what goes on at night?

Nanning seems to come alive at night.  Maybe this is because it's so hot during the day (I'm told hot and humid is what I should expect in the summer).

I like to visit some of the surrounding areas to see the activity going on.  On the street where I live lots of restaurants put tables out on the kerb and they have barbeque's burning all night, with the likes of fish (delicious) to chicken feet (not my favourite).

I also notice that there are many barber/hairdresser shops and they all seem to be open until about midnight, with clientele.

Opposite my house I can hear the clacking of majong tiles.  I've walked past a few places that seem to be majong rooms.  I haven't played any here, I'm sure I'd never keep up!

Another popular game is chinese checkers.  I've only seen men play this, usually at a small table outside a home/restaurant/shop.  There are also tables in some of the parks which get filled with men playing chinese chess.

I went to have dinner with a friend to a place called Little Sheep.  The speciality there was hot pot (or what we know as chinese fondue).  It was delicious, and obviously very popular as the restaurant was packed.

the 'hot wok' is split to allow for spicy and non-spicy broth

chinese fondue on the street

On the way home we passed a tea shop and they invited us in to share tea with them. There is a whole ceremony in brewing and pouring the tea, even in thanking the server.  This is known as kungfu tea.

kungfu tea set

Minzu Square, near our school, is the square in front of a government building.  At night this gets filled with people having dancing lessons, doing tai chi or taking a keep fit class.  It's amusing to see.

Sometimes, after work, especially after our long weekend (most of our classes are taught on Saturday and Sunday), we go to a bar for a drink.  One of our favourites is on what we've dubbed as Tequila Street where some of the group likes to drink 'bikinis'.

If you'd ever wanted to try kareoke, then this is the place.  There seems to be a KTV bar (that's what kareoke is called here) on every corner.  We went to one for a friend's birthday.  You hire a private room for your group.  Inside is a kareoke machine, some tv screens and microphones.  You get comfy sofas and bar service.  Each room is soundproofed so you don't hear your neighbours singing.  It was a surreal experience, like being in someone's house rather than a bar.

For people (like me) who prefer to watch a band than sing, there is a great Jazz club.  The band is one American and 4 Chinese.  The singer sings both english and chinese songs. 

I also saw a traditional Guangxi performance at one of the scenic areas nearby.

Finally, if you really want to be like the locals, you need to walk down the street in your pyjamas!

Jiahecheng Hot Springs

About half an hour out of Nanning are the Jiahecheng Hot Springs.  These are a series of pools made to represent different countries (a favourite was the Thailand pool).  A group of us spent a day there and came away with great memories (and a sun burn!).

the pools are decorated relative to their country.

the 'chinglish' is always amusing

looking at the qui qui fish who are giving us a pedicure

Thailand pool

Have you had a Roger Moore?

At a local restaurant near my school, if I want a quick snack, I ask for a Roger Moore (it's actually pronounced Rogah-Moh).  This is like a filled pita bread with pork.

Other days I eat pork and noodles from the 24 hour place downstairs from my building or I order food at the school: either Chow Mein (fried noodles) or Cha shoaw (bbq pork and rice).  The names are my phonetic interpretations, rather than the proper pinyin spelling!

After work we often have sushi.  There are many places near the school though I've only visited 2 so far.  One of them plays Tom & Jerry cartoons continuously, to the extent that if you sit at sushi belt you have a little TV in front of you so it doesn't really allow for much conversation.  The other place seems a little more upmarket (looking at the clientele) and is always very busy.  Last time I was there we decided to try things we'd not tried before as there are so many interesting colours on the belt, such as mango with foie gras.  Later we found a menu telling us what they all were and we found that we'd eaten dolphin!  We were a little freaked out by this.

On the street where I live there are many places that make BBQ food out on the street.  We had some wondeful fish and grilled aubergine there.

There's a street behind the school that has row upon row of restaurants.  Here we usually have a 'hot pot' lunch.  This is rice with vegetables, pork and potato.  It also comes with beef or chicken.  Unfortunately when they make the chicken they just chop through the bones so you end of trying to eat around bones most of the time.

Other foods around that I'm not keen to try include chicken feet and dog meat...  Fortunately the meat counter at one of the supermarket has pictures of the animal so I can't get confused.  There are lots of pickled foods that the Chinese seem to like.

We have 4 local teachers working with us, one of whom is from the north (near Beijing) where the food is slightly different from Nanning.  She came to my house and showed me how to make dumplings.  We made beef and coriander dumplings and they were delicious!  It was a lot of work but worth doing, I feel, as they are so tasty.

This weekend we had a public holiday, known as 'Sweep the Tomb' day when people visit the graves of their relatives.  As this is one of the few days that all the teachers had the same day off, we decided to get together and have a barbeque at one of the local parks.

There are many more 'culinary' expiences that I'm bound to have but for now this gives a rough idea.