Landlocked at the crossroads of China, Southeast Asia and South Asia, Kunming first gained international attention as the terminus of an ambitious French rail project connecting French Indochina with Yunnan.

Back then it might not have been difficult to imagine a pan-Asian rail network centered upon the city, but the turbulence of the 20th Century fragmented the continent, impeding the flow of people and goods across borders.

In recent decades relations among Asian countries have experienced a general thawing and once again, rail transport is bringing Kunming's crossroads status into international focus. But this time around it is high-speed rail rather than the locomotive that will drive Kunming's resurgence as a transport hub.

Within a decade, Kunming will be at the center of a high-speed rail network that extends westward across India and Pakistan to Iran, southward to Singapore on the South China Sea, eastward to Xiamen and Shanghai on the Chinese coast and northward to Chengdu – if Beijing has its way.

After India's decision last year to pull out of the plan to rebuild the Stilwell Road connecting northeast India with Kunming, it may be surprising to learn that Beijing and New Delhi are discussing a Chinese-built high-speed rail line crossing. The Hindu reports:


It appears that the long-planned rail network connecting Kunming with Singapore via cities in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia will also be a high-speed rail network, according to Chinese media.

Since beginning to develop its domestic high-speed rail network, China has begun to market its growing prowess in the industry to other countries. State-owned Chinese companies are already involved in projects in Venezuela and Turkey and Chinese companies plan on bidding for upcoming high-speed rail project tenders in the United States.

China recently announced its intention to build a high-speed rail link between Beijing and London. Chinese officials are predicting the completion of a China-built Eurasian high-speed rail network by as early as 2025.

On the domestic front, a new dedicated high-speed passenger line from Kunming to Shanghai is under construction and expected to be completed by 2015. The new route, which will run through provincial capitals Guiyang, Changsha, Nanchang and Hangzhou, will cut travel time from about 37 hours to around 10 hours.

Plans also exist to upgrade existing tracks between Kunming and Chengdu and build a new direct line to Chongqing that will deliver passengers from Kunming in about three hours instead of the current 19-plus hours.

Finally, construction commenced on a high-speed line from Kunming to Nanning last December. There has been some recent speculation that this line will eventually extend to Xiamen, and even Taiwan via tunnel.

China plans on having 42 high-speed rail lines by 2012, covering 13,000 kilometers, which would make it the world's largest rail network of its kind. The new lines will use China's homegrown high-speed rail system, which is a mix of foreign locomotive and carriage technology and domestically designed switching and control systems that is capable of speeds up to 350 km/hour (217 mph).

For the last decade, the elephant in the living room of China's relationships with the countries through which the Mekong River flows has been the growing number of dams built on and planned for the Lancang River – as the Mekong's headwaters in Yunnan are known.

The river - which in February was at half its normal level for that month - is a source of food and livelihood for the 65 million people living in its basin in Yunnan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

On Monday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva met with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue, telling Hu that residents of the lower Mekong region were concerned about the river's recent low water levels and were uneasy regarding the lack of clear information about China's dams on the Lancang, according to a Nation report.

Despite Abhisit's polite request for better information, Thai officials came to China's defense, saying that the recent low levels in the lower Mekong basin – the lowest in half a century – were primarily due to a drought in Laos. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said that rain in Laos normally accounts for 35 percent of the Mekong's water supply and that only four percent of the river's total water was held behind Chinese dams.

China currently has three dams operating on the Lancang, with a fourth at Xiaowan scheduled to commence operation in 2012. If completed, the Xiaowan hydropower station will be the world's tallest dam, rising almost 300 meters and capable of retaining 15 billion cubic meters of water.

Plans for a protest outside the Chinese embassy in Bangkok next month by residents of the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai suggest that residents of China's neighbors downstream may become increasingly vocal about the impact they feel Chinese dams are having on the river.

The Bangkok protest will be timed to coincide with the first Mekong River Summit, organized by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and scheduled to be held in the Thai beach town of Hua Hin from April 2 to April 5.

The conference's theme, "Transboundary water resources management in a changing world" is slightly undermined by the fact that the MRC's membership only includes Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, with Myanmar and China only participating as "dialogue partners".

It is difficult to imagine China making concessions to protestors, governments or anyone else for the time being. The Bangkok Post is reporting that a letter sent last month to Yunnan Governor Qin Guangrong by the Chiang Rai provincial government demanding the release of water from Lancang River dams was rebuked by Qin, who said the water was needed in Yunnan for agriculture during the dry season.

In addition to the protest related to the Mekong's current low levels, some Thai villagers will also attempt to deliver a petition to China seeking compensation for flooding in 2008:


In May 2009, the United Nations said China's plans to eventually build eight dams on the Lancang "may pose the single greatest threat to the river". China, however, is not the only country building dams on the river. Laos has plans for 23 dams on Mekong tributaries and the Mekong itself to be finished in the coming year, with Vietnam and Cambodia also planning dams of their own.

Lancang River image: news.china.com.cn

Kunming resident Colin Flahive recently drove from the Spring City to Luang Prabang, Laos. His trip—through Mengla and the Mohan/Boten border crossing—provided culinary surprises on both sides of the border. If you have a story to share with GoKunming readers, please get in touch with us via our contact form.

The drive from Kunming to Luang Prabang takes about 16 to 20 hours under normal circumstances, so it is best divided into two days.

The border crossing, which lies about eight to 10 hours from Kunming, closes to foreigners at 5pm. Therefore, travelers planning on making it into Laos on the first day will need to get an early start.

There is, however, no need to rush across the border. The city of Mengla (勐腊) in Xishuangbanna prefecture, a 25-minute drive north of the border, is a great overnight stopping point.

Mengla's major draw is its Dai minority cuisine. One of the more adventurous culinary experiences can be had at Xiaomaocao (小猫草), a small family-owned, back-alley operation.

Some of Xiaomaocao's signature dishes include raw heirloom eggplant salad (凉拌茄子), banana flower pork soup (芭蕉花红烧肉) and sapie, a local specialty of seasoned ground beef eaten with raw greens (撒撇).

After crossing the border at Mohan (see more information about procedure and visas below) the drive to Luang Prabang is between eight and 10 hours.

After arriving in Luang Prabang and working one's way close to the banks of the Mekong River, the city's UNESCO World Heritage status becomes evident.

Quality accommodation options are plentiful and the city has some of South Asia's best shopping. The night market teems with interesting snacks, art and all sorts of souvenirs.

Luang Prabang has many Western dining options and it's easy to make the mistake of missing out on local delicacies. One of the best spots for eating and drinking is the elevated banks of the river, a beautiful spot to catch the sunset while sipping on cocktails.

Along the river, visitors will also find a row of restaurants with Lao hotpot, a unique hybrid of the Chinese style with open flames to grill seafood and meat. Ask the servers for help as the techniques involved take a bit of practice.

Other highlights in Luang Prabang include sunrise atop Wat Phu Si, a massage at one of the many spas, and hiking the Kouang Si Waterfalls 30 minutes south of town. For Kouang Si, be sure to pack a lunch, bring your swimsuit and be prepared for water fights.

Spending a day or two in Luang Namtha, located one and a half hours southwest of Mohan, is a pleasant stopover on the return trip to China. The road to Luang Namtha is in excellent condition because the Chinese government recently paid to have the route to Thailand repaved. It's a beautiful drive and a place where the benefits of having one's own vehicle are evident.

We parked our car at the Zuela Guesthouse just off of the main road, where the staff can provide visitors with a map of sites in and around Luang Namtha. Motorbikes are also available for rent.

The town of Luang Namtha has built a new town square just across the street from the guesthouse. It bustles at night and offers some of the finest delicacies in Laos.

This is the last chance to fill up on Lao food before the long drive back to Kunming. Along with a sampling of the unique cold dishes sold be street vendors, the whole rotisserie duck is not to be missed.

Travel information:
Roads: The highways in Yunnan are in good condition, but watch out for the speed cameras dotting the median—a 200 yuan fine awaits speeders. The road to Luang Prabang is in poor shape in some sections, but appears to be under repair.

Visa: Travelers from many countries can get a visa at the Mohan border crossing, but those wanting to err on the side of caution can get a visa ahead of time from the Laos consulate in Kunming, which has recently moved from inside the Camellia Hotel to Caiyun Bei Lu.

Border crossing: Travelers driving their own vehicle must register the vehicle on the second floor of the customs building where Chinese vehicle registrations are exchanged for temporary Lao ones. Chinese citizens are required to purchase malaria medication and mosquito repellent at the border.

Last Friday while much of the world was nursing the hangover of a decade of war and terrorism, economic turmoil and environmental degradation, China and its Southeast Asian neighbors took a big step toward regional integration with the launch of a new free trade area (FTA). The long term implications for Yunnan are massive.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have now entered the first phase of an FTA, eliminating tariffs on around 7,000 items including fruits, vegetables, textiles and machinery. These goods represent roughly 90 percent of trade in the new economic bloc, which is the world's largest in terms of population and third-largest after the EU and NAFTA in terms of GDP.

The first phase includes China and the more developed ASEAN members: Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. On Friday these countries also launched the first phase of an FTA within ASEAN itself. The remaining members – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – will join the ASEAN China FTA in 2015.

Although it does not directly border any of the first phase countries, Yunnan has much to gain from the FTA's launch. It has water, air and highway connections to Thailand plus air links to Malaysia and Singapore, all of which are expected to become even busier trade routes. The launch of the FTA has long been viewed as a major milepost in the rise of Yunnan as China's gateway to Southeast Asia.

As some observers note, the FTA is more than just a step toward trade integration, it is also a major strategic achievement for China, whose political power in Southeast Asia already greatly surpasses that of regional rival India and is also seriously challenging American influence in the region.

China's soft power in Southeast Asia will undoubtedly grow in step with trade within the FTA, and much of this influence will be projected from Yunnan.

In the coming decade, China and Southeast Asia will become increasingly connected by a vast network of highways and rail which will provide cities in Yunnan with cheap overland access to markets in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Seated at the northern end of this transport web, Yunnan is poised to become an increasingly important international trade hub.

The initiation of the ASEAN China FTA is a modern revival of the ancient tea and horse caravan routes from centuries ago known as the South Silk Road, which linked China with Southeast Asian markets as well as Tibet and India.

Total trade between China and Southeast Asia was US$100 billion in 2004 and US$231 billion in 2008, but this is just the beginning. Bilateral trade – much of which will be passing through Yunnan – is expected to double over the next decade.

Difficult as it may be to imagine, Yunnan's days as an economic and political backwater are officially over.

China and Laos have reached an agreement to create a cross-border reserve to protect endangered Asian elephants and other protected species, according to a Xinhua report.

The new 54,700 hectare reserve will consist of 31,300 hectares in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous region and 23,400 hectares in Luangnamtha province in Laos.

In addition to providing roaming space for China's last wild elephant herd – which now numbers around 400 elephants – the reserve will also feature protected cross-border corridors that will provide safe passage for the animals. Development of the corridors will be funded by the Asian Development Bank.

It is estimated that there are less than 30,000 Asian elephants left in Southeast and South Asia. The five-ton animals need to consume roughly 300 kilograms of food daily, which requires a significant amount of wandering space.

In recent years, Asian elephants in Yunnan have increasingly come under pressure from rapid development in Xishuangbanna which has encroached upon the forests in which they live. It is believed that this encroachment has led to a growing number of attacks on humans by elephants.

Last winter in Xishuangbanna an American tourist was seriously injured by an elephant and a Chinese man on holiday was killed by an elephant in separate attacks.

The new Yunnan/Laos reserve will focus on minimizing conflict between elephants and humans. Officials involved in the reserve said that in addition to protecting elephants, the reserve will aim to protect biodiversity in the region, which is part of the Greater Mekong Subregion, where more than 1,000 new species have been discovered in the last decade.

Pollution in the Mekong River has been blamed by an international conservation group for a downward trend in the river's population of Irrawaddy dolphins, which is rapidly approaching annihilation, according to an AFP report.

More than 50 dolphin calves that have died since 2003 have been found with toxic levels of pollutants including mercury and pesticides, The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a press conference Wednesday.

At present there are between 64 and 76 Mekong Irrawaddy dolphins remaining in a 190 kilometer stretch of the Mekong shared by Cambodia and Laos.

A spokesman for the global environmental organization said the pollution could be coming from multiple sources upriver. Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Yunnan are all upstream from the section of the Mekong inhabited by the dolphins.

The WWF said it is investigating the source of the contamination.

A report published by the United Nations said that plans to dam the Mekong in Yunnan, where it is known as the Lancang River, may pose the single greatest threat to the river's ecological survival. Yunnan is also a major exporter of fertilizers and pesticides to neighboring countries on the Mekong.

The announcement that the Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin was on the verge of becoming extinct illustrates how quickly fortunes can change for endangered species. As recently as 2007, when there were 160 Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong, there was optimism about the animal's survival chances, with some experts anticipating a population boom.

Image: touraroundcambodia.com

China's plans to build a series of eight dams on the upper reaches of the Mekong River have come under criticism by the United Nations, which released a report last week stating that the Chinese plan "may pose the single greatest threat to the river".

The Mekong River – known in China as the Lancang River – is a source of food and livelihood for the 65 million people living in the river basin in Yunnan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The river's water quality has deteriorated in recent years, but according to the UN report, it has not yet reached "alarming levels". However, China's dams would likely lead to "changes in river flow volume and timing, water quality deterioration and loss of biodiversity." The area's wealth of biodiversity recently received global attention with the discovery of 1,000 new species of animals and plants in the region.

Ma Zhouxu, spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, told reporters last week that the Chinese government is equally focused on the Mekong's development and protection.

China is not the only country with big dam plans for the river – Laos is planning 23 dams on the Mekong and tributaries of the river to be finished before 2011. Vietnam and Cambodia also have plans to build new dams on the river.

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), which includes Yunnan and Guangxi plus the five countries through which the Mekong flows, is experiencing rapid development and economic and industrial expansion.

This dynamism will increase pressure on the river, but according to Mukand S Babel, one of the authors of the UN report, "The Mekong is in good condition at this time and can take more pressure such as irrigation development or industrial development."

The report did note that river basins along the Mekong including Tonle Sap in Cambodia, Nam Khan in Laos and Sekong-Sesan Srepok in Vietnam and Cambodia are in danger from increasing water demand and development and called for coordinated planning by the region's governments to deal with existing and future problems before they get out of hand.

With Kunming being groomed to be China's gateway to Southeast Asia, more attention is being paid to the new R3E road which runs 1,807 kilometers and links the city with Bangkok. Initial reports from Bangkok suggest that although international trade along the route – which also passes through Laos – has increased sharply, it could grow even faster if physical and bureaucratic obstacles are addressed sooner rather than later.

The R3E road opened in Autumn 2008 to boost intraregional trade, tourism and investment. Yunnan is home to the road's northernmost 688 kilometers, which lead into a 229-kilometer stretch leading into Laos. The remaining 890 kilometers link the Lao-Thai border with the Thai capital.

Thai trade statistics from the customs checkpoints at Chiang Khong and Chiang Saen indicate that Chinese imports into Thailand were up 15 percent year-on-year, reaching 25.8 million yuan, while imports from Laos grew by 85 percent, totaling 142.7 million yuan. Switching directions, Thai exports to China were only up four percent, totaling 9.9 million yuan, compared to Thai exports to Laos, which nearly doubled to reach 250.4 million yuan.

In terms of the flow of goods between the more developed economies of China and Thailand, Laos is a bottleneck for the road in terms of physical infrastructure and customs processing, according to a report in the Bangkok Post.

A 480-meter bridge across the Mekong River connecting Houeixay, Laos with Thailand's Chiang Rai province was originally expected to commence construction this year. However, the possibility of delay has increased as the global financial crisis has worsened. Construction of the 310 million yuan bridge is to be jointly funded by China and Thailand.

In addition to structural challenges to making the road more efficient, the Bangkok Post reports that customs officials in Laos "continue to collect high tariffs, sometimes arbitrarily, that can amount to as much as 30% of the total cost of goods," citing Thai businesses.

Should transport on the road become more streamlined, experts are predicting that as many as 10 million containers could travel R3E annually.

The road's proponents are also saying it helps alleviate gridlock on the Mekong River. During the river's high water season, ships traveling from Jinghong to Chiang Rai take around 12 hours, while ships heading upstream can take two to three days, which is much less viable for agricultural and horticultural goods that have a short transport life.

Map: Bangkok Post