Checking timetables, it appeared that getting the 11am coach to Nanning would give us a better chance of being home for tea than the 12.50 train. I rang Chuan Chuan and it took some time for her to answer in a sleepy voice, but I asked her to get Leilei ready and I'd pick him up in "shi ji" minutes, which is a handy way of saying "between 11 and 19 minutes". I was actually there more than half an hour later at 10.30, and was glad to see that he was at least dressed. Brushed teeth later, we found a san lun che just outside Waipo's house and I asked the driver to take us to the bus station. Three minutes later we found ourselves in the centre of town, where various blokes were shouting out to us "Nanning! Nanning!". I realised the driver had taken us to the old bus station area, which was now used by cab drivers as their pick-up and drop-off point. They are the only people I've seen aggressively touting their wares in Pingguo. I explained that I actually meant the bus station, as opposed to what used to be the bus station. I don't know what I should have said to get there in the first place.
The new bus station (maybe that's what I should have said) was well outside town, and it took about 10 minutes to get there, by which time it was 10.54. There wasn't too much of a queue for tickets and we managed to get ours for 65 kuai together, and get on the coach with two minutes to spare. At 10.59 I asked Leilei if he'd had any breakfast and of course he hadn't so I asked the driver if I had time to get a bite to eat. Apparently I had so I nipped out and got a six-pack of mini Swiss rolls that would at least give him some calories, if not many vitamins.
We took the opportunity of time together to talk about things Leilei was interested in, like planets and some other sciency things. I was as pleased as punch when he said he wanted to be an engineer when he grew up, but held it in as I didn't want this to dissuade him in any way. The A/C was slightly on the cold side, and Leilei said he wanted to sleep, so I looked around and luckily found some spare seat covers on the other front seats. I pulled off three of them and wrapped them round him and he leant against me and rather quickly fell asleep, as the Chinese are apt to do. In fact, they are the best nappers I've ever known. I've become better at doing it in the last couple of years, but never had this ability to seemingly nap at will. I'll have to practise. For the next 45 minutes or so I practised Chinese instead, by translating the China Unicom advert on the head rest cover in front of me. I wish I could remember the phrase I learnt - something like "not worrying about time". Very nice, and apt for a mobile phone advert.
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| Leilei wrapped up in three seat covers |
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| ...and a few moments later |
We arrived at a coach station I'd never seen before, on the west side of Nanning. We were still some way away from the train station so we got the 804 bus. It took nearly as long as the ride from Pingguo, partly because of the road works due to the building of an underground network. Even a taxi wouldn't have been much quicker. The driver didn't even charge us our 1 kuai fare. When we finally got to the train station area I realised we only had a couple of hours till the 4.20 train to Pingguo. I asked a cab driver if it would be possible to take us to and from the airport in time to catch that train, and he said it would but we'd better hurry up and buy our tickets.
So Leilei and I rushed to the station. We had to queue up to get in and show our ID (not that they checked), and eventually we found the ticket hall and a queue that after a minute we knew would take 45 to get to the end. So we gave up hope of getting the train and realised we'd have to get another coach. It took longer than expected to get out because there were more bloody security gates, at least two requiring IDs, which I didn't even bother showing. Then, once we were out, on crossing a small entrance road some bloke on a dian dong che drove into me. I was blooming annoyed but managed not to fall over. Even other crossers of the road shouted at him. But I had other fish to fry at that time.
We found the taxi driver we'd spoken to, or rather he found us, and I asked him the price of going to and from the airport. He pointed inside and said something I eventually understood to be that he was obliged to use the meter so we couldn't even negotiate a price. In some ways this was a relief, but I was going to offer 200 kuai and asked him to give me an idea at least. He reckoned around 200 so that was good enough for me. We bought some dried fish, some chilli biscuits, and some pistachios and set off.
The journey was fine, but the pistachios and chilli biscuits were soft. However, all went as it was 2.30pm and neither of us had had a proper breakfast or lunch. My suitcase was waiting for me so we were no more than two minutes in the airport, and on the way back I asked the driver to take us to the Bei da ke yun bus station. He said that had now moved, and had a new name, and he would take us there instead. I had to go on trust. It wasn't what I had found on the Internet but looking at the timetable he had there was a bus to Pingguo at 4.10. And we was adamant that buses from there went to Pingguo.
Thanks to the GPS and map on my N8 I found out we were bypassing the centre of the city and went towards the west. It finally dawned on me that we were going to the same place we'd arrived at a bit earlier. Interesting how the buses now no longer go into the centre of this city, that has become so chock-a-block with cars as to be ridiculous now. I can't wait for the underground to open. The 4.10 coach turned out to be the 4pm, and as we asked the woman she told us to hurry up to catch it (this time 60 kuai rather than 65), and we made it by one minute.
We sat, once again, in the front-right seats, and the driver told me my son was a handsome boy. I mentioned it was because his mama was from Pingguo and it wasn't long before he asked if her surname was Tan. Apparently her name is known as her brother drives in Guangxi for a living so news about us has spread in the driving community. I reflected on the day so far. It hadn't gone exactly as planned. 15 minutes in a san lun che - 15 kuai, 90 minutes in a coach - 65 kuai, 80 minutes in a bus - free, 100 minutes in a cab - 265 kuai, 90 minutes in a coach again - 60 kuai, most of the day to spend with your son - priceless.
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| Napping on the way back |
After a cheaper 12 kuai san lun che home, Tan was there to inspect what I'd brought back and all was present and correct. Except I found I'd forgotten my razor. We went to Waipo's for tea but for the first time there was none; she'd not expected us but I thought there was always food there as there are always people. No matter, Tan, Chuan Chuan, the kids and I took the three boxes of Lego Star Wars miniature fighters to the huo guo place opposite and had a great time making them before the food was served. Then, predictably, the kids went out with Chuan Chuan. I'd invited Tan to go for a massage and she wanted to, but had eaten so much at the huo guo place she could only lie down at home. I waited a while but was falling asleep so got on the dian dong che and went there alone. It was a lovely hour, with some pain to boot, but I explained that I'd spent 30 hours travelling recently so maybe she was being kinder than usual.
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| Boys and their toys (actually Xixi had hers just to the left) - huo guo in foreground |
As A Wu had said, when at this massage place just mention his name, so I did, and I signed my Chinese name on the receipt that showed me it would have been 98 kuai. For an hour not bad at all but prices are creeping up. I got back at 11pm, and fell into a deep sleep not a great deal later.
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