Judy Zhang, EchinaRomancee, www.echinaromance.com
You could go from Heko to Kunming by bus, you also could contact to us, we could arrange a private car to meet you in Heko, to drive you back to Kunming. Please visit our website www.echinaromance.com
Judy ZHang mobile: 13888726753
I will go from Kunming to Hekou at the 19 of march. Yesterday I´vo got the information that the bus leaves from the New Eastern Busterminal: RMB 134.-. Judy Zhang how much do you charge for the privat car (minibus?)
Hi Macgyver, may be we can go together to Hekou? Where are you staying in Kunming?
Hi Phuc_Linh! Thanks for your invitation. I am staying in mountainous area YangLin (50km away from Kunming City). I have to exit from China before 7 March as my Chinese Visa stamp will expire by then. Go for short trip in Hanoi and then return back to Kunming again. If you plan to change your plan, the update me.
Hi everyone! Anyone is planning to go to Hekou on 5 or 6 March 2010 from Kunming? My wife and I are planning to go there. Update me by email : macgyversteve@gmail.com
This is Judy Zhang from Echinaromance, if you could have 4-5 people to trip to Heko, we could offer you a private 5 seat car or 7 seat minibus for you, which could save money for the tours. Pls contact to me
www.echinaromance.com
Email: echinaromance@yahoo.com
Judy Zhang: 86-13888726753
Last December I took the night sleeper bus to Hekou. While I was sleeping I was ripped off for 3000 RMB which was in my shoulder bag under my blanket. I was lucky as they could have taken the whole bag with my passport, camera etc., but they just wanted the cash. This bus is known to be plagued with thieves, so watch out!
The other problem with this night bus is that it arrives in Hekou at 5AM and you have to wait 2 hours to cross into Lao Cai. And once in Lao Cai the only day train to Hanoi takes about 12 hours and has only hard seats.
The comfortable night sleeper trains leave after 8PM arrives in Hanoi in the morning. So if you want to wait for the night train to Hanoi you will be stuck in Lao Cai for 12 hours! I took the hard seat day train and it was literally a pain in the ass.
OK, and this is my question. The first day bus from Kunming to Hekou leaves at 9:40 AM and is 'supposed' to arrive in Hekou at 5:40 PM China time. The border is supposed to close at 6 PM. If there is time to cross the border this would be ideal as there would only be a short wait for the night train into Hanoi. If you miss the border crossing than you're stuck in Hekou. Has anyone done this??
If you live in Kunming as I do, then you know that it's impossible to get reliable information about anything. And why would they schedule a morning departure to Hekou that would arrive too late to cross into VN? Only possible answer would be perversity!
The return from Hanoi is a piece of cake. Very comfortable night sleeper train arrives in Lao Cai about 6AM. Time for breakfast and your last cup of good Vietnamese coffee. When the border opens there is time to cross and get the day bus to KM that leaves about 9:30 and gets into KM around 5PM.
For some reason all the travel blogs I have found recommend the sleeper bus from KM to Hekou. The problems with this I described in my last post. No one mentions being stuck in either Hekou or Lao Cai for 12 hours. Or take the bone breaker day train. It was kind of interesting though as it is the cheapest and was filled with Vietnamese peasants. If it's your first contact with Vietnamese you notice how friendly they are sharing food and smiles. Then you arrive in Hanoi feeling like a truck ran over you!
you could send email echinaromance@yahoo.com to ask our Echinaromance to arrange a private car/van for you to pick you up at Heko border, then drive you back to Kunming, please visit our website www.echinaromance.com to see the Yuanyang, Jianshui, Heko tours. Welcome to make a call to Judy Zhang's mobile phone 86-13888726753.
Like Bochi, I just lost 3,000 yuan on the sleeper bus from Kunming to Hekou. It was inside of a travel wallet, inside of my backpack, which was underneath my legs, which were covered over with a blanket.
They thief sliced open my backpack with a razor, extracted the travel wallet and took the cash. Mercifully he left my passport and ATM cards. I suspect that they do this on purpose because passports stolen from foreign citizens might force the police to actually do something, thus ending the thieves' gravy train.
Given that other people have experienced the same thing, and that a knife of some sort was involved in my case, I would recommend skipping the sleeper altogether and taking the day bus.
