Feasibility of Land Travel from Thailand to China

Hi Everyone!

Newbie here - still in Canada, but planning a trip (possibly endless) through Asia.
I'll be travelling exensively in India, with an outward trip into Bangkok by air (as no land travel through Myanmar is currently allowed).

Could someone possibly explain whether it's feasible/possible to travel, by road, through Thailand, down into Cambodia, into Vietnam, then upwards to Laos, back into North Vietnam, and into China? (then backwards into Tibet via rail and thence back into India via Nepal or Bangladesh - or maybe even onwards to Indonesia or the Philippines)

I'm under the impression that there is no rail service, so would buses be a reasonable option?
Also, although visas are easy to obtain at the borders (Canadian passport), how does one circumvent the need for return tickets if travelling by road to a different country from where you started?

ie. is this trip "do-able" these days?

Thanks!

(I'm highly tempted to 'wing-it' and hope to meet up with a group of backpackers-with-ambition in Bangkok!)

not every country needs return tickets. what is often essential, at the point of entry, is evidence that u will be allowed into ur next country. in the case of vietnam, that means a obtaining a visa in advance to both vietnam and mainland china. for thailand, u can book online a fully-refundable bangkok airways flight from bangkok to cambodia and arrange a visa to cambodia (i believe this can be done online, though i've never tried it), then obtain a ticket refund from the bangkok airways sales desk after u have gone through bangkok immigration.

the mainland chinese authorities do not need to see an onward or return ticket to anywhere. keep checking ur chinese embassy's website to see whether the visa requirements have changed, especially for tibet. chinese border officials have been known to make things difficult for people who have not obtained an advance visa and not all of them know the most up-to-date rules, so it pays to take a print of the most current rules from www.chinaembassycanada.org with u (but that won't help u if the rules have changed for the worse while u are on ur travels).

i have always entered mainland china through the hong kong or macau border, where it is normally assumed that u will exit via one of these two visa-free territories; when i last made enquries at the china travel service (cts) shop inside the macau border building, uk and many other citizens were permitted to buy a visa at that shop with only a 45-minute wait, while usa citizens were not permitted to do this . i have also heard of uk citizens without a visa being fined and turned back at the lo wu hong kong border with mainland china in the past, while other people were allowed to use the cts shop - that's politics for u.

ian.

Lots of info there, thanks!
I've been looking at HK entry too - seems the surest way.
Tibet's not looking too good right now, so might end up just in McLeod Ganj.

Thanks again!

(I'm highly tempted to 'wing-it' and hope to meet up with a group of backpackers-with-ambition in Bangkok!)

Hi there,

You'll have no shortage of backpackers in Bangkok, or the islands, who may be willing to travel with you or even just share advice/stories. I spent 3 weeks there and met loads of people from all over the world.

I also had the (mis?)fortune to spend 12 hours on an overnight bus from Bangkok to Surat Thani and it wasn't pleasant. But cheaper than flying. If you search and find your flights are only slightly more expensive than taking a bus/train between countries, my opinion is to fly. Of course, at the time it was the bus for me as funds were tight! And I did take that same bus from Surat Thani back to Bangkok in the end so I suppose it wasn't that horrible.

Best of luck and have a wonderful time!

It sounds like a ton of fun anyway! Not a big fan of flying though - the long haul from Nova Scotia to India is bad enough, but I think there's no other option for India to Thailand at the moment, as Burma is pretty well closed for now.
5.5 months to go.and winter yet, yuck!

hey Synth, there are plenty of busses that go from places like Bangkok into Cambodia to places like Angkor Wat and once in Cambodia you can get buses vietnam. I know you can get into Laos from Vietnam but i heard that the border crossing is insane with tons of people. Im not too sure if there are any border crossings back into northern vietnam, i dont remember hearing about any. But i do know there is a train that goes from northern vietnam into china.

Hope some of this helps:

You could fly from Calcutta to Bangkok for $200 return on Air India Express. That info is accurate as of Feb 08 so I'm sure prices have gone up since then.

I'd recommend not going to Vietnam twice. As far as I can remember, my Vietnamese visa cost me nearly $50 so if it's not multiple entry then you'd have to get a new one in Laos. I'd recommend crossing into China through Laos. Beautiful scenery that way, hill tribes, etc. I did the crossing the other way in 2006 and they were building a new highway to the border from Kunming.

I assume Bangkok is the easiest place to get a Chinese visa. If it were me, I'd arrange all my visas before leaving BKK. Saves you some cash and in the case of Cambodia, a lot of waiting at a hot dusty border behind 30 other backpackers applying for a visa on arrival.


I think it would make more sense for you to visit Nepal and Bangladesh while in India. The Indian visa is good for 6 months and is multiple entry, so unless you're sure that you'll cross from Tibet to Nepal, best to do it while you're in the area. I can't say enough good things about Nepal.

And once you're in South East Asia, don't forget about Air Asia. Cheapest way to get to Indonesia, Borneo, Philippines, etc.


Oh yeah, I've flown into Bangkok a handful of times and have never been asked to show proof of onward travel. If you're worried about it, buy a ticket on Air Asia for the cheapest flight out of BKK before you arrive. Maybe you can refund it if you don't use it?

Not to discourage you (it sounds like fun and the kind of thing I did in my 20s) but I would recommend that you register with the Canadian Embassy in each capital where there is one and let them know where you are going next. They may have some advice (or it is on the DFAIT website) on travel in-country and between countries and if you get in trouble you will have left a trail to follow.

Hi! I was planning to organize a similar trip next February, starting from Beijing. I'd like to know if you went on that trip at the end or not and if you have any suggestions. I'm planning to go through Laos, Myanmar, Thailand Cambodia and Vietnam and then go back to China. I was thinking maybe to buy a return airticket Beijing/Hanoi and then to go to Laos from there and come back from cambodia and the south of Vietnam and Hanoi once again. But if there are some decent land options I could consider that should be much cheaper. I read there's a never-ending bus trip from Kunming to Laos (36hours!), any other idea?

I'd like also to know if anyone knows about a vietnam/china border in a vietnamese town called Lao Cai and how to cross it from China.
I also was thinking to check if there's the chance to enter Laos from Danang (Vietnam),there should be a border nearby too.
And any idea of the visas costs? Maybe it will be easier for me to get them directly here in Beijing at the different embassies.

Any help from anyone?

Thanks!

Get a Chinese visa ahead of time. I have never been able to get a voa in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Urumqi, Chengdu, Kunming, Haerbin or Shanghai when enquiring upon departure even with my Chinese marriage certificate. BKK, PP and HK have always been easy places to obtain a visa on short order.