Photos

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Many friends emailed me asking about the condition of the 197km-road to Yuanyang if they wish to depart from Lao Cai/Sapa, Vietnam instead of Kunming, China. I am posting this photo with the hope that the accompanying info would help them make up decision. Currently, taking the local bus from Hekou will require a whole day with its several stops whenever a passenger to be added or dropped off. The bus also leaves at 6:00 AM — well before the Border Crossing opens. This will take another day from your trip as you need to cross the border the day before.

At the 4th ASEAN-China Transport Ministers Meeting in Vientiane, 18 November 2005, they implemented of the cross-border transport infrastructure and connectivity between China and neighboring ASEAN Member Countries. As a result, this is the Kunming-Hekou Expressway under construction. The major portion between Hekou and Jinping cut into the sides of deep valleys and ravines and the most part of it has been constructed above Honghe River as you can see in this picture. Jinping town is also halfway between Hekou and Yuanyang. Upon completion, this expressway will connect your trip from Vietnam border at Lao Cai to Yuanyang within 4 driving hours.

New Expressway 326 will also reduce accident on this dangerous portion where vehicles overloaded with passengers, gifts and luggage normally face bad weather, including snow and rain ended up with tragedies. The latest accident was when a villager drove a truck overloaded with 30 people running into a ditch about 100 meters deep at a zigzag road under dark, rainy conditions.

On the Vietnamese part, their project will construct 260 km highway between Hanoi and Lao Cai, which is currently a bottleneck section for the Kunming-Haiphong Transport Corridor. The Noi Bai-Yen Bai section will be a new fully access-controlled highway with 4 lanes and the Yen Bai-Lao Cai section will be open-access highway with 2 lanes. The necessary service/frontage roads along the highway as well as the access roads to the highway will be also constructed or improved. Further, the project may include installation of the auxiliary facilities accommodating electricity and telephone lines, water and irrigation channels. In addition, the project will establish a new legal infrastructure and financial mechanism for toll roads.

The Kunming-Haiphong Transport Corridor is a high-priority subregional transport project under the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program. Implementation of the project is in line with the GMS program’s strategy to build infrastructure linkages. After Expressway 326 between Kunming and Hekou in Yunnan Province is completed, the expected travel time between Kunming, Yunan and Haiphong, Vietnam will be reduced from 2 days to 10 hours, giving landlocked Kunming access to a port closer than Guangxi Autonomous Region’s Beihai, which it currently uses.

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