I'll make this short and simple.. i wanna do a little trip to either laos or thailand overland.. i assume that'd make it much cheaper (and interesting) than flying..

so can i just get a visa for either country in kunming and hop on buses till i get to some border crossing and go over? or get the visa at the border crossing? (i'm nervous because when i was in ruili i found out you couldn't cross there to burma, luckily i was just asking..not actually planning to cross)

which country would you recommend based purely on easiness of getting in from yunnan overland and where to do it?
thx