SINGAPORE – For most Singaporeans, a road trip might mean a drive to Melaka, Ipoh or Penang over a few days.

Few would embark on a 21-day overland expedition to Yunnan, China, navigating through Malaysia, Thailand and Laos.

But that is precisely what 52-year-old Leong Khay Mun accomplished behind the wheel of her scarlet Jeep Wrangler in April 2025.

Her Jeep, affectionately dubbed the Red Baron after Snoopy’s arch nemesis in the Peanuts comic strip, was part of a nine-vehicle convoy tackling the ambitious trek. Among the 15 participants, three Jeeps were driven solo – and Leong was the sole woman undertaking the journey alone.

The convoy crossed five national borders in just five days. However, the drivers, with an eye on the punishing China leg, took a break in Thailand. To bypass a 1,700km overland stretch, the group took a domestic flight while outsourcing vehicle transit via a trailer truck from Hat Yai to Chiang Rai.

After reuniting with their Jeeps in Chiang Rai, the convoy battled dirt roads in Laos before arriving in Pu’er, a city in southern Yunnan.

Over the next 16 days, Leong and her fellow drivers traversed lush valleys, rocky canyons and snow-capped ridges, experiencing Yunnan’s diverse topography.

One highlight was a visit to the Feilai Temple, a 412-year-old Tibetan Buddhist sanctuary perched on a mountainside in Deqin. The vantage point offers a breathtaking view of the Meili Snow Mountains, which peak at a majestic 6,740m above sea level.

In Dulongjiang, they also encountered the last remaining elderly women of the Dulong ethnic group who bear facial tattoos. The practice, outlawed since the 1950s, was believed to deter the abduction of young women by rival tribes.