Gala spices up Kunming-Vientiane train ride

Passengers on board train D87 connecting China and Laos were blown away by a special gala during their ride.

More than 50 vibrant performances including singing and dancing, musical instruments, magic shows and acrobatics added a great deal of spice to the rail ride from Kunming of Southwest China's Yunnan province to Vientiane of Laos on Jan 14.

The gala was hosted by the publicity department of Yunnan and kicked off a series of Spring Festival cultural events from China to Laos and Thailand, which lasted until Saturday.

The four-hour-long gala elicited continuous applause and laughter from passengers.

Pongdong Paxaphacdy, consul general of the Consulate General of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in Kunming, says he already felt like celebrating Spring Festival on the train with other passengers.

"It's a very meaningful event," Paxaphacdy says.

The day marked the start of the Spring Festival travel rush, with a high influx of passengers on the China-Laos Railway. This surge is driven by Chinese nationals returning home, family short trips and group tours from Southeast Asia.

In December, the UNESCO inscribed Spring Festival — the social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of their traditional New Year — on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Paxaphacdy says he could feel the grand sense of the occasion during the festival, which impresses him with "very distinct Chinese characteristics".

"Chinese New Year is not only celebrated within China, but also in Laos and across the entire ASEAN region, with many people participating and feeling its warm festive atmosphere," he says.

On Dec 3, the China-Laos Railway celebrated its third anniversary of operation, delivering an impressive performance.

The railway has handled over 43 million passenger trips and more than 48.3 million metric tons of cargo, with safe operations.

It has significantly enhanced regional connectivity, boosted regional economic growth, facilitated people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and demonstrated great development potential as a golden transport corridor, experts say.

To meet the travel demands of passengers during the Spring Festival holiday, railway authorities have made elaborate arrangements for transport capacity, increased the number of passenger trains on the China-Laos Railway and offered service information in Chinese, Lao and English for convenience.

In addition to the exciting performances, Robert Michael Adolf from Germany is among many international travelers who enjoyed tasting Pu'er tea and coffee from Yunnan and appreciating the beauty of paper-cut window decorations.

"It's just so convenient. I took this train a couple of years back from Laos to Xishuangbanna; it's so easy just to cross countries," Adolf says.

He has taken quite a shine to Xishuangbanna of Yunnan, Luang Prabang in Laos, and its capital Vientiane, and has been stunned by the diverse ethnic groups in the areas covered by the rail.

"You can linger at each stop. …there's so much to do and it's easy to access," he says.

Huang Chengyong, a singer from Mojiang Hani autonomous county, Pu'er city, delivered a song with his brother and was thrilled about the special stage where he got to closely interact with the passengers. Huang says their positive response, enthusiastically taking pictures, fueled the energy of his performance.

"Through the lyrics and melody, we hope that people gain a better understanding of Mojiang, and better appreciate the unique charm of its twin culture (marked by its high twin birth rate) and the local customs of the Hani people," Huang says.

As a representative of the Lao government working in Kunming, Paxaphacdy says he has long enjoyed the excitement of Spring Festival.

"Every year brings different experiences," he notes, adding that this year's train ride with the gala is a case in point.

"I have seen a lot of cultures (in the gala performance), especially those of our ethnic groups. We noticed that some languages are quite similar, and we also saw performances from the Miao and Dai ethnic groups, which resemble the cultural practices in some cities in Laos," he says. "We can see that the friendship between China and Laos has a long and deep history."

Deng Yingchuan contributed to this story.