Yangshuo - Nanning, China to Hanoi, Vietnam
We checked out of the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat where we had a chance to relax for the first time in our two weeks in China. Such a beautiful spot and a little hard to leave, especially because leaving meant venturing out on our own, sans tour guide, for the first time since the begining of our trip. Because of the fact that our first flight out of Guilin was cancelled (reason given was that all flights from Guilin to Guangzho cancelled with start of bullet train service), and then after hours of research, and turning down the Access Asia tour company’s solution of a train to Guangzhou and a $500 transfer from the railway station to the airport, I found a flight from Nanning, China to Hanoi on April 29. A few weeks later, that flight, too, cancelled. For a few days, I wasn’t so sure we were meant to get out of China at all. The final solution was finally that we would take a train from Guilin to Nanning and fly from Nanning to Hanoi on 30 April. The tour company owner said he didn’t even realize that there were trains from Guilin to Nanning, another bit of concerning information, but after several reminders Access Asia purchased our tickets (I couldn’t do this because they are not available for online purchase and needed to be purchased and sent to an address in China, plus 29 April was the start of a weeklong holiday in China so seats were not easy to come by). All this was set, followed by an email that announced another change in our flight reservation, which Molly saw for me on my gmail, since we couldn’t actually check gmail from China since Google in not allowed. Our tour guide Kenneth called China Eastern Airlines twice to confirm that all was okay and we really did have a flight for 30 April. But still, we were not entirely confident that we would get to Hanoi and the idea of free range traveling was a bit daunting. We had been the only Caucasians during most of our trip in China and very little English was spoken, except for our tour guides. Some of the signs were in Chinese and English, but very little spoken English. As we got onto our first flight in China Hayden said, “I waited for the English to follow, but it never came.”
The main buidling of the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat.
A visit to the Ludi Cave in Guilin before heading the train station. Our first lesson in stalagtites (coming down from the top of the cave), and stalagmites (coming up from the bottom, formed by the tiny drips of limestone falling with the drips of water, a millimeter or so per years, over billions of years).
A 5otm pic!
A view of Guilin from the men’s WC
Saying goodbye to Kenneth at the Guilin train station. The security police would not allow him to accompany us into the station. He had to leave us off at the passport check point. I think he was more nervous, at this point, than we were!
All the Chinese kids, and adults, did the V sign (like Lydia is doing here). We thought it was for peace, but it turns out it is V for Victory.
We found our waiting spot. On the platform, we need to wait at our specific train carriage number marked on the platform. It’s actually quite organized. And the trains leave and arrive EXACTLY on time. We also learned that to get onto the platform, you need to wait in a specific line depending on the color of your ticket. A nice girl in Xi’an showed us that we were in the wrong line. She was shy about speaking English with us, but she got her point across and we were thankful she did.
We arrived in Nanning!! This is the underground train station, with a McDonalds, and a shop called “As Cream,” which we think was selling ice cream!! We stayed at a pretty sketchy AirBnB in Nanning which took about an hour to find because there were 4 towers to the apartment building, not well marked. We dropped our stuff, went out to find the Airport bus shuttle, which was somewhere near, we just didn’t know where. After a lot of exploring in the underground railway station, we found a sign (in English) directing us to the shuttle. When we came up from underground, we realized we were literally across the street from the apartment building lobby. We bought ice cream for a convenience store (drumsticks and Katie’s favorite vanilla covered with chocolate with a chocolate bar and some white thing in the middle- YUM!). That was dinner and then we headed to bed on wooden beds with a thin foam cover. No mattresses. No one showered because it was kind of gross and there were no towels. Hoping things would improve from there in terms of our AirBnBs. We knew it wasn’t any place particularly nice but it was convenient to the railway station and airport shuttle. Seemed better than a $500 transfer in Guangzhou. Cheap AirBnB and $3 shuttle to airport. 
We got up early just in case the Airport shuttle took longer than our AirBnB host told us. We got to the airport with no problem and were super early! We had to wait an hour before we could even check in. Our flight was easy and we made it to Hanoi!! Phew!Lydia going through Vietnamese customs, barely able to see over the desk! And luckily I didn’t get arrested for taking the pic, since it was forbidden (which I temporarily forgot)!
Our Old Quarter Homestay host, in Hanoi, had arranged a car to pick us up. On the drive into the Old Quarter, we saw more Caucasians in the first 20 minutes than we had in two weeks in China!
Waiting for our check in at the homestay.
We spent our first night in Hanoi on a Street Food tour. Super fun, if not hot, and super crowded. Our guide was a 20 year old university student, Mimi, who was chatty and loved Eliza and Lydia. She told Eliza she wanted to bring her home to her mother and always had wanted a sister.
This place was on the third floor of a restaurant/home. Mimi told us that the building was worth a million USD because in the Old Quarter, the real estate has becoming so so expensive, especially with the explosion of tourism. The family serves food on the third floor, and then at night, moves the tables and chairs and sets up mattresses. There was a partition next to us, even while we ate, and an elderly was on the other side resting!
Getting tired, as we visit six different restaurants for six Vietnamese specialities.
Vietnamese egg coffee (egg yolk and sugar whisked together - tastes like meringue even though it is egg yolk). The story goes that this was found as an alternative to milk. The kids had egg hot chocolate. I am glad it was part of the tour because I never would have tried it otherwise. Super yummy.
Busy night in Hanoi. This was the middle of a four day weekend celebrating the Vietnam Independence (April 30) and Labor Day (May 1). The streets around the lake in the Old Quarter were closed to cars and scooters. So many people!
The kids in front of the Pagoda on Hoan Kiem Lake. Most pagodas are to worship Heaven but Mimi told us this pagoda is worshiped by the youth of Hanoi for “high test scores” (!!)
