Hanoi to Hong Kong via Nanning and Guilin

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Hanoi to Nanning

Our time had come to leave Vietnam and its 30c beers. We could hear China whispering to us to come and get her. We were hoping the next 10hrs on the bus would be worth the sore bums as it was the first chapter in our China sojourn. Luckily for us there wasn't many people on the bus and we were able to stretch out across the back seats on the winding pot hole riddled roads en route to a fascinating place that remains relatively unchartered from the hordes of independent travellers that fill the Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia bloc.

You know that you have arrived in China when you hit the border crossing and the roads go from crumbling concrete Swiss cheese on the Vietnam side to well-maintained tarmac on Mao's side. There is an obvious adherence to road rules and a significant military presence confronts the weary traveller when they cross over the border.

We got through two of the three passport controls (One ex-Vietnam, one pre-China entry to check that you were stamped out of Vietnam) and were waiting in line for the third (the official entry into China) when a passport control/military guy wanted to scrutinize Jez's passport and Visa. After a 5 minute scan of the doc's with a bit of questioning we were told to line up for the stamp. We thought that this special attention was probably because we were the only westerners in the place and Jez's beard was probably due for a trim. Kiara went through first and there was no problems and whilst she was waiting Jez was met by a couple of army lads who were not too sure about the validity of his travel docs. Now, in fairness, his passport photo has a picture of a kid with an afro which is a long way from the hairy animal 'idiota persona' that they were looking at. Jez added further suspicion when he showed them his drivers license which has a picture of a clean shaven (head and face) bloke and if they wanted more evidence of the Fryzee chameleon, the photo in his wallet sporting dreadlocks from his university days added to the officers feeling of uncertainty. After his boss was called over to inspect the commotion and recheck the passport, Jez was finally let into the People's Republic.

Our route thru China on this leg was Nanning-Liuzhou-Guilin-Ziyaun-Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong and the plan post-HK was to head back up to Yangshuo, Longshen and on towards Lijiang. Its always good to have a plan, but its always good to be up for a spontaneous change of plan should the situation permit.

Upon arrival in Nanning we realised very quickly that we were out of our depth. Never before had we felt more unprepared for visiting a new country than now. We thought that having the name of our hotel and the address would be enough to get us into our room, but alas, we didnt have it written in Chinese characters. Not too worry, we'd just go and ask someone to write down the name in Mandarin. More difficult than first thought as it seems that most of the people who speak English have moved into the bigger cities to find work. Ok then, we'll find an internet cafe and google the name and get the translation this way. Anyone know what the Chinese characters for 'internet' are because there is not one piece of English on any of the signs in this city! Farrrrk, 10hrs on a bus from Vietnam, one time zone change, a small issue at the border, no food since we left Vietnam (we couldnt bare to try the can of room temperature Congee that was given to the passengers) and its 9pm at night and we cant tell the taxi driver which hotel we are staying at. . . . what have we jumped into???

The best way to describe the feeling when we arrived in China was being asked to summarise a Quantitative Finance interview by looking into a bowl of alphabet soup. The extra layer of complexity to the metaphor above, is that the alphabet soup you're looking into for the answer is in Chinese characters. Pretty hard hey?

Our first impressions of China were impacted by being well off the beaten track, and our difficulties pretty much continued until we arrived in Guilin which is definitely open for tourism. Where we were reliant on pictures on the walls of restaurants (our first meal in Nanning was goat as this was the only picture we could find at the restaurant and didnt want to run the gaunlet of maybe getting a Labrador steak!!!), the Picture Point Book that Kajsa gave us as a gift (handy for finding toilets) and the Lonely Planet book which has a few key phrases and typical words translated, we were now back on the path where the tourist dollar is king and there is more to see than just 'People's Parks'.

We booked two tickets to Ziyuan where there is supposed to be excellent Whitewater Rafting and the bus trip 130kms to the NE of Guilin was quiet and non-eventful. As this town is very small, there is only two listed hotels we were forced to pay a bit extra for a typical 4 star Chinese property. At least we could swim in the pool, get some much needed exercise in at the gym, maybe get a massage and book our rafting tour for the next day. Hang on, we're in China now, it cant be that easy. Well true to form, somebody had forget to fill the pool with water, the gym was locked and seemingly nobody had the key, the massage and spa closed down and the rafting tour only goes out if there is a group of 5 people. Hmmm, should've gone to Beijing and Shanghai!!!

Ziyuan was not unlike alot of our time in China and we made the decision to head straight down to Hong Kong (which is a mammoth stretch of road/rail taking 18hrs on three forms of transport (Normal Bus, Sleeper Bus, then Train). We desperately needed to get the opinions of our friends in HK to figure out if we have given China enough of a chance and if we should pop the collar and head back in after a couple of weeks touring Hongkers.

We must mention a few stand out things that happened in China that gave us some some smiling moments:

One night in Nanning we found a strip of bars and restaurants and decided to put a few frothies away. We took the Point Book and asked for two beers by pointing at the picture of a bottle of beer. Now we're not sure if the Mandarin language is very literal or not, but the waiter kept shaking his head vigorously which we could only think meant that he didnt have this specific Bavarian Lager shown in the picture! Fair play, so we pointed at the Budweiser toothpick holder to help him understand our thirst a little better. Maybe he thought we wanted to buy this toothpick container because he kept shaking his head. Quite funny now we think about it, but not as funny as Kiara going behind the bar and pulling out a couple of stubbies to the shocked look of the floor staff in this bar!!!

On the same night we went out to find a restaurant for dinner with pictures or an English menu but after tramping up and down this entertainment precinct we were resigned to heading back to the hotel and eating another plate of goat when this cute little 7 year old girl came out of a Japanese restaurant and began a conversation with us. She said, ' Hello my name is . . . . Im 7 years old . . . . She is my sister and she is my friend' and when we asked if she could order some food for us she ran off, probably realising that the extent of her English had been exhausted!!!!

This was a nice and cute interaction and we decided that we would roll the dice and try the same Japanese restaurant out for dinner. One of the waiters came up with an ingenious idea of going on his laptop and showing us pictures from the internet of sushi and sashimi so that we could order. Then he started communicating via Google Translate with the following on a piece of notepaper (which flawed us!) 'Please let me know if I can assist you further'. Brilliant work by this kid, his effort didn't go unnoticed!

All in all we learned a lot and were happy when we got to Hong Kong and started considering what we would do after we have enjoyed the fruits of Victoria Harbour, Kowloon and the surrounding islands.

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Photos

Sleeper Bus Smiles
After 15hrs on the bus you tend to be smiling less!!!

Sleeper Bus
One of those things that you do once and then decide to only take sleeper trains if there is an option.

Ad Hoc Pork Bun Lesson
Pork Buns with gravy inside . . . . . life changing stuff!

Koi Ponds- Nanning
You could even hire fishing lines to catch a Koi- s'pose if you dont live on the coast you make do with what you have.

The Chicks in Liuzhou are Hot
Because the cities in China are high density apartment blocks and the living areas so small, people of all ages spend most of their time with each other in the streets

Taj Mahal- Shenzhen
We havent been to Agra yet, but took in the Taj at the Windows of the World in Shenzhen

Great Pyraminds- Shenzhen
If there is a camel around, Kiara will ride it.

Windows of the World, Shenzhen
Some of the 'Wonders' were quite faithful reproductions, unlike the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.