Surfing China Bay (to the tune of surfing USA)

Woke up early and waited downstairs at 8am, right on time a van drove up with blacked out windows, the driver pointed into the back and smiled so we did the only sensible thing, we got in!

He drove in silence for most of the journey until I started speaking a little chinese as I woke up and then he was friendly.

He dropped us off on a deserted beach near an empty surf shop way before any self respecting surfer is out of bed, (9.30), and drove off.

I called out contact surfer guy and after a while he picked up, obviously still in bed, and said would another hour be ok! Haha, no problem.

We walked along the beach and found a very famous "husband and wife" rock in the sand, as we watched a few tour buses turned up and started looking at the rock before wandering to a few local shops done up to look like a traditional local culture (its a different traditional culture from the mainland) and have flower necklaces placed over their heads just like in Hawaii. 

After there were a decent number of people there the locals at the shops all put on some velcro blue clothes over their normal clothes and started singing and dancing before picking up a traditional shape fishing boat and carrying it down to the beach together.
On the beach they performed a token ceremony I guess asking for safe fishing, take a pigs head and some well preserved fruit out of a nearby freezer just long enough to place it in front of the statue of the local god before quickly putting it back for use again tomorrow. They then headed down to the beach, lit a bonfire and danced around the fire still singing loudly in chinese with all the tour groups watching fascinated and Chris and I just watching a little confused. After the song was over they all headed back up, slipped off their over clothes and went back to business as usual, token fishing ritual done for the day!

Then we noticed on the sand 3 very thin looking horses and even 3 rather confused looking camels! but then I think camels always look pretty confused....

Chinese people would arrive in droves for the door, look at the shops, see the fishing good luck ritual, and then take some pictures with the famous rock in the sea before all jumping back onto the tour bus and heading off onto other more interesting places, perfect for us as 99% of the beach was completely deserted! 

The camels and horses were there for chinese people to sit on, then the camels stood up, the had pictures taken, the camel sat down and they got off again, apparently very happy with their camel time, ready for the next person to get on! Crazy! 

Around 10.30 we wandered back to the surf hut and met out surf instructor who gave us a rash vest and we chucked on some swim shorts and went surfing!

Chris has surfed a lot and I had surfed once or twice so we picked it up again pretty fast, we both stood up first time but then chris got onto turns and things whilst I concentrated on decent rides on the waves. We had a great few hours before the surf guy wandered off back to bed leaving us surfing for another hour or so. Just told to leave the boards somewhere obvious when we left! There were about 5 chinese surfers and 2 or 3 foreigners on a huge beach so we had plenty of space and had a great time. It wasn't cold in the water in swim shorts and a rash vest and it was a great place to learn, with clear water and perfect waves.

The surf instructor had just moved his shop from dadonghai to this beach as this is where the surf is (doh, thats why we couldn't find it!) and now was setting up for good here, he was Californian but came to china for high school and never left, amazing! 

He was a nice guy and we both enjoyed the lesson, even got a few pictures when i can get them off chris's camera! 

After surfing we threw some clothes on and sat on the steps to eat some prebrought lunch, avoiding the one overpriced restaurant that was there! We asked about getting back and found that we could try flagging down a bus, but the fast direct buses didn't stop, so we would have to get a bus to a local city, then change, or we could wait an hour for a japanese family that were leaving for sanya and hitch a lift! 

We chose to hitch a lift and so wandered around the beach and walked along finding just more and more deserted island beach with palm trees and coconuts everywhere! 

We went back at the appointed time but found that the car was too small for us! No ride there! still not worrying the surf guy called us a cab, a bit expensive at 200rmb but at least its easy and safe, and we were pretty tired. The driver kept talking to me in chinese and really tested my understanding! A lot went over my head but we managed to hold a basic conversation, with lots of frustration on his part I guess, but he was happy to chat to a foreigner!

We got back and walked in to be greeted by the reception desk guy asking what happened, looking in the mirror I saw why, Chris and I were both very sunburnt! Even though we used suncream (bought in sanya, £9 for a tiny bottle, most were over £20, they know foreigners need it and have money!) we still got burnt!

Nevermind, tired, happy and sunburnt we got a reasonably early night! 

If I could I would come back to Sanya just to go surfing there again on riyuewan, sunmoonbeach, the problem is accommodation, once you get over the crazy difficulty in getting there the only hotel is 400rmb (40£) a night, pretty pricey for apparently pretty awful, but the location is amazing! I decided I want to open a hostel here, if I could get the backing I would, secluded location, partnered to a surf school, put on a daily minibus in and out to sanya, it would be amazing! 

XiaBeizi (in my next life) maybe, or maybe just a few years time ;).This day made the whole trip worthwhile, very happy!