To the beach!

The next morning we were meeting some of my students at 7 so even on Sunday morning we had to be up at 6.30! Susan my student came to meet us at our house and dragged us out of the door and out to the front of school where the bus was waiting.

We and 50 students piled onto the coach and the teachers got into a car and we agreed to meet them at the beach. After an hour or so drive we arrived at the beach and it was nice and warm.

We unloaded the bus and went down onto the beach and whilst I started taking some pictures and doing a little rock climbing on some big boulders on the beach Chris started playing some volleyball with the students.

After a while they drifted off to paddle in the sea and mess around on the beach. The beach was quiet so early in the morning but still a little touristy, a section had 8 or so dune buggies to rent for £10 a half hour as well as peddles, water bikes, an inflatable ball to walk on water a few other things as well as a couple of food stalls and umbrella rental women.

I walked down to the sea to paddle and took my camera in for a walk in the sea and to try and take some wave action photos, another student really liked photography so we compared cameras and notes and both tried to take the best action shots!

After a bit I needed some suntan cream and started back up the beach, I met Chris after his volleyball and we both said that it was getting crazy hot, and since the last few days had been rain it was a surprise! We looked at our watch and realised it was only half past 9 in the morning and it was already at least 28 with very high humidity.

As the day went on and we messed around on the beach I met two more of my classes also on the beach and so took some cool photos with them! Some came out really cool and as it approached 11 the students were getting hungry and we decided to start to set up camp, the beach was getting a bit busier but as we walked away from the shops to have our bbq the people just dropped off, they all sat together near the shops and restaurant section and the swimming area and left the rest of the beach (bar that small 100m section) basically empty!

We setup our bbqs and all started trying to light them, the chinese way involves a lot of meths and a lighter with as little coal as possible but chris used his firelighting skills to get ours up and away as fast possible and we were the first to get cooking.

We bbqed chicken with various sauces and then some other foods including some seafood for the others as well as some baked sweet potatoes. The teachers then invited us to go for a meal with them in a local restaurant but we were full from the bbq so declied (possibly a slightly rude thing to do) and decided to stay with the students and play on the beach.
Chris used his Poncho to make a small sunshade with some driftwood and other beach rubbish which the students found funny until it was ready, then 6 of them crammed into into it with us using umbrellas for the sides.

After lunch (and in the head of the day) we just relaxed on the beach chatting with students and playing on the beach, I walked down the beach to the sea again and paddled some more and chris tried to get a little nap.

I put on factor 30 suncream 5 times and stayed in our makeshift shade as much as I could but still felt a little red by the end of the afternoon.

We left the beach around 3 and went back to the school for a much needed shower and a rest before teaching again on the Monday.

Got some great pictures and had a great time on my first local beach trip, I would like to go back and try out those dune buggies next time, but I will learn my lesson and get in early because at midday it is just too hot!

 The next morning the tops of my feet and the backs of my legs were sunburnt but not too bad, and my shoulders were a little tender but luckily my face escaped unscathed (unlike chris!).