I planned a rough 7-10 day itinerary, which should bring me back to Lanshan in time for the New Year celebrations as I wanted to see how a small town celebrated this important event. In the end, it didn't quite work out that way...
First leg was Lanshan to Nanning, capital of Guangxi province. This involved a bus to Yongzhou, a few hours north, then a connecting train onwards. I was at the bus station on Friday the 2nd of Feb, trying to inquire about bus times for the next day when I met a guy who spoke good English (rare here). He was going the same way and offered to help me, if I wanted to catch the same bus as him...in one hour's time.
Well, you can't ignore these kind of lucky breaks so I hopped in a ma-ma-yo, raced home, threw some things in a bag and one hour later was sat on the bus and waving goodbye to Lanshan. It was a pretty scenic journey (they almost all are here) and 4 hours later, good as his word, this guy took me to the train station, helped me buy a ticket and wouldn't even let me pay the taxi fare. Top guy. As if that wasn't enough for one day, while I was quietly sat in the waiting room I heard someone call my name. I looked up and a group of students from the Lanshan Number 2 Middle School introduce themselves to me! I had a 4 hour wait so was pretty pleased to have someone else to chat to. We played card games together and they made sure I got on the train ok when it arrived. Nice kids.The train journey itself was...ok. Now, Chinese New Year is not known as the best time to travel in China, because about a billion people in this country also happen to be doing the
same thing. I got on the train, but that was about as far as I got. I had no reserved seat and the aisles were all packed. It was all I could do to find a spot half leaning across a table where I didn't have to move too much each time anyone else wanted to walk past. We were packed in like animals. I stood like this for 4 hours until a seat finally came free and I nabbed it. It was not the most comfortable train ride I've ever had, and despite being overnight, I barely got a few hours sleep. As soon as we arrived in Nanning I went to the nearest hotel, got a room and crashed.Nanning was quite a nice place. Fairly green,
fairly chilled and also fairly quiet. That surprised me. Not so many sights or tourists, but I spent a few days here, just relaxing. It's a big city that is growing enormously fast. From a tower on nearby Qingxiu mountain, which I went to with some friends I made, Greg and Wei, I could see miles of land that had been cleared for new construction. It was immense. Also on top of this hill were some of the best bouncy castles I have ever seen. Check out jaws!! Too bad we couldn't have a go...In the evening we went to one of Nanning's night-time food streets. This one was situated in
the 'Canine Cuisine District' (狗肉区). No joke. That's it's name. They're big into dog here. You've seen those pictures on the internet of deep-fried dogs hung up on meat-hooks? Well, probably taken here in Nanning. They werehung everywhere. I took no pictures, cos some things you just don't want to see too much of. I ordered some beef and vegetables, and just enjoyed the atmosphere. A lakeside walk afterwards showed yet again that most Chinese cities look better in the dark.
After a few days here though, it really was time to get on with my trip and on the 5th I caught a sleeper train to Kunming....
The journey so far...
Days: 4 Distance: 850km (give or take a few k's round the streets of Nanning on the back end of a bike)
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