Episode 163: Ciao__Xiao

Bikepacking From China to Belgium and Experiencing the World at 200%

Riding into a dream you first had at fifteen

Some bike journeys begin with a map and a detailed plan. Others begin with a single image that refuses to leave your head. For Xiao, that image appeared when he was about fifteen years old. He watched videos of riders travelling through the Pamirs, the road slicing straight into towering mountains. He recalls knowing straightaway when he saw that image, that he’d go there one day.

Ten years later, he found himself riding that very same road, finally inside the picture that had lived in his imagination for so long. When he describes it, he says he experienced it at 200 percent. The place felt bigger because it had once only existed to him before as a dream.

Growing up with bikes as a way to travel

Xiao’s relationship with bike travel started early. His very first cycling trip was with his mum, riding through the Netherlands when he was still a teenager. At the time, he did not realise how formative that trip would be.

A few years later, after finishing school, he and his friends had a familiar dilemma. Plenty of time but very little money. Their solution was simple. They took their bikes and rode to France, sharing a tent, cooking pasta on a camp stove, and learning what it felt like to be outside every day.

That trip was Xiao’s first real outdoor adventure, and it revealed his passion as a traveller. Indeed, Xiao is someone who doesn’t see himself as a cyclist at all. It’s merely the right tool for the job.

From China, heading west

In 2025, Xiao committed to his biggest journey yet. He began cycling from eastern China, starting near family, and headed west towards Belgium.

China alone took months to cross. The distances were vast, and the contrasts between regions were constant. Different landscapes, different food, different dialects, and entirely different ways of living from one province to the next.

Because Xiao speaks Mandarin, he was able to connect deeply with people along the way. He stayed in hostels, spent time in climbing gyms, shared meals, and talked with locals about work, life, and the realities of modern China.

As the road continued west, the landscapes opened out into high plateaus, mountain passes, which meant he had to deal with long stretches of remote riding.

Mountains, cold nights, and life in a tent

Xiao describes feeling most at ease in his tent. After months on the road, returning to Belgium felt strange because being in his tent had become home.

Camping at altitude in places like Tajikistan brought its own challenges. Nights dropped well below freezing, sometimes as low as minus thirteen degrees. Xiao shares his tips for dealing with the cold such as piling rocks around the tent to block the wind, wearing every layer he owned, and putting his goretex jacket over the bottom of his sleeping bag to cover his feet.

Despite the cold, Xiao says these were some of his most memorable camps. Opening the tent to vast mountain views, full moons, and absolute silence were the very reason for him taking this kind of travel.

Mechanical problems and finding solutions

Even with a carefully chosen bike built for durability, things went wrong. Xiao’s cranks failed spectacularly, his fork mounts broke and the tubeless tire system he was using refused to cooperate.

As a trained bike mechanic, Xiao could diagnose problems quickly, but the real skill was improvisation. Finding bolts in remote villages. Hammering fixes together just to reach the next town and ordering parts online in Chinese cities and waiting it out.

He is clear about one thing. Mechanical fear should not stop people from travelling. There is almost always a solution, and often help appears in unexpected places.

Riding through Afghanistan

One of the most thoughtful sections of our conversation focuses on Xiao’s time in Afghanistan. All up Xiao spent around twenty five days riding through the country, travelling with a friend. He speaks openly about the intensity of the experience especially due to the constant attention he was given. by the very curious Afghanis he encountered. The exhaustion of having almost no personal space became unbearable at times. But paired with this frustration, Xiao shares how he also speaks about the kindness he encountered, the hospitality, and the generosity of people who had never met a traveller before.

Xiao had read about the country before arriving, learning its history and ethnic makeup, and he was intentional about seeing more than one perspective. He left Afghanistan with the realisation that daily life for Afghani people was very different to the image often presented elsewhere.

For Xiao, witnessing the reality of a country by being there to see it yourself, is a critical element of why he chooses to travel where he does. He also shared that he hopes that more tourism in Afghanistan may perhaps open up the possibilities of the loosening of restrictions there by the current Taliban regime.

Freedom, in the fullest sense

Towards the end of our chat, Xiao describes what bike travel gives him the ultimate sense of freedom. It’s a full sensory experience, you feel the wind, brace against the cold, sweat through the heat and get drenched by the rain. All things we are taught to protect ourselves from. But he believes feeling all the elements is part of the magic.

Xiao also loves confronting limits and solving problems. So being able to combine all these things while being present in your environment is the pinnacle for him.

Xiao’s ride from China to Belgium is still unfolding, but the way he moves through the world already offers plenty to reflect on. You can follow along with his adventures via his instagram account – @Ciao__Xiao and also his YouTube channel.

The Seek Travel Ride podcast

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