My plan is to cycle all through china. I can get a 3 year visa as I'm a resident in Hong kong now. What difficulties are there once i am there. Is it illegal to cycle around where ever you want in China, or is it more relaxed now. ? Any useful advice would be much appreciated.

rob@aeroporto.com.hk

hallo

a link about cycling in china:

http://mark-ju.net/bike_ride/countries/china.htm

greetings

daniel

Thanks for all the information....a great help......!!

I was considering doing the journey on a 3 wheeled trike...not sure about how difficult it would be, with all the pot holes etc.....did you have to plough through mud slides or drag your bike through difficult bits ?

cheers

Rob

The whole trike thing sounds great to me except when i think about tibetan mastifs mawling me as i pedal along, much closer to the ground and not being able to kick them....any thoughts anyone......when i travelled in Qinghai province i had to buy a dog beater before going for a walk. ( basically a lump of spikey metal on the end of a leather strap) all the locals were carrying them so thought i'd do the same......luckily i never had to use it ........

Cycling in China is something I have done. Most places would be open to you, and there are some that are off bounds. Pollution on the main roads would drop a horse so try to use side roads and back roads.

What do you need to know?

mark and julie were cycling in west, I did it in east and we didn't have any problems with police etc.

don't worry :-)

greets
robb

Hi ,
I just got held up by a bunch of rather rude acting cops. As we had no way to communicate, they ushered me into the next town by konvoi and then started, still to no avail , since in Chinese . Then they flashed a little booklet with a paragraph saying, that foreigners are not allowed here.
The town was Huanglong, north east of Xi'an. Reason I found out later about: A high security prison is there.
2000 I crossd China for 5 months. Around Loop Nur in the Taklamakan desert I got fined 50 $- atomic test area.
It's very hard to impossible to find out, which areas are closed.
I would recommend, to stress the fact very much, that you are a tourist. show them your maps, where you cycled from , where you will go... and they will warm up, will let you, go, in most cases, I hope, ahead of me, still.
seb. in China

Hello Sebbie,

should be the same area I was stopped by the police in 1990. I paid 50 Renmimbi and later the police-officer, the translator and I had a fine lunch in a good restaurant!

Bernd