Exploring a Bit of the City

Now that we are on vacation and I am not doing 7 days a week, I finally decided to head out to see a bit of Nanning. Namely, get on the subway and go to the big shopping and Expo area in the east of the city. I went with my coworker and friends, an English guy named Mark who was also interested in seeing the city.

The Exhibition Centre was very busy with people getting ready for Chinese New Year. It was fun but packed. To be honest, while the structure itself was cool there wasn't a lot to actually DO there besides people watch. so we left, walked out to Minzu road, and made a left for Jinhu square.

Exhibition Centre

New Year Sales

We walked along Minzu until we came to Jinhu Square, and Nanning's most famous landmark, a arch with a giant elephant on top. The elephants are apparently a reference to five elephant mountain, which I am told is near Nanning. I am not sure what elephants have to do with Nanning, as the only elephants anywhere in Guangxi are in zoos. That being said, it is a cool looking statue that appears on mugs and shirts here. Like virtually everything else in China, the statue is said to be lucky.

the Five Elephant Statue

While the statue was cool to see, it was a bit like the Exhibition Centre in that there was very little to actually DO. Jinhu Square is a business area, and there isn't much to do there if you don't work at one of the banks. It was also a cloudy, cool day so it was a good idea to keep moving.

So we walked back the way we came along Minzu and past the Exhibition Centre to reach MixC, a mall that has an international food market. Ole, it is called, certainly had a few international foods, but mostly in the form of sauces and drinks. Not a lot of cooking ingredients. They also had the prices to match. MixC is otherwise a moderate sized shopping mall. It is nice to know I can get jeans and shoes here now, but being that we are staying a block away from Mall of Asia in Manila next week, I decided to save my shopping for there.

It was then a subway ride to Chaoyang station to Parkson's. Another mall, but with a few restaurants. We tried Indian, which was among the best meals I have had in China.