Blogs from Hainan, China, Asia - page 16

AFTER 16 HR FLIGHT, NEWARK/HONG KONG ON CONTINENTAL, WE ARRIVED IN HONG KONG & SPENT ONE NIGHT. FOLLOWING DAY, FLEW 1 HR TO HAINAN ISLAND TO PREPARE FOR OUR 'FOURTH' SESSION WITH GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS IN HAIKOU CITY. THE WEATHER IS VERY WARM & HUMID........WE'RE USED TO THAT & RATHER ENJOY IT! HAD A NICE DINNER WITH OUR CHINESE FRIENDS UPON OUR ARRIVAL IN HAIKOU LAST NITE. WAS A WONDERFUL WELCOME FOR US......... ALL'S WELL!!!!! ... read more

The first semester is over, and the first week of our month of Chinese New Year holiday is over. And what a week it was... We left the cold weather in Wuhan last Sunday and headed due south to Hainan province and the most southern city in China, Sanya. It is only a two hour flight from here but a twenty degree Celsius increase in temperature, which is what we were looking for! Being as disorganized as ever, I booked the flight and the "hostel" online at the last minute so did not really have any idea what to expect when we arrived. We would have loved to have spent the whole month travelling but due to our last three summers of cross-country travelling and the fact that we are moving to another apartment in a ... read more

Aside from people we saw along the way, part of our trip involved a service component. We visited a local school and taught them how to play hopscotch and 4-square. They sent a kid to climb a palm tree and throw down some coconuts, which they then cut open for us to feast on the juice and coconut flesh. We also met up with the employees and students of a school for students with disabilities. We hung out at the beach together, and it was beautiful to see our kids trying to help these kids out. ... read more

Hainan Island is lush and green. We biked through pretty rural areas. Here's a selection of some scenes from our route. Can you believe I actually got off my bike to take photos?... read more

The last 5 days in Sanya were rainy and cloudy so we decided to give the Nantian Hot Springs another go. We went to the same hostel to see if anyone else posted interest in going as a group to the hot springs. Thankfully, we met a couple Agnus (from Poland) and Thomas (from Germany) who joined us with Cat. Also Mark mentioned that his wife had made a sweet deal with a taxi driver to drive 5 people to the Nantian Hot Springs for 300 RMB including entrance fee and a ride back. SO we all thought it was a good idea to negotiate with the taxi drivers first and see if we can get a better price than going with the hostel package. Well it took us an hour to negotiate 600 RBM for ... read more