Tue 24/7
I don't know how but I forgot to mention in my last post about the highlight to our trip to the caves! Not sure how but it kept me amused for the rest of the day because when we left the caves Cam realised he had lost his pants! He did go back to see if he could find them but there was a lot of pants lying about as folk were in the showers and he didn't want to be caught going through them!lol. Don't think the cycle back going commando was quite as comfortable as the cycle there! :D
Anyway back to Tue, leaving Yangshuo today, its a shame because we both love it here! But maybe a good thing because after all the cycling we have done my tailbone which i hurt at least three year ago is sore again! Not gona make the 6hr bus journey to Nanning very enjoyable! Heres hoping it doesn't stay sore for long! Bus wasn't till 3pm so after we checked out of the hostel we headed to our favourite cafe Lucy's one last time! By the time we had lunch didn't have too long to kill until the bus! When we arrived in Nanning it was dark and pouring with rain! Decided to get a taxi to our hostel rather than the bus since it was so wet! Had the address in Chinese which we showed to a lady who was happy to take us until we started asking how much, suddenly she decided not to take us! First time that has happened not sure if it was because we couldn't speak chinese or if she didn't know where it was! Then when we tried to get another taxi and our email with the address in chinese had disappeared!! Luckily we had the phone number and they were very helpful and called the hostel to get directions! Glad we got a taxi as the hostel would have been quite hard to find on our own!
Wed 25/7
Rain, rain, rain! Still not any better than last night but on the plus side it is a much cooler and more bearable temperature. Since we were meeting our next couchsurfing host with all our bags we were actually quite glad of the rain which must be the first time ever!lol. Berry was very nice! It was her first time hosting so she was very helpful! Took us to an atm to get money to pay for our visa which the hostel is sorting out for us at no extra cost! Saves us a lot of hassle! Then she took us to get our bus tickets for Detian Falls tomorrow and treated us to lunch afterwards! Had a bit of a nap in the afternoon when we got to her place! We were tired after an early start! Headed out to the night market for food in the evening. First tried some smells bad, tastes good tofu, to be honest its smells bad and tastes bad! Didn't like it at all! Had some spiced fruit which was really yummy! Then not sure what its called but it tasted like a plain doughnut which had a sweetened milk dip, not too bad at all! Finished off our trip with some old friend noodles, not the nicest we have had but it filled a hole! Probably the liver in it that made me not like it! The fruit and the noodles can only be found in Nanning so it was nice to try them! Think the fruit was my favourite! After dinner back home for an early night as we have an early start tomorrow! Lots of travelling so hope the waterfall is worth it!
Thu 26/7
Heading to see Detian Falls today which is at the China/Vietnam border! Its the biggest waterfall in Asia and the 2nd biggest transnational waterfall in the world! Had to get a public bus which took just over an hour to the bus station to catch the only direct bus from Nanning to the Falls. It was meant to be a 3.5hr journey but it took 4.5hrs. We were starting to think we had missed our stop again but we did end up there eventually! Cam some how managed to break another pair of sunglasses on the bus! Think we will need to start a pool to guess how many he is going to have to buy on our trip!lol. Waterfall was nice, good time to visit after all the rain thats been but after seeing victoria falls its not got the same excitement! We walked to the 53rd boundary marker (which we were chuffed about because in lonely planet guards had stopped them going that far) Had lunch outside the gates, no english speaking staff or menus so had to pick from some very faded pictures. Looked like we ordered sweet & sour and noodles, we got some very nice shredded vegetables of some sort and deep fried whole prawns. Think they eat the whole shebang here, we pulled off the heads and tried a few but prawns in shells don't appeal to us, very crispy. Couldn't de-shell them either. Rather than waste them we put them in a bag to give our host, maybe it will be a nice treat for her! :/ Bus back took even longer, 5hrs this time and still had the extra hour to get back to our accommodation. The waterfall was great, glad we went but not really worth such a long journey!lol.