Traveling to Laos Overland From Kunming

[Pardhu]

Hi everyone. Has anyone been to Laos from kunming by train or bus? Any information about VISA ON ARRIVAL on the border?

Thanks.

[Slavsky]

I like your idea. I`m planning other trip in Asia within next half a year. Laos, Bhutan, Nepal or Philippines – still thinking.
What`s your criteria for choosing Laos?

[Pardhu]

I am hoping once i go inside Laos I could find a cheaper way into Cambodia and may be Vietnam. The flights are very expensive because of the spring festival and Laos is accessible by road from china 😉

[Paul Yeandle]

Nice travel plans! Two years ago I was living in Kunming and took a trip to Laos overland during the spring festival. I went to Jinghong first (worth a stop at least) and then there is a bus to Luang Nam Tha (also worth a stop) from there you can also go to other parts of Laos, vietnam, etc. – although I headed back to China and only stayed in North Laos.

Travel is pretty easy from Jinghong and the border is easy (make sure you have some passport photographs). I think from Jinghong to Luang Nam Tha took around 4 hours. Which nationality are you? Some nationalities got free visa’s (Korean and Swiss I think) and everyone else paid on the border, filled out some forms and got the stamps bus will wait on the other side and it took around 45 minutes for everyone to cross.

There is lots on gokunming.com about this and if you want to know more send me a private message and will try to advise more.

N.B. There used to be a 28hour bus from Kunming to Luang Prabang but I believe overnight buses may be banned in Yunnan now.

[Pardhu]

Hello Paul. Thanks a lot. This is great information. I am from India and my mates are from the uk. i found that we will have to pay for the visas which is fine.
Jinghong seems like a beautiful place. We will take a break if there aren’t any Direct buses to Laos. Do you think we will need to book the bus tickets in advance ? Since it’s a big holiday ?

thanks

[Mike]

Definitely great travel plans! Visited Northern Laos already twice and will go back for sure.

I just took the bus from Luang Namtha to China (Jinghong). Which was pretty easy as there are many buses running this direction. As I’ve seen in Jinghong at the bus station there are also many buses running the other direction. So it should be quite easy to find a bus. The visa you will get at the border (between 32 – 39 US $, depending on nationality).

Jinghong is worth a visit. I liked it there. Make sure to go to Mekong café. It’s run by a French chef and the food is delicious 😉 In Luang Namtha you should also spend some time. I enjoyed the food at Forest Retreat Laos (green building), minority restaurant and on the morning and night market. Accomodation is cheap and really good. Also treks in the jungle are fun but make sure to take along enough water.

If you have more questions just let me know!

[Paul Yeandle]

Happy to help! What Mike said is great advice for Jinghong. Since it’s holidays it might be (will be) more difficult – you should maybe go to The Hump Hostel – they always booked tickets for me to various places (for around 10RMB commission saved a lot of waiting in line / disappointment.

[Slavsky]

Paul, I’m planning to change city this year. My main criteria is clean air, decent salary and overall level of culture. I’m considering Yunnan Province and Shenzhen.

What can you tell me about Kunming?

Regards.

[Paul Yeandle]

Hi Slavsky.

I can’t comment too much on Shenzhen – but for Kunming..

Positives:

Amazing weather – think California but never too hot – it has so much sun and I never got bored of that.

Air Quality – Sometimes not great but much better than Chengdu

Travel Options – Nice travel options all around and easy gateway city to Burma, Laos and Vietnam.

Food – Underrated in my opinion, really great food, great BBQ and really cheap and plentiful fruit and veg.

Cultural Diversity – Ethnic minorities-a-plenty and fascinating villages and towns in all parts of the province

Negatives:-

Jobs and Economy – Less developed than Chengdu and I certainly found getting work outside of English teaching easier here, also less options for Western food, shopping etc,

Public Transportation and Taxi’s – Kunming is often at a standstill and the infrastructure projects make ones in Chengdu look carefully planned and well organised.

I believe Shenzhen is great for Business and is a very young city but don’t expect the culture you find in Chengdu or Kunming, I also don’t think the food is that great. You do have HK on your doorstep and it is certainly a better place for work I would say.

[Charlie]

I’ve taken this trip before and highly recommend it, Yunnan Province is amazing and overland is a great way to get to both Vietnam and Laos assuming you have time and can handle buses or trains. For Vietnam you can get a visa in Kunming and for Laos you can get a visa at the border (although if I remember correctly, it’s cheaper in Kunming). Either way, great trip, lots of fun.

When you get to Laos you can travel overland south across the country through Luang Prabang and end up around Four Thousand Islands or to Nong Khai which is on the Thai border. Lots of options. Beautiful region, I have to say that among countries in Southeast Asia, Laos might be my favorite because it’s so tranquil compared to all of its neighboring countries.

Paul Yeandle wrote:

Hi Slavsky. I can’t comment too much on Shenzhen – but for Kunming.. Positives:

This is a good summary of Kunming. You are absolutely right about the negatives – there are so few, but the major one is a lack of good job opportunities there. From what I’ve seen, there are very few foreigners making good money in Kunming or doing very interesting work like an increasing number of expats in Chengdu are doing.

I actually think the Western food might be better in Kunming though. In my opinion Salvatore’s (Google is) is the best Western restaurant in Western China. The food is amazing, the actual location is street side and has seating outside, and the prices are unbelievably cheap. Add avocado to any dish for 8 kuai. I was there a week ago and went crazy. Came back with a bag of avocados and a taste for more.

Just nearby Salvatore’s are some other great cafes as well, including the French Cafe which was the original inspiration for Cafe Paname in Chengdu.

Everytime I leave Kunming I ask myself why I don’t live there, and the answer is always the same: the job opportunities cannot compare to Chengdu. Another bonus is that Kunming has probably the best air of any major city in China (along with Sanya I’m guessing).

For Western food and places in Chengdu I feel there are really only very few worth mentioning:

• The Lazy Pug
• Mix & Match
• Mike’s Pizza Kitchen
• The Bookworm

The other ones, like Peter’s and Grandma’s Kitchen, I find to be sort of hybrid Western restaurants that actually cater more to the tastes of Chinese patrons who do things like put ketchup on steak and eat dry toast.

[Pardhu]

Thats really good information. Thanks guys. We are definitely doing this trip for the spring holidays. We have around 10 days and hopefully we will be able to spend 5-6 days in Laos. I will keep updates as we go ….for future reference.

Once again, Thanks very much.

Cheers.

[Rick in China]

“For Western food and places in Chengdu” I think Grappas makes several great dishes, it’s just relatively expensive for what you get.

A friend of mine moved to Kunming shortly before I moved to Chengdu – and is still there, more than 10 years, and loves it. I’ve visited a few times, and agree very much with the summary above – the food is pretty good and a lot of great minority restaurants to choose from, I remember one walking-only street that was just a series of various minority restaurants, the one I remember being really good. Same reason I wouldn’t live there, also: jobs. There’s nowhere near the same professional industry, especially for expats, that Chengdu or some other major cities have. That being said, you want cleaner/job-filled city, thought about Hangzhou?

RE: Kunming>Laos, seems lots of people take the train down to the last train station in southern Yunnan then switch to bus for the trip to Laos, and often it’s with one target: http://onestep4ward.com/tubing-vang-vieng-laos/

[Author]

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