Haikou, China

We are in the land of Mao officially now. We made landfall in Haikou China. A "Special Administrative Area" of China proper. It is an island town of about 2.5 million people. The island is the vacation island for the Chinese within China since it is the only really "tropical" area in the country. We didn't make it down to the beach area. We just had a short stay in the city. Some used it to shop but we just walked around the town and found this great little park. The local people were doing different group things that were like dancing or exercise but also there were many little areas where people were just ballroom dancing. Couples all over 5-6 at a time spinning and weaving to a foxtrot or Cha-cha. There was also a great little exercise area where everyone was pulling, pushing, swinging, rubbing against or spinning on different exercise devices that look like a giant playground for adults. It was very nice to see.
We or course stood out like a sore thumb. Jeff and I are taller by a head then most of the men and my ponytail and Jeff's mop were easy to find in the crowd. The local people would send there kids out to have a picture taken with "the Americans". It made us not feel guilty at all of all the pictures we were taking of them. :-) it was all pretty fun but you definitely feel your "minority" status when you can't read any of the signs, don't have any of the local money and are entirely dependent on the guide on the shuttle bus to tell you where you are.もっと詳しく