So my visa expires on Saturday. I have an "L" Visa, 30 days per entry, double entry. So instead of paying to extend the visa (950 rmb) and paying the fines (500 rmb/day) I'm going to spend the money going to the Vietnamese border town of Lao Cai, and getting another 30 days re-entry stamped onto my passport the following day by entering into Hekou. I was told that this was possible by the worker behind the desk in the visa office on Beijing Road.

I booked a bus tour from Kunming to Lao Cai with 2 meals, a hotel stay for 1300 rmb, as this was the only agency I could find who could get me the Vietnamese visa in a day. The only issue was they could not bring me back to Kunming, as the bus tour was continuing deeper into Vietnam and I need to get back fairly soon. Thus, the onus of getting back to Kunming from Lao Cai is on me.

How possible is this for somebody's whose Chinese is very limited and whose Vietnamese is non-existant? Any tips, warnings, advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Hello jhonourable,

$1300 for a trip to lai cai sounds crazy. I travel there all the time as I have cousins there.

Just head to the kunming east bus station and you can get a ticket to hekou for about 200rmb. Do not take the overnight bus as there seems to be alot of pickpockets that operates on those buses.

Dont worry about meals and hotel. Just follow the crowd during the bus ride. My mandarin is limited as well so i stand in line with everyone and pay the same as the person in front of me for meals. Regarding hotels, every third business is a hotel. Weekends they can fill up but since you will be going to take care of a visa i will presume you will be going during the weekday so no worries.

The bus station in hekou is right by the bridge to cross over to vietnam. Also, you can just head to the bus station to buy a ticket for the same day to come back to kunming.

Now, i have gotten a vietnam visa within the same day and the bridge closes at 11pm so stamps could be done the same day as well. There is someone that speaks english that will help you for a small fee. Sorry, i dont remember the person's phone number but a quick search online and you will find him.

Hope this helps, if you have any other specific questions just post and i will try to reply.

thank you so much for the response!

the tour i was going with was delayed at the last minute due to a power outage in Hekou, so I got a refund of 450 rmb, but he kept 850 rmb for the visa fee (which allegedly is much more expensive for Americans).

I booked a one way direct flight to Hanoi from Kunming (2400 rmb) instead and will stay there for 2 nights, and then take a train to Lao Cai, cross the border (get my passport stamped), and then bus it back to Kunming. Hopefully this works out!

Sorry to hear about the cancellation. I lived in vietnam for a few years and took the train from hanoi to lao cai a few times. It is pleasent enough. I would have recommended you did the run via hong kong though. The people are much more friendly, city is more metropolitian and most people can speak some english (english is actually a second official language).

In any case, the one piece of advice i can offer is be careful if you use a agent. They sometimes charge quite a bit for their service, espically if they get you a ticket without the prices listed on the ticket. If you just go to the hanoi station you can buy a ticket for later in the day. I never had a problem with this. Near one end of the ticket windows (i think it was number 18) the attendent speaks deacent enough english.

One last piece of information, when you cross back over to china turn left, so the river and vietnam is on your left, walk about two to three hundred meters (i think) past the series of stalls selling vietnamese products, dried fish and fruit and souviners (this area is acutally called vietnam street). You should see the bus station across the street from the river. Hekou is really small, there really is just one area where the buses collect. Hpoe this helps.

Sorry to hear about the cancellation. I lived in vietnam for a few years and took the train from hanoi to lao cai a few times. It is pleasent enough. I would have recommended you did the run via hong kong though. The people are much more friendly, city is more metropolitian and most people can speak some english (english is actually a second official language).

In any case, the one piece of advice i can offer is be careful if you use a agent. They sometimes charge quite a bit for their service, espically if they get you a ticket without the prices listed on the ticket. If you just go to the hanoi station you can buy a ticket for later in the day. I never had a problem with this. Near one end of the ticket windows (i think it was number 18) the attendent speaks deacent enough english.

One last piece of information, when you cross back over to china turn left, so the river and vietnam is on your left, walk about two to three hundred meters (i think) past the series of stalls selling vietnamese products, dried fish and fruit and souviners (this area is acutally called vietnam street). You should see the bus station across the street from the river. Hekou is really small, there really is just one area where the buses collect. Hpoe this helps.

Hmm... Spent many months in hekou over the last seven years. Never heard of a power outage there.

thanks for the response.

I got my Chinese visa in Hong Kong, so I was looking for something different.

You were definitely right about the train ticket. the hotel's travel desk charged 900,000 vnd for the same ticket i got for 420,000 vnd. taking a sleeper train to lao cai, and then crossing that following morning, then booking a bus back to kunming.

at this point, i'm hoping i'll be able to cross over into china/buy a ticket back to kunming with relative ease.