Got our Vietnam visas while in Nanning and got stranded on our first day in Vietnam

playing around one of the many parks in Nanning

climb to the top of the pagoda 

Our China visas are about to expire so its that time again, we have to move on and Vietnam is up next. We took the morning bus out of Yangshuo for Nanning that took about 6 hours and cost us $12 each, they didn't charge us extra for the bikes. We arrived late afternoon had a booked a room in a hostel not too far from the bus station, but it was a little hard to find because it's in a condo high rise. Was contemporary, new and cheap at only $11 bucks a night private room with shared bathroom. We even had them processes our visas saving us looking for the Vietnam embassy, the hostel did it free as long as you stayed at the place. Visa's for Canadians cost $60 bucks for 30 days.  It took 3 days to get our visas and surprisingly their wasn't a shortage of things to do in Nanning. A delicious night food street, loads of modern shopping malls and great parks to visit. A big bonus was Nanning city spoke and understood Cantonese a big plus for me.

last kilometer to the boarder

first hotel we checked out was closed

first meal in Vietnam Pho and beer

narrow homes in Vietnam

With visas in hand we head for the bus station to take the bus 200kms to the boarder town of Pingxiang. Its a hilly 30km ride to the boarder from here. Crossing was very simple and fast had a bank to change our rmbs to dongs. In Vietnam we ride for another 25km to the town of Lang Son, first impression its pretty dusty. Lang So is a tinny town with not very much but everyone on the streets were very helpful in helping find a place to stay for the night.

Next day we decided we didn't want to ride the bumpy road to Ha long, so we headed to the bus station and after a long negotiation with the bus operator we agreed on $23 to take us to Ha Long bay. After about 2.5hrs it was apparent with the help of a Chinese Vietnamese passenger that the bus was not heading to Ha Long, the operator planned on dropping us off midway and flag down another bus to take us the rest of the way. They were unable to get another bus to take us the last 80km's but again with the help of the Chinese lady, she got the bus operator to give us back $10 for not delivering on their promise. It was getting dark and no place to sleep so we set up fast and started the ride as we rode off not long after we had company, Jaeuk a young Korean touring around the world. It was dark now and we decided to stop in Cam Pha about 30kms outside Ha long. We found a great place in town, large room with 3 beds and only $7.50 for the 3 of us. The owner was an unbelievable nice lady that gave us free bottle water and even a red bulls when left. Not too bad after getting abandoned in the middle of no where the day before.

decided to put our bikes in the back because the roof is for chickens 

very tight bus standing room only

we got dropped of here in front of a Chinese Restaurant with the owners family

kind hotel owner in Cam Pha

Here we come Ha long bay!

Setting off on our bikes for Guilin and a few first in Yangshuo

Bikes, panniers, tent, and other crap we probably won't use but every says its need for a long haul by bicycle. Our first destination will be the bus station, haha. We don't have the time to bike the 500 plus km's to Guilin. Its a 10 hour bus ride on a sleeper bus first time and hopefully our last one. Somebody was smoking, and the bed was tight and short plus someones feet stunk, overall was not the best experience and it cost us $25 each including our bikes. We arrived 5am it was dark, raining and to top it off our hostel wasn't even open yet. We spent a total of 4 days in Guilin, checking out the most popular sites, enjoying the stunning back drops but what stole the show for me was seeing the giant pandas at the Seven Stars Park they are the cutest adult wild animals I have ever seen, totally worth the extra admission fee.

waiting at the bus station in Jiangmen

visited the ancient town of Daxu

riding around the old Qin Dynasty 2000 year old streets, not too bumpy

checked out the Reed flute cave 

240 meter long cave is lite with wonderful colors 

lucky thousand year old turtle

drunken master 

elephant trunk hill

famous birds that do the fishing 

enjoying cheap korean food in Guilin

camel hump hill in 7 star park

giant panda, great to see these amazing animals, so few remain 

not as famous but just a cute the red panda

check out the baby getting in our photo

famous Guilin noodles

After the 4 days we biked to Yangshuo, our first time riding any distance with our bikes loaded up. It was a total of 75 km's and a perfect riding day, cloudy and flat idea condition for our first ride. It took us just over 5 hours that included a stop for lunch. We had set up a couch surfing host in Yangshuo, and would meet our host at the park infront of the bus stop. Zooey, is a rock climber, full time student that was nice enough to share her home and take us. She took us around town showing us her life in Yangshuo. Couch surfing for the  first time has been a enjoyable experience and hope to have more. Thanks Zooey! 

loaded up on our first stretch of payment 75km's to Yangshuo

Yangshuo back drop of hills, ponds and streams

we had this delicious stone bowl of rice and veggies almost everyday for lunch

having a beer with Zooey our first couch surf host 

this is the picture on the 20 RMB minus Jieun

climbing one of the hills

over 200 meters straight up 

made it up to the top and we were the only ones, nice peaceful view

inside the town of Yangshuo

The famous Liu Sanjie Show used the hill and lake backdrops as the stage for this huge production 

check out this mobile police station cool

Yangshuo, is a nice town that seems tourism has helped, the centre of town has loads of great restaurants, shops and cafes for all budgets. Its also a place for biking, trekking and of course rock-climbing. Next we are off to Nanning city, to get our Vietnam visa's.