Yunnan and/or North Vietnam during Spring festival?

Hi everyone

My girlfriend and I are currently teaching in Hunan province, China, and have 3 weeks off from February 1st for Chinese New Year. We have 2 itineraries for the holidays and I’d appreciate it if you could tell me what you think of them.

1. Travel around south west China in Yunnan Province.
We would get a sleeper to Kunming then spend 2 weeks exploring Yuanyang rice terraces, Dali, Tiger Leaping Gorge and Lijiang and maybe Shangri la.
We would then travel onwards to Chengdu to see the Giant Buddha and the pandas if we have time.

2. Travel to North Vietnam first and return to Yunnan
Enter via the border crossing near Kunming (once the visas have arrived). Spend 3 days in Hanoi before moving to Halong Bay for 3 days and 2 nights, then spend another 6 days in Hue and Hoi an (+ My Son Sanctuary). Return to Hanoi then spend the remainder of the time in Yunnan (probably just around Kunming and the rice terraces). We considered stopping in Sapa or Bac Ha but it seems it will be very cold this time of year.

I know that both countries celebrate this New Year but my real concerns are:
1. Just how difficult will it be to travel inside China at this time? We would need to get a train from Hunan to Kunming but then we would mostly be travelling on long distance buses. We intend to get there before the Spring holiday begins on 9th.

2. How easy is it to navigate Vietnamese transport, e.g. booking trains, getting on the right bus? (I do not speak a word of Vietnamese and am worried about the number of scams I’ve read about.) On the other hand, I do speak some Chinese, albeit basic, and have travelled in China before.

3. Will the border crossing be open around the Chinese New Year and will it be possible to get Vietnamese visas around this time? We would hope to get our visas in Kunming. A friend was unable to obtain the same visa from Nanning around the time of Chinese national week.

Thanks in advance. We want to see as much as possible without it being overly stressful as it is the only extended break we will have in this part of the world before travelling back to the UK. Please say if you think it’s overly ambitious!