Roads circulation in Sichuan?

1) Is it possible to circulate freely on some roads from Chengdu to QingHai or Gansu?

2) What is the status in west Sichuan along Tibet border?

3) What is the status in south west Sichuan along Yunnan border?

Thanks

1) Right now, no. To get out of Chengdu towards those areas you'd likely use roads that were severely earth quake damaged and still not cleared. Over 300 new lakes have been formed in the area due to land-slides. If you went up towards Xian, you g\could get into Gansu, but Gansu (TianShui area) is now the proud recipient of a recent string of aftershocks.

2) It's hard to tell without direct experience but the extra presence of the boys in green would make it very difficult to get through.

3) From what I understand, the SW border should be accessible as long as you don't go too far west first. A South African couple just made it through from ZhongDian to Litang but had to pitch tent in a snow storm over night. They were turned around once but went back and had some luck.

I'm guessing the Lugu Hu area should be okay but I've heard some of the connecting roads between there and XiChang are rough. ChinaV and I may be going that route end of June.

You making plans?

CC

Yes I'm making plans for July. 2 options QingHai or Yunnan. But due to flight constraints from a family member I have to deal with a tight schedule. It seems that Qinghai is out of reach for me if I have to make big detour by the eastern provinces.

I think we'll do Guizhou/north Yunan/south Sichuan.

Sweet, lets keep each other posted. Maybe we can meet up somewhere on the road!

:thumbup:

CC

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrazyCarl

Sweet, lets keep each other posted. Maybe we can meet up somewhere on the road!

:thumbup:

CC

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That will be nice. Have you already been in this area?

Yes but not by bike. Northern GuiZhou has some fantastic bamboo forest parks near ChiShui. Spent some time in Panzhihua near the border and it's nothing too interesting...mostly industrial pop up towns. Lots of beautiful mountain and river roads though!

I would like to see western and southern Yunnan but you've already done that. Hmmm... maybe we can meet in Kunming or something?

CC

Not a big fan of Kunming. Find it poluted and crowded.

Up north the small old town of Dali is a relax place with many backpackers, delicious veggie restaurant on the top side of the 3 towers temple.

Lijiang with its rebuilt old city in worth seeing specialy the evening even this is a very touristic place.

I like the old city of Zhongdian, as usual lot of tourists but this is the first/last place that have a Tibetan feeling in North Yunnan.

The very south of Yunnan is said to be a tropical paradise with a south Asian atmosphere but we could not get in last year because of heavy rains and landslides.

Dali is a chill little town to spend a couple days and basically due west from Kunming, south of Lijiang. Lijiang is interesting but it's a tourist trap now more than anything. If you've never been there I'd say it's definintely worth going but if it's your second visit, it seems to get more and more expensive every year. It's not a bad place to rest up for a night and do some maintenance though!


I've never been to Zhongdian and would like to see it. It really pains me that the Tibetan Plateau is largely closed to foreigners for most of this year but hopefully it will only get better in the future.

CC

A very nice place between Zhongdian and lijiang is the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

This is a touristic site but a fantastic and impressive landscape. If you go further the point where all the tourist buses stop, there is an hostel (Tina's) hooked on the cliff, close to a bridge. They have internet, wifi and western food. Very nice place to relax for one or two days while hiking the gorge.

If you are heading north to Zhongdian or coming from, take the east alternative road instead of the main road. it is slower but very good tarmac, quieter and nicer. You can think about doing some camping along this road.

For those going to west Sichuan:

Mid July we were heading west from Kangding (dardo) to Litang on the G318. We were stopped by a joint green and blue checkpoint at the entrance of YanJiang roughly 120km east from Litang. We were ordered to go back to KangDing or go back 75km then take the southbound road (S215) going to Yunnan. All other roads being forbidden.

We choose the second option (S215 southbound). Once on this road we were yet stopped at another joint checkpoint that asks us again to go back. This time we refused and threaten to call the embassy so the blue guys decided to escort us with a car until we reach the county limits.

It seems that the policy to allow or not foreigners in these areas is taken at the county level and is enforced by the local blue guys more than the green ones. My guess is that if somebody passes these checkpoints when the blue guy is not there, there is a big chance to go through. Try early in the morning or in the evening.

Regarding Litang a backpackers place confirmed us that the foreigners were persona non grata for the time being.

We were able to resume our trip in south Sichuan and north Yunnan without issues, we have crossed some other checkpoints without being stopped.

Brice, thanks for the update, nice to hear that you were able to get out and do some exploring, bummer about the boys turning you around and giving you a hard time.

CrazyCarl and I went through there during the second week of July and were able to make to Litang. Litang is about as far west as anyone is going to get for the time being. You need to start in Yunnan and hit G214 or S226 North to Zhongdian (Shangrila). From there you can take S217 North to Litang, but you will probably be stopped at least once. Be sure to make it very clear that you are going to east to Chengdu and have no intention of going west on G318. When you reach the intersection of S217-G318 in Litang, some nice people will greet you and direct you east. If you need to stay overnight, they will probably tolerate it, but let's just say that tourism isn't exactly booming in Litang.

Cheers!
ChinaV