Flying from A to B is certainly convenient, but what do we lose when we skip over the places in between? To travel overland towards a distant horizon is to experience a part of the world for yourself, up close and personal…
Air travel has revolutionised the way we experience the world. Today we have become accustomed to the drama of exchanging one country and city for another; swapping London’s city streets for Marrakesh’s medina or switching Hong Kong’s hills for the foothills of the Himalayas – all in the course of a few hours.
Travel overland and you exchange this swift convenience for something quite different; the romance of bygone times and the adventure of discovering the places that lie between the airports. The overland traveller witnesses the gradual shifts and sudden changes as one land merges and slips into another, drawn onwards as the road unspools towards a distant horizon.
At On the Road, we are passionate about exploring the world overland. All our driving holidays are designed to offer the best experience of the lands that lie between arrival and departure points. Yet few encompass such dramatic changes as Lands of Silk and Snow, a 16-day journey that spans tropical South-East Asia and the icy heights of Tibet.
Until relatively recently, this journey would have taken a month or more – plus several months of preparation and logistical legwork. Fortunately, modern-day travellers can enjoy both the thrill of travelling overland and the comforts of reliable cars and an ever-improving road network – and On the Road’s guests have the added bonus of avoiding the paperwork.
On the Road in poor northern Lao…
It is only by travelling this route overland that one learns how the tropics’ lush, gentle continuity disappears quite suddenly on the drive to Kunming; how the long parallel valleys of northwest Yunnan are home to a patchwork of ethnic groups and amazing biodiversity; and how Tibetan culture has overcome staggering geographical challenges to spread from Yunnan to the edge of Central Asia.
And yet, for all that changes along this route, there are also elements that bind it together. From Laos to Lhasa the main religion is Buddhism – albeit of different schools. Everywhere between Dali and Luang Prabang once belonged to a single kingdom. The waters of the Mekong gather the journey together at several points like a purse-string, from Luang Prabang, where the river flows slow and stately, to eastern Tibet where the young river tumbles wildly out of the mountains.
Pity the poor traveller who flies over all this! In our busy times of direct flights and high-speed trains, it truly is a luxury to experience a long-distance overland journey, and to see a portion of the earth’s surface up close and personal, and to meet people along the route, at every turn learning that for all that separates us, there is as much that binds us together.
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Join us on Lands of Silk and Snow
Full journey details available here
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