Our Chinese visa expires tomorrow, so we are leaving Guilin today to travel to Nanning where we will pick up the express bus to Hanoi tomorrow. We spend a fruitless hour or so trying to change some US dollars into Vietnamese Dong to no avail. We go to two banks both of which tried to give us Yuan instead, and one of them keeps us waiting for half an hour whilst they try to process the transaction. In the end we draw the conclusion that it isn’t possible to get Dong in China – we will have to rely on being dropped close to an ATM when we get to Hanoi!
We are travelling hard seat on the train, which is the cheapest, and on this occasion, the only class of ticket available. The train is a double-decker and it’s absolutely packed and very noisy. But the standard of accommodation is pretty good – there is the usual free hot water for making drinks and pot noodles (very important as everyone pulls out a pot noodle when meal time comes around) and a food vendor comes through the carriage several times during the five-hour journey. Only one problem – there isn’t enough room for all the luggage and Andy ends up having to hug one of our backpacks all the way. We arrive in Nanning at about 9.30 pm, giving us half-an-hour to find the bus station and buy the tickets for the 7.30 am express bus tomorrow. But despite having directions we don’t find it before it closes at 10pm, mainly because it is called the International Tourism Distribution Centre! Ah well, and extra-early morning start tomorrow.