After 18 days in Nanning, I departed by sleeper train to Vietnam.
Aside from the fantastic World Gymnastics Championships hosted here, I’ll best remember the many hours I spent walking and running along the river parks.
Locals come to the river to exercise. And swim like Mao.
Somebody here was selling bags of fish.
The Chinese lie down and sleep when they are tired. Regardless of where they get tired.
China, and especially new cities like Nanning, are orderly. Even the graffiti is orderly.
Parts are ultra modern. But lifeless. Many of the beautiful architectural creations are more form than function.
Twice I walked to the Museum of Science and Technology. Twice it was closed.
Though the traffic on foot and motor vehicle IS chaotic, I only saw 2-3 accidents over my days there. Remarkable.
As much as possible, I stayed away from vehicles, shopping near exclusively on this pedestrian mall.
I spent 18 days in Nanning, China. As in most subtropical climates, the local food is spicy.
First night Dvora and I headed for the famed night market.
The fresher, the better. Some of the delicacies on offer were still wiggling.
I’m not very adventurous at the best of times. And most visitors in China find the taste of the seasonings used here odd. This was the last time I ate street food.
Most of my meals were provided at the World Gymnastics Championships cafeteria. The self-serve dishes had names like:
Bone Soup with White Gourd (Rib, Soybean, Mushrooms)
Purple Sweat Potato
Braised Beef in Wine (Beef Knuckle Meat, Carrots, Wine, Onion, Celery, Flour, kitchup and Vanilla)
Hakka Braised Pork (Soybeans, Streaky Pork)
Stir Fried White Fungus with Macadamia Nut and Celery
Catering to palates from all over the world, most were quite bland. All were overcooked as many foreigners fear getting sick from the food in China.
I tried a bite of most everything. Except for stews. Who knows what actually in this?
Some offerings were interesting and colourful, thought I often could not identify what they were.
Sadly, I have to report that my very favourite cafeteria food was European white bread with New Zealand Anchor butter.
Watermelon and melon for desert as sweets in all of Asia are NOT to my liking.
After our first restaurant had a rat run between the tables, I ended up instead buying groceries at Wal-Mart (Coke Zero from Atlanta and Sultana biscuits from Singapore) and snacking in my room.
My go to meal in downtown Nanning was a delicious Chicken sandwich at … McDonalds.
Hopefully I’ll be a bit more adventurous in Vietnam.
Folks are out dancing, doing Tai Chi, walking backwards, walking while clapping hands, swimming, stretching. Morning exercise outdoors is a great Chinese tradition. There are fitness playgrounds everywhere.
Striking is the contrast between the traditional and modern.
4am Canada …
car to Nanaimo
ferry to Vancouver
bus & train to YVR airport
flight to Guangzhou
flight to Nanning
courtesy car to official hotel
taxi to my hostel
… midnight China time
I’m staying at the Green Forest hostel. Facebook and twitter are blocked but my websites are working.
original post __
I fly today out of Vancouver. Arrive Nanning Sept 25th for the World Gymnastics Championships.
Nanning is known as the “Green City” because of its abundance of lush tropical foliage. …
Nanning has a warm, monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate …
Nanning is close to scenic Guilin, with its world famous hillscape, northern and western Guangxi and its minority villages …
I’ll exit by train to Vietnam en route to Nepal. Hiking in both those nations.
Here’s my post just prior to my 1st trip to China Aug. 1998 – have you eaten?
We enjoyed the complementary breakfast at the Sandman hotel in Squamish, new built for the 2010 Olympics. Many of the other guests were cyclists.
Prices are still half or less in Squamish as compared with Whistler.
We opted not to ride the new Sea to Sky Gondola, $35 return. Next time.
After some debate, we decided to next get a hotel close to the ferry in Delta. By luck we found the Coast Tsawwassen Inn. The best of our hotels, so far. Attached is Brown’s Socialhouse, a favourite restaurant of Yvonne and my Mom.
The B.C. chain has now expanded to Saskatchewan and Alberta. 🙂
We dropped our bags and continued across the border to Birch Bay, Washington, a spot Yvonne and Rob enjoyed years ago.
Mom was impressed with the view from a rough (to be diplomatic) beachside cafe.
We rambled towards the Bellingham, Washington Costco. The parking lot was packed with Canadian vehicles.
Most were here loading up on cheap milk. $US 5.32 for 2 gallons, about half what it costs in the Great White North.
We loaded up on cheese, maxing our allowable for crossing back to Canada.
Seems the Canadian government props up the dairy industry. In America the free market keeps retail prices low.
Arriving back at our hotel at a reasonable hour (for a change) I had time for a run in Boundary Bay Regional Park.
Mom and Yvonne drank wine, both tipsy by the time we headed for dinner.
Next morning we were up at around 6am. Mom and I walked on to a morning ferry back to Nanaimo. Yvonne had a long driving day in front of her – Whitefish, Montana.
hot chocolate on the newest ferry
So … Our 4-day, 3-night loop went Comox (ferry) to Powell River to Lund (ferry) to Sechelt to Gibsons (ferry) to Horseshoe Bay to Whistler to Squamish to Twawwassen (ferry) to Nanaimo. With a sidetrip to the USA. 🙂
We’ve been talking about doing this loop for years. Mission accomplished.
The sun was shining on the Sunshine Coast when we awoke in Sechelt.
We strolled over to a local coffee shop for breakfast. Sat in the sun.
Mom was impressed with the friendly and chatty Sechelt locals. One shopkeep offered to print some documents for us. For free.
We took a sidetrip to Porpoise Bay to check out the option to sea kayak Porpoise Bay Provincial Park. Looks good to me.
Next was Gibson’s.
Gibsons is a coastal community of 4,200 … It is the main marine gateway to the Sunshine Coast.
… Gibsons is best known in Canada as the setting of the popular and long running CBC Television series The Beachcombers, which aired from 1972 to 1990. The storefront “Molly’s Reach“, now a cafe …
The Beachcombers … is the longest-running dramatic series ever made for English-language Canadian television. In all, 387 episodes were produced.
We caught the ferry over to Horseshoe Bay. Another gorgeous trip.
This was my 3rd time in 2014 traveling the Sea to Sky Highway. On the advice of a tourist information guy we grabbed a hotel in Squamish, built new for the 2010 Olympics.
We continued up to Whistler for a walking tour.
Nice afternoon. The mountain bikers were just coming off the hill, hitting the pubs.
Another excellent day on the Sunshine Circuit.
We had a hot tub. Then ordered in Pizza to go with our wine. 🙂
Rick McCharles 