Kunming to Bangkok via Laos

This morning after breakfast and check out, you’ll tour the Yunnan Railway Museum. Housed in the mustard-coloured Kunming North Railway Station with its colourful French façade is a wealth of history about the Gebishi Railway Company. Learn about the history of rail services in Yunnan, from the first French-built connection between Kunming and Vietnam through to the current modern ‘full-steam ahead’ push of rail into Laos, Myanmar and beyond under China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.

Then it’s on to the Kunming Railway Station to settle into your first class seats for the late morning high speed train to Lijiang. This, the first leg of your fast train rail adventure, is 925 kms and will only take 3 hours and 33 minutes – think about that for a minute! For our Australian guests, that’s like travelling from Sydney to Brisbane by train in 3.5 hours!

The World Heritage-listed town of Lijiang is home to the vibrantly dressed Naxi people, a matrilineal society descended from Tibetan nomads and several other ethnic minority groups. Once a thriving commercial centre in the 1300s, its old town encompasses cobblestone streets, canals and Central Market Square with shops and restaurants.

Upon arrival mid afternoon, we’ll transfer directly to our amazing hotel and check in. Merging caravan culture and local folklore in its décor and design, it’s located right in the Ancient Town. After freshening up, we’ll step out into a maze of cobblestone streets, narrow alleys, rickety wooden buildings and gushing canals for dinner in a local restaurant.

Overnight: Hotel Indigo Lijiang Ancient Town, Lijiang (B, L, D)

This morning after breakfast you’ll embark on a tour of Lijiang with our trusted and knowledgeable local guide.

The Old Town of Lijiang, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, is considered to be China’s best preserved minority town, and was the stop for traders carrying goods on the ancient Yunnan to Tibet Tea and Horse Trail. The architecture of the old town is noteworthy for the blending of elements from the Naxi, Bai, Tibetan and Han people.

On your walking tour today you’ll learn about the history of the town and visit the main sights such as the Mufu Wood Mansion, the big water wheels that dot the old town and the picturesque 18th century Black Dragon Pool, where you can enjoy spectacular vistas of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, from its white marble bridge.

The rest of the day is yours to enjoy – wander the colorful streets and enjoy some lunch like a local and explore the town’s many unique shops and side streets.

Dinner tonight is at leisure – why not relax with a drink and watch the sunset over the old town, a memorable way to end a day of sightseeing, before exploring Wuyi Street and Qiyi Street, where most restaurants and bars are located.

Overnight: Hotel Indigo Lijiang Ancient Town, Lijiang (B)

This morning after an early breakfast and check out, our private coach will take us two hours to the village of Shaxi to experience the unforgettable Shaxi Friday Market.

Since the days of the 6th century Yunnan to Tibet Tea Horse Caravans, the Shaxi Friday market has been an important trading day for the region. It’s the only day of the week when all types of produce is available, and has become the major social and economic highlight of the week when locals congregate in the old town to buy and sell, stock up on produce, exchange stories, share the latest gossip and enjoy a laugh. Be amazed by the colour of traditionally dressed matriarchs from both the Bai and Yi minority groups, unusual fruit and vegetables, and sights and smells you’ll never forget. You’ll enjoy a tour of the authentic, old world town and market with our local guide before having lunch in a traditional restaurant.

Later, we’ll continue on by road to Xizhou, famous for its Bai architectural styles and Butterfly Spring – a series of bamboo enclosed walkways to a clear, mirror-like small lake. Upon arrival, we’ll enjoy a guided tour of the town where you’ll get a feel for local life by interacting with some local families and wandering the local markets where you can try some tasty local delights such as baba (fried flatbread) and rushan (goat’s milk cheese cakes).

Another short coach journey and we are checking into our hotel. Dinner tonight is in a local restaurant.

Overnight: Dali Hilton Hotel, Dali (B, L, D)

This morning after breakfast, we’ll take a boat cruise on the picturesque alpine freshwater waterway of Lake Erhai. Located at 1,972 metres above sea level it’s the second largest highland lake in the country and an important food source for the local Bai people, who are well known for their fishing method of training skilled and obedient cormorant birds to dive and catch the fish for them.

We’ll visit the Buddhist Tang Dynasty Three Pagodas, dating from the 9th and 10th centuries, a time when locals believed the town was once a swamp inhabited by fire breathing dragons deliberately creating natural disasters to ward off human intruders, and built the Pagodas to frighten them off.

Returning to Dali, you’ll enjoy lunch in the old town before a guided tour around Dali’s magical old walled town. The rest of the afternoon and evening is at leisure. An ideal place to visit in Dali’s old town is ‘Foreigner Street’ where you’ll find all kinds of traditional clothes and handicrafts, colourfully dressed minority groups and sunny alfresco restaurants and cafes where you can enjoy a memorable meal.

Overnight: Dali Hilton, Dali (B, L)

This morning, you’ll take the high-speed train from Dali via Kunming to Mengzi, travelling 604 kms through 10 tunnels and over 52 bridges in just over 4 hours.

Today, we’re on the trail of French railway heritage stretching back to the late 19th century. After constructing trading posts around southwest China in the late 1800s, France was awarded the contract to build the Vietnam-Yunnan Railway in the aftermath of China’s defeat to the Japanese in 1895, and was granted a charter to build and operate the railway for 80 years. Construction was completed in 1910 and the railway would end up being one of France’s most ambitious, and costliest colonial projects.

Upon arrival in Mengzi, we’ll enjoy a lunch of the famous Yunnan rice noodles and tour the town to see remnants of French architecture – a rarity in today’s China. Afterwards, we’ll visit Bisezhai station, the finest surviving station on the French-built Kunming to Vietnam railway, before continuing on by private coach to Yuanyang – home to the famous rice terraces.

We’ll check into our hotel inside the Duoyishu Scenic Area and enjoy a traditional meal.

Overnight: Twelve Manor Terraces, Yuanyang (B, L, D)

The World Heritage Listed Yuanyang Rice Terraces, located at 2,000 metres above sea level are the system of rice-growing terraces built by the Hani people and are a masterpiece of ingenuity. In unique shapes and sizes with 1,300 years of history, they form a mosaic of colorful fields – a manmade landscape of breathtaking beauty and is known as ‘the ladder of the sky’. The very high yearly rainfall allows for this complex terrace system – the forest above acts as catchment for the rainfall and a complex system of irrigation channels below diverts the water across the landscape and equitably into the terraces.

It will be an early start today, as we want to be in the nearby village of Duoyishu for sunrise – considered to be one of the most unforgettable travel moments you can have, the silhouettes of the rice terraces against the rising sun make for a truly special experience. We’ll enjoy breakfast here, complete with pancakes, toast, muesli  and a warm cup of green tea before taking a short walk along a well trodden path to a local farmers market to see Yi minority groups in traditional outfits going about their daily business. Moving on,we’ll visit Qingkou Hani village to learn about agricultural techniques used in harvesting rice.

We’ll return to town to collect our luggage and have some lunch before driving on to the town of Jianshui, home to China’s last narrow-gauge railway – the Gebishi Railway.

Check into your hotel and embark on a short walking tour of the town to visit the luxurious Zhu family garden home, the 12th century Confucius Temple, and other magnificent heritage buildings. The town of Jianshui was built during the Tang Dynasty in the 8th century and has more than 50 well-preserved architectural wonders and has the title of the “Museum of Ancient Buildings and Residential Houses”. After a rewarding day, enjoy dinner at a local restaurant and transfer to your hotel.

Overnight: Jianshui Heyuan Hotel, Jianshui (B, L, D)

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, in an effort to resist further encroachment by imperial powers, China moved away from granting contracts to foreign countries and granted a railway contract to a private Chinese railway company, the Gebishi Railway Company, to build the narrow gauge Gebishi Railway from Shiping to Bisezhai, where it linked up with the French-owned railway. The interesting fact here is it was deliberately built as a narrow gauge railway so the French trains couldn’t use it!

This morning after breakfast, we’ll head to the Jianshui station to ride this line, now China’s last narrow gauge railway. Before boarding you’ll get to see a 1940s British steam locomotive, a reminder of the clamorous marvels of machinery that once brought tin and other precious commodities across these railways.

Once on board, you’ll gently chug along the 13 kilometre track at 25 kilometres per hour into a rustic realm of rice paddies, duck ponds and lush green fields – slow travel at its best. There will be stops at 17 arch, 17th century Shuanglong Bridge also known as Double Dragon Bridge; Xianghuiqiao Station; and finally Tuanshan Station, where you’ll have time to explore this traditional walled village built in the 14th century. 

On a guided walking tour, you’ll wander the cobblestone streets, see exquisite and luxurious traditional houses including that of the former wealthy merchants from the Zhang family (who invested heavily in civil engineering in the town) and take a step back into China’s past.

After lunch in a local family home, there’ll be free time in Tuanshan to explore a bit more on your own ahead of boarding the 4pm express train back to Kunming. We’ll transfer directly to our hotel on arrival and later, enjoy a meal together in old Kunming.

Overnight: Green Lake Hotel, Kunming (B, L, D)

This morning after an early breakfast and check out, you’ll travel the eight hours in first class comfort from Kunming to Laos on the high speed Laos–China Railway (LCR), arriving in Luang Prabang in the mid-afternoon.

Launched in December 2021, The China-Laos Railway travels from Kunming, crossing into Laos at the Boten-Mohan border and passing through the cities of Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng before finally reaching its terminus in Vientiane. The Laos-China Railway is part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013 and sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road.

Upon arrival in Luang Prabang, we’ll transfer to our hotel to check in and freshen up. Later in the afternoon, your tour leader will take you on an orientation walk of the old town before enjoying dinner in a French colonial style restaurant.

Luang Prabang, a former royal capital and seat of government of the Kingdom of Laos, was listed in 1995 as a UNESCO World Heritage listed town – for being an “outstanding example of the fusion of traditional architecture and Lao urban structures with those built by the European colonial authorities in the 19th and 20th centuries”. Its unique, remarkably well-preserved townscape illustrates a key stage in the blending of these two distinct cultural traditions and offers travellers a wonderful variety of art, history, culture, food and shopping.

Overnight: The Belle River Boutique Hotel, Luang Prabang (B, L, D)

Early this morning before breakfast (for those that are interested), you’re in for a special treat – a sunrise procession of saffron-robed Buddhist monks participating in the traditional daily alms-giving ceremony, collecting their day’s food from their devotees along the route. Your tour leader will guide you through the cultural and religious protocols and help you to take part in this alms giving tradition if you’d like to. It’s then back to the hotel for breakfast.

After breakfast, we’ll enjoy a guided tour of this incredibly charming town, including visits to two of the town’s oldest Buddhist temples, Wat Wisunarat and Wat Long Khoun, also known as the ‘Monastery of the Happy’, both built in the 16th century.  A third significant temple, Wat Xieng Thong, which means “Temple of the Golden City”, will give you a good look at the elaborate style of local Luang Prabang architecture in the 18th century, including the stunning ‘tree of life’ mosaics. We’ll return to town to enjoy some lunch before our afternoon adventure.

After lunch, we’ll head out on a half day boat tour of the Mekong River – the world’s 12th longest river and the 3rd longest in Asia. Enjoy gently cruising past picturesque riverside scenery and distant mountains. Stop at the Pak Ou Caves which are filled with over 4,000 Buddha icons and statues which were left in the caves by locals over thousands of years.

Return to town where the rest of your evening is free. If you’re able, you might like to walk the 328 steps to Mt Phousi for sunset and panoramic views and to see the sacred gilded stupa and big drum of the Phu Si Temple, before enjoying some dinner.  Alternatively, at your own cost you can also join your tour leader for an informal visit to the bustling Talad Mued Night Market to enjoy a Beer Lao, and enjoy a local barbeque feast called Sindad, where you select different choices of meat, before barbecuing it and placing vegetables, garlic, chilli, soybean sauce and spices in a hot pot to cook your own meal. Quite delicious and a memorable dining experience!

Overnight: The Belle River Boutique Hotel, Luang Prabang (B, L)

This morning you’ll have the morning free to relax or explore more of the town, mingle with the locals at the markets and, at lunch try some delicious noodle soup at one of the fashionable French cafes along the main street.

There’s also an option to visit the nearby Laos Buffalo Dairy. In 2017, an Australian couple from Sydney, Susie Martin the former GM of Servcorp and her husband, farm GM Steven McWhirter founded Laos’ first and only buffalo dairy. This enterprise works with the surrounding villagers by renting their buffalos, in order to produce delicious products including yoghurt, cheese and ice cream and helping boost the bank accounts of local farmers. The dairy ensures a regular income for locals while ensuring the buffalo and their calves are well looked after. Enjoy a tour on arrival and contribute to this local business by purchasing a buffalo milk ice cream!

In the early afternoon we’ll transfer to the Luang Prabang train station for your high-speed first class train journey to Vang Vieng, travelling the 185 km in just under an hour. Upon arrival we’ll transfer directly to our hotel and check in.

Vang Vieng is one of those picture perfect Asian riverside towns, with a backdrop of limestone karst mountains, lush green rice paddy fields and thick tropical forests. Your hotel tonight is in the Riverside Boutique Resort, scenically located on the Nam Song River.

Tonight’s dinner is a feast of fresh fish, Lao sticky rice and green papaya salad in a riverside restaurant.

Overnight: Riverside Boutique Resort, Vang Vieng (B, D)

This morning after a leisurely breakfast and checking out, we’ll store our luggage and travel by private coach to explore the natural wonders of Vang Vieng, enjoying easy to access caves, idyllic lagoons, and local villages and finishing with a visit to an organic mulberry farm. Here you can try their legendary mulberry shakes, traditional Lao mulberry tea, as well as mulberry cake and mulberry crumble before enjoying a late lunch.

After lunch, we’ll collect our luggage from the hotel and transfer to the Vang Vieng train station for the 50-minute high-speed train first class journey to Vientiane, quite possibly Asia’s most laidback capital city. Life moves slowly here and its relaxed, peaceful atmosphere makes it feel like a rural town rather than a city.

Upon arrival, we’ll transfer directly to our hotel and check in. Your home for the next two nights is the luxurious Settha Palace Hotel. Built in 1932, and painstakingly restored to its former imperial glory, the Settha Palace serves as a testament to the long-lost era of classical elegance, gracious service and French colonial charm.

Tonight we’ll gather for dinner in the grounds of the hotel to enjoy some local favourites – Larb (Minced Meat Salad) with sticky rice, Green Papaya Salad, Mok Pa (steamed fish) and Khao Piak Sen (wet noodles with chicken, lemongrass and vegetables).

Overnight: Settha Palace Hotel, Vientiane (B, L, D)

Vientiane, with its broad European style boulevards and tree-lined street, offers an abundance of cultural sights, faded French colonial architecture, and Buddhist temples.

This morning after breakfast, your guide will take you on a tour of this French styled city, including visits to Wat Si Saket, a temple containing almost 7,000 Buddha images of gold, silver and bronze; the golden Great Sacred Stupa, a 24-carat, 45-meter high Buddhist shrine and the most important monument in the country; and the Patuxay Monument, otherwise known as “Victory Gate”, dedicated to those who fought in the struggle for independence from France – interestingly built in 1962 with US purchased cement that was intended for a new airport!

We’ll stop at a roadside restaurant for lunch to enjoy a local favourite, Baguette Paté otherwise known as Khao Jee Pâté and similar to Vietnam’s bánh mì, before touring the COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) Centre, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to assisting those who have lost limbs or have been injured due to the enormous amount of Unexploded Ordnance (UXOs) left across the country as a result of various military assaults over the years. COPE provides prosthetic limbs, mobility assistance and physical rehabilitation for Lao nationals with mobility-related disabilities who can’t afford it – it is estimated that 15,000 survivors still require ongoing support.

Later, we’ll visit the eccentric Buddha Park, located on the outskirts of the city. This quirky, somewhat bizarre giant sculpture garden depicts Buddhist and Hindu figures including a giant 40-metre-long reclining Buddhas, animals, Hindu gods, humans and even a giant pumpkin with a demon’s-head entrance!

We’ll return to our hotel to relax and freshen up before heading out to the lively Quai Fa Ngum Road area for a typical Lao dinner.

Overnight: Settha Palace Hotel, Vientiane (B, L, D)

This morning after breakfast and check out, your luggage will go ahead of you by private transport and you’ll travel on an express train from Vientiane, crossing the border into Thailand and passing the viaduct over Pasak Chonlasit Reservoir, the home of Thailand’s famous Floating Train that operates between November and February each year.

Upon arrival at Kaeng Khoi Junction in the mid afternoon, we’ll transfer directly to the famous InterContinental Khao Yai Resort, a 5-star train carriage hotel and our home for the next two nights.

Here, you’ll experience the charm of old-world train travel meets modern luxury, all in the magnificent setting of the Khao Yai National Park. Designed by award-winning architect, landscape, interior designer and railway mastermind, Bill Bensley. The resort pays homage to both the romantic and nostalgic era of train travel and the golden age of innovation, with unique rail themed accommodation, built by recycling, repurposing, reimagining and restoring heritage train carriages that had been abandoned across Thailand over the years.

Now, it’s a train enthusiast’s dream come true, with the resort considered to be among the best train-themed destinations on the planet, along with our very own Ruwenzori Retreat, a smaller but just as grand accommodation outside Mudgee in the central NSW region of Australia.

After check in, we’ll enjoy a memorable evening, starting with Happy Hour (at your own expense) in “Papillon”, a rail carriage turned into a jazz-themed Speakeasy before moving to ‘Poirot’, the Agatha Christie inspired French brasserie and cocktail bar carriage for dinner together.

Overnight: InterContinental Khao Yai Resort, Khao Yai (B, L, D)

After breakfast in a restaurant featuring booths reminiscent of railway dining cars, we’ll embark on a guided tour of the resort area where you can hop aboard pieces of living history and be transported to a distant, glamorous era of rail travel. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the architecture and designs of the repurposed rail carriages, and learn about the inspiration behind other buildings on this magnificent and imaginative development. Take a wander around the resort’s lush tropical paradise landscape of lakes and jungle-like gardens.

Enjoy lunch in the hotel’s restaurant and some free time before re-grouping in the mid afternoon for a stylish afternoon tea to experience unparalleled elegance in the Tea Carriage, nestled within a heritage train carriage with breathtaking views overlooking the serene Swan Lake.

Tonight is a most special event – a specially arranged Murder Mystery Dinner which invokes thoughts of the Murder on the Orient Express. Join us aboard the Khao Yai Express (which is really just a rail carriage restaurant in the resort that doesn’t move!) for an unforgettable journey filled with mystery and intrigue! With Inspector Hercule Poirot incognito among our diverse passengers, tensions rise as secrets unravel and a murder takes place onboard. Indulge in a luxurious 5-course dinner and drinks while you play detective and uncover clues to solve the thrilling mystery.

Overnight: InterContinental Khao Yai Resort, Khao Yai (B, L, D)

After breakfast and check out, you’ll enjoy a guided tour of the beautiful Khao Yai National Park, a UNESCO Heritage site and the third largest National Park in Thailand. Considered one of Thailand’s most pristine and wild green spaces, it is home to over 300 species of birds, 74 species of reptiles and amphibians and 60 species of mammals including elephants, deer, macaques, gibbons and black bears and numerous scenic viewpoints. It is a particularly good spot for seeing wild Asiatic elephants, as well as the endangered White-handed gibbons, and several species of Hornbills.

We’ll enjoy lunch in the park and then travel by private coach via the town of Nakhon Nayok to Bangkok, where we’ll visit the famous Wat Pho temple, also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, the Grand Palace, and Wat Arun before checking into our hotel.

Tonight, we’ll come together for a grand farewell dinner in the grounds of our hotel, where we can reflect on our amazing journey with your fellow travellers and tour leader.

Overnight: Salil Hotel Riverside, Bangkok (B, L, D)

Our tour ends after breakfast this morning.  Transfers to the airport or train station are included for your homeward or onward travel.  (B)