Sorry for the break in uploading! Thanks for the support!! If you'd like to get in touch with Sylvie and Bahao, I've put their email in the description xxxxx

It’s Bahao’s and my pleasure to take this adventure together with you Mike! The moment touched me the most during our journey is when you said “I’m trying to not let camera disturb the interaction with people. I don’t want them to feel I’m coming to ‘watch them like in a zoo’”. It’s the real humility makes your videos a gem, especially in a chaos world nowadays. Keep going and safe travel! Please come back next year 😊 Thank you brother!

What I’ve learned from watching Mike is that alcoholism and a nicotine addition bridges all cultural differences hahahah no matter where you GO!

isn't it crazy. a woman from one of the remotest parts of the world contacted you through the internet and your able to travel there and show us how the remote living is!

As a native of Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, I would like to add some deeper background to the issue of "beards" mentioned in the video. It is far more than just "China controlling personal appearance".
In the 2014 Kunming railway station attack in Yunnan Province, 31 people were killed and 141 injured, among whom 29 were killed on the spot with large machetes. These people were extremist religious elements from Xinjiang at that time.
During a difficult period in Xinjiang, religious extremist forces (including certain "Wahhabi" extremist factions) forcibly turned specific physical features such as "growing long beards" into their political symbols and tools of intimidation. The real harm brought by such extremist ideas is deeply engraved in our memory, especially for those who experienced the 2014 Kunming Railway Station incident - it ultimately leads to the ruthless deprivation of innocent civilians' lives.
In response to this situation, the local government, with the aim of protecting public safety and the freedom of belief of the vast majority of people, imposed restrictions on these identifiers that had been "hijacked" by extremist ideas in specific periods and places. This is essentially a temporary measure for counter-terrorism and de-radicalization, and one of its most fundamental purposes is to ensure that such tragedies do not recur.
Nowadays, as Xinjiang's society has returned to stability, policies have become more refined. As the local person in the video said, "Now you can have a beard but not too extreme." This means that the government is distinguishing between personal cultural traditions and extremist symbols. Growing a beard due to personal preference or ethnic traditions is fully respected, but deliberately imitating the beard styles of those identified as extremists and promoting extremist ideas will be stopped.
So, this is not about "beard freedom", but rather about how a society recovers a healthy order from the shadow of extremism after a painful lesson and redefines the boundary between personal expression and public safety. I hope this explanation can help everyone understand this complex issue more comprehensively.

An hour long Mike video is seriously what i needed today.

I know you didn't mean anything by it, but I just wanted to point out that taking care of children is definitely "actual work", and the fact that they trust you with their younger generation speaks volumes about your character as well as theirs.  I know it might be more fun to get your hands dirty, so to speak, but these kids are gonna remember that random British guy who showed up and hung out with them for a few days and I think that's pretty awesome.  Plus, let's all just say it, that tiny one is an absolute heartbreaker, what a adorable kid.

I am Kazakh from Kazakhstan. There, unfortunately, we’ve lost the nomadic lifestyle completely. So, it’s nice seeing my compatriots still living the way our ancestors did. Thanks for sharing your experience with the world!!!

the baby is sooo cute!! his little sweater 🥹

Mike, I’m not sure you’ll read this, but in case I’ll be as brief as I can. I’m watching this video, as I do all of yours, with a massive grin (and sometimes gaping in awe) at your respect for the places and people you visit. I’ve grown up in the states and hardly seen much of this country, let alone the world, and my education has been limited to my high school classes and social media feeds. So much of what I see online is full of extremes, mostly focused on unrest, violence, and political instability. Your videos have completely changed my views of the Eastern world, and I cannot thank you enough for what you do. I have a great respect for what you’ve been trying to accomplish in your travels, and hope you’ll continue sharing these special moments with the people you meet. Be well, brother.

The best travel vlogger, filled with respect for the people he meets on journeys and compassion for everything around him.

Hey Mike! Just wanted to say that I saw you in Shanghai airport on my own trip to Xinjiang to propose to my now fiancé. I tried to get your attention but you didn't hear me. It was crazy seeing you in person after watching so many of your videos and the chances of me an American seeing you in Shanghai is crazy! Thanks for all the great content man!

We're the same age
It's great to see someone doing what some of us cannot
We need people delivering the culture of a peoples that may never be captured otherwise

I love how almost every video in China ends up with him getting plastered drunk and smoking cigs lol.

I'm really sorry, China. I was really injust with you. Such a beautiful country and so nice people. I'm considering visiting this country right now.

You're so charismatic you make every conflict in society look like stupid childs play. People are just people wherever you go.

I know you're probably just making silly travel vids in your mind, but you are truly doing some of the best work for humanity Mike. Exposing the lives of those who seem so different from afar, in a way that makes everyone relatable is what this world needs now more than ever. Love the vids Mike, in another life I'd be out there with you spreading the same love, joy and humanity.

Dude, your china videos are the wildest i have ever seen. As a Chinese, I saw a lot of videos of foreigners coming to big cities of China, like Shanghai, Beijing, which is places we are very familiar with. But your videos always have some insane interactions with the local people, like hit the road with a truckdriver, sleeping in toll station, hiking with Kazakh friends. Always something new even for Chinese people like me. Amazing content.

I think it's a real honor when strangers entrust you with their own child. not useless at all, and also "real work" ;-)

These people living in Windows XP default wallpaper is absolutely insane. anyone gets my joke? this place is just pure stunning