China by train (Part 3)

 


The Laos-China train station is about 16km away from downtown, and with little traffic at 06:30 in the morning the journey takes about 35 minutes.

The station doors open at 07:00 for the 08:00 service, and they stop selling tickets 30 minutes before departure. I already had purchased a digital ticket (US$ 120), but needed to visit Counter 6 in the ticket office to swap my QR ticket for a paper one.

The train is clean and modern, and I settled into Seat 11F in coach number 8. At one end of the carriage there is an ‘Asian’-style squat toilet, and at the other end a ‘Western’-style sit-down one. Next to the carriage attendant’s office tether is a tap to get boiling filtered water. Halfway down the train in Carriage number 4 there is a small cafeteria serving microwave heated bowls of noodles and rice dishes.

In Laos the train reaches a bout 160kmh, with the speed show on a digital LED screen in the carriage. 

The countryside is beautiful - lush green flooded paddy, and cloud covered hills. 

First stop is the backpacker destination of Vang Vien.

In total there are ten stations, traversing 422km in Laos and 613km in China. There are a total of 75 tunnels.

The train reaches Luang Prabang at 09:44 and then departs at 09:48.

Next is Muang Xai station, arriving at 10:42 and departing at 10:46. 

After Boten (11:16) you must take your bag off the train and go through Security on the Laos border and through immigration. Then at Mohan station you get off and go through Chinese immigration, finally departing ar 14:11 local time.

The scenery is different in China, different type of rice fields (not flooded paddy) and then rolling tea-hills, all the way through to Pu-Er (15:55), Yuxi (17:48) and finally Kunming.



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