Leaving China

China is such a huge country that there's always so much more to see. I've covered a lot of miles in my three weeks but have only seen a tiny fraction of the country. 

I took a high speed train from Guilin to Nanning. The train arrived at Nanning East station and my next train departed from the central station. I opted to take the bus after being told I'd have to wait 1.5 hours for a train between the two stations as that way I'd get to see a little of the city. The bus driver must be the most considerate driver in China - he was stopping to let let pedestrians cross the street! No one else does. The city seems more Chinese than some of the others I've been - I didn't see any western brand shops or fast food outlets. Although it could just be that the bus didn't go through those areas. 

I was very early for the train but Chinese station waiting rooms are excellent places for people watching. This is the train I took to leave China. It's a lot busier looking in the other direction. Four sleeper coaches travel between Nanning and Hanoi every day. The rest of the coaches are regular seats and only take passengers as far as the border town. 

It got dark about 20 minutes after leaving Nanning. We arrived at the Chinese border about 10pm and, unlike in Russia or Mongolia where the border guards got on the train to do the checks, everyone had to get off the train with all their bags. First Customs x-ray the bags and then we queued up to get the exit stamp. Only after everyone was through were we allowed to leave the building and get back on the train.

At the Vietnamese side of the border (about 45 minutes later) we all got off the train again and queued up to get entry stamps. Customs scanned the bags of the first few people through but then stopped and didn't seem interested in the rest of us. I got my entry stamp just before midnight. Then it was back on the train and time to try to get some sleep before a very early arrival in Ha Noi.