Transport to Laos border

So you wanna travel from Yuanyang to Laos border? Well, no direct bus runs for this trip, but there is a way for you to choose without getting back to Kunming for a transfer. Take a bus to Lvchun County first and transfer to a bus to Jiangcheng County. After that, you can catch a direct bus to Mengla and further to Laos.

Thanks for the information. I did read this in our guide book but the connection at Luchen looked tight on time. Just in case anyone else is reading this thread, I have managed to obtain the latest guide book since posting this question and it says that you can take a bus back to Jianshui (3-4 hours) then take a sleeper bus to Jinghong (12 hours). This is a bit longer but may be more comfortable. From there many buses to border or direct bus to Luang Namtha in Laos at 1040. Hope this will help others as there isn't much info that I could find on the subject :-)