Airlines CAAC, 82 Chaoyang Lu (daily 8am-8pm; tel 2431459).

Banks and exchange Bank of China, Minzu Dadao (foreign exchange Mon-Fri 8-11.30am & 2.30-5.30pm). Flasher hotels will cash travellers' cheques for their guests.

Books There's a bookshop with a few foreign-language tomes on floor three of the department store overlooking Chaoyang Park on the corner of Minzhu Lu and Renmin Lu - look for a sign in English outside the building.

Hospital The City First Hospital (Shiyi Yiyuan) is southeast of the centre along Qixing Lu.

Internet Log on for ¥6 an hour at the large but hard-to-find Jinwang, Floor 2, 166 Gonghe Lu; entry is through a street-level covered car park.

PSB On the roundabout at the south end of Chaoyang Lu. Foreign Affairs Department (Mon-Fri 9am-noon & 2-5pm).

Pharmacies There's a large pharmacy on Chaoyang Lu next to the bus station.

Post and telecommunications The main post office, with telephones, is more or less between the bus stations on Suzhou Lu (8am-8.30pm), with another branch at the train station.

Shopping Nanning is an excellent place to shop for clothes, with no less than three department stores full of good quality, low-price attire at the junction of Chaoyang Lu and Xinhua Lu, plus a big undercover night market just a little farther down on the east side of Chaoyang Lu. Xinning Lu has nostalgically styled specialist shops if you're after musical instruments, more clothes, tea or gold. The Nanning Antique Store, next to the museum, has a very touristy selection of batiks, teapots, chops, paintings and jade, on two floors.

Telephone The telephone code for Guilin is 0773. The telephone code for Nanning is 0771.

Travel agents CITS, 40 Xinmin Lu (daily 8am-noon & 3-5.30pm; tel 2816197, fax 2804105 or 2801041). Reserved, but helpful if prompted, the staff speak good English, arrange local tours and Zuo River trips (¥500 per person, or ¥650 with an interpreter) and - with ten days' notice - can obtain Vietnamese visas for the Pingxiang crossing (¥760).