Oh I feel really sad to be leaving China tomorrow. It's the first place I've been sad to leave (except England of course). The more I see of it the more I love it. The people here are so lovely and friendly and I haven't met anyone who has been nasty or mean or anything, which is very unusual!

Each place I've been to in China has been completely different as well, even the cities, although they are all essentially the same. Nanning is in Guangxi, which is the most southern province. You can tell they don't get a lot of foreigners or tourists here because whilst in the other places I would the occasional stare or "hello", in Nanning I walk down the street and heads turn. Several people have almost fallen off bikes and I've seen children being dragged down the road staring back at me with very wide eyes and mouths. Sometimes it's kind of cool because I feel like a film star, but sometimes I just want to blend in and I feel very self-conscious and think "please don't look at me!" It's also annoying as I like people watching, it's hard to watch people unobserved when everyone is staring at you. Most of the time though, if I smile and say "Nihao" they will grin as though I've made their day and they feel really lucky. It's mad. Perhaps I should start giving autographs.

The food isn't so good here. The local speciality is dog noodles. This is not pleasant. I didn't realise I was eating it at first but was aware I was being served an increasing amount of uncertain animal species or part and put two and two together. All the areas I've been to have had their own signature dish. In Xian every dish was served with a bowlful of raw garlic cloves they eat as a sort of side dish. I tried it (I'll try anything once!) and it was also not good. I don't recommend it. I do like the food generally in China though. They have street vendors selling things like sweet potatoes, cakes, fruit, popcorn, etc everywhere and it's so cheap.

I thought I'd done very well at not encouraging men (short of throwing my knickers at the middle-aged man in the bunk below me) but yesterday I was sat in a cafe people watching and writing when a man came and pointed at the chair opposite me. I smiled and nodded thinking that there were no free tables and then looked around and realised there was hardly anyone in the place. "Oh crap, I've done it again". He kept trying to talk to me in Chinese and I tried to indicate I couldn't understand him but he persisted. In the end I just ignored him and went on writing but then he kept saying "hi, hi" until I looked up. He disappeared and I thought "hurrah, he's left" when he returned with two ice-creams. At least this removed the moral dilemna of whether or not I should accept as I couldn't actually eat it. He didn't seem too put out by my refusal and proceeded to eat both ice-creams. Then he showed me lots of money and a picture of his car (who carries around pictures of their car?!) and made hand signals to indicate we should hook up. I'm still not sure whether this meant "marry me, I'm rich" or whether he was trying to solicite me into prostitution. I have considered working to fund my trip, but I think I'll draw the line at prostitution. Either way I wasn't interested and kept saying no and trying to ignore him. He tried to give me his phone number, but as the communication wasn't really happening face to face I didn't think it would work on the phone. I eventually escaped whilst he appeared to be attempting some sort of telepathic communication. Either that or falling asleep.

The parks here are cool, like the one in Kunming there are loads of old people playing cards and doing stuff I don't understand but they're really packed and busy. It's funny wandering through them with wide eyed curiosity though as I get mainly wide eyed looks back, and we all just end up staring at each other in an intrigued manner. At night they play loud music and there are couples dancing around. It's all very lovely. :) They also have witch doctor type people doing hocus pocus and some sort of Jesus style healing of the sick.

Even though most people just stare at me (though I've realised these aren't hostile looks as I thought at first, as when I smile and say hello I get positive responses) and nobody speaks English, I've bumped into a couple of people who can speak English and they've both been really friendly. It's a bit like a blessing on both sides as I'm glad to meet a local who speaks English and is friendly and I think they're glad to meet a native English speaker as we're few and far between here! Last night I met a man called Steven who works for the government. We had a limited discussion on global economy (limited on my part) and English teaching and he told me to go to a park. I went to the park today where I met Rose, who'd just been for a job interview and like me was wandering aimlessly wondering what she was doing there. Rose also wants to be an English teacher, in fact she wants to set up her own school in her hometown, and she hasn't even graduated yet. It's very rare to meet such an ambitious and independent woman in China as I've learnt women here aren't very independent (most are shocked I'm travelling alone). We ended up spending the afternoon together and then going for dinner (she showed me nice Nanning food). It was good to wander round with a local person because I could annoy her with all the questions I'd been thinking and I kept up a litany of "what's this, what's that?" as we walked round a supermarket. Both Steven and Rose have said they have contacts to get me a teaching job in Nanning and it seems like there's definately a market for it out here. I'll see how the rest of my trip goes but I'd definately like to come back so it's food for thought....

I like China because everyone seems to be cheerful and friendly and willing to pitch in to help each other in a completely different way to England. I've only got one day left so touch wood I don't get mugged or abducted tomorrow but I feel really safe here (apart from the roads, and I'm actually getting good at crossing them now. Though apparently Vietnam is worse). And the men here are really good - they cook and clean and look after children. In Quiaotou (where Tiger Leaping Gorge starts) all the children I saw were with their dads. The kids are so cute and well behaved as well. In Nanning and Kunming the mothers carry round their babies ingeniously strapped to their back with a sheet and with a towel over the baby (I assume this is because of the pollution). Groups of teenage girls walk down the street with arms interlinked. But then beggars crawl the street with missing limbs.

I'm not sure how successful the whole travelling thing is though as I see all this walking down the street but I feel very much like an outsider looking in, an observer instead of interacting. Maybe you have to stay in a place for longer and actually get involved in the community by working or something similar.

We're being told we have to go to bed now! :)

I'm heading to Vietnam tomorrow so I'll probably update after that.

Missing you all and sending love (oh I sound all new agey). Well, what'sup y'all ;)

x