Me
- Have experience riding 250cc bikes across SE Asia.
- Regularly ride an electric bike through Chinese traffic (Dongguan)
- Read and speak Chinese to a fairly high level
- Do not have a Chinese motorcycle or international license
- Do have a UK driving license for cars

Trip
- Leave in early August
- Travel for around one week, maybe more
- Fly from Guangzhou to Kunming to pick up bike
- Ride to Dali
- Ride to Lijiang
- Ride back to Kunming
- Fly back to Guangzhou

Main concerns
- No license
- Have been advised am not allowed to drive on Chinese highways, will national roads be ok?
- Not allowed to ride in big cities. Not a problem for Kunming as bike rental pick up is outside city center, but will this be ok when arriving in Dali and Lijiang?

I have read through the main stickies regarding obtaining a license, insurance, riding in China etc, but am hoping for advice specific to the areas in question. Saying that, any related advice is welcome. I would also be interested to hear about alternate routes I could consider.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Nick