Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

It’s doubtful that I will ever teach in a Private English School, but they sure do make a wonderful apartment! Thank you very much Owen Buckland!

Several days ago Judy and I left Dadonghai Bay and headed across the Linchun River to see what the seafood was like in Sanya and I must say that the vast three kilometer distance doesn’t make a damn bit of difference! (tee hee) At the foot of our building is a handful of eateries that wake around mid afternoon and by the time the sun scampers become a very vibrant place to kick back with a few too many beers, meaty treats and arm sized fresh fish dishes.

It is also the perfect place to drop into for 'just one more beer and meat stick’ on the way home from a night snacking about in the busy Jiefang Road district of the city.

The days have passed by on foot with Judy exploring and I also put foot to peddle for the first time since the beginning of December and with each day being thirty degrees with bright blue skies words cannot describe how wonderful it has been. Sanya city is actually much smaller than I thought it would be which of course is just another reason to fall in love with it and compared to Dadonghai it is still very comfortable to get around.

Not having groups of people invading your personal space is also a nice feeling.
The photos for this blog are from all over the city.

Most of my peddle time has been spent riding along Sanya Bay Road then slowly back into the city via the foreshore walking/riding track known as ‘The Corridor of Coconuts’. Here, after locking my bike to a coconut tree I usually kick back for an hour or so swimming and sitting with my back against another coconut tree relaxing, people watching and staring out into the bay.

Before heading home for a shower I head down to Sanya Harbour to the market streets of the Honggang Market where I have found ‘cold’ fresh fruit juice. All over the city can be found little stalls where you choose your fruit and after they squeeze it you continue to go about your day but with straw in mouth sipping your warm juice hoping that a pip won’t shoot up the straw and become lodged in your throat.

I though found a little stall that comes complete with several small foam eskies that contain ‘fruits on ice’ and that my friends is where the Australian in me kicks in because it MUST be cold!

-4 degrees
You got a beer mate?
Yeah, the fridge is full!

30 degrees
You got a cold beer mate?
Sorry, just grab one off the floor.
You’re bloody joking right!  

Now For a Bit On Sanya

China’s premier beach community represents the southernmost point of China and faces the Gulf of Tonkin that lies between it and Vietnam. Its ancient name was Yazhou which literally means ‘cliff state’ as the city is ringed on three sides by mountains and it was also once referred to as Tianyahaijiao;

The place where the sky and the ocean meet.
Or more to the point, the end of the earth.

There is over forty kilometers of coastline dedicated to tourism which is generally referred to as ‘Sanya’ but the region is actually broken into three districts; Sanya Bay is home to the bustling city centre that comes complete with a beautiful long stretch of beach where the hotels aimed at mainland Chinese tourists are found. Dadonghai Bay is found three kilometers southeast, beyond the Luhuitou Peninsula and that is where we smelly backpackers and the six hundred and sixty six billion Russians are found drinking from coconuts by day and bottle by night. As you may remember from my last blog, there are so many Russians there that all menu’s and signs are in both Chinese and Cyrillic.

Fifteen kilometers east is Yalong Bay where I’m sure I will be found for a single afternoon walking along its golden sands yet never be able to afford to place head upon pillow in any of the plush international resorts that line the bay.

The People of Hainan & Sanya

The population of Hainan Island is approximately seven million (Sanya, almost five hundred thousand) and though this number is now predominantly comprised of Han Chinese there are still thirty nine minority groups living together on the island which includes the Li Minority, Miao Minority and Hui Minority all of whom have their own customs and languages etc.

Li Minority People
The Li Minority People are the original inhabitants of Hainan Island with the second largest population of around 1.3 million. Li People are known for weaving a cloth known as Zhi Jing and it is believed they emigrated from Fujian province. 

Miao Minority People
The next largest minority are the Miao People with around sixty thousand people and originally come to Hainan during the Ming Dynasty as military troops and their ‘medicines’ are sort after throughout the south of China. 

Hui Muslim Minority People
The third most prominent minority group is the Hui Minority (population around ten thousand) who originally came to Sanya from Vietnam during the Song or Yuan Dynasty, in the eleventh century. They too have their own customs and festivals including the celebration of the Muslim New Year. Seven thousand (of the ten thousand) live in Yanglan Town and the rest in Huihui and Huixin villages of Fenghuang Town.  

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
PS: The guy with the computer is Raymond.
We boarded the wrong bus into Sanya and while trying to figure out which way to walk to find Owen’s school we bumped into Raymond and his son. Raymond spends much of his time volunteering at the local library and old people’s home reading to and teaching English to the elderly.
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The soundtrack to this entry was by My Bloody Valentine
The album was ‘Loveless’
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