PhilMarkey

Hi Guys,

I'm just testing the water to see what interest there is in people wanting to join an expedition I'm planning through Burma/Myanmar and China from Thailand during the 2016 summertime looking for bananas.

It's only the planning stages yet, and there are a lot of ifs. To mention a few – Burma is currently open to visiting Thai registered vehicles, but the vehicle's registration gets left at the Thai border and is collected again upon return, therefore we have to leave and return the same way; The vehicle has to be owned, not rented; We have to be accompanied by a Burmese official who travels in the vehicle with us the whole way; There are roads in Burma not open to travellers. Also, special permits are required prior to travelling every area of China that we intend to go through; and in China we also need a Chinese national travelling with us, though this may not be necessary for us for at least some of the destinations.

Like I mentioned, I'm just seeing what interest there will be for this. The expected duration for the whole trip would be something like 44 days to 2 months. Each participant would have to pay their share of the total costs, which at this time are difficult to work out, but it's likely to be around $5000 USD per person not including flights to and from Thailand.

For those who don't know me, I'm the plant hunter and owner of Trebrown Nurseries in the UK. I'm British, I speak fluent Mandarin Chinese, I have a driving licence to drive anything, and can get the tempory Chinese driving licence needed to drive in China, I'm a fully trained expedition leader, wealth of experience with expeditions worldwide over 27 years, mainly in Asia, and I possess the full 16 hour ITC SQA Accreditation (SCQF Level 5 credit 2) certificate in Outdoor First Aid – Emergency First Aid in the Workplace, & First Aid for Outdoor Incident Management. Last renewed on 12/01/2014.

The itinerary outlined thus far: Buy an off-road vehicle of suitable size in Thailand (this I will do prior to the start); Cross the Thai/Burma border at Tachileik to enter the Shan state; drive highway 4 to Meiktila and Mandalay (it may be possible to cut Meiktila and Mandalay out by taking route 44 which keeps us in the mountains, but for now this is the planned route), take highway 3 north from Mandalay to Yunnan, China crossing the border at Muse. There will have been opportunities to trek somewhat into the forests of Burma but we can't yet know what species we will have encountered there, but it would be worth looking for Musa yunnanensis var. yongpingensis as this is slightly north-west of Cangyuan where it was found. M. nagensium is another species we should be looking for. In Yunnan we can head North toward Boashan and make a detour up the Nujang valley toward Tibet. Back at Boashan we head toward Dali and Lijiang, two places I know very well. This is as far North as I envision going on this trip, although we could go a further 300 km North to Chengdu to look for M. basjoo, but I've travelled that road before and it is probably too much to ask after what we would have already done. Mind you when I travelled the Lijiang - Chengdu route before it was 1992 and all the roads were unpaved and slow-going, it might be easier now.
The return route would be different: From Kunming, Yunnan, China we drive down to the Laos border at Xishuangbanna. There is a wealth of banana species in this area especially M. itinerans species. We then cross the China/Burma border at Mongla, it's then just 60 km of yet unseen Burma until we reach Keng-tung which we passed through on the way up on highway 4, we return on highway 4 to Tachileik (120 km) and the Thai border. There will have been opportunities to trek somewhat into the forests of Yunnan.

Accommodation would be Hotels, Hostels, Guesthouses, Wild camps (86% Hotels, Guesthouses or similar; 14% Camping). I prefer wild camping in hammocks, as that is most convenient, cheap, is where the plants are, and the hammock gets you away from the leaches, but with government officials travelling with us wild camping might not be possible.

You don't need any travelling experience to partake in this expedition, just the sense of adventure, the time and the money, and reasonably fit. But the more experienced the better. I am capable and willing to do all the driving, but if other participants want to share driving then they need to get a Chinese driving licence issued in China. I would say that you need to have patience, and be able to put up with a lot of discomfort and hardship without complaining. An interest in wild bananas would be beneficial, but of-course there's plenty of other plants and animals to see, and in some of the most beautiful, unspoiled mountains and rainforest on the planet.

PM me with your questions.

Best wishes,
Phil

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I'm the seed dealer at www.trebrown.com