Blogs from Hainan, China, Asia - page 19

I've been back in Shanghai for two weeks. The sun is nearly back, but it's still way to cold for me...so last week-end, was three days in Saigon, and this week-end in Shanghai. You won't see pics from Saigon, as I'm there every month and don't consider it as travelling. So Sanya, why bother going there...well, got freebie tickets for two, so better used them. It's a three hours flight from Shanghai, and we left Friday just after Leslie school. Would I go there for a week? No...why, well, this is the true "package resort". Not much around except other resorts. Did we have a great time...oh yes! Sun was there, and we stay at the Hilton...enjoying the numerous pools. Leslie had a great time...spending time playing in the sand, the waterslides, eating around the swimming ... read more

'TRAVEL THAT FEEDS THE SOUL'........this is what GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS is all about. A week ago, we completed our third year teaching with GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS, we were the 2nd team to teach in Haikou city, Hainan Island. We taught each morning to Chinese English teachers at Haikou Educational Research and Training Academy. Every other year English teachers in China must get re-certified. This is our 2nd time having HuDi as our team leader; last year her partner, Baoli, led our small team in Xi'an and HuDi participated. We feel as tho these leaders are a part of our family now. We stayed at the Golden Sea View Hotel, which overlooked Evergreen Park--was comfortable & modern. We had breakfast each day on the 31st floor, which was a revolving restaurant; we enjoyed many views of the city and ... read more

LUCHEN is an ancient, rural village 2 hours from the city of Haikou, Hainan Island. There is a stone marker, at the entrance to the village, from the 'Ming Dynasty', 1500 A.D. It lists 10 rules for the village --'don't steal;don't cut down trees', etc. The foilage is tropical & the soil very fertile. Fruit trees are very abundant --jackfruit, pineapples, leechie nuts, bananas, to name just a few. The houses were all built from volcano bricks......bricks cut into squares from volcano lava, no mortar is used. The bricks are porous & would leak in the rain.....however, it is a very dry climate, & rains infrequently. Electricity & water are brought in from Haikou -- there is a TV antena attached to one of the electric poles along with an electric meter! We did see a ... read more

OK, less talk more pictures. Hainan (海南) was great. To give a brief introduction: Hainan is the tropical island off the mainland in the South China Sea. It is called the "Hawaii of China." The island's two main cities are Haikou (海口) on the northern tip and Sanya (三亚) on the southern tip. Although the two cities are just across the island from eachother, they are quite different in feel. Haikou is similar to many Chinese cities: a little bit too crowded, a little bit too dusty and really bad traffic. Sanya on the other hand is absolutley paradise. A much smaller city in size, Sanya boasts fantastic seafood restaurants and a beachline that runs as far as the eye can see in both directions. Unfortunately during the stay, the weather was less than perfect. Just ... read more

Sanya, the warmest place of China in the winter, the beach of Hainan island (also the Hainan province) from extreme south, there is the place where the Chinese people like to go in the winter, normally Chinese would like go to warm place when it is cold, and go to the fresh place when it is hot, so Sanya in the summer is not high season in the China, but it is in the winter. Yalong bay is the most famous beach in the Sanya, probably the most beautiful beach in China, actually China is not famous by your beach's beauty. There is also the entrance fee to pay, but you can find another ways to get in the beach freely, just don't get the main entrance, normally they will leave you there when you take ... read more