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Introduction
April 8 - Flying to Beijing
April 9 - Beijing
April 10 - Beijing
April 11 - Beijing to Guiping
April 12 - Guiping
April 13 - Guiping to Guilin
April 14 - Guilin to Beijing
April 15 - Beijing to home
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We flew from Beijing to Nanning in the morning. Amy and I
both slept most of the way.
We met our guide at the KFC in the Nanning bus station. It
was great to see her again. Amy ate a quick lunch, tried her
first squat
potty, which she proclaimed "not bad" and then
got on the bus.
To answer your questions about the express bus - it's a 3-hour
ride from Nanning to Guiping. The first two hours are smooth
highway and the last hour is bumpy two-lane roads. The bus
itself was nice. They were clean and comfortable, with reclining
seats and footrests. We were offered a bottle of water and
there was a movie (Oceans' Twelve, dubbed - luckily I had
seen it!) There was a woman with a box of chicks that were
put in the hold and survived the trip. Amy thought that was
hilarious.
The last hours' trip was interesting and rustic. There were
rice paddies everywhere and many water buffalo. We saw mounds
of dirt, decorated with papers and red ribbons, which were
gravesites decorated for their version of Memorial Day. Guiping
city limits were surrounded by lots of peasant areas and the
city never seemed to get there.
We got off of the bus and jaws dropped everywhere. I'm sure
we were the only Westerners within miles and hours of here.
I was afraid we would cause an accident. Obviously, I looked
different. Mark and Amy were obviously not Chinese because
of their clothing (not enough layers on Amy and no jeans on
the other men) and their deportment. We garnered many looks,
especially as I held Amy's hand through the bus station.
We drove to the hotel in a taxi - about a 4-block ride. We
stayed at the Changtai Hotel, a narrow building that was known
for it's rotating restaurant on top. The rotation was broken,
so the restaurant was closed. How foretelling...We were in
room 911, a family suite with no tub (just a drain in the
floor) and one floor down from the karaoke bar. The suite
had two rooms, three beds and two bathrooms. Amy quickly claimed
her bed and room and put out all of her animals on the bed.
With all the rusticness, this room had free high-speed Internet
access. Go figure. We were also in the tiniest elevator ever,
that barely held us and our one bag.
We met our guide in the lobby and walked down the main street,
Gui Nan Road. It was full of tiny storefronts of shoes, clothing,
bakeries, jewelry, everything. People came out of the shops
to see us, especially me. I took pictures up and down the
street, which was full at 5pm. This street was on the opposite
end of where many of the Guiping children are found. We did
a little shopping - hair accessories for Amy and some jade
from Guiping.
We walked to the market next to the hotel. Amy rode on a
kids' ride (an M60 tank, playing Chinese patriotic songs).
It was a long ride and I stood with her, taking pictures.
We attracted quite a crowd. We went inside to buy water and
snacks. Mark bought a can of A-Ha coffee since there was no
Coke Light. (This became my new favorite drink. At 3 Yuen,
it became quite the deal!) As I was walking through the store,
a boy around 8 or 9 came up to me and said something along
the lines of "me love some you much" and then bolted.
We ate dinner at the hotel. Xixi ordered good food - BBQ
pork with boiled nuts, spicy beans, Guiping rice noodles.
As we were eating, most of the hotel staff came to gawk at
our table.
We went back to our rooms to sleep. Unfortunately the loud,
drunken, tone-deaf karaoke singers kept us up most of the
night. Sadly, they got better as the night wore on...
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