Things to do in Nanning

 Places to go

Minzu Dadao: This is the longest street in Nanning. It runs from East to West in the South of the city. It leads to a bridge to the CBD. You can find many places along this stretch. Possibly the most noticeable landmark is a giant glass covered globe. This is the science center. Not very fun, I’ve been there. Another big landmark is the government building with a giant poster of Chinese leaders.

Origus: This restaurant is above a KFC. It offers all you can eat pizza, suchi, Chinese food, desert… Did I mention there’s all you can drink beer! It’s either 50 or 100 RMB. In any case, well worth it!

Babel: This restaurant is located in the triangular shaped glass window area. It has a friendly staff and an English menu featuring many non-Chinese dishes.

Zoo: The Nanning Zoo has a lot of different animals. I don’t know how well they are treated. Some of them seem to live in quite sorry conditions. I saw a hipo there that seemed to be crazy, exactly repeating the same action over and over. He was attacking the fence. I also saw a giant sea turtle living in a very small space. Some of the animals seem quite skinny too. On the other hand, maybe your business will help them to improve the zoo? There is also a water park here that seems pretty fun. The zoo is 100 RMB and I think the water park is 100.

People’s Park: There’s a lot to see in this park. I think it is too often overlooked by foreigners. Beautiful scenery. It has a lot of games and also has a museum of natural history, free entry.

Nanhu Lake: Come walk around the lake, or stop for a drink at one of the bars. There are some activities to do here too, like roller skating, shooting a bb gun or a real crossbow! Watch out for your fingers. The action on the crossbow could break your fingers, or worse.

Wanda Plaza: Nice place to go to do some shopping. There’s a Wal-Mart, large electronic stores, restaurants, clothing stores… Across Minzu Dadao you will find a night time food market feature all sorts of interesting Chinese foods. There is another building across from Wanda (across the road to the east) called World Trade Center. The third floor of this building has a skate shop. The fourth floor has an arcade, a large restaurant that offers dim sum in the morning and a store that sells board games. Some of them are English.

CBD: The central business district is probably the most developed section of the city. Lots of tall buildings. The Vietnamese Consulate is on the left after crossing the bridge. If you go on for a little while, you will see a large mall called Admiral City on your left. It’s across from the Expo Center that looks like a giant flower. Admiral City has the city’s largest Wal-Mart, a movie theatre and many restaurants.

Sunshine 100: Babel has a western food store on the outer rim of this plaza. There is also a foreign owned bar called secrets inside the square. Foreigners often go there.