One of the Coolest Roads in The World

Since our main mode of transportation around the world is by truck, we are always looking for interesting, scenic, and sometimes dangerous roads to drive our Toyotas down. We are constantly on the lookout for something amazing or out of the ordinary because you just never know when you will be driving your own vehicle in that part of the world again. Good locations and photos also help to keep some of our sponsors happy!

We came across one such location in China and came across it totally by accident. I was at a hostel in Xi An explaining our trip to a woman from France. This woman was thoroughly excited about what we were doing and was asking a lot of questions, particularly about the route and the dangers we may encounter while driving our own vehicles. One topic led to another until finally we started talking about "the most dangerous road in the world." There is a road outside of La Paz, Bolivia that typically holds the title as being the most dangerous road in the world among travelers and thrill seekers and we both concluded it was quite dangerous.

After our discussion, I searched for a few photos of the road in Bolivia and I happened across an obscure blog about another dangerous road. The weblog was actually defending the title of the road in Bolivia against another road which happened to be somewhere in China. The blog did not contain many details about where this road was located, but it did have some pretty crazy photos and it was enough for Steve and I to determine that we had to drive the Thundra and Little Pepe on it. The only information the blog gave was the name of the village the road leads to and a bit of history about why it was built. The road was actually carved into the cliffs by the villagers themselves over the course of many years upon learning that the government would not build a road to make it easier for them to get to the next town down the valley to trade for and purchase supplies. Driving the road in China itself is not necessarily that dangerous (hence the blog defending the road in Bolivia), however, it certainly was dangerous to build and a false move or a bad decision could ruin your day and those to come for sure.

Finding exactly where the road was and if we would come near it on our journey through China proved to be a fairly difficult mission to accomplish. None of the guidebooks mentioned how to find the village and it was not on any of our maps… not on our western maps or on our guide Jasons Chinese maps. Still determined to find out where this road was, we began to reveal more clues as to the location of this village and the road using creative web searches and having Jason speak with locals about it. To make our task more difficult, the blog either intentionally or unintentionally placed the road in the incorrect Chinese province. After three days of research and Jason spending many hours talking with locals and hitting the streets, we finally found what we thought was the location of this road, but we could not be 100 percent certain unless we got closer. Getting closer entailed driving about 300 kilometers and many hours out of our way on backcountry provincial roads. It was a gamble, but it certainly paid off as we found the location of the village and the road.

Interestingly enough, the place is actually fairly popular as a local tourist spot… enough so that they charge an admission fee to walk the road and another fee to drive on it. However, it was still pretty far off any tourist path and people were actually pretty amazed that we had managed to find it. One couple was totally surprised that westerners with their own cars had actually found the village. The road was so amazing, the views from the top so breathtaking, and the history behind the village so interesting, we were surprised that Lonely Planet or any other guidebook publisher had yet to identify or include it in their books. It is a pretty difficult place to get to, is not really close to any major cities and is not conveniently served by any form of public transportation, so that may be why it is still somewhat of a secret spot. In any regard, it is there if you put in the work to find it. At this point, all we are going to do is reveal a little bit of information about this place. The village is located just outside the town of XinXiang in Henan province and starts with a G and some people refer to the road as the village’s tunnel. With some creative research and local assistance, you too can experience the road and all that it has to offer if you ever find yourself in this part of China. Until then you will just have to enjoy some of our photos of definitely one of the craziest roads in the world.