Blogs from Nanning, Guangxi, China, Asia - page 5

As I lay on my hostel bed in Nanning, I was rejoicing in the brilliant humming of the air conditioner and bathing in my satisfaction of finding a quiet spot for a few days. Just then I hear the beep of the door, I had visitors. For anyone that has stayed in a hostel before, there is a certain satisfaction that comes with having a 6 bed dorm room all to yourself. You get to make all the rules, spread the contents of your pack everywhere, dry your laundry on the extra beds, turn the air-con up as high as you want, keep the lights on till 11:30pm, strut around naked…but, on the other hand, meeting fellow travelers is an experience in itself. Some of my favorite people are those that I’ve shared hostel rooms with. ... read more

In Bama Yao Autonomous county County in Guangxi Province, China, liesis a world- famous centenarian village where people often live to be more than 100 years old. About 41,000 members of the Yao ethnic minority (about 17% of the total Yao population in China) live there. ，the population of Yao people there is 41，511 which is 17.6% of the total population.Yao people have four branches : Bunu Yao,Tu Yao,Anding Yao and Landian Yao.The Yao people is are a diligent and brave nation, it haswith a long history and brillentbrilliant culture. They have four subgroups: Bunu Yao, Tu Yao, Anding Yao, and Landian Yao. The Danu Festival ( is the biggest traditional festival among Yao people) ,it is a combination of cultureincludes dancing, sporting events , and commerce. Every year on the 29th day of the fifth ... read more

(Day 204 on the road)My second time in China is coming to an end. At the moment I am in Nanning in the very south of the country, waiting for my Vietnamese visa to come through. Nanning is quite boring (the guidebook says the city is "very hard to love"), with nothing to do at all except wandering the streets. Or, in my case, rather cycling it: Traffic, as everywhere in China, is mad and seems to obey no traffic rules whatsoever. Never one to give too much about traffic rules myself when on a bike, this is perfect, and I am sure I have broken every law in the book on my cycles through the city with the hostel's rental bike. I am staying in a very nice hostel indeed with a few others who ... read more

Jon's birthday present (July 22) was an adventurous train ride from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Beijing. Boy oh boy, what a treat. Ok now I'm bored. The first leg of the trip was riding the entirety of the "Reunification Railway" from the southern tip to the northern tip - Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi - 30 hours. We boarded the train late at night and slept our way back to Da Nang. We had heard the ride between Da Nang and Hue was spectacular, and did not want to miss it. The ride was beautiful and the slow incline up into the mountains, hugging the cliffs, gave us an expansive view of the ocean from above. It wasn't just beautiful, it was breath-taking. Worth the trip. Though it only lasted about an hour. That ... read more

Here I am again at the Jing Xiu Shan park (công viên Thanh Tú Sơn) in Nanning, China. On my first visit to Nanning 8 years ago (in April 2000), I also spent a morning visiting the park and liked the place so much that this time when I returned to Nanning, I asked the Chinese tourist guide to organize a trip for us to the park. Some people on the tour had not been there yet. I told them it was a great place to visit. Each of us paid 60 Yuan to the Chinese tourist guide and driver. They took us to the park and we spent 2 hours over there before leaving Nanning for Pingxiang. A new place I saw this time is Guan Yin pagoda. The other sites I’ve seen before, for ... read more