Asian Overland

 

Joining Day: Your Singapore airport transfer will take you directly to our joining hotel, ready for an early start tomorrow. Today you will meet your crew for your tour briefing and welcome dinner.

Week One: We start this incredible expedition exploring the dynamic city of Singapore before collecting our bikes and crossing into Malaysia. We visit the wonderful Melaka with its UNESCO Heritage listed old town and epic street art. We then ride into the cool climes of Cameron Highlands, a beautiful landscape of tea and strawberry plantations and home to a former Scottish rubber baron who built, of all things, a Scottish Castle!

Week Two: We move north to the legendary Penang nicknamed the Pearl of the Orient, Penang is famous for its soft sandy beaches and is regarded as the food capital of Malaysia. We spend three nights in Penang allowing us time to wander the UNESCO listed old town and of course sample its legendary food. We cross into Thailand and visit the amazing karst and mangrove scenery around Krabi. We spend two nights at Railay exploring this fantastic scenery. We visit the amazing Khao Sok Khao, a nature reserve containing dense jungle, tower like limestone karst formations and the man-made Cheow Lan Lake.

Week Three: Riding north we spend three nights in magnificent Kanchanaburri, home to stunning Erewan Falls and the famous yet tragic “Bridge over the River Kwai” that formed part of the Burma Railway in WW2. We continue north to Mae Sot, on the Myanmar border before riding onto the world renowned Mae Hong Son Loop and visit the extraordinary Karen peoples.

Week Four: We continue further north into Thailand's famous Golden Triangle region and visit the superb Opium Museum and spend two nights at the traditional Thai village of Nan allowing us time to ride the extraordinary Chiang Rai Loop and lesser known Bo Kluea Loop, both loops offer us an opportunity to ride endless twisties amongst the verdant green hills and forests dotted with ethnic minority villages.

Week Five: We spend three nights at the renowned Chiang Mai, a major service point for the bikes and a great place to explore the thriving streets at night and explore the innumerable wats (temples) by day. Riding south we reach the remarkable Sukhothai, the breathtaking former capital of Thailand from the 13th Century that's UNESCO listed. Heading north again we overnight at the wonderful mountain resort village of Khao Kho.

Week Six: We start the week off in the ancient city of Chiang Khan with its famous "walking street" that's located on the banks of the mighty Mekong River. We cross into Laos and spend two nights in the French influenced capital of Vientiane, a wonderful leafy town, more than a bustling city, scenically located on the banks of the Mekong. We can wander the old town, enjoy one on the many sidewalk cafes or enjoy a Beerlao, watching sunset over the Mekong. Riding due north we spend two nights in one of Asia’s most scenic destinations, Vang Vieng, surrounded by limestone mountains and caves.

Week Seven: Continuing north we spend three nights at one of South East Asia most iconic religious sites, Luang Prabang, a wonderful patchwork of traditional Lao wooden houses and Golden-roofed wats. The site is stunningly located at the confluence of the Mekong and Khan Rivers. We cross into China, an immense country of impossibly diverse landscapes and peoples with a storybook history. We start our Chinese adventure riding though picturesque hilltop villages covered in centuries old rice terraces, tea gardens and undulating countryside, it is the quintessential Chinese scene before seeing the week out in Mojiang on the Tropic of Capricorn.

Week Eight: We visit the tiny market town of Shaxi, an ancient cultural treasure on the Tea Horse Road, a road of similar importance to that of the Silk Road, but far less famous. We visit Lijiang, a maze of cobblestone streets and canals lined with pagoda’s and vendors, nothing it seems has changed much in centuries. Ascending ever higher into the mountains we visit the renowned Tiger Leaping Gorge before riding into the real Shangri-La, a stunning landscape of dense forests, alpine lakes, grasslands, and gorges, set amongst meadows and plains. Leaving beautiful Yunnan Province, we cross into Tibet and ride one of the most stunning highways on the entire ride, the Sichuan – Tibet Highway. This route rewards us with utterly stunning high-altitude views of mountains, glacier fed lakes, remote monasteries and alpine visits on what is some of the highest, wildest and remote regions on earth.

Week Nine: Continuing on the epic Sichuan Highway, riding amongst the towering mountains, verdant green and glacier fed rivers we arrive into the Tibetan capital of Lhasa where we spend three nights allowing us time to acclimatise. In Lhasa we have the opportunity to visit the remarkable Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and witness the great pilgrimage around Barkhour. Leaving Lhasa we ride amongst giants with towering snow capped peaks, glaciers and azure colored lakes all around. We spend two nights at the wonderful village of Gyantse, home to the architectural wonder that is the 108 chapels of the Gyanste Kumbum.

Week Ten: We continue toward Everest via an incredible series of twisties with epic views of Everest before reaching the world’s highest monastery, Rongphu, where we overnight allowing us the best opportunity to get immense views of the towering Mount Everest. Watching the rays of the day reflect of the snow capped Everest is an indescribable sight that will remain with you forever, it’s a rare privilege to view the absolute top of the world at sunrise or sunset. Leaving Everest Base Camp, we ride north east and ride the “other” legendary highway into and out of Tibet, the Qinghai – Tibet Highway, a roller coaster ride of epic proportions through a wall of seemingly impenetrable mountain peaks. We visit Namsto Lake, a magnificent turquoise lake surrounded by snow capped peaks and Buddhist prayer flags before continuing north over a series of 5,000m passes through an epic landscape of prairie, lakes, mountains and desert at an average altitude of 4,000m on the Quinhai – Tibet Highway, the main artery to/from Tibet. The road continues into the province of Quinhai and descends to Golmud. This is a ride we will remember forever for its outstanding mountain views at every turn.

Week Eleven: Descending from the lofty mountains, and leaving Tibet, we visit China's largest lake, Qinghai Lake, before we reach Xining, a city perched on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. We spend two nights here giving us time visit the nearby Kumbum Monastery, one of the six most important monasteries in the Tibetan world, or we can recharge our batteries and take in all that we have experienced in Tibet. Continuing on we visit the amazing Maijishan Grottoes that have over a 7000 Buddha sculptures and 1000 square metres of murals inside the grottoes, an amazing sight.

Week Twelve: We reach the world renown Xian, home to one of the greatest antiquities on earth, the Terracotta Army. We spend two nights in Xian giving us time to visit this extraordinary site created by China's first dynasty, the Qin Dynasty from 246 to 206BC. This is one of the most extraordinary archeological sites ever discovered, dug up by farmers digging for a well in 1974, after lying hidden buried for 2000 years!! We also visit the ancient Ming Dynasty city walls that encircle numerous backstreets, narrow alleyways and shops. Leaving Xian, we visit the utterly incredible cliff tunnels near, Guoliang where we spend two nights allowing us time to explore this extraordinary region. We visit superb Pingyao, China's best preserved ancient walled town giving us a real taste of “Old China”. The week comes to a close in Wutaishan, a UNESCO listed region of forested mountains dotted with magnificent ancient temples.

Week Thirteen: Our last week, of what has been an utterly amazing adventure, we visit the incredible Hanging temples built during the Northern Wei Dynasty en-route to Beijing, after experiencing an impossible array of landscapes, cultures and experiences from Singapore to Beijing. We spend three nights in the capital giving us time to visit some of China's most legendary sites such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square to name a few. Our final riding day will see us travel to Tianjin to pack our bikes and prepare them for shipping home before taking a bullet train back to Beijing.

Departure day: Spend some time in Beijing to fly home, the choice is yours