May 21 to June 10 2007
MAY 2007
I took an overland trip from Vietnam into China via Lao Cai Friendship Bridge. After
16 days on the road, I am glad to be back in Kuching. I must admit it
has been a different experience for me especially the food in Kunming.
It is much too salty and spicy for me and my sensitive stomach didn't
take it well. Anyway, I managed to survive with packet milk, cup
noodles and fresh 
fruits. There is ample of fresh fruits in Kunming and it's so cheap.
The weather in Kunming all year round is cooling and between 20 to 24
degree. Kunming is known for its beautiful flowers and its flower
markets are huge. I got most of my souvenir from Sheng Yi Flower
Market. People in Kunming like their parks and the city itself is so
clean and pleasant. Hanoi is the total contrast of Kunming. I guess I
must have gotten to Hanoi on the hottest weather. I can't stand the
heat and dust and its hoards of scooter. And its blaring honking ! But
the good news is you can escape to the hill station of Sapa to cool
off. I have a good time in Sapa trekking the valley and tribal
villages. The view was astounding and I missed its beautiful valley and
people.
It is not difficult at all to do the overland crossing from Lao Cai
into China but somehow I find that there is not enough information on
how to do this. I would like to share how I did it. Except for the
difficult Immigration Officers on both sides of Vietnam and China, I
find the crossing is a breeze. The border town of Lao Cai (Vietnam) nd
Hekou (China) stood side by side (as you can see from the photos).
I don't why the Immigration Officers tend to scrutinize every single
page and chop on our passport. My friend ran into a little trouble with
the Chinese Hai Quan who alleged that she looked different from her
passport photo ! Yik !! I have to convince them, "No, no this is my
friend. I can vowed to you she came with me and the person in her
passport is her !" Oh my, I was sweating away and it took us more than
half an hour to convince them. She almost got detained by the Chinese
Hai Quan. He..he... That happened when we were exiting from Hekou.
From Hekou, you can reach Kunming by bus for 125Y. It took us a
back-breaking journey of 10 hrs to reach Kunming. For a more
comfortable ride, you can take a VIP bus (42 seaters) for the same
amount of money. Kunming is in the Yunnan Province, the most southern
part of China.
HANOI - We arrived in Hanoi on 19th May and stayed with Discovery Hotel
(Mr. Do - hotel owner). Mr. Do is a very friendly person and he
pre-arranged our return train ticket from Hanoi-Lao Cai-Hanoi on the
1st class cabin for US25 per way. The next day, we did a city tour of
Hanoi for US18. We left Hanoi for Lao Cai on 20th @ 2100 hrs. It is an
overnight train arriving in Lao Cai at 0600 hrs. The cabin has 4 bunker beds which is squeaky clean and comfortable. Took a motorbike from train station to Lao Cai Immigration Building which only opened at 0700 hrs for 10,000 dong. It is about 10
mins ride from the train station to Immigration Office. I am not sure
what time they close for foreigner but if I am not mistaken it is 1700
hrs and please follow a special queue for foreigner. While waiting for
the immigration to open, we happily settled for a bowl of steaming
white noodles @ 4,000 dong. No complain about the noodles. In fact, the
noodles tasted good. It took us about 1/2 hr each to clear the
immigration paper and we walked through the friendship bridge into
Hekou, the border town of China. You need visa to enter into China. We applied for our Chinese Visa in Malaysia so we do not have the hassle of applying for visa last minute. You can obtain the Chinese Visa at the Lao Cai Immigration but you have to wait for some hours to get it ready. A little bit troublesome though.
A word of caution for those carrying 'Lonely Planet China'. Our two
European friends ran into trouble with their 'Lonely Planet China' and another
traveling book in French. The Chinese Hai Quan confiscated their books.
So please if you need to bring along the Lonely Planet China or other
traveling books do stash in away underneath your luggage and not in
your shoulder pack. They kept theirs in their shoulder bag. So when the Hai Quan saw the books they asked my European friends to surrender it. They have
no choice but to surrender it. The Chinese Hai Quan gave the reason
they confiscated the books because the map behind the book showed that
China and Taiwan in different color ! Doesn't make sense, huh ? Yes,
you won't believe it. How absurd.
HEKOU - The bus station leaving for Kunming is 500 meters from the Hekou Immigration building and it took us less than 10 mins to reach the bus station. As
you exit from the immigration building, turn to your left and walk
straight on. There are few buses per day leaving from Hekou to Kunming.
We missed the first bus leaving @ 0830 hr. We took the second bus @
1050 hr is a minibus of 20 seater. The minibus tend to be uncomfortable
and cramp and also make few stops at the local villages. Bus fare from Hekou to Kunming is 120 Yuan. The bus leaving @ 1215 hrs more comfortable with plenty leg room. There is one more bus leaving in the afternoon but I didn't check what time.
KUNMING - It took us 10 hours to reach Kunming Long Distance Bus Station (next to Kunming Railway Station). By the time, we arrived at 2000 hr, we are so dog tired and our back really hurts. But I must say it is fun to be in that bus. We have as many as 6 'toilet-breaks' along the way and we stopped over some villages for our tea and local dinner. I realised that the local men smoke like a chimney. Ooops, sorry ! And the bus conductor sounded more like a school headmistress because she keep asking us to 'kwai-tien' 'kwai-tien' meaning faster faster everytime we stopped for toilet.
We took a taxi to our hotel, Mingtong Youth Hotel is central and easy to catch buses. I paid 110 Yuan for twin bed per night. It is clean and comfortable. They offer dormitory beds also @ 30 Yuan. After a good night rest, the next day we took a local bus to
the Golden Temple. Bus No. 68 goes Golden Temple. I quite like Kunming.
It is cool and nice to be outside. It is cheap to travel in the local
bus and it will takes you to most of the tourist spots at flat rate of
1Y. I used No. 44 to Haifeng Park and Yunnan Minority Village. It is
quite far but the bus stops right in front of Yunnan Minority Village.
Try asked the local how to get Bus No. 44. Kunming has one of the very
efficient bus system. And yes, it only cost me 1Y to reach Haifeng
Park. Haifeng Park is one stop away from Yunnan Minority Village. The
best time to visit Yunnan Minority Village is after 1600 hr as there is
a lot of minority shows in the evening that is after 1800. But if you
go after dark, you can see the replica houses of the minority. I went
there at 1800 hr so it is a bit dark already.
DALI - On 23rd,
we took 1000 hr bus to Dali and it costs us 75 Yuan. Actually, Kunming
and Dali is only 4 hours away but somehow our bus took more than 6
hours !! But then again, we met interesting bus driver and conductor
who insisted on few toilet breaks along the way. We reached New Dali Town about 1600 hr. We
took a local bus to the North Gate of Old Dali Town. There is many
buses servicing that route between New and Old Dali. There is 4 main
gate into Old Dali Town. It is ok whichever gate you arrive at. The
center of Old Dali is small and you find your way easily. Old Dali is
about 17 km away from New Dali. The bus fare is 1 Yuan. Old Dali is
quite scenic as it rested below Mount Chansha. Old Dali is famous for
its old rickety building and it is nice to walk around the old streets
at night. We stayed quite far away from the center of town so I
wouldn't recommend to you. Desptie that, I must say that our guesthouse
is rather nice and quiet. It is near the jetty. After an overnight at Dali, we
left Old Dali @ 1500 hr the following day. There is an express bus
departing straight from Old Dali @ 1500 hr. Try to catch take bus. It
will safe you the trouble of changing bus at New Dali. It took us 4 hrs
to arrive at Kunming and costs us 75 Yuan. Arrived in Kunming @ 2100 hr.
We spent a few days in Kunming and on 27th we took a sleeper bus @ 1930
to Hekou. Costs 125Y. It supposed to reach Hekou @ 0600 hr but we
arrived only @ 0930 hr. It was delayed due to mud slide. There is no
express way from Kunming to Hekou and the construction of an express
way is still in the process. So, the journey from Hekou to Kunming to
Hekou is still passed by villages. But it is tar-sealed road. We
crossed border to Lao Cai and took a minivan up to Sapa Hill. Costs
30,000 dong and 1 hr.
SAPA - There
is nothing much to do in Sapa Hill except for trekking and relaxing. It
is a very small town and you can spend less than a day touring the
town. I did a one day trekking down Sapa Valley. It is super tired but
worth the scenery. We stayed at Mountain View Hotel and our room is
quite nice as it fronted Mount Fansipan. I paid US25.
We spent two days in Sapa and we left Sapa on 29th to Hanoi. There is
many minivans plying Sapa and Lao Cai. So not to worry too much about
missing the minivan but you must give yourself an allowance of an hour
to reach the train station. We took the overnight train @ 2100 hr back
to Hanoi. We reached Hanoi about 0530 hr. The last 3 days in Hanoi we
stayed with Golden Sun Hotel. It is a boutique hotel. Quite nice near
Ho Kiem Lake. We paid US25 per night. There is a lot of
hotel/guesthouse near Ho Kiem Lake so you can easily find a room when
you arrive. We do not do the Halong Bay thingy but instead we choose
the tour to Hoa Lu/Tam Coc. Tam Coc is know as 'the inland Halong Bay'.
It is actually rice paddy flooded with lake water.
