Forums > Travel Yunnan > Border crossings with Vietnam (other than Hekou) Does anyone know if foreigners are allowed to cross into Vietnam at either the border crossing in Honghe Prefecture's Jinping County (红河州金平县), or Wenshan Prefecture's Malipo County (文山州麻栗坡县)?
I know Hekou is the standard border crossing from Yunnan to Vietnam, but I've already done it several times and am looking to do something a little different this time.
I know border crossings in Jinping and Malipo exist. And the guy at the Vietnamese consulate even told me I'm allowed to cross there. The problem is I don't know if the Chinese border guards will let me cross or not.
I went to the Kunming PSB today, and they made a call to the foreign affairs bureau to ask on my behalf, but no one knew the answer.
If anyone has tried these border crossings before, I'd much appreciate any info you might have!
Thanks
Forums > Living in Kunming > Do Kunming Drivers Know they are Inconsiderate and Dangerous Jonathan,
I don't think your post is "racist" (as its directed against "Kunmingers", not "Chinese", and "Kunmingers" do not constitute a "race"). But I do think its rather ignorant and overgeneralizing.
I understand that you and your children were put at risk and you in your frustration wrote this post. I'm sorry you had that close-call. I'm sure I would be angry too.
Of course there are lots of bad drivers in Kunming who break the rules and endanger people all the time.
But why do you have to generalize from some bad drivers amongst the pool of all Kunming drivers and imply that they are all bad? Surely this is not the truth.
In my two years in Kunming I have never been in an accident, close call, etc. I ride a bicycle. I ride defensively. Before I came to China I knew the traffic would be more dangerous than in my home country of America. This is to be expected. So I adjusted my riding style to the local conditions. Maybe I should knock on wood. But I do believe if one simply pays good attention to the road, one can avoid most accidents. That means even if there's a green light, make sure you check that the intersection is clear to cross and there are no idiots running the red light.
Also...if you think Chinese drivers are bad, then you obviously experienced traffic in Vietnam or India. Easily 10 times more dangerous than China.
By the way, the correct pinyin spelling of minivan is not mien boa che, it's mianbao che.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Impressions of Kunming from a foreigner waidiren Kunming definitely has street food.
You just weren't in the right places.
Kunming also has tons of demolition going on. And Kunming has plenty of skyscrapers. Not quite sure how you missed that. They're also building a subway system so streets are all ripped up. There's not a whole lot of "Old Kunming" left these days.
Not sure which "foreign" bars you're talking about. All the true foreign bars (that is, owned by foreigners) have English-speaking staff.
Not only are paper 1 yuan notes ubiquitous, but so are 5 jiao and 1 jiao notes! You apparently didn't receive any of those, but they're common.
I don't see what's so great about coins. They're heavier and jangle in your pocket.
I go through 1 jiao notes pretty quickly. Public bathrooms, bike parking, paying exact change at the supermarket...all quite handy.
Some places in Kunming have beer cheaper than 10 yuan. Local Chinese places you can still get a 660 ml bottle for 5 yuan.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Getting a chinese visa in hong kong Don't recommend HK if its a tourist (L) visa you want.
They only give them for 6 months, and you can only stay in the country 30 days at a time
Forums > Travel Yunnan > Are turnaround visa runs possible at the China-Vietnam border in Hekou? I've got a 12 month tourist visa with 90 day maximum stays. I live in Kunming.
The closest international border to Kunming is the one with Vietnam in Hekou. The next closest is the one with Laos in Xishuangbanna.
The last several times I needed to make a visa run, I went to the Lao border. It always worked well, because the Chinese and Lao border control stations are on opposite sides of a small, jungle-covered hill. Also, the Lao border offers visa-on-arrival. I would always follow the same routine: leave China, then re-enter China minutes later. I never even entered Laos or had to buy the Lao visa.
But the Lao border is considerably further away from Kunming than the Vietnamese one. And the bus ticket considerably more expensive. That's why I'm inquiring now to find out if its possible for me to repeat the same routine at the Vietnamese border or not.
The problem is that Vietnam doesn't offer visa-on-arrival. You have to get a visa ahead of time at the consulate in Kunming. Which would obviously make that a more expensive proposition. Furthermore, the border is on a bridge over the Red River, so I'm not sure if it would be feasible to pull what I did in Laos, leaving China only to re-enter again minutes later.
Anyone with any experience in this matter, your feedback would be very much appreciated! Thanks
Getting Away: Inle Lake revisited
发布者A bit (actually a lot) more about currency, from my friend who was just there:
1. Bring brand new, pristine US dollars from after the year 2000. The bills may NOT have any folds, tears, or marks. Even the tiniest spot or bend will land you a lower exchange rate, and older or visibly used bills will be flat-out rejected. We cut out pieces of cardboard to put our money between, and I advise keeping those in waterproof envelopes in case of rain. We were told not to bring bills starting with the serial code "CB." We also heard rumors not to bring 2006 bills, which proved impossible because that was all we could find in both NYC and Beijing, but it ended up being a myth. You may also bring Euro to use/exchange, but I advise against it (some tourist fee rates were quoted as "5 USD OR Euro," so you would lose money paying in Euro!).
2. Myanmar currency is the kyat (pronounced "jat"), and the highest rate we got as of July 2012 was 878 kyat to 1 USD. The rate is closer to 850 for lower denominations (50, 20, 10 or 5 USD bills), and those too must be pristine. You can get a decent rate (~850) at the airport in Yangon, or you can pay for a taxi from the airport in USD ($5-$6 for the whole taxi, bargain your way down!) and have them take you to Summit Parkview Hotel in the center. There we found a high rate of 870 kyat per 1 USD, but more importantly it is a reliable exchange venue with absolutely no shenanigans. The best rate we found in country however was at the government bank at Inle Lake in Nyaung Shwe (878 kyat per 1 USD), so if you need to exchange more kyat you always can do so later on in your trip.
3. There are no ATMs available in country that will allow you to withdraw from a foreign bankcard and only a few big hotels in Yangon take credit card at an extremely high surcharge, so you must bring everything you need for your trip with you in cash. This is obviously not ideal as a traveler, but it is some reassurance that petty theft is uncommon in Burma because of the locals' strict adherence to Buddhism. Still, anything is possible and it is highly advised to split up and hide your bills, and/or use a money belt.
4. DO NOT use street/black market money changers. Always go to an official bank, or a big international hotel in Yangon such as the one recommended above. Street changers may offer you too-good-to-be-true rates of 900+ kyat on the dollar, only to use "hand magic" while counting out your bills. We met one traveler who discovered too late that he'd actually been given 500 kyat on his dollar at a shady street exchange. We met another traveler who was swindled with a 10-15% exchange fee from her hotel in Yangon. Beware, and re-count all your bills in front of them before you leave!
5. You will want mostly 100 dollar bills, as they will bring you the best rate. However, contrary to what I often read, you will ALSO want to bring pristine bills in lower denominations, particularly 10s, 5s and 1s. This comes in very handy for negotiating a taxi from the airport, and for all tourist entrance tickets, which generally cost $10 or $5 and can only be paid in USD, not kyat. If you can't find pristine lower bills or come with only 100s as we did, you can have the Yangon airport exchange your pristine 100 for pristine bills of lower denominations (at no charge).
6. Contrary to popular belief, over the course of your trip, you may pay for lodging in either USD or kyat, and the best rates are generally in kyat. You should bargain even for hostel rates! Flights MUST be paid for in USD. Everything else (transportation, food, tours or guides, souvenirs) are best negotiated and paid for in kyat, though everyone will also take USD. I will cover information on costs in the next section.
7. At the end of your trip, be aware of the rules in exchanging leftover kyat. If you exchanged currency at a hotel or anywhere other than an official bank on your trip, you will NOT be able to change your kyat back to dollars at the Yangon airport. They require an official receipt of the original exchange (USD to kyat) that you can only obtain either at the airport itself or a government bank. We saw travelers who were vexed at this situation and ended up stuck with leftover kyat. However if you either obtain an official bank receipt to show the airport exchange, or leave time to go back to the hotel to exchange before you head out to the airport, you will be fine.
Yunnan goes infrastructure crazy
发布者While cycling to Puzhehei last weekend, I saw construction of the Kunming-Nanning line (which is really part of the Kunming-Guangzhou high speed line) under construction: a tunnel under the mountains east of Mile (弥勒), and a huge bridge over the Nanpan River (南盘).
Also, isn't there a rail line under construction from Dali to Myanmar via Baoshan (保山), Mangshi (芒市), and Ruili (瑞丽)? Originally the British were supposed to build it back in the 40s, but it was abandoned because of the war and revolution, but I thought it was back on the drawing board again.
Other new rail lines that I saw on a map of planned rail lines at the China Railways pavilion at the Shanghai Expo in 2010 include: Xiangyun (祥云) to Pu'er (普洱) via Lincang (临沧), and Lijiang (丽江) to Panzhihua (攀枝花)
Getting away: Haba Snow Mountain
发布者Note that a few weeks after GoKunming's trip, the price of entrance to Tiger Leaping Gorge rose to 65 yuan.
Another option in this region is to bicycle from Zhongdian to Lijiang (or vice-versa) via the road around the East side of Haba Mountain. This road is paved and in excellent condition, yet receives almost no traffic, making it an excellent bike ride, with views of Haba and dozens of snow-capped peaks in the mountain range that stretch northward from it.
In Haba Village, Mr. Bao (包大哥) has a guesthouse and a trekking service. He's very knowledgeable about the local geography, history, and culture, and can lead trekkers not just to the summit, but also to pristine alpine lakes, waterfalls, meadows, and forests. His phone number is 0887-8866536 and his QQ is 1159634650
Snapshot: Grand Canyon of the East
发布者Gotcha. In any case, all of the above are impressive gorges. Yarlung Tsangpo looks incredibly remote. Kudos in advance to the first person to travel there and write it up!
Snapshot: Grand Canyon of the East
发布者Beautiful pictures.
However, the geographer in me wondered about the statement "second in depth only to Arizona's Grand Canyon".
After searching for authoritative lists of the deepest canyons in the world ranked according to depth (all of which contain disclaimers that measuring and comparing canyon depths is an inaccurate art due to the different ways to define and measure them), I found a rough approximation of a list. According to this list, Nujiang (5th) is actually deeper than Arizona's Grand Canyon (12th), and neither is as deep as Yunnan's Tiger Leaping Gorge (4th) or Tibet's Yarlung Tsangpo (1st).
Link to the rankings I refer to:
www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/185555.htm