Cycling in Nu Jiang Valley (Yunnan, China)

As replied in the China forum: no, unless some super amazing thing has happened defying normality in the last few years, there are definitely no roads between the Nujiang (Salween) and the Mekong, only hiking trails.

dang you pratyeka, now you had to go and ruin it! we can see on the
googles satellite, there are some dirt roads/tracks/trails visible, but
nothing most would want to try cycling on. that would have been
good enough.

but, noooo, that's not good enough for you. you gotta say "definitely"
no roads, which just makes it that much more mysterious and exciting
and alluring....and now i gotta go!

Hey there,

Cycled the valley last year, got a bus to the top and cycled down the valley. The far top of the valley inside the National Park is by far the most rewarding scenery wise, it is a bit a annoying you have to pay 100RMB per person to enter. We managed to get the ticket lads to give it to us for 50RMB, so try your luck. But when you see the tights bends of the Salween / Nujiang it is a lovely sight, if the weather behaves.

The road From Bingzhonglou continues all the way into Tibet, and is simply stunning. Annoyingly the authorities have placed a military style road block on this tiny road to heaven, meaning for western tourist you can sign in with the police / military and cycle to the Tibet border but no further (official) it could be possible to try and pass through in the middle of the night? But bear in mind that as you enter the valley at the very beginning near Luiku police take all your details and place them on a database , so this could complicate things.

There is also the Dulong Valley, which seems amazing. It is on the other side of the mountain from Gongshan up a 3000m pass and home to Drung people as opposed to the Lisu of the Nuniang valley. More remote and worse roads but from all accounts stunning. Again there is a road block on the access road that runs out from Gongshan town. Could be run at night though.

There is a thread on Thorn Tree about a guy we runs treks from Deqin to Bingzhonglou that takes 3-4 days with pack animals so it might be possible to take your bike.

Other notes, the Nunjiang valley its self is quite populated around 500,000 people and the roads are small and sometimes busy with traffic. Don't go expecting remote, apart from the top of the valley, camping is possible but difficult because the valley is steep and all land is put to use. The Lisu are mostly Christians so lots of church's (possible bed for the night) and look out for the signs in Frazier alphabet, a romanised Lisu reading language.

Happy peddling

Hi Kieran, thanks for the super helpful info. We are in Liuku now! We are interested in the Dulong Valley as well, but didn't realize there would be a road block. What is the motivation for limiting access there? I get (not that I agree) with the Tibet road situation, but don't know enough about this one. Is it more about keeping track of people like the one before Liuku or just keeping people out?

I have also emailed the guide Aluo who is mentioned in other posts to see what he thinks about the bikes on horses idea...no response as of yet.

Hey there,

Hope all is well in the valley?

Really envious of your trip wish I was there with you..

Dulong Valley is a weird one, we were informed that it would not be possible by numerous locals when we were in Gongshan and by a few post that we read on here and other web based sources. In all fairness we didnt find out by cycling the route as we has limited time on our visa left and couldn't justify the time required to cycle in and out.

Have a look at the link below it has some good and fairly new accounts of how to get out of the valleys surrounding the Nujiang.

http://www.josephrock.net/2014/12/chapter-10-crossing-from-mekong-to.html

let me know if you do manage to get into the Dulong and or the other way, would like to know.

Safe Travels

K

Hey all - posted an update over here

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/asia-north-east-asia/china/back-roads-in-out-of-nu-jiang-valley-in-yunnan?page=1#post_21832077

for crossing Bingzonglou - Dimalou - Lancang Jiang.

Go figure, the Chinese have built a road. Of sorts. Maybe 3 months ago that I made the crossing.

No TAR

I just did the Mekong River to Dimalou Road just a few days ago. Hard work but no more difficult than any other high passes in the aea. See it before it all gets washed away and before the first snow.
I have also been further north than Cawarong in the far north and at the time it was possible to ride all the way to Lhasa. But that was in 2005 and there may well be a border post now.
BW There is a TOTALLY awesome new road from Cawarong to just north of Zayu. When you get to to the end of the road head north away from Zayu. Myself and a Taiwanese friend got caught in Zayu illegally in 2005 and got into some serious **.

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