Post # 73 Nanning (with pics!!)

Day 88 992 days to go. Distance: yesterday 69km today (still to come), total # . It’s 9.10am Sunday 26/2/2012 Nanning. Neehow from us in Nanning. China what an amazingly interesting and challenging place to travel through. It took me just short of 4 hours to find my way through Nanning yesterday and to the hostel I read in the Lonely Planet. It’s a new experience for me to rely totally on the directions of others and not be able to negotiate myself. A bit challenging for this little independent girl. But hey we’re gettting there. I found out last night that China has a internet block on wordpress so I have to organise an alternate way to update you and am working on that one with the family’s help on options. I started yesterday with a visit to the local market and bought some snacks for the day. I found a steamed bun with a date mix in it and another steamed cake wedge yum. I munched on that for breaky and enjoyed watching the locals in their morning market mode. Most folk are so shocked to see me but some are curious enough to poke about the bike and me and a few will say hello or give me a smile but mostly not. In saying that we just smile and say Neehow and present as best we can. I feel sooo alien but to another level. And with the language barrier but reliance on local directions its quite isolating the feeling. I relaised last night it’s probably the first time I have actually felt lonely. Needless to say I loved my shype catch yp with the folks and my partner over the last 24 hours stay in Nanning. Nanning is not the biggest place Ive been in but its certainly the most dense and developed with highways and overpasses and over half dozen bridges across the river it sprawled around. It was a new level of challenge and I must say stress. Rube got taken out heaps of times by intersecting pedestrians, cars, tuks tuks, taxis, mopeds, bicycles, dogs J She was a bit fragile last night poor darling and needed a cuddle. Nanning otherwise is a real funky city neon and bustling and grand. Very cool to wonder through which we did so after cleaning up and taking a deep breath arriving yesterday. I culd have kissed the girl at reception when she indicated they had one dorm bed left thank Budha. I found a supermarket and stocked up on essentials. The cost of living is higher and it’ll be good to stay between 15-20 dollars a day. The amount of help Im getting is wonderful but given I’m also asking for allot of help. There’s lots of shuns amongst the trys if that’s the word. I can only imagine we would be just as alien as we feel. It’s an amazing experience and one I have found myself in as I don’t think I would have chosen to be so out of my comfort zone. Chinese folk I have come across are unique. There’s no chaos amongst how they move and interact like south east asia. It’s far more orderly amongst the people and on the roads. But’s its still very busy, dense and populated in the cities. There’s a constant feeling I have of having nothing to loose with respect to asking for help. The worst hing is that I am still standing here in the crossroads literally not sure which ways which. I keep hearing my partner say ‘don’t panic’ and my Mum saying ‘ take deep breaths and one step at a time.’ I’m into it and will love it moreso in retrospect I’m sure but it is a new level of challenge. I am re routing the trip again now I am a bit more familiar with road types and conditions. It’s also important that I aim for a place for the day as there’s allot of rural in between. I’m still working ion that and will update you when I’m a bit clearer. Rube’s travelling just beautifully and I tell her how clever she is every moment I can. Darling girl!!! For now I have to pack myself up and face the ‘getting now out of Nanning’ challenge. Has any one seen road 322??????? It’s north east so with compas in hand that’s a good place to start. Tallk soon x