Xing Ping 兴坪

Went to Xing Ping, an old town about an hour from Yangshuo. I had been there in 2005 and was very surprised by the change. It used to be a simple village that led to a famous place alongside the Li River, where one can take bamboo rafts on the river. The spot is famous as the picture of the 20 yuan note bears a photo of the area.

Unfortunately they have turned the village into a commercialised money making machine which spoilt much of the original beauty. New and modern restaurants are there and market stalls that are trying to sell all the usual trinkets that nobody really needs.

Breakfast in Haikou

Had noodles and a bowl of soup in Haikou in a little side road. Cost the huge amount of 2 yuan. Have no idea how these people are making any profit as they obviously can't by charging as little as 2 yuan. (That's like 20 pence or 20 cents). Tasted really good, too!!

Ross

My good friend Ross in Yangshuo. If you come to Yangshuo, look out for Ross and chat to him. He likes to practice his English.

It's definitely Christmas in April

Christmas is definitely in April in China.
Well, I thought Hainan was in a Christmas mood in April but it turns out to be Christmas in Yangshuo, too. When I arrived I received a Christmas present that a local girl left for me last December. A very nice hand knitted pair of slippers and a knitted scarf and this morning I received a box of 'luxury shortbread' from Jade, a girl who visited Yangshuo last October and returned to China from London yesterday.
Marry Christmas everybody! (No, this isn't spelled wrong, this is how it is spelled in China).

Merry Christmas

Christmas has arrived early in Haikou or is still left over from last year. As I checked into a hotel a 'Merry Christmas' greeting was posted above the reception desk as well as other Christmas decorations on the ceiling in the entrance hall. Across town there were several shop windows

and restaurant windows with 'Merry Christmas' messages displayed. A huge Father Christmas was leaning against a door somewhere. Maybe somebody should give them a hint that Christmas is in a differnt season.

Zhanjiang 湛江 Chinese Opera

Some of the performers

Zhanjiang 湛江

Had about 6 hours in Zhangjiang and we went to the old part of town near the sea front. Zhanjiang had been invaded by the French some years ago and there are still a few reminders.Many of the old buildings are very beautiful but desperately run down. If they were restored the town would look really pretty. We had a simple meal and were disappointed to get ripped of by paying double what it should have cost. On the way back to the train station we passed Chinese opera performers who played just next to a main road. I tried to take some photos of the actors and they were more than happy to pose. As it was dark and my camera couldn't take any good shots (flash not working) I ended up back stage to take some pictures in the light. I took pictures of them and they took pictures of me.Watched the Opera for a while before heading back to catch the overnight train to Guilin.

Back to the Mainland

Left Hainan Island for the Mainland. The journey was long, tiring and quite eventful. It started with a bus ride to the 'new port' in Haikou, which looked 'pretty old'.Took a ferry to the mainland. The boat must have been on of the first boats ever build. It was ancient. Inside everything was very dated, the seats were broken, it was very dirty and extremly noisy. Quite often when one travels by coach or boat in China they play movies, which are not only stupid and irritating but the volume is very loud. It was actually quite unbearable but nobody but one person(Leng) tried to have it turned down. Unfortunately the attempt to turn the volume down was to no avail.

Hai Kou 海口 portrait artists

Hai Kou 海口 local artists

Hai Kou 海口 'laundry day'

Must have been 'laundry day' for all families at this building today.

Bus travel in Haikou

Went to the East Raod Bus Station this morning to catch a bus to Wen Chang (文昌). At the station a young man greeted me very friendly as though we were long lost friends. I returned the greeting and he started talking to me in broken English, telling me that he saw me yesterday in a park on the other side of town. As there are hardly any foreigners in town, one gets easily recognized.
As I was waiting on the bus, a woman got on, trying to sell some of her goods out of her handbag. She waved a couple of bags with dried fruit in front of me and I declined politely by saying 'no thank you'. She looked puzzled and said in Chinese that she didn't understand me. The bus driver was right next to her and he proudly told her in Chinese that I said, thank you, I don't want to buy anything. He then went on to tell the driver assistant and the other passengers all the English words that he knew: Hello! OK! Good morning. Thank you. He was very proud of his vast knowledge of the English language and received admiration from his listeners.

Hai Kou

Arrived in Haikou several days ago but have been very busy with going back and forwards to the policestations as my visa was due for an extension.
Lots of time got wasted.First police station send me to another office in another part of town. The first officer wanted a different receipt from the hotel where I was staying. Had to go back to the hotel and back to the police station. Another officer was there and this time she asked me to register at a local police station near the hotel. Had to go all the way back to the other end of town and register at police station number 3. The 3rd officer at the police station had never dealt with a foreigner before. At the local police station they wanted yet another piece of paper from the hotel. Had to go back to the hotel and then again back to the police station. Finally got the registration form and had to go back to the second police station. Visa was agreed but only for 30 days. They are keeping my passport for whole week now. I guess by the time I get my passport back its almost time again to get a new visa and start the whole police station circus from the beginning!

Sanya

Today as I was walking down town near the bus station, I met 2 boys who used to study English in Yangshuo last year and I often saw them and talked to them when I was living there. Yangshuo is about 1300 km from Sanya. Small world!

From the sea

Another funny sea creature

This one is called Zhung guo hao. A lady was schlepping it along the sea coast. I didn't find out how she caught him. But on the way back at the bus stop she told me that she lost the inside of the animal and that he was very light now. Not quite sure what she intends to do with it.

Sanya sea creatures

Funny fish

Umbrella woman caught this funny little fish. When it gets touched it will blow itself up. The tummy turns white and gets filled with air. The skin of the white belly turns very prickly. He has a cute little face with teeth that look like baby teeth.

The name of this fish is 'He tun'

Sun protection

Well, sun protection seems to take on a whole different meaning in this town.

I saw an old guy go right into the water to fish wearing a raincoat. Another woman converted an umbrella into a hat and scary lady folded a towel in half, sewed it up, cut a few holes in it and put it right over her head.

Sanya 三亚 Beaches

At Ya Long Bay

Sanya 三亚 Beaches

At Da Dong Hai beach. Here is a Russian boy holding a crocodile that one of the locals brought to the beach.

Sanya 三亚 Beaches

Leng at Sanya Bay

Sanya 三亚Beaches

There are several beaches around Sanya.
Sanya Bay, the ocean front near the center of town and my favorite one. There are always lots of weird and wonderful scenes to witness.
Then there is Da Dong Hai 大东海, a small stretch of beach that is very popular with Russians.
It is only a 8 minute bus ride from the center of town and many buses stop there. The Russian population is so high that most shops, hotels and restaurants display their shop signs in Russian as well as Chinese.
The third beach is Ya Long Bay 亚龙湾 （ya long wan). This is the beach where all the 'Big Name' hotels are and it is quite far from the center of town. It takes a good 30-40 minutes by bus to get there. Although the beach is beautiful and the water nice and clean, the area is quite boring as there are only hotels and golf courses. Nothing to do there, really apart from sunbathing.

Ling Shui 陵水 local fruit

The red fruit tastes a bit like apples. I bought a pound of these ones but they were very sour.

The yellow ones are mangoes. They come in all sizes, from thumbsize little to extra extra

large and they are very cheap and tasty. Just 1 or 2 yuan for a pound.

The brown fruit is called Long Yan, or Dragon Eyes. It is a very delicious fruit and

'apparently good for the body'

Ling Shui 陵水 street scenery

Ling Shui 陵水 tea houses

There are plenty of tea houses every where and the locals like to sit around all day, discussing business or just talking. The tea is very strong and bitter. They put one tea laef into a cup and give a jug of hot water for refills. It only costs 3 yaun for 2 people and you can sit there all day long.Outside the teahouse are hundreds of motorbikes, the number one transport mode for the locals and it almost looks like a motorbike sales place.People seem to have plenty of time here to sit around, sipping tea.

Ling Shui 陵水 butchers

The butchers in Ling shui. Inside and outside the market.

Ling Shui 陵水

Dried beef and dried noodles outside the market.

The butchers inside the market hall.

Ling Shui 陵水

Visited a town called Ling Shui a few days ago. Its east of Sanya, along the coast, about an hour and a half by coach.The scenery on the way is not very exciting and when we first arrived in town, it looked quite boring. However, we decided to stay and walk around for a while and walked into a very big market that sells just about everything. The locals are very friendly and some of them wanted to have their picture taken by me. I liked the market very much.

Sanya Black Cars

Walking across a bridge in town a phone number and two Chinese characters 黑车

(hei che/black car) were written on the bridge.

Apparently 'black car' means stolen car and anybody interested buying a car on the cheap can call. It's that easy!

NGO meeting

Wen Jiao Bao, the right hand of Hu Jin Tao (Who is Hu? you may ask - He is the President of China) is about to visit Hainan. A college student told us that he is coming on the 14th. Apparently there is a big NGO meeting (non governemnt organization) in Boao within the next few days. A certain George W. Bush is also attending. Security is very high. Policemen are all over the place, patrolling the Highways and little streets in town. A lot has changed since last week. The streets are much cleaner and many of the local farmers are not allowed to sell fruits and vegetables in the street anymore. Also chairs and tables outside restaurants are not allowed anymore. But I guess that is just a temporary thing. All will be back to normal once the big guys have left the island. Not much fun right now and Mr Bush will have no idea what Hainan is really like. He should try and come incognito next time......

Fishing in Sanya

As I was walking along the beach one morning I saw this guy with his home made fishing boat. He used pieces of styrofoam and put some wheels on it to drive it home after his fishing trip.

He then went into the sea with his little boat to fish.

Legal drugs

There is some kind of drug that seems to be very legal here all over Hainan. Little old women are selling it all over the island. They put some kind of white paste into a leaf, fold it and sell it with some other part of a fruit shell. The person who is buying this chews it for some time and then spits out some kind of red liquid. It seems that women use this more than men as you see them everywehre buying and chewing this substance.

Their lips and teeth are stained in red and it looks quite terrible, to be honest, but I guess as everyone is doing it, it doesn't seem to matter much. Apparently it gives the same effect that alcohol does.

A bag is about 5 jiao, which is very little for buying drugs. This afternoon we tried to talk to a beautiful young lady who used it and she offered us some to try. Leng tried it and looking at his face it was sure that he was not going to use this stuff ever again in the future. He read online that it was supposed to have some medical properties that are meant to be good for the stomach etc. but after talking to the girl she told him that it was basically good for nothing.

Why do people use it? Habit. Tradition. Something that needs to be sold and is selling.