“Ride the fringes of China’s far northeast where vast forests meet epic grasslands; home to the last Ewenki reindeer herders in the ethnically diverse and naturally pristine borderland region of China, Mongolia and Russia”

Gallery Itinerary Info FAQs Dates

  • Day 1: Arrival in Mohe, Heilongjiang

    Dinner

    Welcome to Mohe and the top of China!  We’ll meet in the evening to go over the tour and answer any questions.  Afterwards, we’ll head out for a welcome dinner to mark the start of our adventure.  In the evening, which are long at this latitude, we’ll have time to check out Mohe town and it’s Russian influenced architecture. If arriving early, there are options to explore views of the Heilongjiang, or Amur River, to the north where the village of Beiji sits at China’s most northerly point.

    ***Getting to Mohe****

    Due to the reduced number of tourists travelling over the last 18 months the Mohe government has taken the opportunity to rebuild their airport which means flights into Mohe have been suspended until mid 2022.  This makes getting to Mohe more complicated and time consuming than usual, but obviously worth the effort!  There are two options available:

    Fly into Harbin on Friday in time to catch the K7309 at 17:30 (16 hours) arrive 09:20 or the K7041 at 18:21 (18 hours) arrive 12:11 the next day.

    If time is limited on Friday it is possible to get to Mohe on the Saturday.  There are early morning flights from Beijing to Jiagedaqi Airport (with one stop) and we can organise transport from there to Mohe (6 1/2 hours).

    Feel free to contact us for help getting to the start point.

  • Day 2: Cycle to Mangui - Daxinganling Forest

    Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 135 km

    We’ll set everyone up on the bikes after breakfast and make our way into the forest. We’ll cover quite a bit of ground today on quiet, flat country roads.  We’ll be be cycling in the Daxinganling Forest over the next few days, immersing ourselves in the pristine air.  Our destination is Mangui, which lies across the province border in Inner Mongolia, a multi-ethnic area with a resident population of 9000 including Mongolian, Manchu, Korean, Hui, and Ewenki. Set on the banks of the Menkuyi River, this small town sees few visitors and makes for a serene stop on our journey.  

     

  • Day 3: Cycle to Jinhe - Daxinganling Forest - Ewenki Visit

    Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 120 km

    We continue our forest ride throughout the day, with our destination being the small town Jinhe, named for the Jinhe River on which it lies.  Today we’ll stop to visit a family of reindeer herders.  This family are members of the Aoluguya tribe, a branch of the nomadic Ewenki ethnic group that is one of the 56 minority groups recognised by China. Occupying parts of Siberia and the Greater Khingan Mountains in China for around 3000 years, they are thought to be descendants of proto-Mongolian tribes that adapted to life in the dense taiga forests of Siberia by adopting nomadic reindeer husbandry and hunting. Now numbering around 30,000, most Ewenki have been re-located into towns and have adopted sedentary lifestyles.  Some still maintain their reindeer herding and prefer to live closer to the forest, though bans on hunting have made many dependant on tourism or other means for survival.  Culturally, they have some similarities to North American indigenous people such as dwelling in hide teepees, practicing shamanism, a nomadic lifestyle and an animistic worldview.  The proximity to other cultures, such as Mongolian, Manchu, Russian and Han, have influenced their practices and customs with many incorporating Tibetan llamaism or Eastern Orthodox Christianity into their beliefs.  

     

  • Day 4: Cycle to Mordaga - Off-road forest ride

    Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 83 km

    One of the highlight rides of the tour, we take to quiet dirt trails through pristine forest to make our way to Mordaga.  Our ride will tackle us through the forest with the vegetation gradually changing until we emerge at the northern side of the Daxinganling to flatter open plains.  Mordaga National Forest Park was the first National Park established in Daxinganling and remains China’s largest. We stay in Mordaga township for the evening.

     

  • Day 5: Cycle to Shiwei - Russian border town

    Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 90 km

    We leave behind the Khingan Mountains and forests today and begin our riding across the grassland steppe.  The route is flat and smooth riding all day.  Shiwei, a small town on the banks of the Ergune River, which forms the China-Russia border, is surrounded by mountains and grassland.  There are 2000 people living in Shiwei, of which 60% are of Russian descent, many involved in trade across (one of the many) Friendship Bridge linking the two countries.

  • Day 6: Cycle to Qika - Eerguna Wetlands

    Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 115 km

    We’ll be cycling along the China-Russia border today, skirting the Eerguna wetlands.  These wetlands are Asia’s largest with migratory birds flying as far south as the Malay Peninsular.  At the confluence of four rivers, this wetland importance is under threat from encroaching development though government initiatives are attempting to alleviate this impact.  During summer months, dozens of species of birds and animals may be spotted.  Our ride takes us to Qika, on the edge of the Hulunbuir Prairie.

     

  • Day 7: Cycle to Heshantou - Hulunbuir Grassland

    Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 85 km

    Open, endless grassland is our back drop for the next two days: small hills and streams flow across endless green with white Mongolian gers (yurts) and sheep starkly dotting the landscape.  The Hulunbuir Grassland is one of China’s best preserved; many others falling into erosion and desertification due to bad agricultural practices.  Whilst starkly open, with seemingly little vegetation, and enduring incredibly harsh winters, grasslands like these are one of the most important ecological systems in the world, covering around 40% of the earth’s land and sustaining vast amounts of wildlife.  From the Far East, stretching all the way across Mongolia through Russia, Ukraine through to Hungary; along the Black Sea and Caucasus through Georgia, Armenia and Turkey; around the Caspian Sea from Kazakhstan through Afghanistan to Iran: these greater Eurasian grasslands also supported the “felt nations”, nomadic herders of various ethnicities that grazed livestock and hunted wildlife.  Starker even than the Great Wall, grasslands form a much clearer borderline between the nomadic peoples of the north to the sedentary farming peoples of the south.

    Our ride will take us past Heshantou (Black Mountain) where lies the barely visible remains of an ancient city dating back to the Liao Dynasty (916-1125).  The Liao Dynasty was formed by a Mongolic speaking ethnic group, the Khitans, that ruled northern China, Korea and eastern Russia.  At the end of their rule their nobles retreated into Russia and were seen as Chinese.by the locals, hence, in Russian and Kazakh, Khitai is the word for China.

    We’ll lodge tonight in Mongolian style ger (yurt) accommodation on the grassland.

  • Day 8: Cycle to Manzhouli - Hulunbuir Grassland

    Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 50 km

    An early morning’s reward is the spectacular steppe sunrise over the grassland before our final ride of the tour.  We’ll cycle for 50km before packing up the bikes and transferring by bus (2 hours) to our final destination in Manzhouli.  China, Russia and Mongolia’s largest land port and integrated customs has attracted a melting pot of more than 20 ethnic groups engaging in cross-border trade that goes back 100 years.  We’ll have time to check out this far flung frontier town before celebrating the end of our journey over a Russian style dinner and drinks.  Ganbei! Za Zdarovje! Togtooy!

  • Day 9: Departure Day

    Breakfast

    Today is departure day and you are free to leave at any time.

    ***Flights from Manzhouli depart to Beijing at 11:45, 21:30, 23:20.