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Crossing into Myanamar from Ruili

HFCAMPO (3062 posts) • 0

Thank you Peter99. Finally, someone who speaks and has actually done what they say. Thank you very much.

Tom69 (151 posts) • 0

It's been in the news recently: probably around the end of the year or early next year, you will be able to cross simply with a Myanmar visa (or Chinese visa going in the other direction) just like at the Thai checkpoints.

In the meantime, waiting for up to 4 weeks for a permit to come through isn't worth it. Just wait - they will open the border up soon enough. If you would like a reliable source of news about this border opening and other related issues, go to www.ttrweekly.com and select Myanmar.

Just like with the Thai checkpoints back in August, it's best to wait until you read a confirmed news story that proves you can cross. While recent trip reports are always good, proof in the form of an article, a news report, photographs etc. are infinitely better because they serve as definitive proof.

Tom69 (151 posts) • 0

Another thing: The information about restricted and permitted areas outside the Myanmar consulate in Kunming is extremely outdated. Most of the places indicated as restricted have in fact been open for a number of years. Case in point is Kayin State, which I visit regularly and all of the cities listed are open for travel and even have hotels and guesthouses available. Some of them, especially the capital Hpa-an, are now becoming very popular with travellers. Similarly, Muse opposite Ruili is open without a permit if you arrive from within Myanmar (I was there in April) BUT as Peter99 has indicated for some bizarre reason, to cross the border in either direction a permit is still needed, so wait until this requirement ceases (which is soon, as I have pointed out).

The Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand is a much better source of information: they list the newly opened Thai-Myanmar overland checkpoints at various places along their walls.

Peter99 (1246 posts) • 0

Let me be a smartass here for a second. Theres a lot of investment promised for Hpa-An and part of opening the Thai border has been done in cooperation with Karen units. (The recent bombs in Myanmar were blamed on Karens though, "to scare investors", from the Land of Tea Salad Table Rumour, so maybe not all too satisfied. If it was them anyway...)

Anyway, how about peaceful cooperation in Northern Shan State and conflict areas near Kachin? Well, judging by the news, there are plenty of efforts, but the deals dont seem to last very long. Someone posted earlier information that the border should open in October. Well, that didnt happen. Now the prediction is for around end of year.

Lets make a new Peter99 smartass-pessimistic estimation: it will not happen that fast. Active Kachin troops are too near Muse. And a peace deal is still not there. Anyway my prediction of the year 2018 is probably wrong. My latest bet is July 2014, with some kind of limited try, of some strange kind.

Now, anyway, and by the way, how about the Jiangcheng/Phongsali crossing to Laos, is there any news out there for that? It was announced to open last month. Any news, rumors, gossips..? Any other smartass around with info?

Peter99 (1246 posts) • 0

And if they do open the border, heres another smart-ass pessimistic prediction. George Orwell wrote in "Burmese Days", that its no use to try to figure out a plot/conflict in Burma (or among Asians in general), as theres always "a plot behind a plot", - if not two.

Here we go anyway:

The Kachins and Wa think they realize, that the Shan businessmen and local politicians striked a half-, or even full-corrupted, deal with the Burmese government/Chinese side, and the local business elite, in opening the border. The reasons were economical; not Lennonish "imagine theres no countries". But economic strenght leads to threats in the thin balance, or shall we say "harmony", as in China. Theres bold pride too - and new dragon tattoos - and the Shan start slowly eating up the grass of the traditional Kachin mules. A few months later this will be seen as an (economical) imperialism, and rumors will grow, that the Shan and the Burmese will slowly eat up Kachin Munao Dance Land and Wa Headhunting lands. Now, the animosities between Shan and other ethnic groups will get new gasoline in flames. Bang, bang, bang. Whats even more bizzarre is that some Communist Party students will come out of the jungle, and ...here ...we...go..again. Boom! There went the new Muse bridge..

Tom69 (151 posts) • 0

as mentioned the only reliable sources are official news sources not some random posters on gokunming. The Thai border crossings also took about 5 months to open from their originally announced dates. I suspect the same with ruili muse. Nth Laos is irrelevant to this discussion maybe already happened but very few westerners go that way. Lets keep on topic.

Peter99 (1246 posts) • 0

Yea, but no official (news) sources mean anything when there starts flying bullets. These dates may be reliable in London, among the "no sex please, we're British"- people, but not in the Yaba-Badlands, where Dragon-tattooed people roam.

There are plenty of businessmen praying to Buddha, and offering coconuts to the Nats, for official dates, and the societal corruption involved, may bring about a date for next year. But the border may close pretty fast too, so people better have their visas ready, and quickly cross the volatile border, before the famous Ruili sunset changes to dusk, and weretigers creap out of the jungle.

yankee00 (1632 posts) • 0

@HFCAMPO: "This thread is about foreigners crossing into Burma through Ruili or Muse. It is NOT about how Burmese people go in and out of the country. There is a difference between a local border (locals only) and an international border (foreigners)."

I wasn't aware of all of that. Excusez-moi, milord.

Tom69 (151 posts) • 0

@tigertiger, I'd rather read an official news report than someone's various theories, historical anecdotes or stories about the dangers of the region. All the various news outlets that have reported on the border openings that have occurred previously, went ahead as planned and were thus correct. Unless someone here is a Myanmar immigration officer, I'll believe news sources and so will every other normal person. The news media is thus not "unreliable" as claimed. The only way of knowing for sure is to wait for confirmation from a reliable news source.

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