Ruili is a border town between southwest Yunnan Province and northeast Burma at Muse. It is quite a major crossing, lying on the old Burma Road, although is somewhat sleazy and not worth spending much time in.
Ruili is just 30kms from the other Dehong Prefecture border crossing point at the town of Wanding. The border point in Ruili is known as the Jiegao Border Checkpoint. It’s mainly made up of ethnic minorities, with Han Chinese and Dai in the city and Jingpos and Deangs outside.
As with most Asian border towns, there are all sorts of weird and wonderful items on sale at the markets here, both legal and illegal. Prostitution is one of them and there are many seedy bars and cafés. If spending any time here it is worth heading out of town where there are some interesting sights. Tiger-Jumping Rocks is a popular attraction as are tours into Burma.
Getting There & Away
Ruili is 12 hours from Kunming by bus along the main Kunming-Mandalay highway. It goes via the towns of Baoshan (8 hours) and Mangshi (10 hours), where there are airports. Mangshi Airport is a two-hour drive from Ruili and is a 50-minute flight from Kunming.
Things to Do
Ruili Attractions
- Visiting Burma
-
The main appeal of a visit to ruili is to cross into burma although tourists need to get on an official tour.
Side trips from Ruili
- Tiger-Jumping Rocks
-
Located in nearby yingjiang, 34kms southwest of ruili, two huge rocks force the daying river to go into rapid mode.
- Jiele Golden Pagoda
-
A 200-year-old structure at jiele village 5kms away supposedly houses buddha bones.