A Tour in Koh Samui

On our second day in Koh Samui, we decided to book a tour, because the weather forecast wasn't that good. We opted for one that took use to some sights, a coconut plantation, an elephant conservatory and some kayaking. We got picked up at the hotel and were asigned to the pick-up truck number 4. As predicted, it was raining.

The first stop was the Wat Plai Laem, a Buddha temple at the top of the island, close to our hotel at Chaweng beach. We weren't dressed appropriatly, so we couldn't go very close to the Buddha statues but it was still close enough for some pictures. These Buddhas are very colorful and modern. There is a Chinese-style Buddha with 18 arms. My favorite statue was the laughing Buddha.

Next, we drove along Chaweng and Lamai Beach to the Grandmother and Grandfahter Rocks (Hin Yai & Hin Ta). The rocks showed the "manly body part", explained our tour guide. And the grandmother rock looks like the female one. The legend behind it is not really interesting. Those two wanted to find a wife for their son and on the journey to meet the potential wife, they drownded and were turned into those rocks, showing their intention. The sight was free of charge and there are many souvenir shops around.

Luckily, at this point it stopped raining and we drove out to a coconut plantation where they among other things produce coconut oil. They explained to us that monkeys get trained to climb up the palm trees to get the coconuts. You can buy those monekys already trained. It is the only way for them to reach those coconuts, because the trees are extremly high. The green coconuts are supposed to be good for drinking, because they taste sweet. The workers take the coconut and peel it on a fixed knive. This part is used for furniture and similar things. The coconut inside is white (turns brown after some time probably, then it's better to eat). We drank the water from one coconut and then ate the inside part which was still good.

On the way to the next stop, a rubber plantation, they asked us if we wanted to sit on the roof of the car. Of course. They drove like crazy and we had to go through mud, water and country roads. You really needed and off-road car for this route. We were glad they had seat belts and we held on tight with both hands. I still managed to take some pictures though. :) We took turns in ridding up there and it was one of the best things to do on the tour.

Next to the rubber plantation there was a pineapple field with many small pineapples. According to the guide it is not enough for the farmers to only produce rubber, often they also have a pineapple field or some coconut trees. They collect the rubber in the middle of the night, then add some chemicals, and leave it for 1.5h hours, during which time they go to sleep. After that they roll the rubber flat and put it through a press and let it dry it in the sun.

Then, we drove to the elephant plantation. This ride was quite adventurous because I was again on the roof of the car. On the conservatory we were able to ride the elephant for about 15 minutes. The mahout of my elephant couldn't speak that well English but he told me that my elephant was 25 years old. It was a very nice experience and they had someone taking pictures with your phone. Of course, they expected a tip for this extra service.

Afterwards, we drove to a waterfall in the tropical forrest but it wasn't as spectacular as expected. After 30 mintutes we went back and had lunch, a Thai buffet with steamed rice, red curry with chicken, fried vegetables, chicken with garlic sauce, noodles, pineapple, watermelon.

After lunch we watched a baby elephant taking a bath. He was 7 years old and seemed to enjoy being in the water and being brushed. They ask you if you want to sit on it but then at the same time they ask you to pay extra for it. We also watched a monkey show: They showed us how a money gets the coconut from the tree and again what they do with the coconut.

Our last stop was at a river for doing some kayaking. Although the kajak was for only 2 people, me and my two friends took one togehter. When we wanted to pass someone, we ended up in trees or got stuck in the mud. The second attempt was usually more successful. We locked our stuff in one of the lockers, because we didn't want them to get wet. When we wanted to take our things out, my friend broke the key. 5 people tried to open the locker with us laughing in the background. Luckily, they managed to open it in the end.

We went home for a nap, because the whole day exhausted us. Then we had curry, satay sticks and cocktails (raspberry mojito) while watching the first period of the IT - SWE soccer match.
We walked around and had another drink at the Aussie Bar which showed the match on a big screen. (Italy won 1:0)

Terracotta Warriors Tour in Xi'an

I had to be ready for the tour at 9AM. I got up early enough, so I had time to have breakfast. I ordered a müsli and a cappuccino, unfortunately, at that time there were many other tourists ordering breakfast and I think there were only 2 guys serving the breakfast. At 5 to 9, I went up to the guy to ask for my money back, because I hadn't gotten my breakfast yet and I needed to go.

The tour guide brought us from the hostel to a bus where other Western tourists were waiting. Chelsea was our enthusiastic tour guide and on the way to the terracotta warrior factory, she told us a little bit about the history of this very famous sight:

The Terracotta Army was created by the first emperor named Qin to accompany him in his tomb. He started the construction as soon as he ascended the throne. Qin believed that statues will became alive in the afterlife and he wanted an army at his side when he entered it. The construction of the tomb lasted from 246 to 206 BC. The army consists of thousands of warriors, horses and chariots in original man size (6,000 pieces), and many other treasures were buried with him. They were covered by a wooden roof.

It was discovered in 1974 by a farmer and archaeologists are still working on this amazing archaeological site. Two years later, another two parts were discovered. Many statues though are destroyed. A big area in each room is still uncovered, because they discovered that the statues were colored and when they uncovered them, the colors faded. This is why all of the statues that can be seen now (around 2,000), are plain. They haven't discovered the technology yet to keep this from happening, this is why they left a big part buried. It has been selected as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The first stop was at the factory of the terracotta warriors. They showed us how they make those clay statues of different heights. You could also have one with your face, there was an example of Obama. They told us that on the market, they sold fake ones, made out of a material that breaks easily. This was in one room and then 4 rooms followed filled with different products they sold, from statues to furniture and paintings. I grabbed a coffee which finally woke me up.

Back on the bus, we headed to the Terracotta Warriors Museum. There are 3 different displays of which Pit 1 was the biggest one and the most complete one. The Terracotta Army is staged in a battle formation and each figure faces east and every single statue has a different facial expression, clothing and hair. The structure of the pits is always the same: the figures were placed in the corridors, 5 meters below the ground, and covered by a wooden roof which was covered by fiber mats and earth fill.

Then we went to Pit No. 2 and No. 3 which contains more soldiers on chariots of which most were burned and destroyed.

After lunch, the bus drove us to the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin. His tomb is supposed to be a huge underground palace but it hasn't been uncovered yet, the appropriate technology hasn't been discovered yet and there is some toxic material inside. People have known of its existence for a long time thanks to written documents but the Terracotta Army wasn't mentioned anywhere.

In the end, it is a beautiful park with a head stone. No wonder that many tourists skip this place...

Xi'an – an Ancient Chinese City

On Sunday, May 22^nd, I left Zhuhai and started my adventure through China and Southeast Asia. My first stop was Xi'an, the capital of the Shaanxi Province. It is an ancient city with a history of over 3,000 years. It used to be the capital of China for several dynasties, especially during the Tang Dynasty (618AD – 908AD). It was important, because it represented the eastern end of the Silk Road. The historical city center was surrounded by a city wall which is still accessible. Nowadays, the city is mostly know for the Terracotta Warriors

I was picked up from the airport by my friend Tina. She came by car which was very convenient, because the airport was very far from the city. As soon as we were in the car, we took the first selfie, the Chinese style with a 45-degree angle (I was really tired from the flight and the past few days but could still smile :)).

First, she took me to Muslim Street for eating and I got to see the Bell and Drum Tower. I was amazed by the energy and liveliness of the street. There was smoke in the air from all the bbq stands. A lot of different smells filled the air. 

Tina invited me to try different things, starting with a Jing Gao which is sticky rice a kind of syrup and sugar on a stick. It was delicious. Then I tried the Chinese burger, a type of bread that is cut open and filled with chopped meat, in this case with beef and a spicy sauce. That was definitely better than a fast food burger. After more than 3 months in China, I got used to seeing fresh meat in its original form lying or hanging around. Very interesting to see was the way they made the candy. There were two kinds, one was a hard dough which they hammered apart if that makes any sense...a second one was a really long dough that they twisted around several times. The whole thing attracted many visitors.

Then, we went to a restaurant on this street to try more food. Tina ordered food for at least 4 people: cold noodles with a spicy peanut sauce (cold noodles are a specialty in Xi'an, I would have preferred them warm), beans with ginger (weirdly also cold), steamed stuffed buns with beef or lamb (the lamb one was too smelly for me), some fried pork and a kind of green vegetable (which I had before). I was completely full after this, and still I tried a sweet tomato-rice dessert back on the street. On this street I found the best Chinese food that I've had so far.

We headed back to the car and Tina took me to the hostel, so I could do check-in. At this point I need to mention that driving in China is crazy, and I was really impressed with the driving skills of Tina. She has been driving for only a year but this crazy traffic does not make her nervous.

My hostel, See Tang Hostel, was located in a pedestrian street called Ancient Cultural Street of Shuyuanmen. During the day, there is a market with craft and souvenir stands. It is a really nice and peaceful street. The staff of the hotel was really nice and helpful from the beginning on. I shared my room with 4 other people, and it was the tiniest room I've ever slept in. Two beds were already taken. I dropped off my stuff and then we went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda which is located outside of the ancient City Wall.

It is the symbol for Buddhism in Xi'an and it was originally built in 652 during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. It was used to collect the Buddhism material from India by emperor Xuanzang. The height is 64.5 meters, but it used to be two stories shorter. Around the Pagoda there are gardens and a big fountain which does a fountain-music spectacle. This attracts as many tourists as the pagoda.

For the next day I booked a tour to the Terracotta Warriors at the hostel. Take a look at a separate post about the tour to the Terracotta Warriors.

On my third day in Xi'an I took my time with getting up and enjoyed a good breakfast on the beautiful terrace of the hostel. The weather was absolutely perfect, blue sky without any clouds. Today I was planning to ride a bike on the city wall. In many recommendations it said that the best time to do so, is at dust, so basically I had the entire day for doing something else. I walked towards Muslim Street again and took a nice picture of the Bell Tower, just because I liked it that much. On my way back to the hostel, I stopped at Starbucks and had a coffee outside in the sun. I was the only person sitting in the sun. :)

The weather was too nice for going to a museum, so I opted for a nearby park. I took the bus outside of the South Gate until the Xingqinggong Park. I walked around and enjoyed the nice weather. The interesting thing about Chinese Parks is that although they provide a place to relax, they are never completely silent. You can hear noise from every corner: a group of elderly people who talk or play games, a group of dancers that exercise to music or the park itself plays quiet, relaxing songs. I took the bus back and decided to get off a little earlier, because between the City Wall and the river, there was another nice pedestrian walk.

Around 5pm, my roommate and I headed to the City Wall. The City Wall was constructed as a square and it is about 14km long. It was built in the 14^th century during the Ming Dynasty. Each gate (south, north, east and west) is surrounded by 3 towers, and in the corners of the square, there are the watchtowers. When we wanted to buy tickets at the South Gate, they told us that due to some kind of celebration, the South Gate is closed (they couldn't tell us, because they didn't know English but there was a sign in English). They directed us to the next gate, about 1km from the South Gate. We almost gave up, because we couldn't find it, when finally I saw an entrance. There weren't any people, so no wonder, we couldn't find it. We got the tickets and had to walk to the next gate to rent some bikes. We drove all around, at least as far as we could, stopped for pictures and enjoyed a wonderful sunset over the city of Xi'an.

Wai Ling Ding – One of Zhuhai’s Islands

This past weekend InternChina, the organization with who I came to China with, organized a trip to beautiful Yang Shuo (Guilin). I’ve heard a lot of great things about this place and I was really excited to there.

Unfortunately, the travel agency canceled the trip due to heavy rain in the area. Instead, InternChina planned a trip to one of Zhuhai’s many islands – Wai Ling Ding Island. As the water of the sea in Zhuhai is brown and probably poisoned due to the chemicals from the factories around, the islands are a good alternative with nice and clean water.

Wai Ling Ding is an island south of Hong Kong and a popular vacation spot. The boat ride took about 1.5 hours, the sea was a little rough, and a lot of passengers had to throw up. Luckily, I was sitting all the way in the back at the window, and I just slept the entire time. We were all happy to finally arrive.

Upon arrival, we went to the beach to find the camping area. Most of the people from the group decided to camp at the beach, only me and 3 other people preferred the hotel. I was already covered by mosquito bites and not eager to get more, and the provided camping equipment was limited to a tent and a very light mattress (can’t even be called a mattress). The hotel was located close to the beach and was an average one or two-star hotel. We didn’t spend much time in the room, so it served its purpose.

Wai Ling Ding looks like one of those small fisher villages with many fishing boats and a small center. Unlike in other Chinese cities, on this island everything was in walking distance. The beaches seemed to be man-made, because the coast line is covered by those beautiful orange/yellow stones. All in all, the scenery is beautiful.

After setting up the tents and doing the check-in at the hotel, we all had lunch together at one of the typical Chinese restaurants in the center. The weather changed completely in the afternoon. All the clouds were gone, and it was sunny and hot. We went to the beach where the tents were set up, and played volleyball, went swimming and relaxed in the sun or in the shade. When I was about to leave the water, I saw two big jellyfish. They were about 10-15 centimeters long, so I didn’t go back into the water again.

Instead, I bought a fruit juice and a delicious Hong Kong waffle for a snack. I wanted pineapple with mango but the guy at the stand told me that this isn’t a good mix, because both fruits have a strong taste. I ended up getting a mango and lemon juice. It was really refreshing.

In the evening, we walked around the island to find a nice spot to watch the sunset. We found the perfect spot but the sunset wasn’t as incredible as we hoped for, because there were some clouds. Then, we headed back to the beach and had dinner at one of the barbecue street food places, directly at the beach.

After a nice shower, at least for the ones that had a hotel room, we stayed at the beach around a bonfire and had some beers.

The plan for the next morning was to get up, have breakfast, walk around the village, and then get on the boat back to Zhuhai. It started out how we planned it, I enjoyed one of those amazing Hong Kong waffles with a mango/papaya juice. But when we were heading to the port, we got told that there were no tickets available anymore for that ferry, although we booked them through an agency. We still had 2 hours until our ferry took off.

Most people weren’t happy about the delay, because everyone was tired and not prepared for another beach day. Some of us walked around the island, others grabbed lunch or went to the beach. Eventually, our boat arrived, and the sea wasn’t as rough as when we came to the island, so people felt much better. I basically slept during the entire journey again. J

Weekend Trip to Hainan – Day 3 & 4

Day 3

On Monday, we just wanted to spend a day at the beach. We decided to go to Haitang Bay, because we read that it wasn’t very crowded. The beach is over 45 kilometers long and it took as an hour taxi ride to get there. We went somewhere close to the new Duty Free Mall, because we thought that there must be some places to eat around as well. But no. The mall was surrounded by construction sites and hardly anything else. It seemed that they were building two huge resorts to attract more people to the mall in which you can find Western luxury and premium brands.

We still went to the beach and it was beautiful. There was literally no one. We went swimming and enjoyed the great weather. After a while we left to go to the more popular place which wasn’t completely deserted.

For dinner we went to a nearby street food restaurant that offered seafood, because Hainan is known for its seafood. On the side of the restaurant they had different aquariums with fish, crabs, shells and other seafood stuff. Most of them were still alive. We told the waitress that we wanted some mussels, oysters and a fish. We chose the fish we wanted and she took it out of the aquarium with a net. Before I realized what she was doing, she smashed the net with the fish inside on the ground, so the fish died.

We sat down on one of the tables and chose the rest of the food to share. There was a sticky coconut rice dish that I wanted to order, because it is also a specialty of Hainan. Soon, one after the other dish arrived and we started eating. We ordered so much that we were hardly able to finish it all but it was delicious. My favorite were the orange mussels and the spicy bean dish. After dinner, we walked around for a bit and bought two scarfs that we could use for the beach.

Day 4

On our last day, we got up a little earlier and visited a pearl museum. In Hainan or in the South Sea they cultivate and breed many seawater pearls, white and black ones, because the temperature of the sea is ideal.

It was interesting to learn something about pearls. I didn’t know anything about them expect that Chanel loved them and that they are quite expensive. After the museum they had a big shop where they sold any kind of pearl jewelry and skin care products with pearl powder. Pearl powder is used by Chinese women to maintain beauty and youth. It’s supposed to whiten your skin – a reason why I did not buy any. J

Later, we took a taxi to Yalong Bay which is a 7 kilometer beach, where all the expensive resorts are located. We had coffee and a snack at the Starbucks and looked at the few shops they had in that area. Then we headed down to the beach and sat under some trees that didn’t belong to any hotels. It was too hot for being in the sun. The waves were a bit high but we could still swim in designated areas. The water was almost crystal clear. No wonder this is the most popular beach in Sanya. It was the perfect place to spend our last day in Hainan. I got an ice-cream and a coconut from one of the street vendors. Unfortunately, the milk of the coconut had gone off, so I wanted to exchange it. When my Chinese friend asked him to do so, he answered (without tasting it) that the coconut is good and she probably never had a coconut before. Well, the street vendors are obviously not part of the 5-star resorts.

Before we left to go back to the apartment, we had some dinner in the restaurant/shopping area. The restaurant we chose, offered steaks and other western dishes. The images of the menu looked delicious. What they served, though, was a little disappointing. The steaks tasted more like burger meet. I definitely would not recommend this restaurant. We got some soft ice which made us happy again. Then we went back to the apartment, jumped in the pool to get rid of all the sand and tried to get a taxi to the airport (3 taxi drivers refused to take us, because the airport was close, so they didn’t want to use the taxi meter). The flight back to Zhuhai was less pleasant but this couldn’t change that we spent a great weekend in one of China’s most beautiful places.

Overall, the landscape and scenery in Hainan are beautiful. However, the region is definitely still being developed. There are many construction sites although it seems like there are already plenty of resorts and hotels, and a lot of them were half empty. Although it is just one city, it is really big and for a tourism destination the infrastructure is not sufficient. Only Yalong Bay has a shopping area with restaurants. But, directly at that beach there are no cafés which is too bad, so picnic is the solution. ;) And there is much else to do than going to the beach, for example we could have visited the rainforest or one of the small islands if we had spent some more days there.

Weekend Trip to Hainan – Day 1 & 2

Over May 1^st holiday, I went to Hainan with 3 friends for a long weekend. Hainan is the smallest Chinese province and an island in the South Chinese Sea. It is also called the Hawaii of China because of its beautiful landscapes and beaches. For a long time, Hainan used to be an exile place for criminals and disgraced officials, whereas now it is a popular tourism destination, most of the tourists are Chinese or Russian. We went to Sanya which is the tourist city of the island. It is located at the Southern end of the big island.

Sanya City

We left Zhuhai on Saturday, April 30^th and remained in Sanya until the evening of May 3^rd. The airport in Zhuhai is really far from the city. It took us a while to get there but then everything went smoothly. Already after exiting the plane, we felt the tropical climate. The temperatures were always between 25 and 33 degrees and it was very humid but sunny! J

We stayed at the Palmena Apartments which were very close to the Sanya Bay. From our balcony we were able to see the blue ocean. The residence had a pool which was one of the reasons why we chose this place. The area was quiet but a little far from the city center. The apartment was clean and had 2 rooms and a kitchen.

Shortly after our arrival, we packed our towels and walked down to the beach. It wasn’t the cleanest beach and I got bitten by small mosquitos, so I didn’t want to stay there. After walking along the beach for bit, we soon realized that there was nothing – no restaurant, no café. So, we took a taxi to the downtown to find a place for lunch. We had sushi and enjoyed an ice-cream at the Sanya beach which was the most crowded beach we encountered during our time there.

Sanya Bay

On Saturday night, we headed downtown again but to the Dadonghai area to check out the Dolphin Sports Bar & Grill which was rated very high on TripAdvisor. We arrived there quite late for dinner, and because they had a special night, and it was already crowded, we decided to eat somewhere else first, and then go back for a couple of drinks. 

We came across a square where they set up different food stands with a sitting area in the middle, and a stage with live music. We got a noodle soup and a beer from one of the stands, and sat down close to the stage. After dinner we walked down to Dadonghai Bay Coastal Bar Street and enjoyed a Pina Colada at one of the bars there. It was already a little late but the place must be really nice in the evening.

Then, we went back to the Dolphin Sports Bar & Grill and enjoyed ourselves there for a few hours before taking a taxi back to our apartment.

Entrance of the Nanshan Park

Day 2

On our second day in Sanya, we took a taxi to see the main attraction which we saw already from the plane: the 108 meter tall Buddha statue which was situated in the Nanshan Culture Tourism Zone. It was a 45 minutes taxi ride, the bus ride would have taken us much longer.

Statue of Guan Yin Buddha

Apart from the statue and the Buddhist temple, the park – in the middle of the Nashan forest – has little to offer. Its purpose seems to be to attract tourists and to make money (entrance fee of 120RMB). But this is just my opinion…The statue on a man-made island has been added to the area recently and it reminds me of the statue of liberty.

Still, we spent a couple of hours in the park, because the park had a lot of green areas to relax and enjoy the great weather. Also, the sites were far from each other and we discovered the park by walking, so it took us a while to go to the temple which lay at the end of the park. There was a bus but for that they charged an additional 30 RMB.

Picture with other tourists...

We decided not to go to the second biggest attraction on the island, the Tianya Haijiao, because they charged again 100 RMB for two big rocks on the beach with some inscriptions. It is said that this is the “edge of the world” and hence, very popular among Chinese tourists. We did not really want to go to another crowded place and thought that this area was not worth the entrance fee. Instead, we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed the pool for a bit.

At night, we went to Casamia – an Italian place on Sanya Bay and enjoyed a pizza and a glass of wine on their terrace. Although we were full, we still went to the city center to have ice-cream at a coconut themed place and took pictures of the city lights. The city comes to live at night. You can see many locals on their motorbikes, sometimes an entire family on one bike. It seems to me that Asian people do not like the sun, so they stay inside during the day and go out as soon as the sun is down.