Heading to Nanning

So we finished our load out in Harbin around 4:00 in the morning. I was very sad, cause I was really hoping for a 5 hour load out. Needless to say you can hope and pray all you want, but the Chinese will always have the last word. Our load out is suppose to be 100 people and we only had 60 guys show up to the call. And on top of that, about 20 of the locals decided that they didn’t give a damn about our show and loaded out there own crap of the theatre. Much of which was in our way the entire run we were in Harbin. So we finished load out and got a nice day off. Notice in the picture it is daylight, that’s because the sun started to rise at 3:15.

Tuesday: Tuesday was our travel day and we had a 11:40 departure bus trip to the airport to fly to Nanning. Unfortunately after loading our luggage and getting everyone on the bus, the bus began to pull out of the parking lot and the driver stopped. Come to find out that we had blown a tire. So we got to spend the next half hour waiting on another bus to show up. And if you aren’t familiar with tour life, this is what happens when you are forced to wait….
When flying in China, it is actually a very simple process at the airport. They have a “group” check in and it is the most amazing thing in the world. They check us all in at once and pass out the tickets to the company manager. The baggage part is the best, because they don’t weight your bag. They weight the ENTIRE groups weight!!! So in order to get us on the plane our company mgr. has to put a little money down to pay for the overweight baggage. Today’s grand total was 8500 yuan. Silly China, they don’t except American Express, so she had to pay in cash.
I loved this sign. No kindling allowed!!!
I am still shocked I got this next photo but it is a classic. I walk up to go through the security, and there is a security guy inspecting a gun!!! Turns out it was a toy gun, but the security guy was not amused. Very funny.
Now, just before boarding my plane I thought I would take a walk through the convenient store in the terminal and came across some more awesome snacks. Below we have sliced deer antlers. To me this brings an entirely new meaning to eating every part of an animal.

And sure enough, you gotta have more beef. I mean what is China without meat!

The flight to Nanning was great. It was 6 hours of flight time, but because we were such a large group we were able to stay on the plane at our layover city. And when we had 20 mins in Haifa they told us to stay in our seats because there was a storm and they wanted to get us on our way. Awesome. Below, a common theme. So nice to be welcomed.

We travel by bus to our hotel in Nanning and I have to say that this may be one of the nicest hotels I have EVER stayed at. And you will never believe who owns it. Best Western. Surprisingly Best Westerns, Howard Johnson's, and Ramada’s are some of the nicest hotels in China. And they are top of the line. My room is HUGE, with 10’ vaulted ceilings, huge bar area, 2 queen size beds together to make a super king bed, full floor to ceiling window, an amazing 12” shower head, and a separate bath. This hotel is so awesome, there is a button right next to the toilet that you push and it tells anyone outside the door you are taking a shit. Ok ok. It says “wait a minute”. But really, that is class.

One of the coolest features of the hotel, was a very western menu. However, as we are beginning to find out they don’t quite grasp some of the food. For lunch today I ordered a Caesar Salad and french onion soup. You have no idea how ready I was for a Caesar salad. And this is what I got.

With a dressing that I swear to god was tarter sauce! Oh well, the French onion soup was good. Here is a final picture looking out my window at nighttime and daytime. Driving through the city, it makes you think of the emerald city. EVERYTHING has lights on it.