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Baobab trees
Baobab trees (imported from Africa) at Nanhu park in Nanning. I’m just back in Hanoi after traveling 1,800 km by bus between Hanoi and Guilin. On the way to Guilin, I had to stay for a couple of nights in Nanning. I traveled to Nanning for the first time in April 2000, ie 8 years ago. Nanning is the capital city of Guangxi province. The majority of ethnic people in this province are the Zhuang people (Khu tự trị dân tộc Choang, tỉnh Quảng Tây). As Guangxi and Yunnan provinces are bordering with Vietnam and I traveled on a tour, I didn’t use my passport and apply for a Chinese visa. The travel company arranged an “Entry and Exit Permit” (Giấy thông hành) for us, using our ID cards. In case I want to head further north, I would need a Chinese visa.
On 30 April, the bus left very early, at 4:00am. I had to wake up at 3:00am, although my house is not far from the tourist office. My mother walked with me along the dark streets of Hanoi at 3:30am, until we saw a taxi. I was so happy to find it, as the streets were empty at that time. Then I waved good bye to my
Restaurant where we had lunch
A local girl wears traditional dress and greets the guests to the restaurant. mother and she walked back home.
There was a crowd in front of the tourist office. Many people were there waiting for the bus. As we had a national holiday on 30 April and 1 May, we took the chance to travel. That’s why many people chose a vacation in China at that time. I’ve been to all the major cities in China, so this year I decided to go to Guilin, which was a new destination for me. There were 18 people on the tour, so it was fun meeting with the new people for a few days.
It took us a day to travel by bus from Hanoi to Nanning via Pingxiang (Hanoi - Friendship Pass 190km, Pingxiang - Nanning 230km, total distance Hanoi - Nanning 420km). At 3:30pm, we arrived in Nanning and visited Nanhu park (công viên Nam Hồ) and ASEAN trading center. The next 2 days, we traveled to Guilin and visited some famous sites over there.
The last day in Nanning, each of us paid 60 Yuan to our Chinese tour guide and driver, so that they could organize a trip to Jing Xiu Shan park (công viên Thanh Tú Sơn).
Friendship Pass (Hữu Nghị Quan)
The gate on Chinese side at the Vietnam - China border crossing. This place was not included in our tour program. The local guide said we had to check out hotel at 8:00am. Instead of shopping again, we spent a couple of hours in the morning at the park, before leaving Nanning for Pingxiang and back to Vietnam.
My impression on the 2nd visit to Nanning is the development of the city. Many buildings are under construction. There is a new town being built by Malaysian investors near the bus station in the south of Nanning, where the bus to Hanoi from Nanning departs every day. One more thing, the fake notes seem to be a concern of the locals. They are very careful when checking the notes. Our guide even warned us of writing the series into our hand, in case some locals may have received our money then return with the fake notes.
The photos in this blog were taken on 30 April and 3 May 2008 at Friendship Pass on the Chinese side, Nanning city, Nanhu park and ASEAN trading center in Nanning, China.
Please view an interesting site in Nanning city:
Jing Xiu Shan park which I also visited on this trip.
My next destination was
Guilin city (TP Quế Lâm) Entry and exit permit to China
I didn't use my passport but this permit to get into China. Chinese food on the tour The Chinese food in this blog (photo No. 30 to photo No. 46) are the food that we had at breakfasts (buffets), lunches and dinners on my 4-day tour (from 30 April to 3 May 2008) in Guilin and Nanning, China. 6 people shared a table and there were 8-9 dishes. The lunches and dinners included pork, chicken, duck meat, fish, tofu, egg, vegetable, rice, soup, noodles and fruit (orange or watermelon). The locals often put a lot of oil (dầu hào) into their fried food.
As for breakfasts, we had buffets at our hotel. Mantou (bánh bao), rice porridge and Xiangtiao (quẩy) are traditional Chinese food. I was surprised at sweet potato and taro served at the buffets in Nanning. I’ve never seen them served for a breakfast at any hotel before.
One of our special dishes on this trip was the rice porridge cooked with oyster meat at a pearl shop in Nanning. A plate of the famous Chinese fried duck meat (vịt quay) was also served at our first lunch in Pingxiang on the way to Nanning.
There are two popular beers in Nanning. They are Shanshui
beer (Sơn Thủy) and IQ beer. In Guilin, we drank Guilin beer. On every table, there were 2 bottles of beer and 1 bottle of Coke. If we didn’t like Coke, we could change into another bottle of beer.
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