Having only passed through the capital by bus on my way to the school I thought it was finally time I actually visited what many call the "green city". It is easy to see why....parks and gardens flourish throughtout the city. Nanning has a population of 6.8 million people so is still not a big city by Chinese standards but it was an adventure in itself getting there and getting around by myself with my limited language skills. Lots of hand gesturing, simple word...

Now everyone who knows me well knows that I dont cook. I have two favourite sayings " I've only got a kitchen because it came with the house" and 'God created restaurants for a reason". With that in mind it will come as a great surprise that I decided to give my spotlessly clean kitchen a test run during this National Day holiday. First challenge was working out how to use the appliances give that all instructions are in Chinese so I just pushed a few buttons ti...

After yesterdays epic tourist trail I'm now fully aware that Baise not only has beautiful scenery, but also profound revolutionary history. As the place of Deng Xiaoping's Baise Rebellion and Youjiang Revolutionary Base it has a strong link to China's past history. In recognition of that it is one of the 12 red tourism (revolutionary tourism) spots in China and won the 2007 Chinese Tourism award. AHHHHHHHH but there was more to see. Buildings have been transform...

Two of my students decided that today was the day for me to learn about their history and culture so we set off at 0800 (early for me but they are used to getting up at 0600). Caught the local bus into the city centre and then another bus to the Youjiang District. I'd never have managed on my own as naturally all bus signs are in chinese characters!! First stop was a lovely little pagoda set on the side of a hill overlooking the city - not a tourist attraction- a...