Cyclbums advice sounds pretty good to me. I am sure that the City Contacts would PROBABLY be fine but for some reason the are causing me axiety by not being good for bad road conditions and potentially might not last the whole tour. I had a great experience with my Marathon XRs on my last tour through China, Nepal, and Tibet but the tread pattern was ultimately too agressive for the 99% of the time I was on paved roads. Im not ready to give up any though of taking dirt paths and the road less pedaled so I think that Duremes would be a better compromise. If I take the City Contacts I would also likely want to bring a spare. I would feel comfortable, however, not taking a spare with the Duremes. Cheers!