Sorry, I meant to say that I had to go down to Ho Chi Minh City to get my visa. Visa applications in Hanoi Chinese embassy only for Vietnamese residents.

Recently tried to do the turnaround visa run in Hekou... without a Vietnam Visa. Doesn't work, won't even let you through (I was under the impression that the border would be similar to flying into vietnam or going to the laos border— worst case scenario: I would just pay for the vietnam visa when I arrived at the boarder. But I wasn't even let through the chinese side of the boarder, and was actually taken in for questioning. I now question myself why I tried, because I ended up paying a lot more money at a last second visa run to the laos border (but at least I didn't have to buy the laos visa there....)

good luck geogramatt, you might need it...

VOA is not available for vietnam. without a valid viet
visa, the chinese border guards cannot let you through.

Hi Stirfry. Can you tell us more about your trip to the lao border? I read here on GK that you can get a border at the border. What happened with you?
I plan on riding up to the Lao border on my motorbike, crossover and come back same day. Should be possible from what I read. I also know some people who crossed over with their bikes over the Lao border, don't know if they applied for visa's earlier or at the border.

And where's the best stirfy in KM ?

Haha, I don't know about the best stirfry in Kunming, but I can say that the Laos border is very relaxed. You should certainly be able to purchase a visa on-arrival at the border.

I've been to laos before, but this time I had no intentions of doing any traveling so I simply crossed the chinese border. Walked around for about 20 minutes without buying the Lao visa and then walked back through the other side of the Chinese border crossing. The Immigrations Officer hardly glanced at my old Laos visa, he was more concerned about me exciting China on the last possible day of my Multi entry visa (he had to count the days on his fingers). I was waved right through and hung out in Xishuangbanna for a couple days before returning to Kunming.

I'm not sure about getting your bike through the border but seeing that it's very relaxed i'm assuming it would not be a big deal, and if you can get it out of China I'm sure you won't have a problem in Laos. It's simple to get the visa on the Laos border (they sell Visa's out of a shack right now, although they are working on a new Immigration building). I can't remember if they take RMB so I would be sure to bring along at least 50 dollars. If I remember correctly the most expensive Visa is for Canadians at a little over $40.

Hope that helps and be assured that there is plenty of good stirfry in KM haha. The name is actually an old nickname from back home.

Good luck

Vietnam issues VOA for nationals of some countries, but not many...they include Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore (30 days) and all other ASEAN nationals with the exception of Myanmar for periods ranging from 14-30 days. Scandinavians and South Korean and Japanese citizens get 15 days. Everyone else needs a visa in advance, including Chinese citizens. I travelled through that crossing with a Norwegian friend recently and he didn't have a Vietnamese visa because he didn't need one. The Chinese border guards were well aware of that rule (even more aware than the Vietnamese border guard, who needed a supervisor to confirm that a visa was indeed not required!) For Laos, Swiss citizens can cross for 15 days without a visa, ASEAN nationals (except Myanmar) get 30 days.

@Stirfry - thanks for the info.

I'm going to attempt the same thing in a couple of weeks time. I'm on a double entry, so need to hop out and back in soon.

Is there anything I need to watch out for while hanging back in no-man's land? Also, I don't actually have an old Laos visa - could that be a problem?

Counting days - does the counting start with the day of entry as Day 1? In other words, if (in theory) it was a one-day chinese visa would that mean you have to leave on the same day as arrival or the next day?

I went to the border two weeks ago for a stamp .. Went out the exit gate, down the stairs, then up the stairs and in through the entry gate. Didn't even come close to Lao customs officers. I had to wait only because there were many people in the cue ahead of me. Chinese officers don't care if I enter Laos.

Funny this visa situation in China.

I successfully did this last weekend.

Got the 8:30pm sleeper bus (320RMB, a bit pricey I think) from south bus station to Mohan (advice: sleep on top, middle column, near to front). Arrived about 8am. (Bus arrived in Mengla just after 6am and waited there for about 45 mins, so may have been faster to get out there and get a minibus to Mohan).

There was almost no one at the border crossing so going out and in took about 10 minutes. Like somenick said, down the stairs, cross the road, up the other stairs. No need to be discrete. No one cares :)

I was told there is a bus all the way back to Kunming at 5pm.

Instead, I took a bus back to Mengla (1 hour, 17RMB). Then the bus to Jinghong (2 hours, 42RMB, every 15 or 20 mins). From Jinghong got the seated bus (very nice one) for 193RMB, 7 hours (including a border control).

You could probably do all that in one day and arrive back in Kunming before 10pm (so you can get the local public bus to the centre of town). However, I decided to stay the night in Jinghong.

The whole thing costs less than 600RMB including food on the way. Could probably do it for less if you don't take the bus all the way from Kunming to Mohan (break it up instead).

Enjoy :)