What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

During our time in Guang Xi (廣西), we experienced a few pretty hot days towards the end of Autumn and visiting the seaside city of Bei Hai (北海) felt like we had been transported to a tropical island with its silver beaches and blue sea. It was incredible to think that at this time of the year, swimmers still came out in droves and headed right for the sea for a cooling off dip ! Yeh - it was 31C and walking along the steamy beautiful Silver Beach (銀灘) made us wish for a cool beer and a good lazy lie-down on a hammock and enjoy the sea breeze. Luckily it became cooler as we visited the inland Bei Hai Old Town (北海老街) with its very nostalgic and characteristic buildings that resembled those we had seen in the China towns all over South East Asia.
It was quite a different story a few days later when the first Winter systems engulfed Guang Xi and fortunately we brought along on this trip our wind breakers and long sleeves which did the job of keeping us wrapped up warm in the chilly days we spent in the mountains of 南寧青秀山 and 桂平西山. These two mountain ranges although not extremely huge in terms of acres of land but they still offered a good work out of our already tired limbs ! As in most cases we found in China, compared to the cities, the mountains and park lands offered a completely different standard of quality of air and it was no different here; so with our lungs pumped up with fresh oxygen, we tackled these mountains energetically and we were rewarded with stupendous views of the villages and scenery all round when we reached the zeniths. Of course, we ate our hearts out afterwards or otherwise we might have lost a lot of weight after this enjoyable trip to the southwest corner of China - Guang Xi.

Being the closest Chinese provincial capital to the ASEAN countries, Nanning offered visitors a comfortable and colorful stay with its mild climate and an endless list of sub-tropical gardens and parks as well as museums showcasing the heritage and legends of the many ethnic minorities who called Guangxi (廣西) home for more than 10,000 years. Reaching here from Hong Kong was a breeze, as the bullet train only took 4 hours and we were whisked away to this lovely corner of China. The many ethnic minorities of Guangxi included 壯,瑤,苗,侗,仫佬,毛南,回,布依,京,水,彝族 and altogether these peoples woven an unbelievably (together with Yunnan) rich and colorful tapestry of history and culture and their ancestors had left us with a heritage of tried-and-tested practices including how to manage paddy fields and bronze and copper alchemy. We visited the Guangxi Ethnic Minority Museum (廣西民族博物館) and were hugely rewarded by the many exhibits and artefacts illustrating the diversity and wisdom of these ancient peoples. Apparently, these clever dudes were the first to perfect the art and irrigation methodology of growing rice in paddy fields on all types of terrains before their wide-spread adaptation in other parts of China - henceforth rice became the staple diet of Chinese; also they were BIG on making drums, in particular out of bronze and copper and research done by historians could point out the different patterns, sizes and materials of these drums which represented their different ethnic origins.

The sub-tropical climate had been ideal for nurturing a wide variety of flora and fauna in Guangxi; we were in particular impressed with the Guangxi Medicinal Botanical Garden (廣西藥用植物園) where we found all types of plants and herbs which had useful and beneficial qualities to cure all types of ailments; you name it - aches of all kinds, all manners of internal organ diseases from lungs troubles, kidney failure to hepatitis as well as sorting out your usual sport injuries and your annoying blocked nose. Nanning (南寧) also boasted a host of beautiful (and huge) parks including 金茶花公園, 南湖公園, 五象公園, where we spent most of a day each and not even managing to completely visit all the areas of these lovely parks. All in all, fun days-out in this friendly and interesting city.