I think you mean Zos, I am actually there right now too but I took the bus from Nanning.

North Vietnam will be very cold in January.

Oops, sorry.

elsslots
I went there last year 1st week of January. It is not very cold from my experience (even from my tropical standard). Europe in December is way colder. It is still chilly but manageable.

The MR1 train coming from Hanoi is the same train departing for Ningming from Pingxiang (just different name). If you are coming from Hanoi, you may ask your hotel to book the train ticket for you. You can ask them first if they can book to Ningming directly. If not, just book until pingxiang. And buy the ticket to Ningming from Pingxiang (better prebook this in advance before the train leaves to assure your seat). If your ticket is only until Pingxiang, you need to get out of the station and and wait for the counters to open again. The downside of this is you will wait outside while the other people enjoy the comfort of continuing their sleep on the train.

Thanks Zos, I will try it.

Els, what is your plan for the area? I assume the train you arrive also is so early, and then you stay the night in Nanning?

Yes. My plan is to go on to Nanning in the afternoon (maybe by bus, as they seem to be more frequent).
Stay the night in Nanning (plus visit the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities, and then take a fast train to Kunming)

The museum is a little off the main areas but otherwise here is the bus schedule to Nanning:

https://imgur.com/a/Ojnh1bj

You can tell if it goes to the east (Langdong) coach station by the longer distance, and although they are not as frequent it would be easier to stay near the east of town for the train station, however everything is connected well with the metro. If you have to go to the South station it takes maybe 45 minutes to the other one. In the middle of town, Chaoyang Road, you might find it more "fun" in the evening.

Depending what you do at Huashan you may have difficulty finding transportation to the coach station. It should never cost more than 30, and print out 宁明客运站 for the coach station to show a driver. They might also understand "bus" of course. I saw a bus but unclear where it actually stopped. Oh, and from the train station it should only be 20 RMB.

Great, thanks for the bus schedule. Fairly frequent indeed

P.S: and for the review as well, I will publish it next Saturday

I have a few questions about Chengjiang, where I will drag myself to in a few weeks:

Despite all the recent detailed reviews, I am still confused about the geographical lay-out.
What does the location including the first dig site, identified by Zoe as "Chengjiang Fossil Specimen Exhibition (Chinese Academy of Sciences Nanjing Geology and Biology Institute)" look like. Is it this one?
I guess (from the colour scheme used) it is the same one as this entrance?

And then we have Maotianshan Geopark, which is at a different location but in the core zone?

There two places that can be visited right now:
1. 澄江动物化石群博物馆 Chengjiang Fossil Land Exhibition Hall. This museum is very closed to Chengjiang bus station. Gift shop here.
2. 澄江化石地（帽天山）CHENGJIANG FOSSIL SITE and Maotianshan Geopark are the same places I suppose. So just take a taxi to the entrance gate, all the sights we can see right now are in that gate. But maybe the Chinese Academy of Sciences Nanjing Geology and Biology Institute Hall in Maotianshan is closed right now. You will find another museum is open now.

Great, thanks for the Chinese translation!

davidyao
davidyao

@Els. Yes the museum is very near the bus station. You can visit it before of after the site.

For the second site, I would suggest to ask the taxi driver to wait for you. It is very difficult to get a cab back to bus station from Maotianshan. You may ask the driver to just run the meter while waiting. There is not much to see in the site. The Chinese Academy of Sciences was closed when I was there and seems so for a long time now. From what I heard, most of the finds are already at the museum. Only the "Site of the first fossil found" was open. There is also a path going up a hill near the building. You can climb it but not much to see too.

elsslots

Are you also planning to visit Honghe Hani Terraces from Kunming? It is an easy trip but you need at least 3 days (2 if you Ok with a scary night bus ride on winding roads of Yunnan). I can give you pointers on the trip if you are going there (I am planning to write a review on unit too).

Yes I am. Will be staying 3 nights.

It's been a while but I remember getting a ticket for a morning entry to the sunrise lookout, full of wannabe photographers with expensive gear and tripods waiting for it to happen, and then nothing. Next day, nothing. Third day was indeed the charm. This was also in January and extremely cold but still enjoyed walking through the rice fields near my homestay.

How exactly does your trip look like?