Five days in Hainan

From 26.10 to 31.10 I visited and partially explored the tropical islands of Hainan. From the previous report you could already tell that the time at the airport was not very spectacular but rather long. The plane took off from Hangzhou with a delay of over two hours. For that, I had a complete tour around the airport in the plane and was able to thoroughly inspect the runway, as we had about 12 takeoff clearances. However, they were immediately withdrawn after the plane moved three meters. Unfortunately, due to the delay, it was quickly clear that I would miss my train in Hainan from Haikou to Sanya. - Also stupid of me... In hindsight, I wonder how I even came up with the idea of buying a train ticket only 1.5 hours after the plane arrived. That won't happen to me again. :D

So, since the train didn't work out, I spent the night in Haikou. It was quite nice and took away some of my fear of the language. It all started when I couldn't find the stand for the official taxis at the airport. So I negotiated with a private taxi driver. Her initial price was 180 yuan. We agreed on 80 yuan. At that time, however, I still didn't know that there would be three Chinese people in the taxi. They were all driven comfortably to the outskirts of Haikou, which extended the journey from 20 minutes to over an hour. I guess they can do that with a little European. But ha, wrong thought. :D After I had my suitcase at the hostel, I was able to make it clear to the driver pretty quickly that I only wanted to pay 50 yuan. After being screamed at for a bit and having the ground spat at in front of me, everything was fine again. A bit annoyed, she took her bill and drove away. As a felt winner, I went to the hostel and checked in for the night. That's when I found out that the price with the taxi meter from the airport to the hostel is about 65 yuan. In the end, I ended up paying less than with a normal taxi. So negotiating works. J That's why I'm now quite glad that the plane was so delayed. It was actually a really funny experience and my confidence in dealing with China and the people here doubled immediately.

The next day, traveling went surprisingly well. I immediately found the way from the hostel to the train station, bought a ticket there, didn't miss the train, and also didn't miss the train station in Sanya. In Sanya, the bus line immediately came that went to my hostel and again, I arrived and got off there directly and problem-free. Here, I have to praise China once. Train travel is an absolute dream here. It's cheap, the trains are very punctual and not overcrowded because there are seat numbers for each ticket. I traveled from Haikou to Sanya for the equivalent of eleven euros. That's 250 km and I wasn't even on the road for two hours. The German railway company could learn a thing or two from that. And yes, it's crazy, the praise continues. The Chinese map apps show perfectly where and how to get on the bus to reach the destination. Without this function, traveling would not have been possible for me. This also works much better here than in Germany. The trip to the island has helped me to see some new, positive sides of this country.

In Sanya, I met up with a group of German students and spent two nights with them in the hostel. It was a nice time with lots of beach and sea. During the two days with the group, I relaxed on China's most beautiful beaches and went diving, among other things. It was very touristy and had many negative sides. However, we must admit that it was very impressive. I was underwater with a personal trainer for about 30 minutes. We dived together at a reef and the feeling of being under the water's surface for such a long time was great. Less great was that neither the trainers nor the organizer cared about the environment. While diving, the trainer almost forced me to touch the coral, and bait was used to attract shoals of fish. In addition, the disposable mouthpieces of the divers were thrown out of the water onto the platform where the new tourists were waiting for their dive. The annoying thing is that at least a quarter of the mouthpieces ended up in the water instead of on the platform. You can shake your head so vigorously at this that it hurts. These people earn their living by showing other people the beautiful nature of their island, and they do their best to destroy it as quickly as possible. Reflective action is not their strength...

After two nights in Sanya, I moved on to Wuzhishan alone. Wuzhishan is the smallest major city in China and more like a small town than a big city. There are no hostels there, but cheap hotels with good standards. I slept there for 100 yuan (about €13) per night. In addition to a double bed, the room had a bathtub, tea, an electric kettle, and it was nicely furnished. My first hotel in my life was an absolute jackpot, cheap and good. However, the special thing about the city is not the hotels, but the surroundings. Except for the coast, Hainan is completely covered with rainforests, rice terraces, and mountains. Wuzhishan gets its name from the highest mountain on the island, the Wuzhishan Mountain. It is right next to the city. On the day of my arrival, things were organized a bit. For the next day, I wanted to rent a bike to explore the area on my own. Once everything was sorted out, I walked along a well-constructed hiking trail from the city into the rainforest. The path was beautiful, but it might be better signposted for naive tourists. Once you take a wrong turn, you can quickly end up on private property. If you notice that too late, you can be chased away by five dogs from the property. Yes, so far, it has definitely been my scariest experience with dogs. From the outside, it might even have looked quite funny - a small European being chased through the rainforest by five barking dogs. Now I tell it with a lot of laughter. But it took a night for it to get to that point. Luckily, the pack was so well trained that it immediately stopped when I was back at the crossroads. My heart didn't stop racing yet. It took a few more moments for that. However, the excitement quickly subsided when I was able to experience my first sunset in the rainforest. It was worth all the running. J

The next morning, a few Germans from the group in Sanya spontaneously joined. Nevertheless, I set off alone with the bike. The thing that could be called a bike was absolute junk, though. Only three out of 21 gears worked, one brake was broken, and it was too small. But I really wanted to ride a bike. So I set off in pouring rain. - On this day, the rainforest lived up to its name. It rained continuously. After 12 km and many beautiful spots, I had to turn around. The bike wasn't made for mountains and long distances.

In the afternoon, I set off for the Wuzhishan Mountain with Lis, a German girl. We wanted to see it from a viewpoint. However, the plan was a bit optimistic. With all the rain, all we could see were rain and clouds. But it was still cool. Because I could persuade Lis to hitchhike, we hitchhiked back from the mountain to the city. 40 km on a pick-up truck with a high tarp was a hitchhiking experience that was a lot of fun. :D The Krauts, as they call themselves, and I ended the evening in a Chinese restaurant, and the next day I returned to Hangzhou by bus, train, and plane. Everything went smoothly again, and unfortunately, I arrived in cold and smoggy Hangzhou without any delay. J

Finally, I can say that traveling is a good method to find the beautiful sides of China. Up to this point, the only positive constant was the Chinese food. I can also say that I would be completely lost without my phone. In the end, I didn't let go of it. However, last weekend, I lost it at a festival. But that will be in the next report. :D The time in Hainan was definitely totally beautiful, with lots of sun, stars at night, great places, and an impressive rainforest.

Tomorrow, on 11/11, I'm going to Tianjin with two of my students. It is a bit south of Beijing. The Goethe Institute is organizing a debate competition there, and I have trained the ZUST team. Let's see how far we get. The goal is the round of 16. Fingers crossed. :D

Next week, I will tell the story of the festival and the loss of my phone. Until then, warm greetings!

P.S. Yes, on 11/11, I wanted to upload the report and it took eight days until I had a working internet connection and a VPN connection. The internet situation here is really not easy. So please be lenient with me if something is not uploaded regularly.