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Published: February 4th 2007
Tasty morsels
See anything you like? I had snails and a few other thingsWell, here I am in Nanning. I guess it's been a few days since I posted, so I will try to catch you up since I left Longji Terrace.
OK, I'm trying this again... just typed a couple paragraphs, and my time ran out at the internet bar... it shut off, so i lost what I typed- oops!
Anyway, I arrived in Nanning on Thursday afternoon, and called the bagasse factory (Qiaowang) to see when it would be convenient to go there. They picked me up at the train station, and I was there before dinner. We took a quick tour, pretty interesting to see how the molds press out the plates and bowls. Lots of blue-uniformed gongren (workers) moving the plates out of the molds, trimming, sorting, and boxing up. Very labor intensive, as you might guess. Everytihing was safe enough, although it was a bit of a mess as they are biulding on to the factory, adding a new production line. After the tour it was dinner time and they took me to a street where the food is on display... and the food is largely dead meat. interesting street, not for the weak stomached. We ate with a
Train to Nanning
Sam, this one's for you... I hadn't pictured a train yet! view of 4 animals hanging up, skinned, i think one was a dog, couldn't quite tell. Wyoh- don't go to China!
I tried snails for the first time, they more or less tasted like tiny clams. HAd some oysters, and other meats (can't recall which, not dog) too. Good food. Then we took a walk around town. They have a very nice park here, along a lake, nicely maintained and groomed. So we walked a ways, and had a couple beers at a bar, and went back to the factory to sleep.
The next day, we went for a tour of the pulp plant, where they take the byproduct from the sugar refining, and turn it into usable pulp for factories like Qiaowang. That was very interesting, following the process all the way through the cleaning, heating, bleaching. They make both bleached and unbleached pulp there. We had a good tour guide who explained the process pretty well. I asked for testing data on their waste water discharge, and stuff like that...
That evening we went out for dinner, and then some bar time again, this time at a hip place where there was live music, and lots of people.
Bagasse Factory
Inside the plant I was starting to get a cold at this point, but stayed out fairly late anyway. A fun scene, I met lots of people, some of them friends of the factory sales staff, some just people at the next table.
After that, on Saturday, I headed to as hotel near the railroad station, figuring i would head out of town, and check out a nearby town in the sugar cane growing area, but wasn't really sure what i would do. I went into the ubiquitous CITS travel services, and asked what might be a good town to go to, and ended up walking out with a tour to a famous waterfall on the border with Viet Nam. Not what I planned when I walked in, but it worked out fine, since I was feeling pretty stuffed up at this point, and wanted an easy day.
After that i went for a walk, looking for some dinner, and maybe a suitcase to buy since i've been picking up little gifts here and there, and am running out of room in the backpack. I was walking for 20 minutes, maybe half an hour, and found a place to eat. when I sat
Factory Friends
David, Danielle, and I at Qiaowang down to eat, I looked for my cell phone, and it was gone. Someone had snagged it out of my bag as I was walking, in broad daylight. I was pretty bummed, but knew it was my own fault for having it exposed like that. The bag was sort of behind me, over my shoulder, and I should have had it in front, like I usually do. So I was without cell phone, but at least nothing else.
So the next morning, today, I got up at 6:00 and by 7:30 I was on a mini-bus headed for Dieten Falls on the border. It took about 3 hours to get there, through some gnarly roads, winding through karst mountains similar to those in Guilin and Yangshuo. And of course there was the constant passing of trucks and busses with barely any room. I was in the front seat, too. The falls were beautiful, even though there is about 2 or 3 times as much water in the summer. We took a raft out into the pool below the falls, and went to the other side, which is Viet NAm. So , actually, I left China for a few minutes today.
Pile of Pulp
Bagasse (sugar cane pulp) before processing On the way back, there was an accident - big suprise!- and it held us up for almost an hour. It was around 7:00 when we finally got back. A lot of driving today, but a good trip. Some nice people on the tour, mostly they spoke no English. One guy spoke a little and he talked to me some of the time.
So, back in Nanning, still with a stuffy nose, I got some dinner, and started looking for a cell phone. I ended up getting a used one, with a SIM card (that gives you a number), and a charger, for 220 yuan (about $30). I had to get a new battery, another 30 yuan ($4), and now it seems to work. Cell phones are so easy here, you just buy the SIM card, put it in your phone, and you have service. When you use up the minutes, you recharge at any China Mobile store, of which there are thousands. No contracts, just pay and it's on. So, I still have my USA SIM card, and maybe it will work in this phone when I get back, not sure. My new emergency number is 86-13800138000, at least
Dieten falls
A trans-national falls, by the Viet Nam border i think that's it! The woman at the store i bought it from spoke no english.
So, tomorrow evening I head to Guangzhou by bus. No train this time since the lines at the station were very long, and i saw on the tv news yesterday that travel is getting crazy busy now, before the Chinese New Year, so I wasn't even sure i would get a ticket. I had the CITS place get my bus ticket and that was easier. So, next stop , back to GZ, then Hong Kong for a day or so before I fly back home.
What a trip!
Until next time... zaijien!
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crazy piles of pulp! who knew...bummer about your cell phone, but it sounds like you replaced it with little trouble. guess someone thought they needed it more than you did! Factory certainly looks clean; do they do many of these tours? Great that they were able to go into such detail for you. The falls are beautiful; you certainly are getting around! love, bon.