I crossed Ruili to Muse 6 weeks ago, and you certainly needeed permits there. Last year it was closed even to Chinese, and it pretty likely will not open anytime soon. The fighting in Shan state and Kachin is going on and off, and anyone planning to cross that border without proper permits can start to anticipate the year 2018 or something, when there is a train station - or who knows, even a space station, if all goes well

Contact a travel agency in Mandalay and they can arrange the permits. Anyway, unless its about some research about Burma Rd, Gordon Seagrave or something, one might just as well fly to Mandalay, its not that special road. Neither is Ruili.

@Peter99 No, I would say give it a year or so before that crossing opens without permits being required but being Myanmar the real answer is who knows? I have traveled the Muse-Mandalay road, it is open now without permits and there was nothing remotely dangerous about it in terms of insurgents (they have been flushed out). Only the condition of the road and the driving I would consider to be dangerous. Anyway, I agree that Muse is nothing special but overland access to Myanmar has been a dream for many - not sure why the Burmese government is holding off opening the border crossing without permits - nobody is talking about going to Kachin State where fighting is still ongoing (on and off at least), but rather at least being given the option of traveling overland Kunming to Mandalay. Right now you can approach the border from either direction but need a permit just to cross - a little silly I think.

Yea, Muse - Mandalay is okay now. Last year it was not, and a bomb actually exploded right at the immigration station between Muse/Ruili. (You dont find so much of this stuff in Western media, one must, sort of, fish it up in the small outlets from Shan media, Kachin, Chiang Mai based media etc, to get some idea.) I went over two weeks after the bomb there, and the atmosphere was tense. The pickup that drove to meet me - right there at the steps after the passport stamp - got shouts from the immigration officials who picked up their guns by then.

Thats last year. They forbid the Chinese to cross then (and locals during night) and I assume the road opened again for Chinese end of year or something like that. This year it has been open, but foreigners cannot cross the border without permits.

There are skirmishes around that area with everything between Palaung, Kachin, Shan and the notorious Wa, - of course. Only last week tension was building up with Wa (of course, being on friendly terms with China the Wa probably dont hit the bridges, but their arsenal - even potentially modern fighter helicopters - can create good havoc around. This weekend there was some confontration with one of the Shan groups (there are several of them).

Anyway, who knows whats the next move. Personally I seriously doubt that point will open within the coming 3-4 years. Its a notorious gangster area too, and it makes some sense to keep blue eyes away from the trouble there; until it has been modernized so to say. And there are many plans now to modernize Muse now. Until then.

IMHO

Let me just add, that the Burmese person who met me at Muse a few weeks ago said he had been worrying that the road may close again, and that "we were lucky" to get past.

I cant even remember anymore what the trouble was then, but it probably was some loose Shan militia, that had been in fight with the burmese/myanmar army. Anyway, thats past, but it may signify something.

@Peter99, interesting account. As of late April, most Chinese citizens were not permitted to cross into Muse, even though the Burmese government in theory grants a 7-day, 6-night pass for Chinese citizens just for the Muse economic zone. I think a passport, visa and permit would be required for overland travel beyond the economic zone for Chinese just like for other foreigners except that the permit in reality is only for the border crossing now not to travel the road. In any case, what's unsafe for third party foreigners is equally unsafe for Chinese as they are foreigners in Myanmar too and the Chinese government is concerned about their safety when abroad. I also noticed of the few Chinese vehicles inside Muse (of course no foreign registered vehicles are allowed to travel outside of the economic zone to other points within Myanmar) they were practically all registered in Dehong, i.e. 云 N. But in general there were very few Chinese people on the Myanmar side except a few who had crossed illegally for the day to do business (including my boss who also crossed illegally to meet me).

Although I personally think there is little reason to not at least allow day passes or even week passes for foreigners to stay overnight in Muse and contribute to the local economy, even though the town is boring with few sights - Muse itself is certainly quite safe and I feel the road heading to Mandalay had nothing of danger to report on. At other border checkpoints with Thailand short overland journeys have been possible for years and this month they will finally open for full overland travel. Personally I think that Lashio is the most dangerous town along the Muse-Mandalay road given the recent violence there although apparently things have settled down there.

Also, I regularly keep myself up-to-date with the latest news on Myanmar and as far as I'm aware, the Mandalay-Muse road remains safe, so is Muse itself. 1 year is a long time in Myanmar so with any luck things can only get better from here.

By the way Peter99, you sound like you are quite familiar with Myanmar and even the greater region. May I ask what you were doing over in Myanmar a few weeks ago? Not many people (apart from you and me and my friend) have been to Muse or even traveled the road down to Lashio or from Muse to Namkhan but as Myanmar opens up this will hopefully change as more visitors can help bring greater economic opportunities for the local people.

@Peter99, I found out the reason for your Myanmar contact's concerns. A few weeks before your trip there was a small skirmish between the Myanmar government and the Shan State army I believe near Kutkai, which is about half way between Lashio and Muse. I remember Kutkai, it was quite a nice town. Anyway, I hope the government keeps its word to the international community and is able to broker a nationwide peace deal by the end of the year. The fact is Myanmar is opening up and I have every reason to believe they will open up faster than many of us would have ever expected in the past. It is therefore very conceivable that by next year or 2015 overland access will extend from not only Thailand to Myanmar, but also China and India.

Well seems Peter99 is very wrong about the opening of the Muse-Ruili crossing as it looks set to open next month! Just read my post which features the xinhua news article with this excellent piece of news.

Yea, its good news of course. I still do not believe it will open next month. But the opening of that border may be close - closer than I thought, for sure.

Yesterdays news:

"Fighting escalates in Kachin state"

"According to local sources there, government troops are reopening three new war fronts in the Putao area of northern Kachin State, as well as in northern Shan State along the pipeline in Kut Kai and Muse townships."

www.irrawaddy.org/archives/43904

(But who knows, maybe the opening of a new "war front" in Muse, is par of this opening of Muse in general. Hopefully theres no need to climb over corpses at border.)

This thread has been seen by quite a lot of people living in China so I'd like to update everyone since I just tried to enter the two main borders into Myanmar on foot with a visa (and failed).

Daluozhen is not open to foreigners at all. China border patrol will not even let you come close to the crossing.

Ruili / Mu-se is also not open to foreigners. China has no problem letting you cross the border to talk to the Myanmar border patrol but despite multiple attempts and phone calls, the Myanmar side will not let you enter the town - even for a few hours - even if we leave our passports, etc... we tried everything. We were told to "wait 6 months, maybe it will change..."

For what it's worth... we drove motorcycles from Xishuangbanna to Ruili and the scenery more than made up for the disappointment at the border so I still recommend trying! (and posting an update to this thread)