Sanya... the Hawaii of the South East

So got to sunny Sanya without too much difficulty. Although very soon after my last blog we went back to the train station only to find that it was the wrong train station. After a manic taxi ride through miles of rural countryside we finally arrived at the right one, which was the smallest station I've ever been to. Made it on the train though and after a few hours of beautiful tropical scenery we got to the south coast and the channel crossing to Hainan. I expected the train would go through a tunnel, Karen thought we'd cross a bridge to get to the other side. We were both so wrong. The train boarded a ferry which carried us over to Haikou where the train was then unloaded to carry on it's journey. It blew my mind... I had no idea these things existed! So that was cool.

Finally arrived in Sanya and stayed a night in a rather swanky apartment, then next day went into centre to try and find some cheaper accomodation near Dadonghai beach in the Russian district. And it really was a Russian district. Russians everywhere, Russian shops, Russian signs and translations and Russian food. Didn't get much luck finding a hostel as Sanya in heaving with tourists escaping the cold at this time of year, particularly elderly Chinese couples. But one hostel rented out tents and let you use their showers and lockers so we did that. Found a quiet spot on the beach, had a swim and a couple of drinks and then settled down for a good night's sleep. I was pretty comfy, the temperature was perfect, woke up feeling nicely refreshed. I decided to listen to my ipod for a bit so looked round the tent for my bag... but it wasn't there. Jumped outside to see if I'd stupidly left it there. It was outside, a little distance from our tent but definitely not somewhere I'd have left it. Checked my wallet - 500 yuan gone, checked my ipod - gone, checked my phone - still there... clearly way too crappy a model to sell on. So yeah.. really creepy that someone had sneaked into our tent while we were sleeping and taken my bag, but at least I still had all my bank cards and my phone. Could have been a lot worse. Also my ipod is a very old version which was never even introduced to China, so when the theif sees the retro non-colour screen, the clunky menus and the inability to play videos he'll (she'll?) probably think it's a fake.

Stayed in Sanya a couple more days after that, saw some sights including the 4th biggest statue in the world, an coastal temple with an ancient bell garden and a famous beach at Yalong bay. Met up with a Chinese friend who managed to get us some proper beds in a hostel, which was nice. Had a lot of fun in Sanya but it was just too touristy at this time of year, just totally packed, and the public transport system was a nightmare. And came away an ipod down and with 32 very irritating mosquitoe bites on my feet. But definitely glad I made it to the 'Hawaii of China'.