Future

I have hundreds of ideas and dreams for the future. A few turn into plans, alternative scenarios or projects. I'll keep some of them to myself, and list a few here.

Chang Tang - North-West Tibet

"There is another Tibet, much of it above fifteen thousand feet, with treeless steppes and windswept ranges where only nomadic pastoralists with their herds of yaks, sheep, and goats can exist, and where there are vast tracts so barren that even they cannot survive. This is the Chang Tang."
- George Schaller, National Geographic Society.

Chang Tang is the name of the highest and most desolate part of Tibet. Crossing this wast land by bike would be the ultimate wilderness experience. Great adventurers from the last century, Hedin and Younghusband, tried this and failed.

The Chang Tang Wildlife Reserve is the second largest protected area in the world (300 000 square kilometers or about the size of Britain and Ireland combined). The huge plateau is mostly around 5000 meters altitude, and fresh water is scarce. Lakes are often saline. Precipitation is very low - one could call this the highest desert in the world. No rivers flow out of the Chang Tang.

Pamir - Tadjikistan

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Baltistan and Deosai Plains - North-East Pakistan

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Kachin - Northern Myanmar

The highest mountain in Myanmar (Burma), Hkàkabo Ràzi (5881 m) lies right on the Tibetan border in the northernmost part of the Kachin province. Road conditions and travel restrictions will make travel here very difficult indeed. On a sturdy mountainbike and good camping equipment this would be a great expedition, maybe as part of a longer bike adventure in the area.

Western Forest Complex & Northern Border Areas - Thailand

The Western Forest Complex, Thailand's last wilderness, is protected by 15 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. It's 150 kilometers wide and 250 kilometers from north to south. With no roads, except a stretch of dry season jeep track, the Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary is the most diffucult to cross. It lies along the Myanmar border and is habitat to both tiger and wild elephant.

By including the western Ratchaburi Province (bordering Myanmar), and the northern borders with Myanmar and Laos (Tak, Mea Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phayao, Nan, and Utaradit Provinces), this could be a nice adventure during the dry season, and a really tough expedition during the wet. By avoiding route 1 and 105 this trip can be made almost completely on walking trails, rough tracks and dirt roads.

Afghanistan

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