En route to wonderful Beihai

So far I didn’t mention our “great” female driver. She had an old car (brand unknown), heard quite loud Chinese music and drove very slowly.
So today we left Mingshi Village and did head to Beihai, a city and port, located in southern Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi. Beihai was opened to foreign trade in 1876. Beihai became a moderately important port and the principal outlet for the trade of southern and western Guangxi. Later, after Wuzhou on the Xi River and Mengzi on the Red River in Yunnan province had been opened to trade, Beihai lost much of its importance. It became no more than a minor port, with much of its foreign trade being in the hands of French trading companies. Beihai enjoyed a revival after 1937, when the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) began, but in 1940 it itself was occupied by the Japanese.

Since 1949 Beihai has flourished as one of the most important fishing ports of southern China. Although much of the fishing fleet was destroyed during World War II, after 1945 the fishing industry was rapidly rehabilitated. After 1949 Beihai developed a shipbuilding industry for small craft and also began to manufacture cables, sails, and nets; a canning industry was established, as were plants making such various fish products as fish-liver oil, dried fish, and glue. As the nearest Chinese port to Vietnam, Beihai traditionally had strong trading links with the Vietnamese port of Haiphong.

After arrival our driver took us to a noodle restaurant. That soup was ok. After that we were dropped at Guantouling Hill and visit Pudu Temple.

In the evening we had the pleasure that our guide took us to a seafood restaurant of her choice. Guess that was the mistake as the fish was very expensive for a place like that. She must have got a commision. We did choose the fish from the water basin, it got thrown to the ground and one of the guys did kill the fish with a stick.
Later on we tried desperately to find a bar for a drink after a crazy day but we were unlucky. Even our walk to a 20 floor hotel was not successful as the bar in the 20th floor was closed. Another proof that Beihai was still heavily affected by Covid.Read more