Blogs from Hainan, China, Asia - page 2

1. September: Dieser Tag war unglaublich anstrengend. Nicht weil ich soviel getan habe, aber weil ich den ganzen Tag über das gleiche getan habe. Da ich ja jetzt der foreign coordinator war musste ich mit April zusammen die zehn fehlenden Freiwilligen aus ganz China vom Flughafen abholen. Wir sind also mit dem Bus auf das Flughafengelände gefahren und haben uns auf dem Terminal für Ankünfte positioniert. Die erste Freiwillige ist um halb drei angekommen und der letzte um 22 Uhr. Wir haben jeden neuen Freiwilligen zur Bushaltestelle begleitet und exakt den Weg zum Hotel erklärt, da die Bushaltestelle, direkt vor der Haustüre lag. Nach dem wir zusammen mit dem letzten Freiwilligen zurück gefahren sind habe ich mich auch glücklich in mein Bett geworfen. 2. September: Heute war der Tag gekommen, an dem wir auf das Dorf ... read more

Becky and I spent our Chinese Spring Festival holiday around Sanya, Hainan Province. Hainan is the largest Chinese island and is located off the coast of northern Vietnam. The Chinese nickname Hainan the “Chinese Hawaii.” I think it’s actually more like the “Chinese Florida” because there are thousands (millions? Hard to say, really!) of retired people (mostly from Dong Bei = China’s Northwest) who spend their winters along the coastline somewhere between Haikou and Sanya. We were actually meeting Becky’s parents in Sanya. They live in Xinjiang Province where temperatures often drop below -20 degrees Celsius so they were delighted to spend a month on the beach. Becky and I only had 12 days off (which is actually a long holiday according to Chinese standards) but it was enough time to visit the area around Sanya, ... read more

Hi All, I travelled onto the east coast of Hainan to Bo'ao. It is home to the Bo'ao Asian Forum, a meeting of officials, academics and economists from all over Asia. After dropping my bags off at the hotel I went off for a walk around. There are some really pretty little villages almost in Bo'ao itself. Again it's strange seeing the Chinese style in this setting. I then went off to the beach where I saw an incident. There were some guys swimming in the sea, quite near to the beach, when I first arrived. I went for a little stroll further up the beach and was sat looking over the ocean. I could then hear some cries and as I looked over to my right i could see these two guys crying for help ... read more

Hi All, You cannot get much more south in China than Sanya. This is the premier beach resort in China. The Chinese Hawaii, well not quite. To get some peace and quiet I took a 45 minute bus ride out of the city to Houhai. There are lots of Chinese tourists just as you get to the village but don't let this put you off. They are all going out to an island in the bay. Keep walking through the village and you come to the sea. I walked along the beautiful empty beach until I came to a sign saying military area. There was a sentry box with a soldier inside and he came out with his shield and truncheon so I sat down on the beach and stayed there with the soldier watching me. ... read more

Geo: 18.2458, 109.478Gill & Johns Guide to ChinaOur last couple of days in China have been spent being looked after and well fed in an international style hotel. A quick walk up the beach to build a few sand castles (see the pictures) and then sitting by the pool forcing down some very nice beef burgers (even better than Gills) or eating in an Italian restaurant. Nothing of interest to you dear reader so instead below are our thoughts and suggestions to anyone who wants to follow in our footsteps;Everyone we know who has been to China returns and says "you won't believe the rate of change". Everyone is quite right, no guidebook or map is worth the paper it is written on, it will be out of date before it is printed. The changes aren't ... read more