Posh stopover

Trip Start Jun 15, 2007
1
93
163
Trip End Ongoing


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow
Where I stayed
7 days inn
(Nanning hotels)

Flag of China  , Guangxi Zhuang,
Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Today we got the bus through to China and had the most thorough border crossing so far! We had our passports checked when we left Vietnam and then we were taken in a golf cart across to the Chinese side and had a guard get on the cart to check our passports. We then went through customs and had our bags searched, and I mean thoroughly! Ed's books were checked and he was questioned about them, our laptop was checked and I was asked who the baby in the photos was. No I'm not a paedophile - that's my niece! Anyway, after the search we had our passports checked and stamped and then we were taken by golf cart to our connecting bus. Along the way, the guard got on the cart to check our passports again. When we thought we were done with the checks we put our passports away, only to have another guard get on our bus further down the road and check them again. That must be at least 5 times! Do the guards not trust each other to check properly?!!
When we got to Nanning we realised we were going to have problems as no-one spoke English. We were exceptionally lucky though as a girl on a moped stopped to ask if we were ok and it turned out she speaks excellent English - she lived in England for 6 years. She was fantastic and spent 2 hours helping us! It turns out that there are no buses to Wuhan until tomorrow and the trains are all full too. So Kate helped us to book our bus for tomorrow night and she also used her membership card to get us a really nice hotel near the bus station for $20. It was pure luxury so thanks Kate! Opposite the hotel, there was another very posh hotel called the Hawaii International. We went over to the restaurant but we were told it was closed due to a wedding. We were ready to leave but were told we could have a box. We thought the waiter was going to get us a box of food to take away, but instead he led us upstairs to a room of our own, with its own bathroom and TV and table and then he acted as interpreter while we ordered. We had 3 waitresses for ourselves and were left to have dinner in our own little room. It was so nice and not expensive at all. When we came to leave, the waiter wouldn't even accept a tip. He had gone out of his way to be helpful, and all because it is part of his job, not because he wanted a good tip. How nice is that?! We felt very privileged to have been looked after so well! And now we are lying in our extremely comfortable king size bed, watching Harry Potter on TV! We even get a free pair of slippers each! Get us!!!
Print this entry