Woke up early but happy to be travelling again! unfortunately had some painful stomach cramps through the morning which was less than fun! Got the train at 9 going north to hangzhou and my stomach started to feel better.
Had a good chat in Chinese with a friendly guy on the train which was good practise.
We arrived in hangzhou at 1pm and our flight left at 3pm so we had two hours to get to the airport, we gave up on a bus and ended up just getting a taxi.
Made it to the airport and checked in ok but unfortunately the plane was delayed! And then we found that our flight had a stoppover at xiamen, where it was again delayed! Damnit! At least in xiamen there were some friendly girls selling bacon, so I chatted with them and bought some tasty spicy bacon....
At this point we realised we got a train north for a few hundred km only to fly all the way south to xiamen, a town a few hundred km south of where we started! Then we caught the 2.5 hour flight down to Sanya. A city on the island of hainan, the most southern part of china, intact on an island sticking down past the china-Vietnam border, we are actually on the same latititude as hochimin city, and the northern parts of Thailand! Very cool! Well actually pretty damn warm, even in winter!
We arrived eventually 1.5 hours late and got our bags before the eventual swap of taxi drivers, we knew it should be around 50rmb but they started at 90! I argued them down to 60rmb + 5rmb for a car parking fee and left it at that, I was too tired really!
The taxi drove us past lots of massive hotels and palm tree lined roads and it really feels like Thailand. Eventually they arrived at a little gated district and he dropped us off and waved goodbye... And left us a little lost.
We couldn't see the hotel so wandered about a bit before giving them a call, they didn't answer though so we wandered some more before asking a builder, who didn't know, and a security guard (luckily we had it in Chinese) who also didn't know!
Next we walked into a Russian hotel where we had to speak Chinese again and then a lovely old lady took us around to another hostel, we asked them and found out that was wrong too!
We stopped outside and looked at what we knew and kept looking at a plain white unassuming house with no signs or markings, I went over to ask the people who lived there if they knew and it turned out that was the place!
A very Chinese place but very very clean, a shared bathroom for a floor and again they spoke no English but very interesting all the same!
Checked in and found our room and then collapsed for some well earned sleep!
Had a good chat in Chinese with a friendly guy on the train which was good practise.
We arrived in hangzhou at 1pm and our flight left at 3pm so we had two hours to get to the airport, we gave up on a bus and ended up just getting a taxi.
Made it to the airport and checked in ok but unfortunately the plane was delayed! And then we found that our flight had a stoppover at xiamen, where it was again delayed! Damnit! At least in xiamen there were some friendly girls selling bacon, so I chatted with them and bought some tasty spicy bacon....
At this point we realised we got a train north for a few hundred km only to fly all the way south to xiamen, a town a few hundred km south of where we started! Then we caught the 2.5 hour flight down to Sanya. A city on the island of hainan, the most southern part of china, intact on an island sticking down past the china-Vietnam border, we are actually on the same latititude as hochimin city, and the northern parts of Thailand! Very cool! Well actually pretty damn warm, even in winter!
We arrived eventually 1.5 hours late and got our bags before the eventual swap of taxi drivers, we knew it should be around 50rmb but they started at 90! I argued them down to 60rmb + 5rmb for a car parking fee and left it at that, I was too tired really!
The taxi drove us past lots of massive hotels and palm tree lined roads and it really feels like Thailand. Eventually they arrived at a little gated district and he dropped us off and waved goodbye... And left us a little lost.
We couldn't see the hotel so wandered about a bit before giving them a call, they didn't answer though so we wandered some more before asking a builder, who didn't know, and a security guard (luckily we had it in Chinese) who also didn't know!
Next we walked into a Russian hotel where we had to speak Chinese again and then a lovely old lady took us around to another hostel, we asked them and found out that was wrong too!
We stopped outside and looked at what we knew and kept looking at a plain white unassuming house with no signs or markings, I went over to ask the people who lived there if they knew and it turned out that was the place!
A very Chinese place but very very clean, a shared bathroom for a floor and again they spoke no English but very interesting all the same!
Checked in and found our room and then collapsed for some well earned sleep!
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