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get from Hekou to Kunming

blobbles (958 posts) • 0

Just did the Hekou visa run, thought I would update this thread as it (and others) are a bit old and out of date. Vietnam visa picked up at the consulate 2 blocks north of the train station. 385 kuai for 3 day service if you have a passport photo, 395 if no passport photo. You have to pick up 3 days later at 5-5:30pm. Not sure what will happen if you show up early/don't show but you get the idea. Easy to get and the staff speak English/Chinese/Vietnamese.

Bus leaves from East bus station. You can take some buses to get there, I couldn't figure out which one so caught a taxi from the north for 30 kuai. Bus ticket easy to get - took 8 hours to get there with a stop for lunch at a dirtbag town somewhere. I recommend taking some fruit with you for lunch as the dirtbag town has a monopoly on crappy food. You can also buy a drink there and you won't get ripped off much. About 50km from Hekou there is a police checkpoint where everyone has to show their passport/ID card. They will take your passport off the bus in order to write down your particulars so don't worry. They do the same on the way back to Kunming.

Arrive in Hekou the situations a little different. The bus dropped us off seemingly in the middle of a road with a bunch of taxis waiting to take us to the border. With 2 other passengers in 1 taxi it cost 10 kuai each for about a 3km ride (a rather big rip off, so beware those on a budget). The border crossing on both sides is straightforward. Watch for people trying to rip you off on the Lao Gai side, they are insistent and highly annoying. They will try to steal your things (the hat I was wearing in my case) and will ask for spare change and be generally annoying. At this point you can turn around and come back in or go on to Sapa/Hanoi for a few days, whatever.

Back into China and interestingly all the Entry/Departure cards on the Chinese sides had the Departure section removed. Not sure why or if this will cause me issues when I try to leave next.

Coming back into China from Vietnam a whole stack of motorbike dudes are waiting to take you for 20 kuai to the long distance bus station. Bargain one down to at least 15 kuai because its definitely not worth it for the distance and the danger (no helmets, a bit mad the riders on quite powerful bikes). The long distance bus station in Hekou is pretty new and quiet. Easy to get the ticket to Kunming and again is 8 hours back to the East bus station with the stop in the fleabag town. The buses are fairly comfortable and will stop on the side of the road if you need to pee (or more likely if 2 or 3 of you need to pee). Advise getting some yummy tropical fruit for the trip back to Kunming on the China side (much less likely to be ridiculously ripped off) from the Hekou township before heading to the long distance bus station as they only have those bad Chinese snacks for sale at the station.

The buses during the day are fairly comfortable and you go through some pretty nice areas (Shilin, a pretty gorge half an hour north of Hekou). Also they will play 2 or 3 movies of varying quality during the trip on screens above the aisles. They seem to be fairly concious of when a laowai is onboard and played movies with english/chinese subtitles only and even the recent Prince of Persia, when I went. Actually its quite a comfortable trip and I recommend it especially if you spend a couple of days in Sapa and need your double entry visa renewed. You could easily do the trip in 2 comfortable days staying overnight in Vietnam/China depending on your preference.

Blade (10 posts) • 0

Does anyone else recommend "Jian Shui"? Or is somebody just link-building? I am still deciding where to stop during our trip from Heuko > Kunming > Xishuanbanna > Laos. I am going to Vietnam first so I'll probably pick up a lonely planet that should show me the most interesting places but personal recommendations are always best.

BTW; good visa-run write up Blobbles! From what I am reading about thieves, I think we'll avoid the night bus from Heuko to Kunming.

blobbles (958 posts) • 0

Jian Shui is quite nice actually, I would recommend it too! Its got a sort of "fake" old town which is less fake than others I have seen and isn't frequented much by tourists. There are some fairly pricey attractions there (e.g. the Confucian park I think was 60 kuai when I went... wooo... hen gui) but it was really really nice inside and totally photogenic. Actually even the fake old town is really nice to walk around and they have a big gate building at the end of the old town main street which is actually authentic and very cool. So yep, I can also recommend!

Lapin (3 posts) • 0

Is there any chance i can arrange a private car from jianshui to hekou? Or from kunming to hekou?around how much will it be?

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