_Day 1

We took the high speed rail to Guangzhounan and dined at the station before transferring trains. Arriving at Nanning in the afternoon, the rest of the day was occupied by touring the university and hospital. Dinner was a fancy affair, and took place at our hotel.

_Day 2

The first stop of the day was Qingxiu Mountain Scenic Zone, toured via walking and riding the bus around. I visited botanical gardens, temples and notably the Longxiang Tower which was climbed, revealing a panoramic view of the entire city. For lunch, we had to try out the local rice noodles - I myself had some Guilin Rice Noodles. Can't say its better than the Tamjai noodles here.

On the way to Longzhou, we stopped at the Chinese-Vietnamese border and visited the Ban Gioc–Detian Falls. We were able to walk around the shore and drift on the river on a boat. I bought some Vietnamese snacks and tried some "Cat Shit" coffee, I must say it tasted great.

We went arrived at Longzhou late at night, just in time for a massive feast and another large meal at a BBQ place. I ate so much my stomach hurt, but the food was defintely better than the first night. The dishes here were influenced by Vietnamese cuisine, which included Banh Mi. There were too many to count. Off the top of my head, my favourite was this meat enclosed in wild leaves and fried. They also eat Cheungfun here, but the skewers I noticed, were less spicy compared to the North and tend to be garnished with sweet/sour seasonings.

After eating, we checked into the resort arranged for us, which was one of the nicest I've ever stayed in!

_Day 3

Our resort sat below a set of karst mountains on a large plain. The sight looked straight out of a traditional Chinese painting. Unfortunately we could not stay there for too long. But, we did get to tour the zone, first visiting a museum of Zhuang culture. Then, we went to the sugarcane fields where I got to taste raw sugarcane. The highlight was the lake behind the resort in front of the mountains, which we got to walk around and drift on. The water was the bluest I'd ever seen!

Lunch was excellent, my favourite was these fried oat/rice corn cakes and Vietnamese Spring Rolls.

Longzhou, despite being relatively unknown, has a surprisingly rich history. It used to be known as "Little Hong Kong" due to its economic prominence I'm assuming, before being overshadowed. It was a revolutionary hotspot (along with the entire province) in the 20th century. The museum we visited after lunch was related to one of the town's failed uprisings during the 1930s.

Our time in Longzhou was almost over. The last stop was another section of the Chinese-Vietnamese border driven to within a couple hours. There was a Qing-era fortress with cannons from the Sino-French war. Finally, it was time to drive back to Nanning. We were taken to a food street and ate at a Daipaidong. As usual, the food was great.

_Day 4

We checked out first thing in the morning and boarded the high speed rail, arriving back home late afternoon.