This weekend was Korea's "Thanksgiving" holiday - Chuseok. Last week, we kept getting spoiled at work by getting pizza and rice cakes from students' parents. I got some soap from my favorite little kindergartener, Junghwan. And from YBM, all the teachers got a HUGE gift set of different shampoos, toothpastes, toothbrushes and soaps. If I didn't know better, I would have thought they were trying to tell us we stink or something, haha!
In addition to the weekend, we got three days off of work. The original plan was to go to Tibet - but it ended up being too expensive for a short amount of time...and we had some issues with obtaining visas. Then we were thinking about going to Beijing - but it was sold out. Then we thought about going to Thailand, Philippines, or Vietnam...but everything was sold out. Apparently, you need to book trips during Chuseok months in advance. So, where were we to go? What were we to do? The only answer was Hainan, a small tropical island off the coast of China and Vietnam.
We booked a package trip through a travel agency with a guy named Elvis. And yes, he totally lived up to his name. He was a rock star. For under $800, we got roundtrip airfare and four nights in a 5 star resort in Sanya. The trip was absolutely amazing with very few kinks!
We arrived in Sanya around 2:30 in the morning but we were so excited to be in Hainan that Priscilla and I ended up staying up until 5:00am out on the balcony. We woke up extra early the next day because our clock in our room was messed up and we had no idea what time it was. We had an amazing breakfast that included pastries, cereal, spam, eggs steamed in soy sauce, fried rice, fish, fresh fruit... It was so delicious and it was free. Awesome.
It was partly cloudy but we decided to go to one of the beaches in Sanya. Surprisingly, there were few people out and about on the beach. We figured that the tourist season must have just ended. There were many stores that were closed...even the police station on the beach was deserted! So we just walked around and took in the scenery and stopped to drink out of coconuts.
While walking around, we noticed that all the signs were in Chinese and Russian. Either there is a big Russian population there or it's a popular destination for Russians. There was even a Russian "entertainment" bar/club attached to our resort. Hmmmmmmmm....
On our way back to the resort, we were approached by a lady who wanted us to eat at her restaurant. We were just talking about how hungry we were and decided to go. We decided to eat some of the fresh seafood that Hainan is known for. Mark decided on crab while I got fish. Then the lady escorts Mark outside to the tanks to pick out what kind of crabs he wanted. After him, she took me outside to pick out my fish. Well, this was the first time I had ever had to do it, so I just said yes to the first fish she pointed to. Then she took out a net and scooped up the fish into a plastic bag. About 5 minutes later, the crabs and the fish were ready. Apparently Mark got to pick out 6 crabs, so we had a huge feast of crabs, fish, fried rice, and french fries. All this amazing food for less than $20.
The next day was rainy and windy but we didn't want to be stuck in the resort all day. Instead, we decided to go to the Nanshan Culture Center to see the Nanshan Temple. We had to take a taxi all the way to the culture center. The ride was about 45 minutes long but it was great to see the surrounding area of Sanya.
The Nanshan Culture Center was a lot of fun despite the weather. It was kind of like a religious theme park. We got to ride around in little electric train carts and could hop on and off at various locations. We saw the largest Buddhist statue made of pure gold and jade, Nanshan Temple, the world's largest dragon ink stone, and Nanhai Guanyin Buddha statue. The Nanhai Guanyin Buddha is the tallest on the ocean and apparently can be seen from the airport. While at the dragon ink stone stop, there was a place where you could throw coins into various holes in a wall to gain "long, happy marriage", "blessed children", long life, good luck, wealth, etc. Well, I got five coins and actually made one coin into a hole! You never have to worry about me because I now have "safety throughout my life". I was so happy to make it because no one else had. The tour guide was happy for me and then made me try for the happy marriage and the blessed children. Needless to say, I didn't make them...and that's okay, haha.
Since the Culture Center was basically in the middle of nowhere, the taxi driver had to wait for us while we did our sightseeing. I'm not sure what he did for the three hours we were inside but he did look pretty happy to see us so he could go home. For waiting three hours, he charged us a whopping 40 yuan...approximately $5-6.
The next and final full day in Hainan was partly cloudy and rainy in the morning. However, we still decided to go to Whuzizhou Island which is famous for its beaches and scuba diving. Again, we had to take a taxi to the Whuzizhou Island Wharf so we could take a ferry to the Island. This time, the taxi driver actually went with us to the island. What a good deal for him! He got a free trip to the tropical island! When we got the island, he basically dragged us onto a cart which took us to the place to sign up for scuba diving, boat/jetski rentals, etc. We all decided to go shore diving. Although I have asthma, I still went because I figured that we were diving in shallow water and when else am I going to have this opportunity?
So, we get changed into wet suits and get a small training session in Chinese. The tour guide began to read us the rules and regulations in English and then stopped and gave us the sheet to read. Good thing Priscilla and Mark have their certification because there were some points that just didn't make any sense even in the English translations.
Well, we get to the place where we are diving and we each get paired up with a scuba instructor. It was kind of strange because the scuba divers didn't go under water with us. They just kind of held our backs and dragged us around, haha. The diving was absolutely amazing. I saw lots of tropical fish and coral and the water was soooo crystal clear. Well, I began to have problems breathing while under water. So, I come up for air and try telling my instructor that I think I should go back. He doesn't understand a word I'm saying so he calls over to another instructor. He doesn't understand what I'm saying either so he brings up his diver. It was hilarious because the diver had no idea what was going on...he was just brought up without notice. Well, apparently he was Korean and spoke some English. I told him about my problem and he was just like, "well, it takes some time to get used to. You should definitely try to keep going." After talking to him, my instructor tries talking to me and I'm like, "I don't know what you're saying" and he keeps making fun of me and laughing at me. Then he calls over the instructor who has Priscilla and he comes over with Priscilla in tow (but still under water). I got the name of Priscilla's instructor (Wonbar or something like that) and I swear my instructor said something about shabu-shabu (a Korean meal). After about 3 minutes of them trying to talk to me, Priscilla finally comes up to check out what's going on. And then out of the blue, the Korean guy tries to sell her a DVD of the diving. It was hilarious. I think I had as much fun on the surface of the water as I did under the water.
After diving, we decided to check out some of the local dishes. We went to a restaurant where Mark got something with sea cucumbers in a sweet and sour sauce, Priscilla got soup, and I had scallops with green tea leaves. It was delicious. Chinese food is SOOOOOOOOOOO good. Oh yeah...and Geoduck was on the menu! I thought about trying it for a whole 3 seconds and then decided against it, haha. While we were eating, it began to downpour. Well, only Priscilla brought an umbrella. Our waitress noticed this and gave us her umbrella!!! It was soooo nice of her! Because of the rain, we decided it was time to leave the island. We went back to the dock and met up with our taxi driver, who disappeared sometime after the shore diving. On the way back, our taxi driver made a couple stops. One stop was a gas station and the second stop was to pick up his friend... Either it was his friend or it was the end of his shift and it was the next taxi driver? We went to some neighborhood and the new guy just jumped right in the cab next to me.
We all had a great time in Hainan and I definitely recommend it as a place to go for some rest and relaxation, sightseeing, and fun in the sun! We don't have another vacation until February, which I believe is the Chinese New Year, so it's even more popular for people to travel. We are already thinking about places to go during that holiday. Maybe Philippines? Maybe Thailand? Who knows! But we are definitely going to take advantage of our time in Asia to see as much as possible!
