Nanning to Yangshou

After having one hell of a time getting out of Vietnam we finally procured our China Visas and boarded a bus in Hanoi bound for Nanning, China. The trip was relatively short and painless, when compared to our last days in Vietnam. Unfortunately we had to pay off the border officials in Vietnam as we had overstayed our visas due to the 'China Visa Debacle'. A quick $20US in their pockets and we were on our way...


Our welcome into China was a warm one, and we had a great first night wandering around the large modern city that is Nanning, and eating cheap noodles while drinking even cheaper beer. It was a breath of fresh air to be back into the first world, travelling on nice buses, being able to walk on the sidewalk, and not feeling like people were trying to rip us off at every purchase.

Since Nanning city is just that, a big 'city', we wasted little time and jumped on board a bus for Yangshou the next day via Guilin. Yangshou is Halong Bay, except on land. A popular stop of Chinese tourists because of the numerous limestone peaks that litter the landscape.

Our first day we spent seeing the sites on a motorbike. Funny thing, when I say this bike (and I hope you as will as well) I thought it was gas powered! We negotiated the price, and after we had it all settled I found out it was electric! Oh well, it still managed to get us around for most of the day. I was nearly stranded in the afternoon, but made it back... barely.No mistakes on our second day. We'd never done this and both really wanted to. We travelled around and saw the sites on a tandem bicycle!A little more of the scenery. This picture shows river rafts that will take you down the river to see the sights from the water.

An interesting peak we biked to at Moon Hill.

We had only been in China for 2 days, but that didn't stop us from going out for a big night. We had met and Aussie (Jenna - whom ended up travelling with us for 2 weeks) and it was her birthday. We went out to a bar to celebrate and ended up really partying with the locals. I spent the night playing a drinking game with a bunch of Chinese men whom didn't speak a word of English. Needless to say they weren't able to explain the game to me, and I never figured it out. But that never stopped me from playing - and I paid for it. This may give you a little idea of how I felt the next day. But at least I didn't kiss an old Chinese man... Jenna!
We were out of Yangshou and on our way to Kunming. Was an 18 hour train ride, but the hard sleepers are awesome. We love travelling this way. I had the top bunk, Jillene the middle, and that is Jenna on the bottom.