Blogs from Sanya, Hainan, China, Asia - page 7

We slept in a bit and decided for breakfast we'd get something quick at the bakery down the street from our hostel. The bakeries here are strange. Most of the baked goods come wrapped in plastic and taste a bit different. You can still find something good though. The plan for today was to meet up with two others and go to Nantian Hot Springs, arranged by our hostel. Originally, it was just going to be the two of us, but the more people that went, the cheaper the overall price would be for the taxi ride there and admission. It takes about 50 minutes to get there from our hostel, so anything to cheapen the price.... The two people the joined us: John, a Canadian in his mid 60's. His daughter is currently teaching in ... read more

As I was leaving Bo'ao, the innkeeper gave me a ride to the city where I needed to catch my bus, quite an upgrade from the little local bus I had taken on the way there, packed to the gills with people. It was at the bus station that I got my first hint of the difficulties of traveling during Chinese holidays, as I had to wait almost 2 hours for my bus. Part of that might have been because I was taking the express bus, which was the peak of luxury--huge reclining leather seats, minimal music, no stops--all of which were quite welcome (I'm sure I would have enjoyed the local bus as an experience, and I might have gotten to see more of the island, but I'm always at high risk of getting motion ... read more

We caught the train October 1st (National Day) at 10:45...and rode for about 10 hours to Zhanjiang (a city on the southern coast of Guangzhou province). The views were both beautiful and surreal, but the ride was crowded and uncomfortable. A hundred or more people crammed into the train car in Guilin, and most of them rode for 6-7 hours, leaving us only a few precious hours to stretch our legs out in our seats. We played several rounds of musical chairs with the people sitting near us in order to be close enough to talk to one another. Every once and again I caught glimpses of what I can only assume China looked like 40 years ago...save for the power lines cris-crossing the fields. The last couple hours we practically had the train car to ... read more

WE DECIDED TO COME TO SANYA BECAUSE OF ALL THE GREAT THINGS THE INTERNET SHOWS YOU. AFTER ALREADY BEING IN CHINA FOR OVER A YEAR I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT IT WAS ALL FAKE! THATS RIGHT! FAKE!! CHINESE PEOPLE REALLY LOVE TO USE PHOTOSHOP ALOT! WE ARRIVED IN SANYA AT THE AIRPORT FROM CHENGDU AT 3AM AND IT WAS HOT, SO AT FIRST WE WERE HAPPY AND KNEW THAT WE MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE....OUR OTHER CHOICE WAS THAILAND AND CAMBODIA. WE ALREADY PAID THE 2 MONTHS FOR A PLACE IN DADONGHAI. FIRST OF ALL LET ME TELL YOU THAT SANYA BAY IS DIRTY WATER AND THERE IS VIRTUALLY NO BEACH UNLESS YOU GO A FEW MILES DOWN THE ROAD THEN IT DOES GET A LITTLE BETTER, BUT IF YOU ARE A FIRT TIMER HERE AND U ... read more

This November, HKIS had its PEAK trips. I can't remember what PEAK stands for, but it's a week when the school closes down and all the kids are off on trips around China. Sixth graders all do the same trip - this year, to Beijing and Xian. Eighth graders go on adventure trips in pretty large groups. And seventh graders have the best trips of all - they get to choose four of the trips on offer and get placed in one of those four. the trips are either hiking, biking or community-service oriented. This year, I went with the trip to Hainan Island, an island off the eastern coast of Vietnam. We cycled 100 k.m. over four days - which, really isn't all that much for real cyclists, but was perfect for me. Here are ... read more