water, water, water everywhere...

Asia's largest 'cross-border' waterfall (and the world's 2nd largest, after Niagra Falls) is on the China-Vietnamese border, about 4 hours from Nanning.  Last weekend a group of us decided to visit it.  And it was spectacular!

We took a bus there and planned to spend the night.  The problem was that none of the 4 of us spoke Chinese and there was no english spoken, and very little pinyin being used!  Maybe I do need to learn the Chinese characters after all. 

But, we managed, with phrasebooks and translating programmes.  We organised a room (in a much better condition than I'd expected), got tickets to see the falls, and managed to find a return bus to Nanning.  For meals, we've got a few staple dishes down in our limited Chinese so we'd ask for them and hope for the best!  Some of the best food I've eaten so far was there, especially the Vienamese style egglant.  We also got lucky that a Czech tour guide who was living in Guangzhou and taking Czech tourists around China (and spoke English) was there to help us at times.

When you approach the waterfall there is an option to take a bamboo raft towards the bottom of the falls.  This we did and we got close enough to have a shower!  We also spotten a man standing above the falls fishing.  I'm not sure how successful he would have been.

with Carly on the raft

Carly, Mike & Becky

see the man in the middle?

The journey there was quite stunning, very green and rural.  We'd pass rice paddies, pineapple plantations and plenty more of crops we were unfamiliar with!

We climbed up to the point where the mountains turn into Vietnam.  This is not an official border crossing but it is marked.

This border area is filled with people selling the staple tourist stuff we see all over.

We also visited the neighbouring town of Shualong Town.  There was little there but the guys went swimming (I was on camera duty) and we had a nice walk through town.  We came across problems with ordering here and when we thought we'd ordered Coke and Sprite, we were presented with rice and snails! 

Finally, we said good bye to Detian and returned to Nanning.

learning Chinese

Okay, after 4 months here, I really should know a little more than ní hǎo.  So, I've decided to become serious about it and a colleague (Mike) and I hired a tutor to teach us.  Her name is Zoe and she comes to my house twice a week. 

Mike trying to get his head around the tones.

We spent the first few weeks literally learning tones.  Mandarin has 4 tones: flat, up, down/up and down.  The meaning of a word differs dramatically depending on the tone.  For example these 4 words all mean different things:

mā        mother

má        hemp

mǎ        horse

mà        scold

It's very easy to get the tone wrong, and sometimes a bit dangerous too as we might say inappropriate words.

Having covered the tones and basic vocabulary, we are now learning small dialogues.  It's very hard to get it right and have any sort of fluency in our conversation but with practice...

I have a few friends here who have studied Chinese for about a year and they can get by okay.  This is not going to be an easy language to learn for me but I'm determined to try!

if you were a vegetable, what would you be?

This weekend I found myself at the Guangxi TV studios in the audience of a 'Blind Date' show.  Some of my friends were in the show and we were along for support.  One was a girl who was in the panel of contestants.  The ladies all bring their mother and my (American) friend brought her Chinese sister in law.  It was funny to see all these chinese girls (and mothers) and then one white American!  She proved to be quite popular and was picked by some of the guys (http://vod.gxtv.cn/VodInfo.aspx?Pid=572&Id=39544).

The next day, an Australian friend of ours was one of the 'selectors' (http://vod.gxtv.cn/VodInfo.aspx?Pid=572&Id=39756).  This was fun to watch as he was on stage for a long time and had to talk in his limited Chinese (a lot better than mine of course!).  He had an interpreter on stage with him to help him out where necessary.  The contestants get to ask each other questions and the mothers get to put their two cents in too.  Not surprisingly, he had questions along the lines of 'how will we communicate' and 'where will you want to live?'

He ended up picking a girl, who after audience pressure (and against her mother's wishes) accepted him. 

China's most picturesque city...

For May Day weekend, a bunch of us visited Guilin (and Yangshuo), in the northeast of Guangxi.

'sunny' Guilin

This is the number one place that Chinese people wish they could visit as it's known to be so beautiful - and I have to agree with that description.  The city is on the Li River and the area is studded with small limestone hills covered in trees, known as the Kaft Hills.  Over the years, these have eroded and now some people claim that they have the shape of a dog's head, or an elephant...

looks like a poodle

elephant trunk??

We'd arrived very early as we'd been on an overnight bus from Nanning.  So, by 630am we were in one of the parks and it was great to see how busy it was with people doing their morning excercises.  There are dance classes, keep fit and tai chi going on or just the odd people doing their stretches.

In the park we also visited a cave.  This was extremely large and they'd created pathways and 'light shows' all the way through.  We tagged along a chinese group, of course not understanding the commentary.  We did have 2 people in our group who speak chinese so every now and then we'd get snippets of the information.

We only had 3 days so we spent one in Guilin, where unfortunately it mostly rained.  The next day we went to Yangshuo, this is a very touristy town, and was a real change from Nanning as it was so western.  But ultimately I'm happy to be living in Nanning, and not in such a touristy area.  From Yangshuo a few of us took a trip on a bamboo raft on the Yu Long river, which is off the main Li River.  This was very peaceful and incredibly beautiful.  We got lucky as it was our only non-rainy day.

maybe not all of it was 'peaceful'

Yangshuo is known for it's impressive light show (http://www.yangshuo-travel-guide.com/liu-sanjie-show.html) created by the chief director and creative brain of the 2008 Olympic Games.  We tried to see the show, and even went to the location, but at the last minute they cancelled it, due to the rain.  So, this is a reason to return to Yanshuo!

The markets were fun to walk around and I enjoyed meandering through the town (and getting lost a few times!).  Some of the stuff for sale is pretty much generic and seen everywhere (even in the Italian markets sometimes) but I like it anyway.

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.