Hey I came on this site to find movie times and saw this thread. I can confirm that the border is closed without a permit. I live in Yangon and to get to Kunming this morning I had to come through the open border (now even open to online e visas) in Thailand and then go through Lao. If anyone were trying to go in through the china border without a permit they would be entering illegally and putting anyone they interact with such as check point guards and hotels at risk of jail time. Going through Lao and Thailand was great and once you are in Burma you can even go right to the Indian border without any problem. Just don't try and cross it. Ps how do I find Kunming movie times on this site?