Hainan!
...and you all want to know where the hell is Hainan? One month ago that was also my question...
...so I checked a map! :) Good surprise, huh? Hainan is an island in the very south of China, in the same latitude that Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma. And what does that mean? Yes... GREAT WEATHER! The weather in Shanghai changes a lot. It's perfectly normal to have a day with 26 degrees followed by a day with 13 so me, my roommate Chico and my friends Rui Bom and António decided that was time for some sun and to get rid of our pale color. Sanya, in the very south of Hainan was the location... 3 hours by plane from Shanghai et voilá! Welcome to the tropics! When we went out of the plane we could feel it right away, 25 degrees and the clock was already 11pm! Waiting for us at the airport was a taxi driver, that happened to be the craziest we've ever met. He didn't speak a word of english so we had to use our "broad" knowledge of the Chinese language (thanks Rui without u we wouldn't make it!!). He was supposed to take us to the hotel but we started to ask rightway where the clubs were. He got confused because he thought we wanted to go somewhere else and specially because he was not understanding much of our Chinese. Why? It took us some time to figure out... It happens that he spoke cantonese instead of mandarin!!
On the way to our resort (check it out at http://www.resortintime.com/english/default.aspx ) the music in the taxi was loud and the guy was dancing! (I'll post a video proving :P). Eventually we got to the hotel and then it was time to relax. The beach was good and the weather perfect. The resort facilities were not 5 stars (although they were rated that way) but were still very good so apparently nothing could go wrong. But there was one little thing about Sanya... The nightlife was a bit disappointing and we spent all nights in the same bar - Sky.
One of the days we went to a small island nearby to do scuba diving. We had a driver all day with us for 150 RMB (15€) that took us there and waited all day. We were a bit disappointed with the scuba diving but the beach was definitely worth it! We ended up sitting in the beach and having a foot massage...
As we also have to eat, (and Portuguese do like to eat well :) ), we ended up in a Brazilian restaurant and meeting one of the 2 brazilians that live in Hainan, Armando! Other than us, Armando and many Chinese, Sanya was full of Russians... There were people coming all the way from Moscow! We don't know why but they were there... Lots of them! :)
To sum up, we came back happy, relaxed and tanned! All for 270€ (plane and 3 nights at the hotel) + 120€ (other expenses). You got to love China!
...so I checked a map! :) Good surprise, huh? Hainan is an island in the very south of China, in the same latitude that Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma. And what does that mean? Yes... GREAT WEATHER! The weather in Shanghai changes a lot. It's perfectly normal to have a day with 26 degrees followed by a day with 13 so me, my roommate Chico and my friends Rui Bom and António decided that was time for some sun and to get rid of our pale color. Sanya, in the very south of Hainan was the location... 3 hours by plane from Shanghai et voilá! Welcome to the tropics! When we went out of the plane we could feel it right away, 25 degrees and the clock was already 11pm! Waiting for us at the airport was a taxi driver, that happened to be the craziest we've ever met. He didn't speak a word of english so we had to use our "broad" knowledge of the Chinese language (thanks Rui without u we wouldn't make it!!). He was supposed to take us to the hotel but we started to ask rightway where the clubs were. He got confused because he thought we wanted to go somewhere else and specially because he was not understanding much of our Chinese. Why? It took us some time to figure out... It happens that he spoke cantonese instead of mandarin!!
On the way to our resort (check it out at http://www.resortintime.com
One of the days we went to a small island nearby to do scuba diving. We had a driver all day with us for 150 RMB (15€) that took us there and waited all day. We were a bit disappointed with the scuba diving but the beach was definitely worth it! We ended up sitting in the beach and having a foot massage...
As we also have to eat, (and Portuguese do like to eat well :) ), we ended up in a Brazilian restaurant and meeting one of the 2 brazilians that live in Hainan, Armando! Other than us, Armando and many Chinese, Sanya was full of Russians... There were people coming all the way from Moscow! We don't know why but they were there... Lots of them! :)
To sum up, we came back happy, relaxed and tanned! All for 270€ (plane and 3 nights at the hotel) + 120€ (other expenses). You got to love China!