I am in the relatively small city of Jinghong (景洪) is only 4 hours away from the Laos border and even closer to Myanmar. The city has completely been redone with more of a SE Asian feel than anything else. ALL the streets are lined with palm trees and has a look more like Thailand than anything else with all the gold colour around. All the signs are in Burmese and chinese. I have been told that it is actually for the minority Dali people here who share the same writing system as the Burmese but do not share the same speech patterns.
It is a bit slow here. There are speed boats heading off to Thailand. I stopped here because I did not want to do the 14 hour trip direct from Kunming to Laotian border.. I wanted to break it up but I think I will head out tomorrow. I have seen and done enough.
I do like the food here though. It reminds me a lot of Thailand and vietnam and the cost is right too. (50 cents for a bowl of noodles)