Ni how (written not in pinyan but how you pronounce it) from China.

OK so we are now actually in Xian about to head to Beijing for the beginning of the end. But this is goin to be about our arrival in China.

The bus journey was good. We met two Australians on the bus and at Vietnamese immigration the officials were friendly and having a joke with us. We walked through to China which was a very shiny new building; they did not have a laugh with us but were very very efficient so no problems.

We arrived in Nanning which is described in Lonley Planet as a leafy provincial town so you think small. Oh no, not in China it still has a population of 6.48 million, among which 2.45 million were urban residents 6.48 million, among which 2.45 million were urban residents 6.48 million among which 2.45 are urban residents. Bristol has 433,100. It is not small but it is compared to other places in China. We stayed in mixed dorms which we ended up sharing with the Australians. It was very nice which was good as there is not much to do in Nanning.

One of our first challenges was to buy train tickets; we went to the train station which was a confusing mass of people. So we headed back to the hostel to get some help, she very helpfully wrote down the train numbers we needed and we headed back to the train station and basically with the written info of the train number the place we wish to go to in pinyan. We got train tickets. Eating is just as complicated no english menus, not in pinyan just charaters. So we got to one place and just pointed at the pictures of what we wanted. The Chinese waitress got frustrated we think she was asking if we wanted drinks etc and we said no. (there is no actual word for no you have to repeat the verb). Anyway we got a whole fish and shrimp - it was Yummy. After a couple of nights in Nanning we headed by overnight train to Guangzhou.

We travelled hard sleeper where the bunks are in groups of 6. 3 on top of each other and at the end of them a corridor. I havent really described them well but if you are desperate to know check out the seat 61 website. We were travelling top bunk where you dont get a great deal of headroom. But the lights get turned off at 10 pm so puts everyone into silent mode and it is ver quiet. The only thing is that you are not allowed to smoke on the train but everyone goes to the end of the carriages to smoke so it stinks sometimes in the carriages.

In Guangzhou the Asian para games were being held. Now some interesting information for you. Guangzhou is north of Hong Kong on mainland China, was twinned with Bristol in 2001, is the third largest city in China with a population of 10,344,500 as of end 2009. It is very big. The Asian Games is the second biggest event of the type behind the Olympics. China (and Asia for that matter is upscale) the figures and crush on the MRT here is uninmaginable. We had a great time in Guangzhou and saw alot and managed to get our cold weather coats. Yay! We stayed in a YHA hostel in dorms. We ate lots of tasty street food which is very accessible and had a very cheap meal at a small restaurant. From here we headed off to Hong Kong but that is for another day.

China is amazing but can be incredibly frustrating at times. As we may not get another blog up I will say we saw pandas at christmas not so much Kung foo but very cute. We have seen the Terracotte Warriors and are heading to Beijing tonight.

Love and hugs

xxxxx