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.

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!

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.

Hey yall,

Been wondering if there is a market that sells turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce. I have no kitchen (just a microwave) so catering or a Kunming version of Boston Market is all I can really think of at the moment.

Thanks

Dunno about any decent sports bars in town, but if you find a place that's gonna show Saints vs Falcons, let me know!