It is difficult to say whether you can get a ticket the same day, it just depends and it is not uncommon that the trains are fully booked. While there are several agencies that can book a ticket for you, the only one I know that might speak a little English is the one outside Camellia Hotel. Or you could just take a taxi from the airport to Kunming station and try your luck there.
Alternative option: since you are not doing the train ride for the scenery why not just fly to Lijiang from Shanghai? There are non-stop flights and others with a stop in Kunming. Have a look at ctrip.com for prices, it might cost the same or even less than flying to Kunming.
Kunming is not super interesting as a tourist city, consider a slow return trip via Shaxi and Dali.
The border at Ruili was certainly 'open' at one point, I crossed from Myanmar into China there almost ten years ago. But it was required to be in an official 'tour', even though that consisted of just a totally useless Burmese guide and me. The reverse was also possible and popular with (mostly American) war veterans interested in the Burma road.
I heard that if you ask at the Myanmar consulate they will tell you it is impossible, but that the Camellia Hotel travel agent can get such a tour together for you. Coming from China this will most likely be a tour guide picking you up at your hotel in Ruili who will assist you in the border crossing. On the Burmese side, in Muse, you will hop into a car, which you pay for, to drive to Lashio and on to Mandalay. The drive to Mandalay takes a good day on a very good road. There is little to see though and the whole thing will cost you a few hundred dollars.
The other border crossing that is open at least to Chinese tourists seems to be north of Tengchong and connects to Myitkyina. For the appropriate fee it might be possible to set a tour up to cross there as Myitkyina is open to foreigners.
I would not think that Pianma is open as the Burmese side is probably extremely poorly connected to the rest of Burma.
It is certainly doable in seven days, but you will spend a long time on the road and you will probably spend almost as much as you would by going by plane. As far as I am aware, China Eastern has a direct KM-CM flight again.
The very quickest way to do it would be to take a sleeper bus to Mohan (the Chinese side of the Lao border) (about 13 hours), cross the border and get into one of the cars probably already waiting on the Lao side for the run to the Thai border. It will probably take you six hours from Boten (Lao side of the Chinese border) to Huay Xai (Thai border) and then another four hours or so to Chiang Mai. Making connections should not be much of problem, and with a bit of luck you could arrive in Chiang Mai the late evening after departing KM.
Luang Namtha in Laos would be a good place to break the journey, it is less than two hours from the Chinese border, so arriving by sleeper bus you could get there before lunch, and leave the next day on a bus bound for the Thai border, which would make it a two-day trip to CM.
In Mohan there are always minibusses at the bus station, which is about half a mile from the border on the eastern side of the main street. They usually do the run to Mengla, but I am pretty sure that they would do hire jobs as well. I have not seen any other vehicles for hire in town, but if you took the minibus to Mengla you would have more options.
I have always found it a bit difficult to negotiate with drivers unless you can really tell them where you want to go, because only if they can estimate the distance they can give you a price.
However, my rule of thumb is that in a small minibus or a car the price for hire works out as RMB 3 per kilometer. Any waiting time should not really cost extra as drivers tend to spend all day waiting anyway, but you need to tell the driver, otherwise they get impatient.
There is at least one daytime bus daily, leaving the western station 西部汽车客运站 at 9am, arriving some 10-11 hours later. I have been on this bus once, and even with the bus being pretty good it was quite a tiring ride, but then it is one of the longest journeys in the province. The bus makes stops for toilet and lunch, but does not waste any time by pulling into Dali or Lijiang.
There is also about a dozen sleeper busses going overnight, but beware of thieves. (A friend of mine reported that his bag had been tampered with, but nothing stolen on this journey overnight.)
Alternative option, as mentioned before: sleeper train to Lijiang and bus from there.
I do not think Yereth managed to crawl out of bed 'looking for the perfect early morning shot': they do not keep the lanterns on until the morning, so it was probably accidental shutter release on the way home after a few beers.
Best time for a good picture at Black Dragon Pool is early morning, after 8:30 the light turns flat even in winter. Plus bring a long lens to shorten the perspective. With your Lijiang 80Y ticket you only get one entrance to the park, but it is easy to see if it will be worthwhile from the outside.
I am not sure if the building still exists, but near the market is/was a two story building where (with a little bribe to a local resident) you could climb on the roof for a shot over the old city towards the mountain: best in the afternoon.
Lijiang is the only place where I hesitate to take photos of the very few remaining locals. They must be feeling like Paris Hilton out in her underwear every time they leave their house. Give them a break.
Otherwise I have found that it is no problem getting a taxi early in the morning from the Kundu area, much easier than later in the day. Around 6am plenty of taxis still show up to take people back from a night out and they always seemed to be happy to take me rather than someone likely to throw up inside their car.
You can all check how much water you are using by looking at your water bill: a cubic meter (=1000l) of water costs 3.45Y, so if your bill comes to more than 10Y per month per person you are using more than 100l per day.
Even on our half-day rationed water in our flat, we still managed to use about 70l per person per day in April/May. We blame the cleaning lady.
August is certainly not the best month to go. Even if it does not rain, the mountains are most of the time shrouded in clouds. Landslides are the biggest risk, particularly if one attempts to cross a recent one.
Properly done, the walk is not difficult and there are some ways to cut out the more boring bits. I would suggest taking a car up to a little teahouse, called something like Sunrise Guesthouse where the trail branches off the dirt road that goes up to some village. (Starting from Qiaotou the walk is first along the road, then up the mentioned dirt road, before it becomes a trail.) The best guesthouse the Naxi Family GH, IMHO, then comes after a not too difficult walk. It has the nicest views in the afternoon (clouds permitting) and is not as crowded as Halfway House. The second day would take you through the 18 bends and the highest point to Halfway GH for lunch (not many people there for lunch, many Koreans seem to arrive after dark, hiking all the way from Qiaotou), and after lunch down to the road at Tina's, from where you could take a car back to Lijiang (the walk is then all along the road).
The coming weekend is particularly good for a visit to Xishan as 三月三 (the third of March in the lunar calendar, this year on March 24th) is the traditional folk festival day 耍西山. It is an occasion for theatrical performances like local opera plays, song and dance and is extremely popular. (If you are looking for solitude, this might be a day to avoid.)
It is rare to find good approximations of western food anywhere in China and their lamb-chops (listed as lamb T-bone steak or so) were the best I have found so far. They came with good fries and the beer was cold. I liked the way that they serve the gloopy 'black-pepper sauce' separately, so one can just skip it. Pleasant and quick service too.
A pleasant modern eatery. The menu claims the chef worked for a large Chinese chain of Thai restaurants, but the Thai aspect of the food is difficult to find.
I gave the 'boneless chicken feet' a miss and had some spicy beef which while not bad was closer to the usual Sichuan fare than anything Thai. A dog under the table quickly lapping up any dropped food complemented the Sichuan experience.
The spring rolls were not bad though and together with a beer the bill came to Y58.
Easily the best bread to be found in Yunnan with friendly and efficient service. I have made detours to Dali just to pick up some bread on the way back to Kunming.
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Getting away: Lijiang
Posted byI do not think Yereth managed to crawl out of bed 'looking for the perfect early morning shot': they do not keep the lanterns on until the morning, so it was probably accidental shutter release on the way home after a few beers.
Best time for a good picture at Black Dragon Pool is early morning, after 8:30 the light turns flat even in winter. Plus bring a long lens to shorten the perspective. With your Lijiang 80Y ticket you only get one entrance to the park, but it is easy to see if it will be worthwhile from the outside.
I am not sure if the building still exists, but near the market is/was a two story building where (with a little bribe to a local resident) you could climb on the roof for a shot over the old city towards the mountain: best in the afternoon.
Lijiang is the only place where I hesitate to take photos of the very few remaining locals. They must be feeling like Paris Hilton out in her underwear every time they leave their house. Give them a break.
Riding into Kunming's future
Posted byThe airport express busses are supposed to be starting at 5am, not sure if it is true though. #1 runs from the old Nanjiang Hotel at Xiaoximen.
en.kunming.cn/index/content/2012-03/05/content_2865380.htm
Otherwise I have found that it is no problem getting a taxi early in the morning from the Kundu area, much easier than later in the day. Around 6am plenty of taxis still show up to take people back from a night out and they always seemed to be happy to take me rather than someone likely to throw up inside their car.
The drought: Good and bad news
Posted byYou can all check how much water you are using by looking at your water bill: a cubic meter (=1000l) of water costs 3.45Y, so if your bill comes to more than 10Y per month per person you are using more than 100l per day.
Even on our half-day rationed water in our flat, we still managed to use about 70l per person per day in April/May. We blame the cleaning lady.
Getting Away: Trailrunning Tiger Leaping Gorge
Posted byAugust is certainly not the best month to go. Even if it does not rain, the mountains are most of the time shrouded in clouds. Landslides are the biggest risk, particularly if one attempts to cross a recent one.
Properly done, the walk is not difficult and there are some ways to cut out the more boring bits. I would suggest taking a car up to a little teahouse, called something like Sunrise Guesthouse where the trail branches off the dirt road that goes up to some village. (Starting from Qiaotou the walk is first along the road, then up the mentioned dirt road, before it becomes a trail.) The best guesthouse the Naxi Family GH, IMHO, then comes after a not too difficult walk. It has the nicest views in the afternoon (clouds permitting) and is not as crowded as Halfway House. The second day would take you through the 18 bends and the highest point to Halfway GH for lunch (not many people there for lunch, many Koreans seem to arrive after dark, hiking all the way from Qiaotou), and after lunch down to the road at Tina's, from where you could take a car back to Lijiang (the walk is then all along the road).
Getting Away: Xishan
Posted byThe coming weekend is particularly good for a visit to Xishan as 三月三 (the third of March in the lunar calendar, this year on March 24th) is the traditional folk festival day 耍西山. It is an occasion for theatrical performances like local opera plays, song and dance and is extremely popular. (If you are looking for solitude, this might be a day to avoid.)
To make the most of the weekend, this year the festival is extended to Sunday as well. More info on this year's activities here: yn.yunnan.cn/html/2012-03/16/content_2097736.htm