At some point in every trip there comes a time when I say to myself (and usually Owen too – I'm sure he waits for it) "We’re actually PAYING to do this…" (getting cold and wet, being trampled in the crush at the railway station, throwing up four times in the night – you get the picture).

This time the moment came in Nanning. Our last day in Haikou on Hainan Island had been a bit of an anticlimax – the warm weather had been replaced by rain, the museum we particularly wanted to visit was closed – but we thought ”Oh well, Nanning will be warm”.

Well, Nanning was fine, but not particularly warm; the hotel room was a bit cold (we were south of the Yangtze where buildings aren’t centrally heated of course); the nearby city centre seemed light on for good places to eat (seemed to be all fast food); we made sure we went to their museum the first day, but it was close to lunch time and the recommended restaurant attached (mentioned in the Lonely Planet) no longer existed – so we didn’t stay long, had to find somewhere to eat.

It didn’t help when I came down with a mystery nausea thing. For several days I would be seized by sudden fleeting nausea spells. Googled it. Mistake. It could have been anything from food poisoning to an impending stroke. What the heck? It was soon obvious I wasn’t actually going to throw up (that came much later in the trip), so I ignored it and carried on.

We decided to go to Beihai for a couple of days. “It’s further south, on the coast, it will be warmer”. We checked the online weather forecast and it looked like it would be warmer than Nanning for the next few days, so we jumped on the train.

Beihai was even colder, wet and overcast.
  
Our hotel was in a great location. We had a well-appointed but tiny room and the water in the bathroom wasn’t very hot – I’m afraid we skipped a shower the second morning. The circular restaurant on the top floor should have had great 360 degree views over the city – but we couldn’t even see out for the dense condensation on the windows. The breakfast was quite nice, but no coffee.
 
Beihai was actually an interesting old city. It, like many other Chinese cities, has decided to convert the old town into a tourist precinct, but there doesn’t seem to have been any money for renovations. We found a lovely old street with lots of interesting shops and eateries in buildings which were practically derelict. Among them a great coffee shop!



 
 
We spent an enjoyable day walking down to the waterfront and back to the hotel in a big loop, tracking down all the sites of interest including several historic buildings. There was also a large park with a huge children’s fun-park, people playing mahjong, cards, chess and an outdoor stage where a performance of Opera was being performed. We only realized it was Australia Day when I received an email from a friend back home! Back at the hotel that night we watched some of the Australian Open on TV – always enjoyable watching the tennis even replays.

Next day we had to get back to Nanning, we had a hotel room booked and train tickets for midday, but we couldn’t go without seeing the Silver Beach - Beihai is famous for it. We decided we just had time. The bus there was crowded with families with buckets and spades, and progress out was rather slow. Finally arrived, a quick dash to take a few photos then back on the bus. A pretty beach, though not very big and it was unfortunate it wasn’t nice beach-going weather. Lots of seafood restaurants (mainly empty and forlorn looking in the cold) and quaint and rather odd-looking hotels along the beachfront road - slightly alpine in design and even one built like a castle. Many were empty and derelict or unfinished and abandoned.

 
 
After collecting our bags from the hotel and a quick stop for takeaway from next door we had a somewhat nerve-wracking taxi ride to the station - a large new building at the end of a long straight boulevard, visible from a long way away and getting slowly closer as the taxi trickled through the traffic. Caught the train back to Nanning with a few minutes to spare.

Despite the unfortunate start, Nanning was a pretty nice place. We enjoyed the fireworks from our river-view window on New Year’s Eve, and the hotel for our second stay was fantastic. There was even a Haagen Dasz in the building next door, though I didn’t get to have ice-cream as the mystery nausea returned – but we won’t go back there.