Kunming, China: From Laos to Yunnan (9 July 2014): Really? A sleeper bus?

9 July 2014

Bus to Kunming, Yunnan Province, China Sleeper bus.

Mountain roads. International border. Put those ingredients into the recipe for getting from Luang Prabang, Laos, to Kunming, China, and stir for 24 hours. Sometime around midnight we will cross the Tropic of Cancer (23° 26′ 16″). That’s what counts as a plan this summer. And so far – a cool 10 ½ hours into the journey – the formula is working great. From the tuk tuk that was sent to our hotel to pick us up at 6 am with the breakfast that our hotel had packed for us to the coordination of seats on the bus. We had been told by five travel agents that there was a bathroom on the bus – Gracie has sudden, desperate urges – so we were surprised and saddened to learn there wasn’t. But an every 2-hour stop schedule has even smoothed that out. Now we’re sailing on the smoother roads of China and I’m in a top bunk with my favorite youngest daughter – the bunks on this side of the bus are doubles-wides. Carrie and Liam are right behind me on another top bunk. Anita is underneath them on a double-wide all her own. I’m not making any claims about the linens being sparkling, but they’re clean enough. Don’t get me wrong – double-wides aren’t queen size, or even full size. But they are twice as wide as the 18” allotted to the passengers on the other side of the bus.

Outside, the journey has been nothing short of spectacular. The roads in Laos were nothing to boast about, but they were fine when they were paved and they were paved at least half the way. Twisting around hairpins on gravel or cresting hills on blacktop, we saw row after row of blue mountains extending into the distance. The valleys were draped with jungle and stands of bamboo. The villages were made of the same, with tile roofs, cinderblock and concrete regularly mixed in.

We didn’t know how we were going to handle this leg of the journey until we had arrived in Luang Prabang. Our guidebook didn’t mention the 24 hours bus to Kunming. Nor could we find in a guidebook or on the internet anything particularly extolling the virtues of southern Yunnan province. So as we looked around Luang Prabang, an ancient holy city perched on the banks of the upper Mekong River, we decided it looked like our best bet for slowing down and letting us catch our breath after a frenetic trip across Vietnam. No smoking on the bus. What a godsend!

Here’s one thing the kids and I made to stay out of trouble (will post on YouTube when we escape the Chinese firewall):