The new road crossing from Thailand into Laos at Chiang Khong has recently been opened (in the last year or so).
I stayed at the Golden Triangle casino a few months back, and noticed lots of Chinese cars in Chiang khong. There was a motorcade of about 30 old Rolls Royces with Chinese number plates, quite a site.
It looks like they cross into Thailand and then hop over to the casino in no man's land. It was quite a site, rubbing shoulders with cashed up Chinese guys in suits, donning life vests for the motor boats ferrying everyone across to the casino.
I really want to visit Kunming. Never been to China, and Kunming looks like a very interesting place. Also, the ethnic group of the Mrs (Yong) can trace their roots to this region.
If we were to do the trip, it would be with two young children, so we'd need solid accommodation along the way, like decent guest houses and stuff.
I did the direction function on google maps for driving Chiang Mai to Kunming, but it said could not trace the route. I don't think it would be that hard though, considering cars, buses and trucks are now flocking in from China.
Just looking at the map, the trip looks to be about 2,000 kms. We could cover this in 10 days if the roads were OK (which they should be). Vehicle visa into Laos is easy, and China should be no problem if pre-planned.
Below is the approximate route we'd have to take.
So...doable or not? It would be a pretty cool trip to do. I'd hope to do it in the next year or so, possibly this coming December / January. Am I nuts?