During the just-ended May Day holiday, the Dushupu service area near the Kunming-Anning expressway impressed passengers a lot.

Getting off the long-distance coaches for a short break, they were greeted by varied fun-making activities: playing with a 3-meter doll bear, having a parent-child car race, or doing some arrow shooting.

At the Dicos restaurant in the service area, Zhang Qian and his friends were dining. They were going to Dali. “I just wanted to get off and go to the restroom, but the whole service area impressed me greatly.”

Zhang Qian said the Dushupu service area was richly decorated by flowers, sightseeing trails, VR trains, and a playground for kids. “It resembles a scenic area, and I can't help staying longer here."

“I heard it is the largest service area in Yunnan. Getting into the area, I found all kinds of facilities, and local specialties are displayed here and there,” said Mr. Liu. Liu was traveling to Baoshan in southwest Yunann, and he added the current service area looks much better than the old one.

Besides the Dushupu service area, other highway areas across Yunnan also tried to improve the service, with their photos appearing in bulk on Chinese social networks.

At the Lujiangba service area in northwest Yunnan, the Nujiang belvedere, the ethnic customs gallery and the Yunnan highway exhibition all brought in hosts of passengers.

At the Xiaomengyang service area beside the Kunming-Bangkok freeway, the ASEAN specialty stores that feature jade and other souvenirs offered a different shopping experience to passengers and tourists. 

The Longliu service area in southeast Yunnan rolled out motels, self-service barbecues, and tents for campers, turning itself into a merry-making place.

Needless to say, today’s service areas along the Yunnan freeways have been either newly-built or upgraded, renewing passengers and tourists’ impression to transport facilities in the province.

Behind the brand new service areas are mainly Yunnan Communications Investment Construction Group Co., Ltd., which operates 289 of the 383 service areas across the province. 

Song Honglin, vice chairman of the Yunnan group, said services have been improved for the all-for-one tourism and more economic value, adding the company’s pursuit in building service areas has changed from quantity to quality. 

"In 2007, the group invested 220 million yuan in improving restrooms, parking lots, restaurants, green belts in the existing parking areas,” said Song Honglin. “In 2018, a total of 4.2 billion yuan was invested to build up or enlarge 68 service areas in Yunnan.”

Among the upgraded service areas, the average parking spaces increased from 42 to 132, with the toilet seats reaching 120 from 32 on average. The green coverage exceeded 35%, with all sewage treated.

Reporting by Li Chenghan and Zhang Jianyong (yunnan.cn and ynjttzjt.com); trans-editing by Wang Shixue