Not in Kansas

"We're not in Kansas anymore Toto".

The first words that popped into my head as we drove the stretch from
the Nanning Airport to our hotel. I knew the part of Beijing that we
were in was fairly westernized, but it's hard to fully understand that
until you get away from there.

Let's start with the that since we left the other adopting families,
I've been the only white person in the room. We flew out of the
domestic terminal - and mine was certainly the only white face on the
plane.

Coming into Nanning, you could immediately see that the landscape is
far more lush and green than aything around Beijing. Stepping off the
plane into the dense humidity felt like descending into a tropical
storm. It was certainly a contrast from yesterda's Beijing dust
storm. Ironically, as we came into a drizzly Sunday afternoon, we
read in a paper that their is a drought here in Guangxi.

Nanning itself is also more what you envision when you think of
stereotypical China - no English signs, moppeds everywhere, cramped
shops crammed with wares up to the ceiling and open to the street, the
shop keepers often lingering out front - somethings in conversation
with a group of others. There is also more of an industrial feel here
with Soviet-style block grey architecture and massive apartment
complexes that appear deserted.

If all that wasn't enough, this evening's buffet offered such wares as
fried bullfrog and grilled roach (although I think this last was
actually some sort of fish). Feeling a little overwhelmed overall,
especially considering what is to come tomorrow, I elected not to
partake of the frog or the roach.

Of interest in the fact that Guangxi is actually an Autonomous Region
because of the high minority population here. While most Chinese are
Han, there are also a number of minority groups across the country.
In Guangxi, the Zhuang people are the dominant minority group and the
province has special political status as a means of helping to
preserve tne interests of that minority. For example, elected
officials have to be from the Zhuang minority and those in the
minority groups are exempt from the one-child policy.

We got some information about tomorrow - we're to meet our guide at
2:30 to head over to another hotel where we'll receive Ren. Not
exactly what was in the itinerary we received (which said we'd be
going to the Civil Affairs office), but then again, our guide Lancey
turned into a Glen, so we're electing to roll with the punches. So,
by the time Ottawa wakes up on Monday morning, we should be with Ren.

Given it was a travel day, there are only a few pictures - mainly
killing time in the airport.

Good night from Nanning.