172 Xin Ying Road, Kunming, Yunnan, 650233, China
Kunming City Street
View of Dianchi Lake frm Xishan
put side dishes into soup
The entrance site of the scenery
Hi fellow VTers,
Will be making my way to Kunming early next year and would appreciate if you can help me on the following :-
I will be in Hanoi and would like to get to Kunming either by train or bus. Is there one ? I know that there's a train running from Hanoi to Lao Cai near to the border of Vietnam and the province of Yunnan. Do I take another train upon arrival at LaoCai? Any details of the transport - the time and how many hours and the fare?
Thanks lots!
:0) feejin
Hi Feejin ! This is Victor. Just came back from Hanoi - 8 days - and if required, will be more than willing to have another cup of tea with you. Hanoi - Sapa and Halong is just GREAT !!!!
There's no direct train from Vietnam to Kunming. There're buses from Hekou to Kunming.
Please do a search with relevant keywords on the Lonely Planet ThornTree forum: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa
Dear Feejin
To go to Kunming from Hanoi, this is what my guide in Hanoi told me . .
1. Take train from Hanoi to Lao Cai. Day train 6:10 am arrives 4:35pm Hard seats only, no sleeping berths. Night train 9:15pm arrives 5:30 am, sleeping berths 4 berths to a cabin, a/c too cold (I took this); another train leaves 10:15pm arrives 7:35 am.
2. When you reach Lao Cai, take a local taxi to the Vietnamese-Chinese border, about 3km away. Crossing the border may take you 1 to 1.5 hours as you have to clear 2 customs and 2 immigration check points. You are now in Hekou.
3. Take sleeper bus from Hekou to Kunming. Sleeper bus have beds, and he says he remembered them as painted green colour. They leave at 7:00pm and takes about 12 hours to reach Kunming.
The International Railway from Hanoi to Kunming has been suspended cos of flooding which caused the rails on the Chinese side to give way.
Another point is that when I took the train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, the train actually left 20 minutes earlier than scheduled !!!
Anything else I can help ?
Hi there Ellyse, thanks much for the information. Will check through the sites as recommended. Thanks again!
Greetings from Malaysia
Dear Victor,
Your are a Gem! Thanks so much for the detailed information. Will be calling you soon. Looks like the cup of tea is on..... Would need help too on Hanoi itself as some folks would be in Hanoi next Jun/Jul. Thanks again!
..feejin
Sorry Ellyse is right, there is no passenger train to Kunming from Hekou, the service for passengers has been discontinued for several years already.
I understand you can catch a coach from Hekou to Kmg.
Sorry I missed Victor note that the train service from Hekou to Kmg was suspended.
Hey! thanks. got back from Kunming last month. Yeap, took the train from Hanoi to LaoCai train station. Took a motorcycle from LaoCai Train Station to LaoCai Immigration, walk across the bridge over to Hekou Immigration and then a short walk to bus station to Hekou and caught a long distance bus to Kunming...Phew! a long journey but an experience!
Although Kunming has mild weather throughout the year, you can still see some trees such as the maple trees changing colours during the autumn months, such as the one on the photo. A good time to visit Kunming is during Nov to Dec when the weather is cooler and drier.
China is such a huge country when I mentioned I was coming to Kunming to my friends back home, they ask "Is Kunming a region, a province, or a city ? "
It is easier if you get to know china region by region, then province by province, then city by city...then learn about the self-administration zones.
The South (Provinces and capitals)
1. Guangdong - guangchou
2. Guangxi - nanning
3. Hainan - haikou
4. (Self-administered) Hongkong, Taiwan, Macao
The North
1. Hebei - chengde
2. Shanxi - taiyuan
3. Inner Mongolia - huerhaote
4. (Self-administered)Beijing, Tianjin
The Central
1. Hunan - changsha
2. Hubei - wuhan
3. Henan - chenchou
The East
1. Jiangshu - nanjing
2. Zhejiang - hangchou
3. Anhui - he fei
4. Shangdong - qingdao
5. Jiangxi - nanchang
6. Fujian - fuchou
The Northeast
1. Heilongjiang - harbin
2. Jilin - changchun
3. Liaoning - shenyang
The Northwest
1. Shaanxi - xian
2. Qinghai - xining
3. Ningxia - yinchuan
4. Xinjiang - urumqhi
The Southwest
1. Yunnan - kunming
2. Sichuan - chengdu
3. Guichou - guiyang
4. Xizhang - lahsa
5. (self-administered) - Chongqing. Nan - south
Bei - north
A lot of the provinces eg Henan, Hebei literally means North of the (Yellow) River, South of the River.
Dong - east
Xi - west
So Shanxi and Shandong simply means west of the mountain, east of the mountain.
It would be 18 hours bus ride to Yuanyang from Kunming.
Simple search with www.google.com (keywords 'yuanyang rice terrace', found at least these:
http://www.earthfoot.org/places/cn001.htm
http://www.passplanet.com/China/sw/south_east_yunnan.htm
I wish that we had the time to see those magnificent rice terrace built along 1-2 km high mountain areas, over hundreds, it not thousands, of years!
There are sleepers train connecting GuangZhou and Kunming. Hard sleepers about 310Yuan. It took 30 hours, slow train stopping every city / stop in GuangXi and GuiZhou. But the sleeper too bad though.
It is restaurant serving local muslim foods. Famous muslim foods in Kunming are their cold chicken, and their beef jerkey. But there are also other dishes in this restaurant that I find absolutely dilicious.
It is halal/kosher. In Kunming, you can always tell a restaurant is halal by its green colour (the auspicious colour of Muslims), and sometimes arabic writings.
The only thing a little silly about this place is the waitresses. They are quite "blur", sometimes you have to waive your hands and jump like a monkey for hours before they notice that you need help.
And if you need your dishes with rice, make sure you remind them a billion times. Because it seems they only starting to cook the rice when all the dishes are served on the table. It tastes good, and is halal.
Try the "hong shao" ox tail, or the "tian ma" chicken hotpot, or vege stir-fried with gingko nuts.
My absolute favourite is the chicken soup.
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