http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hainan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Hainan en-us Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:55:51 BST Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:55:51 BST I originally intended this post to be a lighthearted continuation of my visit to Hainan but given the recent tragedy of the earthquake I wanted to shift gears a bit. So enjoy the pictures which still hold that former mood but I also hope you continuing reading and see my impressions of the last few days.Part of the reason for putting up this last post which also explains the haste and sloppin http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/blog-274650.html A few pretty significant events have happened in the last couple of weeks here in China that fortunately I was not apart of but could have very well been. The first occurred a few weeks ago when a fairly severe typhoon struck the island of Hainan. This was just one week before we went there for our vacation. Luckily the storm did not disrupt any of our plans and we had a great time. I will http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/blog-272958.html In four short days I received the worst sunburn of my life witnessed a baby being flung about the ocean like a pool toy observed the differences between island and mainland life basked in the clean air of the least polluted city in China and learned a thing or two about myself. Just call it a typical vacation in China. May 1 International Labor Day is a national holiday in China. Last year http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-272391.html Our usual ritual of breaking our 'no drinking before travelling' ritual had set up a day from hell. Now one traveller felt a little peachy one a little more than peachy and one was there in body but definately not there in mind I won't tell who but lets just say Ollie could definitively map out every toilet from Sanya to HaiKou And believe me there was a lot of stops The boat was leaving http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-272126.html For the next three days we had a pretty set routine. This involvedMORNING There was no morning in Sanya. For us morning in Sanya was actually the night before still so doesn't actually count. The day pretty much doesn't start until about 1pm on a good day.AFTERNOON The afternoon would start with a quiet bowl of instant noodles in the room followed by a trip to the beach for the adventurous. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-272125.html Amazingly we were all up and out by 10am Amazing because we had had a few beers the night before. However we needed to get a bus to Sanya and that was our motivation. The bus was very comfortable and for the few who weren't asleep the whole way got to see some amazing scenery.We had a huge meal right where the bus had dropped us and we hopped into a taxi hopeing to find a hotel from the bible http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-272056.html After very little sleep on the ferry we arrived tired and grumpy at HaiKou. The usual mob of taxi drivers hounded us but we are growing accustom to that now so we calmly choose one and set off for a hotel listed in our bible. The hotel was amazing quality for a 'budget' choice Mark had already stolen all the freebies before we even had chance to checkin After a hard nights travel a nap was http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Haikou/blog-272055.html So .. you know how I was complaining about the cold Yeah now we're in 32 degree heat I guess that's what I get for complaining so much.The thousands of kilometres were covered in two long distance trains. One trip 25 hours worth got us from Xian in cenral China down to Guangzhou very close to Hong Kong. We were planning to spend about 46 days visiting Guangzhou epic shopping and Hong http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-269830.html The short trip to Hainan was fantastic. The first two nights we stayed at the Sheraton Hotel and the third night at the Hilton Hotel. Both hotels are simply great and we just relaxed slept a lot and of course we didn't miss the big buffet. Unfortunately we got sunburned although we took heaps of suncream and we didn't move away from the sunshade. Silvan enjoyed swimming at all he knows now how http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-265228.html This weekend the International Finance College took us to visit a staggering Chinese paradise with a 25degree average temperature yeah the largest Ocean island in China. Although the car drive and flight were both pleasant I couldn't help having ants in my pants for the whole trip I reckon it was down to my leg problems. Yet as soon as we arrive in Sanya I was a new man ready to relax a http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-264163.html I never thought my first entry would get myself so addicted to this travel blog never thought I would like the idea of writing and putting pictures together. But I can not afford nonstop travelling for 3 months or 6 months like many of other bloggers do. I am good at finding excuses for myself. So I decided to say to travel is more to perceive than to make destinations. Travel gives us time http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Haikou/blog-257845.html 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 weekend was three days in Saigon and this weekend in Shanghai. You won't see pics from Saigonas 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 http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-256882.html During the Spring Festival many Chinese were scared of travelling because of the disastrous snowstorms in the south. My family hesitated and just decided to go an easy way to settle down the endless discussion. Although many places were not as warm as we expected we had a great time together. I hope to start my travel blog with Hainan IslandAsian Hawaii to share with you all the joys and ins http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-253320.html '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 recertified. This is our 2 http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Haikou/blog-252993.html In 110 BC Emperor Hanwu was the first to assign an administrative office on Hainan Island. It borders Vietnam to the west. The climate is very tropical due to the abundance of sunlight many crops are grown such as rice wheat sweet potato taro sorghum millet beans. Sugarcane hemp peanuts sesame tea are also grown. Among the fruits are pineapple litchi banana plantain citrus man http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Haikou/blog-252976.html 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 stealdon'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. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Haikou/blog-252100.html SORRY FOR SUCH A LONG TIME BETWEEN BLOGS. We travelled without the laptop for a while and pretty much just slept for the last week in Oz. Plenty more soon though I swear. We still have to write about Shanghai and Thailand. Hope you enjoy this one loads of sun and pics.. this one is for Paul and Elaine our partners in crime SANYA HAINAN ISLAND SOUTHERN CHINAOn the 9th January we flew to Sa http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-249219.html In ancient China the southern Island of Hainan was known as the end of the world. It is the place to which many brave dissenters and critics of China's Imperial Dynasties and its emperors were exiled. One of the most outspoken critics of the Song Dynasty was China's ancient grand poet Su Dongpo who was exiled to Hainan between 1097 A.D. and 1100 A.D. by the Song Dynasty emperor. He descri http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Haikou/blog-248250.html OK less talk more pictures.Hainan 2802321335 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 2802321475 on the northern tip and Sanya 1997720122 on the southern tip. Although the two cities are just across the island from eachother http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/blog-247371.html FEBRUARY 20th WE'RE ON OUR WAY 'CHINA SOUTHERN' AIRLINES BUSINESS CLASS 15 HRS TO GUANGZHOU CHINA WHICH IS WEST OF HONG KONG. WE SPEND ONE NIGHT IN GUANGZHOU CANTON. NEXT DAY WE FLY TO HAIKOU ON THE ISLAND OF HAINAN WHICH IS SOUTH OF HONG KONG MACAU EAST OF HANOI. IT IS THE 'HAWAII' OF ASIA WHERE ALL THE ASIANS GO TO VACATION. THE CLIMATE IS TROPICAL ISLAND BEAUTIFUL THE ATMOSPHE http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Haikou/blog-246036.html Boarding the battered old ferry at Beihai we were torn between relief and trepidation happy to be leaving that frozen barren town but distinctly hesitant about the impending 12hour seabucket journey.We had managed at the last minute to upgrade ourselves from the 30toaroom cattleclass about which we had heard so many colourful zoological analogies and which we now saw offered little more http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-239814.html Making New Friends Anywhere and Everywhere Battling colds most of the fall I boarded the plane to Sanya feeling as though I was right on the edge of getting really sick once again. Mind over matter not 24 hours after the last day of school ended Craig and I were off to the Tianjin Airport. Our destination was Sanya on Hainan Island. Warmth tropics moist air it has rainedsnowed here mayb http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/blog-237868.html Na al dat reizen waren we op een gegeven moment toe aan vakantie klinkt misschien raar maar reizen in China vergt ook enige inspanning. We hadden genoeg ploeterende Chinezen gezien rijstvelden en waterbuffels dus snel en iets eerder dan gepland naar het Hawaii van China de provincie en tropische eiland Hainan.De eerste 2 dagen zouden we in een boomhut verblijven in een ecologisch boedhistisch t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/blog-235673.html The family is together for the first time since last summer. It all feels so right. Longing for the relaxing days of Pensacola in the spring we decide a beach retreat might be just the thing to satisfy our desire to rekindle some of our memories of family fun on the beach while exploring a new area. Sanya bay on the southern tip of Hainan island is the southern most point of China with coastli http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-234558.html We had nine days to spend in the Hong Kong area so we went looking for day trips to China and found this 2 day cruize to Haikou. Haikou is the largest city on an Island in the Hainan region of China. It was a cheezy cruize but we did get to see this little city in China. There were some very modern buildings in Haikou but we were amazed at how many were vacant. From the ground they appeared t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Haikou/blog-226636.html Alot has happend since I last wrote here. So try to keep it extremely short. Am really hungry at the moment as well so another reason to keep it short.Last days in Beijing was most about shopping. Nothing fro me almost though. Last night was a weird night. Had decided to stay up til 4 am to watch the englandcroatia game. Had been out shopping non stop for 7 hours during the day and was very tired http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-225043.html I got off the bus at Sanya and was immediately lost walking around looking for a street sign a local asked me what I was looking for and pointed me in the right direction. Later on I repeatedly asked random strangers for directions and they all were willing to help. Finally one guy gave me a ride on his motorbike to the hostel I was looking for. The people here are so friendly. They call Sanya http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-204903.html Hi everyone itrsquos been a while.We are currently in the Vietnamese beach resort of Nha Trang and we thought now would be a good time to update you on our travels As some of you may have seen the blog website crashed a few days ago which meant that all of our blogs were lost However using some computer wizardry we were able to restore most of the entries. I know a lot of you like to rer http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Hainan/Sanya/blog-189731.html