Nanning - Day 1...or Night 2...?

So all in all it was a fairly uneventful trip over, we are here safely and have unpacked and started to explore.  A few key notes about the adventure though - the red-eye is the only way to do this trip!  We flew at night time the entire way so we were able to sleep a bit on the plane and got here at 10am which kind of felt right to just begin our day and start to get over the jet lag.  We also flew on the most giant plane I have ever seen - 2 stories, full beds for first class and I think even 8 private rooms maybe?  So we have been teasing John on how much he does not look like his passport photo any longer, he was really tan when it was taken, didn't have glasses yet and in the last few years has begun running.  Well, I make it through customs in China with a "you cut your hair?", "Yes sir", "Welcome to China, go through."  Then I wait for John, and I wait, then I hear him say "Yes I did get glasses, yes sir, I started running, yes sir I do look different now," - needless to say they had him stare into the digital camera for a good long while and at two different checkpoints, re-took his photo!  So we are coming down the escalator to find our connecting flight from Guangzhou to Nanning and I am mocking John for the photo incident when I am stopped by two women smiling at me and asking to see my boarding pass.  I figure they are just trying to be helpful since you can't look much more clueless than the two of us at that point in the journey.  So she pulls out a list and points at my name and says "You?" With a big smile I confirm, clearly they are here to help us right?  Nope - she hands me back my boarding pass and tells me to go wait in a holding room with about 20 other people as our luggage was pulled for inspection.   Hmmm?  5 minutes after sitting in this room the same woman comes back and talks to a few other people then makes her way to me, points to the person above me on the list and asks where they are and how do I know them - I have no idea who they are as I am only traveling with John and she tells everyone in the room that they can go.  Mind you, I have watched Brokedown Palace far too many times and did not expect that to be the outcome; however, that is what I get for mocking my husband and his passport photos I guess?

We make our way upstairs to the next gate, I am standing across from a shop that is opening up when I hear one of the workers shrieking.  As I look over, I see the biggest rat I have seen since my last time in the El in Chicago running down the hall.  When John and I walk past the store we notice that there was a cage that clearly held the rodent until his great escape.  My question is this - if you see a giant rodent in a small wire cage, why open it???  Finally arrive in Nanning, grab our bags that have clearly been rummaged through (sorry mom, but they got everything back in close to how you had it!), grabbed a cab and checked into the hotel.

Yongjiang Hotel of Nanning is really nice, clean, spacious, friendly staff etc.  The only problem for us here is that very few people in Nanning as a whole speak any English but oddly enough, even have a hard time reading the Mandarin to English phrasebook - maybe today we will use the Cantonese phrasebook and see if that helps at all?  It is cold and rainy here, not what we were expecting but have found several places to shop (I think that is all there is to do here other than various parks) so we may need to get some warmer clothes when the stores open up.  It feels like close to 4 Bajillion people live in this "little" province and they all walk around the main circle at the same time.  Luckily, there is a Starbucks so we can get some caffeine first thing in the morning!

Random thoughts and I then I will let you go - some of you know of my recent fascination with Korean Drama shows right?  One of the most surreal things that I have noticed here are people using the same phones, or actors from the shows are featured on ads here, product that is heavily placed in various shows are sold right next to Clinique in the department store, etc.  I realize that this may not make a whole lot of sense, but to my jet-lagged brain it is incredibly cool to see these things in real life and it reinforces how small this world really is.  Never mind, I am exhausted and will try to explain better some other time... We did get to Skype with Little Man today and we miss him like crazy!!!  However, I know he doesn't really like crowds and this city would have been so overwhelming for him.  We are so grateful that he is tucked safely into his own bed and in familiar surroundings even if I do dream of scooping him up and never letting him down again once I see him.  Here are a few photos from today, more to come tomorrow when we have our bearings about us again.

xoxox - Nancy