Day 50 - Water Puppets

The rain that started yesterday evening continued on during the day making any kind of sightseeing or walking around not very pleasant.
My train for Sapa was already booked for the evening so I just had to find a way to spend the day.

Since it was raining, I figured the best way to spend my time was to catch up with some blog updates in a cafe but also go to see the Water Puppet show in the afternoon.

I quite enjoy the Water Puppet theatre and while the show ha remained the same from last time, it is still god fun and nice to see again.

It was still raining as I was boarding the train to Sapa and I started to wonder if this would be the me weather I could expect in Sapa. Still, there is only one way to find out and since my ticket is flexible I can always get back earlier if needed.

Day 49 - Museums and Temples

The great thing about Haoi is that most of the main sights are close to ach other and it's easy to walk everywhere and see a lot in one day. Despite this, I decided to take it easy again and just go to the Temple of Literature and the Ho Chi Minh museum.

While the Temple of Literature is very nice and worth a visit, I was not very impressed with the Ho Chi Minh museum as the information seemed a bit light and I did not feel like it provided enough value.

From the video clips and quotes shown I can gather that Ho Chi Minh was quite a cool guy who would have probably not liked seeing the museum and mausoleum built in his name.
Still, I would have preferred to find out more about him and bis life in the museum but did not feel like there was much of that there.

It was nice to just do some light sightseeing, the weather was also a bit dull and grey with some occasional drizzle and rain in the evening so not great or inspiring for photography.

Day 48 - Good morning Vietnam!

Sometimes one needs to read the destination of where exactly a train is going to dump you at 5am. In case of the Nanning train, it is at Hanoi's Gia Lam station, which looks like a building site and is in the  iddle of nowhere, 3km away from the actual city centre you want to be at.
Arranging a pick up service through the hotel is only then going to work if you give them the correct station, otherwise you have to haggle with taxi driver early in the morning.

After making it to the homestay despite the pick up not working as expected due to the station mix up, I realised I was located literally jut around the corner from the last hotel I stayed at while in Hanoi.

Having been to Hanoi before and seen most of the sights, I decided to just go for a stroll without any particular destination in mind. It is nice to revisit places as it frees you from the need to go and visit the sights and instead you can just soak in the atmosphere.

Hanoi is really busy and loud with crazy driving but I like it and find it's a very nice place. One thing I noticed was different than during my last visit is the number of tourists now in Hanoi.

After spending the day walking around Hanoi, I decided to change my itinerary again and stay longer in Vietnam, although this means extending my visa.

Day 47 - Guilin Sunrise and Train Chaos

The day started of very nice and calm with an early start and walk around the lake near my hostel to take pictures of the sunrise.

Guilin is probably nicest early morning and in the evening when you can get some great photos. There are also less tourists and people around in the morning so it's nicer to walk around and take pictures of the locals doing their exercises.

Once I got to the train station however the calm changed and people were everywhere due to the holiday being over so everyone was heading home. This would not have been a big issue as I had my train ticket sorted already and was just waiting to board.

There is something about trains on Sundays in China as all trains to Nanning were delayed and with my 9:17 train, delayed to 11:25, it would mean missing the connecting train to Hanoi.
Heading to the ticket office, I tried to change my ticket for a fast train leaving slightly later at 10:30 but it turned out this was also delayed till 11:40 and I would again miss the train to Hanoi.
So instead they gave me a ticket for the 7:45 train to Nanning at 10:30 because this was also delayed till 11:05 but according to them it should get to Nanning between 16:00 and 17:00 leaving me with 1:20h to get my connecting train.

I know what you think, I should have just got back to my hotel and enjoy the day in Guilin and travel tomorrow but I am stubborn so I set out on the journey sitting in 3rd class on a seat near where my ticket allocated me, enjoying the company of my fellow Chinese travellers.

It was a fun journey but the train did not only not make up any time, it got even more delayed along the way so I got to Nanning at 17:55 and had to still buy my ticket for the train to Hanoi. You might rightly say I should have bought this in the morning already but I was suspicious if the train would make it in time.
The queues were very big in the ticket office and I would have never made it on time were it not for my knowledge of the Chinese queuing system. If you're in a rush, just jump the queue and go straight to the front. In the UK this would not go down well but here it seems common and I had the tourist bonus. ;)

Long story short, i got my train ticket and made it on time to get the train to Hanoi with plugs that did not work again. Since it would only be a few hours overnight, this did not bother me too much.

The border crossings were quite efficient although this time everyone had to get off the train with their luggage and have it scanned in the terminal building. Still, it was preferable to the crossing between Mongolia andChina where we got locked in the carriage without water, AC or toilet access for hours.

Day 46 - Guilin

The first task in Guilin after arriving early in the morning was to find a cafe with wifi so I can book myself a hotel and know where to go.
It's always nice to get to a place early as it leaves you enough time in the day even after you have to roam around looking for a place to stay. The only downside is that most places are not open yet so finding a cafe is not always easy.

At first look Guilin made a very good impression n reminded me a bit of Hangzhou with the lakes in the middle and old bridges crossing over the rivers.

After walking around and going to some of the main sights, I found that Guilin is very commercial. Nothing against commercial but here everything costs and nothing is cheap. Want to see the Elephant Trunk Hill, that will cost you more than the Forbidden City. You could also try to find a spot to see it fee or hire a boat for less and also see it free but the same applies to all the sights in Guilin.

If you want to go and see everything in Guilin, you could easily pay over 500 RMB just for the entrance to places. This kind of put me off the city, as nice as it is, it seems to be more about making money.

Since I did not feel like paying the high asking prices for entry to most sights, I was looking for something you can do that's free but provides the same kind of views and enjoyment as the pay for places.
In the end I did find something nice to do away from the main tourist area and free. If you head south from the main centre, you will find Pagoda Hill and Tunnel Hill. Both are free and especially Pagoda Hill provides some great views over the city and surrounding karst mountains. You just have to go up the slightly overgrown path but will be rewarded not just with the views but also with being almost all on your own (you can see the hill and the views from there in the 3 pictures above).

As soon as it gets dark, the lights around the lakes come on and transform the city into a very colourful place with people out and about as usual dancing and socialising together.

This is the best part and something you have to see while visiting, just make sure you get out before 23:00 as after that on the dot, all the lights go off and everyone is gone home.

Despite enjoying the evening in Guilin, I decided to stick with my changed plan and head to Vietnam earlier and spend more time there. Tomorrow morning, I will have my train to Nanning and change there for the daily train to Hanoi.