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Published: November 22nd 2009
Our little cozy bus...
Somehow the phrase "refugee camp on wheels' came into our minds... We made some intimate friends! It's surprising how flexible the human being is and how easy it is to accommodate oneself with elbows/knees in ones ribs/back.The Tail of the Dragon and the lovely road to get there...
Salutations from the tropical island which is blessed with the poetical name of Hainan. After our cruelsome travels on the mainland of the Sleeping Dragon, we got the inspiration to visit what used to be called 'The tail of the Dragon', the island of Hainan. For centuries this island was considered as 'The entry to Hell' as hardly anything is here and the local inhabitants are still one of the poorest of China. However the tide has changes and right now loads of charter planes fly in with in ther belly the Russians in their speedo swimsuits and the Chinese with the Hawaiian shirts..... The island is kinda tropical, so that's why we're here. Just to unwind a bit from the previous two months of traveling.
Sleeper busses, but no sleeping
But getting to this place was kinda interesting. From Xiamen we took a sleeper bus to Guangzou and from there a second one to Haikou, which is on the northern end of the island. The first bus departed at 7pm and arrived at 6am. The second bus left a few hours later at
Diner on the beach
Fried dumplings and cheap wine. What else does someone need? 10am, we arived in Heikou at 5am. So in total 11 hours + 19 hours. The first one was kinda ok. The sleeper busses are ordinary touring busses, but the chairs are removed and replaced with 3 rows of 2 layered bed bunks. The 'pillow' is hollow and is open in the back, so the person behind you can put his/her feet there. There is only one main disadvantage: the averga chinese is 1.60 tall and I'm 1.98. You can do the math yourself, but it's rather clear that I had very cosy rides... In itself the first one was kinda ok. The second one was SHIT. Halfway the trip the bus-guys placed wooden planks between the top beds of the 3 rows and placed small matrasses on top. And between the bottom beds mattrasses were placed as well. So suddenly the capacity is increased with ~50%, but people kept on boarding, so in the end everybody was packed on eachother and sleeping wasn't possible. The luggage of the last persons boarding didn't fit in the lugage compartment, so that was just placed somewhere in the bus where there was still space: Fun!!! And add to this the small fact
Agi's weird digestive...
Somehow she even enjoyed it. Until figuring out that three days later sand was still in her hair and ears... we got 2 flat tyres at the same moment and only 1 spare tyre, so an additional delay of 2/3 hours in the middle of somewhere. So when we arrived in Heikou Agi basically slept for 24 hours...
Sanya
But dissapointment all over: the sun wasn't there and the temperature was only 19 degrees. Agi severly dissappointed. So the next day we set off to Sanya on the southern end ~300 km south. Temperature is 25 degrees and sunshine. I burned my back in the first day on the beach, but no worries, I think I can handle this burden. So we're happy and I hope that the wheather is also nice for you guys on the old continent ;-)
But regarding Sanya inself: Tourists all over and the town is ok, but not special. It's now high season here, as the Chinese fly in from the north and are accompanied by the Russians. Coconuts, mango's, pineapples and jackfruits are plenty and juicy. BBQ's on the streets prepare excellent seafood and the beach is ok. So what else do you want to hear, My Dear Readers? How about the attack of the killer Nemo's????
The attack
Lifeguard Chris
I found my calling: I am going to be a Night Lifeguard! of the killer Nemo's
The days of doing nothing and beach actually starts to be a bit boring and to overcome my personal fiasco of not diving in Baikal, we devised a cunning plan to dive in China. And so it had to be done. Good, so we've arranged 2 dives at a small reef near Yalong Bay. The dives went actually from a small platform where we were brought by boat. The dives were pretty ok (some reef, some fish and loads of starfish), but Johnny (our Chinese guide) mentioned that the local clown fish (also known as Nemo's) were a bit weird here: they attack and bite you. My curiousity was aroused so we went hunting for them. On the second dive: Jackpot: Nemo's of approx 10 cm. At first they were a bit curious, but after a while they attacked the compass of Johnny. But then the Nemo turn its attention to me. 10cm Nemo versus 198cm Chris. I won, but the first round was definately for Nemo: a fierce bite in my regulator. But all ok. But during this attack a second Nemo actually bit Johnny in his hand. After we surfaced the marks were
Into the deep!!!
Hunting for Killer Nemo's!!!!! still on his hand... But the intersting thing is that Agi, who was present during this ordeal, was never attacked. Somehow she didn't look appetizing enough....
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Lawrence
non-member comment
nice,and funny
Hey, you guys! i am sitting back in Lux, green with envy for your travels. I had more than a fair share this year, but you two put everybody's voyages to shame. Keep up the writing whenever you can, I love the funny narrative and think it is Chris's humor - not that you Agi are not funny - you are hillarious! he he. I am about to read the other four or five blogs you posted. Cheers! lAWRENCE