China

Nanning and Guangzhou, China

It's been a long time since we've been able to update the blog as we couldnt access the blog in China due to 'The Great Firewall of China'.
We got the overnight train from Hanoi to Nanning, China without any problems - although we could collectively complete the China Health Quarantine form (where they list a load of symptoms and ask you to tick the boxes of the ailments you have). We arrived in Nanning to find out it was the beginning of a Chinese extended weekend so loads of people were using the trains, so the prices had gone up. We opted out of spending over 200quid for a train ticket to Guangzhou and instead got a sleeper bus there in the evening. During the day, due mainly to the fact I felt really ill and Felly and Walmo were both quite tired, we went to 'Shoppingland' (not quite a theme park) which was filled with Chinese shops, mostly clothes. After going a few hours around the city, Felly and Walmo hunting for cheap t-shirts that they could actually fit into (a chinese extra large is like a British small) and I was always making sure I knew where the toilet was, we got bored of shopping, and headed towards the bus station. Suprisingly we actually were able to fit into the beds, though Walmo didn't get a good night's sleep as he was starting to feel a little under the weather. This meant Chinese buses 1 - 0 Vietnamese buses.
The next day we arrived in Guangzhou and eventually (after many many language difficulties) managed to check into a hotel where we all slept for a few hours in the vain hope of recovery (though Felly wasn't feeling unwell) - however sleep became a tricky feat as Walmo's blocked nose and sore throat meant that he snored like a constipated rhinoceros. That day we didn't really do much, Felly went for a walk at one point, and later on Felly and Walmo went to dinner. Otherwise we didn't accomplish much. The next day I felt a lot better and we were all up for seeing a bit of the city. However as Guangzhou isn't really much of a hot spot for tourists, there wasn't really much to do - especially if you don't speak Cantonese. After failing to find a cheaper hostel for the night, we booked our coach tickets to Hong Kong for the following day then we went to The Temple of the 6 Banyan Trees which was a traditional, beautiful and tall chinese temple 17 storeys high. That night after a very plain chicken and rice we took an early night so we could go to the most beautiful park possibly in the world the next morning before our bus to Hong Kong.