Roland's Travelog: Yichang, Wuhan and now Nanning

At Yichang, I found a decent hotel and contacted others that I had met on the trip, who were also planning on staying there, to give details on how to get there. 'Leave the bus station, cross the road, walk 30m west and you are there', thought I would make it simple for them. Kiran arrived a bit later having gone on the dam trip and I went to meet her at the bus station anyway, but she wasn't there. Called again, "where are you?", "at the bus station, by the gate" she replied, "Hmmm, me too, don't see you !" Turns out they had been taken to a different bus station, why on earth would they do that ??? Well, that's Chinese tours again for you. Anyway, problem solved, she and later 2 others arrived by taxi from their remote bus station in the North East of Yichang.

It seemed a decent town, quite calm, relaxed atmosphere, riverside location, we went to the train station to get tickets for tomorrow, Kiran got hers no problem, the train I wanted, had no tickets available, as Yichang was a transit station for the train and so only had a small allocation of tickets that had already gone. Bugger. Went out for dinner, practiced some Dutch with the Dutch lady (forgot her name now!) and had a local dark beer, brewed in the bar where we drank it.

Got up early and walked around an awakening town, and decided to try again for a train ticket. As I boarded a bus to the station, I was a little surprised to see the floor covered in vegetables, huge stacks of leeks, herbs, chinese cabbages and alike which I had to jump over to get to a seat. A few stops later a few ladies, got off, hauling their stacks of vegetation off the bus and to the nearby grocery market. I guess they came from a nearby village with produce ready to sell in the big town. Not quite as bemusing as the endless boxes of bananas and mandarins that I once shared a bus with from Tbilisi, Georgia to Zaqtala in Northern Azerbaijan, but it's just one of those moments when you catch a brief glimpse of real life going on in China.

Unsurprisingly, still no train tickets, so I headed to the bus station, had a nice bowl of 'mizhou' (rice porridge) and took a bus to Wuhan, where I hoped to get a train ticket to Nanning.

First attempt at a ticket office around the corner from the bus station failed, no tickets, sold out, Guilin? (which is on the way), also sold out, they tried to sell me a flight, but I was not falling for that. Checked at the bus station, there was a bus leaving in the evening, Ok that would have to do. Queueing for a ticket, some local who spoke English came and chatted to me and asked where I was heading, I told him and he said, that Nanning was a long way to go by bus! And that I was crazy! Yes, I already knew, but there were no train tickets I explained. He pointed out a train ticket booth at the bus station I had not seen earlier and told me to try, but surely if they are sold out they are sold out, I said. Anyway I thought maybe it was a sign, an omen and thought I would just check one more time. Unbelievably they had a ticket !! Amazed, I headed off to the train station. No idea what was going on at that first ticket office I tried. (It's the one at bottom of Xinhua Lu, and is mentioned in The Rough Guide to China, don't bother with them.)

Not much to report from brief stop in Wuhan, apart from lots of old men with white beards around the station offering palm reading and that I bumped into someone I had met on the boat trip again. He seemed excited at seeing me again as he ran out of his hotel chasing me ! He was from Dunhuang and we had chatted a little about my visit to his city, he was very pleased I had been and liked it there! Anyway, off to the station, on the train and settle down to another overnight journey to Nanning. Plenty of the usual entertainment on the train, with young children staring at me inquisitively and their keepers teaching them a new word 'laowai' I heard one girl teaching her daughter the word for foreigner, as I walked by. Happy that I can help educate these children a little by bringing a new word into their vocabulary ;) One of these young girls, became more nosey and started sneaking looks around the partition to look at me and then run away whenever I caught her looking, nothing new, it happens often on trains, but ever so funny to watch..

Something I hadn't seen before is beef packaged like candy, I was offered some by a girl on the train, it's simply dried beef cubes, but wrapped in little wrappers in a packet just like sweets, really bizarre, I was expecting chocolate or some boiled sweet, I was surprised to find it tasted of beef ! Although I had enough noodles and fruit to eat, she kept offering me bits and pieces, beef, spicy chicken etc, which was very kind, maybe she thought my diet of noodles and fruit was not nourishing enough.

Spent a while in Nanning again which is now even greener than before with Fruit trees lining the streets, now in full colour, even more dance classes going on around MinzuDadao which we sat and watched for a while, intrigued by the fruit basket dance to a song apparently called 'The Lychee Dance'. After a lot of hectic travelling from place to place recently it was nice to slow down for a while, in a hot and humid Nanning. Signs that the rainy season is beginning were plentiful as heavy downpours temporarily flooded the streets until the sun came out again and dried them up before the next downpour.

One afternoon, Jane took me along to a school magic show that she had been invited to by a friend. Standing in the playground I was getting plenty of curious looks from the children, some would edge closer then run away, a bit more courage and next time they might say 'hello' and then run away, it was funny. But once, one or two started talking a little more, many more gained the courage to get closer and crowded round to watch, so for a while I was surrounded by the kids being questioned thoroughly as to my origins, reasons for being there, which of the women I was with was my wife and if I liked football and basketball. If I moved anywhere they all just follwed in a mob and surrounded me again ;) Once I had exhausted my chinese vocabularly it got a bit tricky, so had to try turn it into a bit of an English lesson and after a while I was relieved when the magicians appeared and I was left alone again.