GARE FERROVIAIRE NORD DE KUNMING

To go to Vietnam by the famous Kunming-Hanoi railroad, built by the French, the train leaves from the Gare du Nord. The Vietnamese border is located less than 500 km south of Kunming. The journey to the border takes 5 p. m. You have to cross the border on foot and take another train to the Vietnamese side. Attention: the line is often interrupted during the rainy season. The bus then becomes the only solution to reach the Vietnamese border. Today, this station is hardly used for this route.

Started at the end of the last century and completed in 1910, this narrow-track railway was built by the French who wanted to extend their influence beyond the Indochina, then French. In China, the era of «warlords» prevailed over much of the country. The French extended their zone of influence to Yunnan. This railway cut across the mountain, along with the Red River, to the Chinese border, crossing 155 tunnels and 3,442 bridges through a breathtaking landscape. During World War II, the line was bombed, truncated by the Japanese, and completely closed after 1946. It was not until February 1996 that it was reinstated.