Cutting it quite fine I collected my visa from Chinese Embassy with my bags in tow and once in hand was on a bus 30 mins later to the border。My passport was in order， bags nicely packed， my lonely planet well hidden in the bottom to escape confiscation and was well dressed， having being turned away from the Embassy on my 2nd visit for wearing a pair of flip flops。 I had readied myself for hours of processing， more form filling and stamping and handing over more precious dollars。 Well crossing the Chinese border had to be the biggest anti-climax of my trip so far。 Got off the bus， finished Vietnamise customs， given an ID tag for my bus on the other side， driven in a little buggy up to the Chinese section， which was probably the size of Dublin airport， but with only about 30 people milling through， twice more staff， filled out 1 form， handed it to the immmigration desk where you have to press a button to rate their preformance while stamping you in， then off in another buggy to our bus on the other side where a can of congee and a bottle of water greeted us。 All this happening in the space of 10 mins， I have had worse experiences arriving in Sydney！After a bit of commuication it was finally decided by a 3 person vote on what staion I had to get off。
I was being optimistic in hoping that I would be able to catch a night sleeper train from Nanning to Kumming as soon as I arrived， however my luck did not prevail and I found my self accommodation hunting， finding an ok option in a cheap hotel。
Spent the next morning wondering around the city and was pleasently surprised， after Hectic Hanoi the lack of noise from traffic was considerable， I think the motos are all electric so no noise and fumes， it has to be the quietest city I have ever being in。Managed to send some post back with some sign language， its great how you just rock up at a post office with everything in a plastic bag and they wrap everything up for you。 Tasted some local cured ham and goat cheese which was really tasty。 Then it was off to the train station to cath my night train， the train staion is bigger than most airports with the same security， but after a short wait I was on the train， which was looking quite new ， the hard sleepers and basically 6 bunk open berths with bunks 3 high， the top one the cheapest。After about an hour the stares died down and I settled into my book。 Having found out from some travellers that everywhere you go in china boiling water is available for food/drink， so having come prepared with my pot noodles and 3n1 Instant Nescafe and was tucking in to steaming hot bowl of spicy noodels along with the rest of the train for my supper。 Lights out at 10 on the dot and managed a few hours sleep arriving at 6 am the next morning into a city called Kumming。
