****PICS TO FOLLOW***
Country - China
City - Nanning (capital of Guangxi autonomous region in southern China)
Est. Population (Nanning) - 6,480,000 (2006)
Currency - please refer to Beijing post here
After wild partying in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei this stop over was much more relaxed. What was required really. Therefore this will be a brief post as nothing out of the ordinary happened.
After flying back to Hong Kong from Taipei got an overnight bus to Nanning with Brenley who teaches English there. She kindly let me stay with her for the few days I was planning to stay in Nanning. HKD 350 for the bus which was reasonable enough. We arrived in Nanning at about 08h00 in the morning and we were so wrecked (can't really sleep on a sleeper bus, too noisy and beds aint that comfortable). Therefore the first day we just chilled out and watched a few movies and had a few quiet beers.
The next day we did a tour of the city on Brenley's e-bike around the city which was great but scary. It was my first time on a scooter in Asia. They drive so crazy. People use their bike horns alot to signal to other drivers of their presence. There seems like there is very little structure to it but somehow it works! Similarly to Ningbo there are very few westerners in Nanning so got plenty of stares again. Was fine, have gotten use to that. Nanning itself is quite beautiful and is known as the green city due to the tropical foliage all around the city.
The food was fantastic! And very reasonable as well - one of the best noodle soups I've ever had costs about only 4.5 RMB. So much good food and after spending time in HK and Taipei it was good to get back to cheaper food. The rest of the time in Nanning was really chillled out. Read some book on the university campus gardens where Brenley works and got some sun. It was really warm, maybe about 32C. We organised my bus from Nanning into Ha noi to leave on Saturday morning (14th) for 150 RMB which wasn't too bad. Left Nanning for Ha noi at 07h30 with an estimated arrival time of 15h30 (takes time to go through border control et cetera).
City - Pingxiang (capital of Guangxi autonomous region in southern China)
Est. Population (Pingxiang) - 100,000 (2005)
Currency - please refer to Beijing post here
The stopover at Pingxiang was not a planned one. When I got the border on my bus described above I never reviewed my Viet namese visa to ensure the visa was effective. So arrived at the Chinese immigration to exit the country. They explained that with my visa only commencing on 15th February I would have to come back the following day. It cost me 30 RMB to get into the city and 128 RMB to stay in a hotel for one night. That left me with only 12 RMB for the day!! Had to put aside another 30 RMB for the following day taxi back to the border.
Despite being low in funds - not wanted to take more RMB out - I managed to relax and even go for a long walk. There were amazing mountains just outside the city so took a walk in the intense sun to take some photos. The next morning I didn't have too many issue getting into Viet Nam and made it to Ha noi by about 15h00 wherein I got a taxi to the hotel I had arranged. No worries. Well post up the Ha noi shortly. Crazy place! Peace.
Liam O'Connor, travelling hobbit
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