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Published: March 31st 2008
This prized Jackfruit is growing on the Island of Hainan, of the coast of South China.
One of the unique fruits of Hainan Island, and a major cash crop for the villages surrounding the capital Haikou, is Jackfruit. The fruit is large, and though it has a pungent odor, it has a very sweet taste, and grows directly from the stem of the Jacktree.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 described his journey to the "tropical" Island of Hainan, located on the southern tip of China, with these words: "... Having visited the wonder, I never feel regretful, though gone through difficulties and hardships." (Let me lament on my difficulties and hardships during my visit to China's tropics, the Island of Hainan, in this TravelBlog. For a time, I too thought it was my "end of the world".)
In January of 2008, I was anxious to escape this year's unusually severe winter in Jiangsu Province, on the east coast of China. No doubt, you have seen many of the hardships of this winter for China's population, even in the Western media. This winter has been lamented as China's coldest winter in 50 years, and it did bring misery to millions
Even on the Island of Hainan, Children will be children.
Outside of the city of Haikou, on the Island of Hainan, villages are small, and have not changed for hundreds of years. Seeing a Westerner, probably for the first time, the children keep a distance, and seek support in a group. Only from this distance could I take a photo of their happy and excited faces. in all parts of the P.R.C.
It was no different here in the city of Taizhou and on the campus of Taizhou Teachers College. Like a family, we re-assured each other in layer upon layer of clothing, in and out of the classrooms, each taking pity on the other. My students seemed to have special compassion as they saw my shivering, and while I was lamenting and remembering the warm temperatures of my home in Miami, Florida at this time of the year.
Repeatedly, I was encouraged by students and staff of my college, that Hainan is the place, where affluent Chinese, who can afford to travel in increasing numbers, flee to escape any frigid winter. The "tropical" Island of Hainan has also been intensely developed, especially for tourism, in the past two decades.
The Island has been receiving an increasing number of Chinese-Lunar- New Year visitors, the holiday celebrated during the first months of the year in the Chinese Lunar Calendar, and is considered the most important holiday season for the Chinese.
Because of the length of the Festival-Holidays, it is the time most traveled in China, and transportation everywhere is on over-load. Tickets for
Walking the paths an ancient village, only a few cigarettes convinced this gentleman to pose with me.
Smiling, his row of gleaming "gold" teeth almost blinded me. I think, he was wearing all of his wealth on his teeth. Air- Bus- and Train-Transportation are at a premium, much more expensive, and often difficult to obtain.
Making matters worse, this year's holiday-travels were more greatly disrupted by the bitter-cold and the heavy snows, affecting multi-millions of travelers, all wishing to be with their families on time. It is an annual migration-tradition in China.
Happily and gratefully the college helped me with my travel arrangements, as the winter-chills made my decision to visit Hainan easier. The winds were penetrating ever deeper under my skin. Hainan seemed therefore the logical place for me to escape the cold, and at the same time enjoying China's renowned and warm island-paradise.
Sadly, the island was not to be for me, what it had been for thousands of other previous visitors to this fabled place. My impressions about the Island of Hainan will be forever more jaded and certainly less enthusiastic. "Circumstances" made this a visit, at the wrong time and to the wrong place. The bad luck could not have been anticipated by me or anyone.
I have no doubt, that during more advantages times, the island truly lives up to its celebrated reputation. But a return-visit to the tropics of
Vacation time in Hainan was also difficult for the island's animals.
Dogs and chicken take cover from the daily rain and cold, that followed and "dogged"me throughout my vacation on the "tropical" island of Hainan. Hainan, at least for the moment, has been scratched from my memory. You will shortly understand the reasons why. But there were three days left to me, during which I was able to traverse exotic parts of the island, and these days were certainly wonderful.
Despite a severe "health-bug" and the poor weather, I salvaged these 3 days, which offered me the opportunity to meet some wonderful people, and to visit a number of special and memorable places in and around the city of Haikou.
So permit me to entertain you, by recounting my "winter-experience" to the tropical Island of Hainan, in the very South of China:
My "original" thoughts for January and February of 2008 had been to visit family and friends in the U.S. There I could bask in the predictable, warm, and sunny weather of Miami, Florida, while sporting a minimal number of articles of clothing.
Unfortunately, month by month, travel between China and America becomes financially more prohibitive and less cost-effective, as airlines take advantage of the rapidly expanding and quickly growing air-travel-market between the two countries. "Naturally", the never-ending rise of fuel-costs are also being passed down to the consumer, in
Red Lanterns will brighten the homes of the Chinese.
The sale of red and gold lanterns announced the coming of the Chinese Lunar New Year, when homes will be decorated with these wonderful ornaments. this case "me", and the "daily", weakening US Dollar adds additional woes to all air-passengers.
Gratefully, more than half of the annual travel-costs to the US are paid by my college, the remaining balance escapes from my pockets and remains substantial. My latest research of various International Airlines tells me, that a cheapest round-trip ticket between Shanghai and Miami goes for US$1,800, and that only by booking months in advance, and with no price-guarantee at the time of departure.
And so the warmth of Hainan seemed the most promising escape during this past, cold, winter-semester-break. With it came the opportunity to visit yet another of China's fabled provinces, where 37 colorful minority-groups and tribes are sprinkeled across the island, including the Han, the Li, the Miao, and the Hui.
China's Island-province of Hainan has a population of around 5,000,000, which is one fifth of that of Shanghai, which boast some 25,000,000 inhabitants.
In 1989, the Island of Hainan received its notable status as a "Special Economic Zone", giving it many privileges and advantages to develop its out-dated infrastructure and its struggling economy.
In addition, an underwater-channel is now under construction to connect the mainland of
Rain, and nothing but rain.
Roads in the parks of Hainan, this one decorated with red lanterns, are swept in the early morning by the staff. I saw no trash to sweep, only the rain-water. China to the Island. The tunnel will provide fast railway- and road links from the city of Xuwen in Guangdong Province to Hainan's capital of Haikou, and will rival the English-Channel-Tunnel as an engineering marvel.
My travel plans focused on the North of Hainan. The South of the Island was reading more like another version of Miami Beach, adorned with fewer cultural sites. I was especially interested in visiting Haikou, which is also the capitol of Hainan and its largest city. Haikou is reputed to have some special and unique places of interest, in- and surrounding the city.
Constructed on the coast, the capital Haikou is surrounded on three sides by very developed beaches; the best is known as "Holiday Beach". I was lucky "not" to have added my sexy "speedos" to the weight and content of my suit-case, since this year's weather, even in Hainan, would have never provided the opportunity to sport them for the locals.
Not only did the cold and rainy weather bring dismay and consternation to my anticipated journey, but "another", more severe of man's enemies, helped make this vacation a very "personal" battle, a struggle that was to last 5 agonizing
Tropical Safari Park hosts a group of small but happy visitors on this rainy day
The rain and cold of the days could not dampen the spirit of these young school-children to the Tropical Safari Park, located an hour outside of the city of Haikou on the Island of Hainan. days:
It must have been something I ate at the Nanjing Airport before departure, but I arrived at Haikou's International Airport with my portly stomach in serious termoil. After a flight-delay in Nanjing and already late at night, the plane finally touched-down at Haikou's airport run-way.
With the plane's last bounce, I suddently recognized an uncomfortable "churning" within my stomach-walls, a feeling I had not experienced for many years, though there was an immediate sense of recognition. I was over-confident thinking, that I could reach the hotel in time to achieve "relief" in some style, and in the privacy of a comfortable hotel-room.
I had almost forgotten, since my last encounter with the "D-word" (Diarrhea) many years ago, that there exist this bodily-misfunction, which does require quick and immediate attention. If not, its pressure could get out of control, if not attendet to, at a moment's notice. I had under-estimated the distance between the airport and my accomadations in Haikou. Despite the late hour, I had no problem engaging a taxi.
On my way to the hotel, located in the center of the city, the feeling and concern of needing "immediate" relief in any W.C. grew
The new wealth of Haikou is on display in its streets.
Traffic-jams are common in the streets of Haikou, the capital of Hainan. As a "special economic zone", rapid development has raised the standard of living, most noticable in the cities. ever more urgent. I was pleading with the taxi-driver to make haste, but he could not comprehend my "need" and my anxiety. I feared for the interior of his cab. He seemed rather amused, as he witnessed the "grimace of agony" on my face in his rear-view mirror.
The smiling, friendly, young, Chinese taxi-driver seemed bemused and perplexed. He could only smile, as Chinese usually do when they don't understand a Westerner, at my frustrating and fluttering efforts to speak some "Chinglish".
I continued to make frantic, "extra-ordinary" efforts, through animated "gestures", trying to convey my "very personal" predicament to him. How could I tell him, that my stomach's dilemma had now become "our" plight, and that future passengers would not enter the interior of his taxi for some time to come, if "we" permit my stomach to have his way.
The taxi-ride continued forever, and the hotel's toilette remained out of reach, and I was secured in a speeding and bouncing vehicle. The minutes seemed like hours. Muscles, I didn't know I had, squeezed, pinched, and compressed, hoping to contain the pressure of my stomach's molten, inconsistent, and fluid content.
I feared the worst. I
So many cars, and no place to go.
At times, Haikou's city traffic comes to a stand-still. I can only imagine the traffic night-mare in future years, as more and more Chinese look to own a car. realized, that this was not just ordinary pressure bubbling and gurgling from deep within my body. When most people would and could expect "solids" to pass through their intestine, in my situation, serious, momentous, and perilous "rocket-fuel" was building and stockpiling very near the usual and proper body-exit, and all was demanding urgent "ignition".
It was 3 a.m., dark and raining, when we arrived at the entrance of the hotel. Gratefully, at this hour, there were no other hotel-guests to be seen. How we made it, I will never know. I paid the driver without waiting for the change, and only remember his smile as he helped the concierge with my luggage.
The staff of the hotel instinctively recognized a personal dilemma by my awkward and strange walk, or rather my "shuffle". The hotel's personnel, all young ladies, eagerly pointed to a corridor near the reception desk. Surely they were hoping to avoid the serious and humiliating "incident", indicated on the face of this arriving and distraught American. I think, they also feared for the cleanliness and freshness of the hotel's grand lobby, since the morning guests were only hours from flooding the halls of the hotel.
Modern Shopping Malls are everywhere in the city center.
Haikou is a thriving and modern city, where thousands of Chinese tourists walk the streets to look for bargains. I could only hear the echos of the staff's chuckles and giggles as I turned the corner of the lobby. There I spotted the two best and, for me this night, the two most important letters in the alphabet: "WC". I flung open the doors, greeting them as the "Gates to Heaven".
My eyes quickly spotted the first of several western-style "launch-pads", though it was too late to recognize, that I had accidentally entered the "ladies" facilities. That no longer mattered, and I was just happy and grateful, that my eyes were greeted with a "Western-style" seat. Here, I stripped for-and strapped in- for "the launch of the rocket".
It was not the "cleanest" take-off, and I did not win the race of time "completely", as the rocket-fuel would no longer contain!!
Then: "The Rocket launched with a force, which would have landed any smaller man, other than me, on the moon or beyond."
I feared for the plumbing of the hotel.
In case of damage I would have denied, that I had ever entered the "women-side" of the hotel's WC. It would have been difficult for me to make that case. The tell-tale evidence would
Umbrellas and winter jackets in China's Tropics.
During my winter-vacation, Hainan's reputation as an Island of Sun was diminished. Umbrellas were the daily norm, and the rain and chill lasted until the day I departed. not have been easy to deny.
The hotel staff seemed as relieved, as I had become, when they saw me return, my steps and walk once again under control.
I turned the corner to greet them, this time with a wide grin across my face, and I made my way to the registration desk. No one spoke English, but I knew the formalities, handed them my passport, and they promptly assigned me my room for the duration of my stay.
It was an ominous beginning to my "tropical" winter-vacation on the Island of Hainan.
The remainder of that early morning remained a night-mare within the confines of my room. My body's turmoil was only slightly relieved by a local hospital visit with the help of the hotel's friendly "ladies".
Through the aid of the computer, we learned the translation for the word "diarrhea" into Chinese. The recognition of the word was received by the hotel staff with a loud and audable: AHHHHHHH!!! OOOOHHHH!!
The remainder our communication-problems were then solved with a few additional humerous, animated, and "exaggerated" hand gestures. I leave those to your imagination.
The many packages of medication, prescribed by
The rain keeps the visitors in their hotels.
Carts, that take would-be visitors through the park-area, stand empty. The rain was never-ending and the chill of the days had a devastating effect on the pocket books of the locals. a smirking Chinese doctor, made only a small difference, and for the next five (5) days, frequent, immediate, and desperate visits to the bathroom continued day and night. These many dozens, emergency-excursions to one of man's greatest inventions, the civilized toilet with "seat", made me appreciate my room's privacy.
To this day I continue to wonder, where all of this fuel had been stored within my body.
For five days I was confined to my four walls on the hotel's 7th floor. It only took a glance outside my window to reminded me, that the weather in the city of Haikou had remained just as gloomy, as my body was feeling. Below me, pedestrians rushed, huddled together in their winter jackets, under hundreds of umbrellas, protecting them from a relentless rain. "Was I really in the tropics?", I kept asking myself.
By the fifth day, the walls started to close in on me. Regardless of how I felt, I made arrangements with the hotel's assistant manager to have me picked up at the hotel, and take part, on three successive days, in their lobby-advertised excursions.
The photos in this TravelBlog entry are my proof, that not
Street-markets are everywhere in Haikou.
The wet side-streets of Haikou are lined with farmers and vendors from the country-side, who sell their fresh vegetable crops. all was for not during my visit to Hainan.
The weather never changed and remained cold, foggy, rainy and dreary, even during these, my last 3 days in Haikou, Hainan. I must apologize for the quality of the photos, in which you will see no sunshine or blue skies, only rain, fog, umbrellas, and winter jackets, my sad commentary for a "tropical" island.
Of greatest anticipation during my remaining three day agenda and from my research were these five destinations:
1. "Fabled Crater Park", a natural park of an extinct vulcano, an hour's drive from the city-center.
2. "Five Officials Memorial Temple", built in 1889 to honor a group of scholars, who were banished here during the Tang Dynasty (618 A.D - 907 A.D.) for criticizing their government.
3. "The "Qiongtai Ancient Academy".
4. "Hai Rui Tomb", honoring this upright official during the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D - 1644 A.D), who was exiled to Hainan for criticism.
5. "The Mangrove Forest at Danzhai Harbor".
These five, most frequently visited sites in Haikou, are represented in the photo journey in this TravelBlog, entry #97.
I was less interested in the southern city
Even in the rain, the streets of Haikou are interesting to walk.
The umbrellas provide little relief from the rain and cold. The winter days of January and February of 2008 in China will be remembered. The miserable weather even reached the "Tropical" streets of Haikou. of Sanya and decided, that a visit to this, the island's 2nd largest city at the southern-most-tip, far more touristy and quite similar in its reputation to my home, Miami Beach, was superfluous. My "personal" condition would have offered little chance to explore the South of Hainan during this visit.
My return flight to the mainland of China was sadly delayed by another trying 2 days. All flights to Nanjing had been cancelled due to the heavy snows during this difficult winter, which closed its airport. The hotel in Haikou continued to provide me with a warm and comfortable room, while walks and explorations throughout the city, in continued and never-ending rain and unusual cold, helped to eliviate the boredom of the wait for my departure.
When I was finally in a taxi, and on my way to the Haikou Airport, I was pleased and noticed, how better control I exercised over my body during this return ride. The recent days seemed like a bad dream, and I was now anxious to reach my little, cozy, and warm apartment in Taizhou, as soon as possible.
BUT: Little did I know, that my misfortunes of this winter-vacation would
The People's Park in the center of Haikou is special.
I would love to have walked this park during days of sunshine. The gray and rain of these days limited the number visitors to these wonderful green spaces in the capital of Hainan. "not" end here. None of my fellow passengers on our return-flight to Nanjing could imagine, that we would each share continued tribulations during our return and in the days yet to come. These challenges were to bring us closer than we could have have imagined.
I will leave that commentary for another entry.
Once again I send you greetings and hope you will forgive the "awkwardness" of this TravelBlog entry. Please forgive and understand the circumstances over which I had no control and for which I cannot assign blame.
Enjoy the 76 rain-soaked photos of Hainan, enlarge them for greater details. They provide insight into a province still in need of great attention for improving the lifes of its inhabitants, especially outside its few cities. Your thoughts and comments will bring me continued encouragement for the next entry, and provide me with a link to home and friends. I miss you all very much, always.
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JIAXI
non-member comment
What a wonderful journey!
You had a colorful journey,but you still missed something!hadn't you?