Blogs from Hainan, China, Asia - page 14

We arrived in Sanya bus station at 1pm in the blistering heat dressed for rain as it had been in Yangshuo. Our tops were sticking to us in a matter of minutes. To find our hostel the only instructions we had were get on bus number 3 or 4, obviously these buses were going two directions, so I guessed left, after a few minutes we were no wiser and standing with all the weight of our bags on a packed bus, not so fun. Fortunately I picked the right(correct) way and we jumped off and head down a small alley with tanks full of live but funny looking fish and crabs and octopus's. After check in we head straight for the beach and had some beer. After catching some rays we head for food, having no ... read more

The Revenge of the Killer Fish After the inconclusive battle with the Nemo Killer Fish, the sea creatures regrouped and plotted a grand revenge on unexpected territory. How unprepared we were... After leaving the beach resort Sanya behind us as we successfully battled the Nemo Killer fish, we took our well deserved rest in Wuzhishan, which is named after the mountain nearby with the name (surprise, surprise): Wuzhishan. Ok, we could have hiked to the 7 fairies mountain top, but alas we decided to savour our nautical victories in a nearby hot spring resort village (whose name keeps on evading me...). But anyhow: we went there overcoming once more several obstacles: the police who stopped our bus (from Wuzhi to the no-name village) and wouldn't let us go... and the motorized tricycle from the no-name village ... read more

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 write this, Martin is downstairs possibly losing our money in a poker game with random guys we met at the hostel. Luckily 100 kuai is only around 15 USD, so he can't lose that much. :) Haikou is an interesting place. There really isn't much to do, and we weren't expecting there to be. It was a VERY cheap flight, and a cheap place to stay for a couple of nights...but not necessarily a 'must-see' on your tour of SE Asia. We had talked to enough people about it to be prepared though, so that's good. We probably could have booked just one night here and been satisfied. After checking in and getting settled at our hostel yesterday (Wednesday), we set out to explore the city around us. We went to a nearby restaurant ... 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