With an easy five days with which to reach the border before Chinese visas expire we left Nanning. Spent the first 30km coughing through smog and traffic fumes on the 322 which goes from Nanning to Vietnam border, but after accidently visiting Nanning airport we found ourselves on much calmer roads (and slightly lost). When we rejoined the 322 it was much quieter and didn't stink.
Found a great market in Xusu and got some fresh stuff and greasy but satisfying doghnut balls and sweet deep fried rice parcels. The next lively but shambolic town had an even more massive market (i think it must be market day) along with a giant outdoor pool hall.
Whilst looking for a camping spot i got attacked by a GINORMOUS spider. I mean like the biggest spider I have ever seen, with big black hairy legs and evil yellow stripes. I rode through its web and so it pinged straight towards me. It landed on my handlebar grip, from which i had quite swiftly removed my hand. When i tried to jump off my bike my back pocket got caught up in the saddle so several seconds of freaking out and panicking ensued. When I finally managed to drop my bike the evil spider had the cheek to just carry on chilling out on my handlebars. It refused to move when I poked it with a long stick and wouldn't be persuaded by a half eaten grasshopper dangled from its web. I don't have a problem with normal spiders but this was the size of my hand and probably ate birds for breakfast! Scary!
Went to sleep stupidly early and woke up stupidly early too. Its dark here by 6.30pm so bedtime is about 8pm! The road had improved loads since Nanning, smooth asphalt and not much traffic, but we managed to take an unintentional 20km detour by going the wrong direction and having to turn back. The compass alerted us to the fact that we were travelling north (thanks tim!), but apart from that we would not have known, what with there being no signs or anything. Its unfortunate for cyclists that all roads lead to the expressway, so if you don't want to go on it you have to pay extra attention you are not led onto it without warning. This is the second time we have got a bit lost following on the simple straight road from Nanning to the border. Doh!
We also managed to accidently run a police road block. I don't know what stop is in chinese! We stopped to buy water 100m past it and were politely led back where our passports were checked.
Oh, and at lunchtime a guy at a market thought it was really funny to point at us with a massive pigs tail (? or otherwise). Yuk!
Today we cycled to a to a town called Ping Xiang, within 20km of the border where we booked into a hotel. It was a pretty fun day, we cycled into the flashy town of Ning Ming to the sound of beating drums, to descover there was some kind of holiday celebration going on. It explains why we thought we were cycling through a war zone yesterday there was so many fireworks.
We got immediately mobbed by 100s of really enthusiastic school kids, welcoming us to China and asking us to be friends! And we got to see a crazy chinese dragon dance! We didn't manage to figure out exactly what the festival was about, but there was groups of chinese ethnic minorities doing singing and all manner of colourful costumes. It was another case of stand still too long in one spot and get surrounded by a crowd. Even the local press were taking our pictures whilst everybody ignored the dragon dance!
Another 30km to Ping Xiang which is kind of like a bling Ning Ming (sorry just had to work that one in there!). As with many of the border towns we have passed it has a weird vibe, with the place set up for travelling businessmen, importers and exporters. Pretty nice hotel for 50 yuan (3 quid). Its a strange life, free camping in hedges one night, posh hotels the next!
So tomorow to 'Nam...