Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

Two Vodkese Pleeeze.
Ok, I’m officially Weirded Out! Where the hell am I and when exactly did I change flights?

As if my journey across Russia onboard the Trans Siberian twelve years ago wasn’t strange enough, arriving at the Dadonghai Bay area of Sanya City (Hainan Island, Southern China) to find myself amongst thousands of Russians is kind of insanely just as strange.

Beer Blood Pistols N Vodka
(Click here to read my crazy journey onboard the Trans Siberian in 2000)

Choose a restaurant, grab the menu…it’s in Chinese and Russian.
Waitress comes across to take your order…she begins speaking Russian.
Lost Russians who want to be found…you guessed it, they speak Russian.
Everything from windows to signs to Chinese waitresses are all in Russian.
Dude I may look like you but that doesn’t mean I understand a thing you are saying!

The last few days really have felt like winning a surprise holiday while already being on holiday and instead of me flying to a different destination I simply stayed put and my total environment was changed…kind of like staring in the Vodkese version of Total Recall.  

What has been happening since I left you in Nanchang?

My flight was as smooth as Sanya Bay and after grabbing the shuttle bus into the city I found a hotel and spent the night eating fresh seafood BBQ and sharing beers with several locals sitting on the table next to me. Judy’s crazy 'multi-flight’ journey finally ended and for the first time in six and a half years we shared fresh seafood BBQ and beer. The following morning we boarded the Speedy Train to the south of Hainan Island to beautiful Sanya City where we were met by Owen Buckland, his lovely wife Jenifer;

Along with a ‘not so little anymore’ Jerry.

We spent the next few hours catching up over one of the finest dinners I’ve had in years and we were honored to meet Owens high school English Teacher, whom helped carve the love of the English language into Owens mind. Without her helping create Buckland’s (long before Owen even thought about it) I would have signed with another and I doubt I would have stayed in China eight years. Buckland’s is what it is, they are who they are but without Owen I’m unsure if it would have that totally friendly yet professional attitude about it as someone else would be running the show.

Vodkese Bay & Beach (China’s Gold Coast)

Dadonghai is actually much smaller than I anticipated yet thankfully for now its prices are around the same size I imagined, that though will change the closer to Spring Festival we get. We have only been here for several days yet as each day passes the Flamboyance of people seems to double but so far it remains relatively comfortable.

Owen put us up in a local family ‘apartment’ which is just off Haihua Road.
Almost on the fluffy white sands of Dadonghai Beach.

The beach/bay is absolutely beautiful and in a single panoramic glance you take in clusters of people baking themselves, a skulk swimming in the crystal clear water, groups jet skiing, a bevy trying to swim, a shrewdness almost swimming, an Implausibility almost drowning along with a battery of diver newbie’s who seem to send more time with their heads out of the water than in so maybe they are a Screech of snorkeling newbie’s. A destruction (of people) can also be found walking along the beautiful boardwalk that takes you along the cliffs to the right of the bay along with gaggles relaxing with a beer and a meal at one of the many foreshore open air bars/restaurants where strangely;

The food prices are not that much higher than those off the beach strip.
Which more than surprised me!

The walk around to the Oriental Resort is defiantly worth the time as just as you leave the town behind there is a rocky inlet where you’ll find flutters of brides and grooms having their happy snaps taken. After all Sanya is China’s ‘Wedding/Honeymoon’ capital and with perfect weather and blue skies almost all year round, I can see why.

When it comes to the ‘other’ thing (besides the beach and weather) we head south to Sanya for, there are more than enough bars and restaurants in town and all come with that relaxed beach atmosphere we expect to find in such a place. For those on a budget, firstly why the hell are you in Sanya during Spring Festival and secondly there is actually a bellowing of small local eateries that serve cheap dumplings and noodles. For the Intrusion chasing street snacks, sorry guys but you will need jump back on the train and speedily head back to Haikou to get your fill.

As for all of the above, some actually do have an English menu.
Which is a nice added touch for us non-Russians?

Speaking of the Chattering of non-Russians, they all seem to eat and hang out at The Dolphin bar whose menu leaves one salivating even after eating and no matter how hard I tried I could never remember the name of the bar. When deciding where to head for a cold beer or a salad etc I’d spurt out ‘how about the Penguin/Seagull/Snow Bear/Whale’ every watery creature under the sun but the damn dolphin!

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
PS: Why the photo of the Barry Hotel?
My Dads a Bazza...love and miss ya mate!
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Amorphis
The album was ‘Magic and Mayhem'
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