China

After getting into a mishap at Shanghai airport (I didn’t know the ticket I booked required me to transfer to a different airport within Shanghai after sleeping a couple of hours, some girls talking woke me up and I realized I had to find a last minute taxi past midnight to make it to my flight.) I arrived safely in Sanya. It was hot but since it was a seaside province, the weather was comfortably temperate. I tried to ask for directions for the bus terminal but I was handed a piece of paper with some drawings instead, I had to crack it like some kind of code but managed to find my way. Chinese people were very different, even inside the bus they were loud and rowdy and it was quite fun seeing people so open albeit it’s hard to find one’s peace. I got dropped a bit far from my hostel and I had to walk a couple of blocks, tired and sleepy from the uneventful airport adventures. I was able to find my hostel after walking around the block a couple of times as it was pretty hidden around some alleys. I checked-in just fine and crashed for a couple of hours, waking up in a daze, I decided to make the most out of this day and started to head to Luhuitou Park.

It was a long walk with a lot of slopes going up, now I hadn’t recovered from my long trip coming here so I found myself getting winded quite easily. I was able to see life in the city and for some weird reason there was a guy with a painted face in Shrek’s costume screaming on his phone which was super funny. There were also a lot of video bloggers around carrying these mini tripods and I’ve never seen these things before, it was really interesting. I reached Luihuitou's entrance. There were trees adorned with bottles and other ornaments, it was pretty. Turns out to enter the park, you had to buy a ticket. I bought my ticket and went on to find out that the park itself was a hill, meaning I had to hike a lot to reach the peak. It was quite fun to take a rest in those hillside gazebos. The views kept getting prettier the higher I got, seeing the seaside and beautiful buildings of Sanya was quite a sight. There were deer as well, they seemed to be a sacred animal and had something to do with the legends of the Luhuitou. Strangely, at the peak there were Russian dancers, seemed like they are hired by the park to perform for the Chinese. I finished circling the area and tried to see as much as I can from gardens to statues and headed back down, which was easier.

The air smelled great and I decided to go to the beach. It was calm and peaceful but also a bit dark, I sat down and enjoyed the sound of the waves and the presence of the ocean. After that, I decided to get something to eat so off I went in search of affordable but delicious food. I walked on the way to my hostel and found a place to eat beef noodle soup. It definitely hit the spot. I went back to my hostel to find another person in my room. He was Chinese, friendly and quite talkative. He told me about the stuff he had done and I told him my plans for the next day. Surprisingly, he dropped everything he planned on doing and decided to go with me instead to Yalong bay. I guess... I was down for it? I was just a bit tired and wanted to get some sleep. I went to bed, being woken up a few times by people coming and going but otherwise all was well.Read more