Villages
Jinghong is the getway to Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Region. This is China's part of Southeast Asia, with several minority groups that are in many respects more Thai or Lao than Chinese. The city is quite close to a number of Dai Villages, which can be reached by local bus or through myriad tours available here or in Kunming. Note these villages are highly commercialised, and will disappoint many looking for an authentic experience.Kunming - Sleeper buses take 8-9 hours and cost ¥235. First bus early morning and last bus 22:20. There's a military and police inspection points on the way where all passengers get off the bus and bags are unprofessionally inspected. They arrive at Kunming's new Southern Bus Terminal and from there to the city center you can take bus C71 ¥5 or walk to 3 minutes to reach a local bus terminal where bus 154 ¥2 will take you for about half an hour where you can change to bus 90 ¥1 that will take you to Jinbi Lu. Make sure you have EXACT change for the bus.
Mengla - the second last town Mohan is the last, right on the border before Laos, is five hours away. Buses leave from the Banna Bus Station two times an hour for ¥33. The station is across the street and about 100 meters south of the long-distance station. From Mengla there is one bus daily at 9 a.m. to Luang Nam Tha, the first town in Laos.
Vietnam - getting from Jinghong to Vietnam can prove to be a bit of a problem, with two imperfect solutions. The obvious one is to go back to Kunming and start from there. This can cause problems in that you may have to wait for a day or two to get a train or bus ticket to the border. The second, marginally preferable option is to take a sleeper bus from the North bus station to Mengzi. These leave every day at 2pm, cost ¥170 and arrive at Mengzi at 6am the following day. A taxi will be ready to take you to the town's second bus station where a minibus leaves for the border town of Hekou at 6:50AM and gets there at 11A. From there you can cross over the bridge into the Vietnamese town of Lao Cai. Alternatively one can enter Vietnam via Laos.
Laos
1. Luang Namtha: there is a direct bus to Luang Nam Tha. Get tickets at the new-ish northern bus station the day before. Leaves at 10:40AM. Cost is ¥70. It takes 8 hours, arriving in Luang Namtha just before dark around 6PM. Be prepared for stops along the way. Best is that the bus crosses the border too, so you do not have to unload anything. Very comfortable ride.
2.Huai Xai: direct bus to the Laos-Thailand border at 6:40AM, 120Y.
