On these China motorcycle tours, some of the tunnels can be as long as 5km. Most countries have switchbacks that take you over the mountains, China, they just bore straight through them.
This is one of the longest tunnels on this China motorcycle tour, 5km. The transition of light as you enter the tunnel is quite disorientating at first. As you experience a few more tunnels is becomes easier.
Getting the whole China motorcycle tour group stuck in the long tunnel is always the concern.
This tunnel was 4,000 meters long. No way did we want our China motorcycle tour group to get stuck in here. The traffic jam behind us was about 7km. Luckily, after about 10 minutes everything started to move and we rode through the whole tunnel in one go.
With our Yunnan, China motorcycle tours becoming so popular, the Chinese police checkpoints are no longer startled when we pull up.
Years ago, on some of our first China motorcycle tours, the Chinese police would become flustered and nervous as we pulled up. We’ve done so many tours in the region now that they are used to seeing us and greet us with a smile.
I think the whole China motorcycle tour group was shocked as to how pretty the Chinese police were this time! The Chinese police ladies were a little shy and didnt want to make eye contact, when the did they gave us a sincere smile. With the camouflage uniforms, we thought they were Chinese Army at first but turned out to be police officers. Chinese registration and Chinese driving licenses were checked and then we were free to carry on north bound.
Clear of the police checkpoint, its early in the day and looks like we can get a lot of km’s done, making the ride to Kunming the next day much shorter. We have several city options, all with good hotels, a nice option to have. No motorcycle issues on this China motorcycle tour so far, what can happen on a motorcycle tour, will happen on a motorcycle tour.
Our China motorcycle tour now approaches the famous tea growing area of southern Yunnan, China, the most famous being the Pu’Er region which produces some of the most expensive tea in the world.
Over 400km under our belt now on this China motorcycle tour, a good stretch of the legs and a rest for the backside is in order. All the motorcycle are set up for long distance touring and some big days won’t be an issue at all. The Honda CB 500 F’s are getting over 30km to 1 liter of fuel, the KTM 990 Adventures are getting about 17km to 1 liter of fuel.
Riding here with an experienced group of riders is making this China motorcycle tour a real joy. Spacing and pace are perfect, every rider is aware of the others riders around him, there’s no impulsive or irrational riding behavior, making this a really easy fast ride.
