When in China:: Part 3

Sanya 三亚

We arrived in Sanya on Thursday welcomed by the rain. We got to our hostel and after our two previous hostels we were slightly disappointed... okay really disappointed. Our hostel was the second story of an old building with small steel stairs up the side that are not ideal in the rain. We checked into our jail cell and decided to find the showers. I don't want to sound too negative about our room, but it literally had steel frame bunks with two sheets of plywood and a sheet, a small tv tray for a table, metal lockers, and nothing else. As if it couldn't get worse you should have seen this bathroom. I considered taking a photograph, but I didn't want to anyone to get sick from looking at it. The toilet (Chinese style squatter) and the shower were all in one stall and it smelled as if it had never been cleaned. I supposed it conserves on water because no one wants/can stand to take long showers.

Thorn Bird Hostel

Our jail cell

My plywood bed

After our quick showers we went to a restaurant that had been recommended by CIEE girls that spend the beginning of the week in Sanya. Fat Daddy's 胖老爸。We were pleasantly surprised when our waiter came up and was not only fluent in English, but it was his first language. He was from North Carolina and had studied with CIEE at ECNU in Shanghai the year before. He came to Sanya and liked it so much he came back after graduating. He recommended their mojitos and we went for it. I have had my share of a variety of mojitos and I have never had anything like the ones we were served that night. They had a stick of sugar cane in them and you bite the sugar cane for some extra sweet before taking a drink. They were amazing. The food was good too! I had fried rice served in the pineapple that was used in my rice. We knew right away that we would be back to this place before the end of the weekend.

Dinner at Fat Daddy's 胖老爸

The best mojito made by man 

Fried rice in a pineapple for dinner

 The next day we were hoping to find a hike to do in the jungle/rainforest somewhere but because of the unusual rain, guides were not taking people on hikes. Instead the hostel recommended an "excursion" to a hot springs resort on the island. It was quite the change from our hostel accommodations. The resort was beautiful and luxurious and we had 4 hours to spend there. We started off at the fish therapy pool. This is a warm spring filled with small fish that come up to you and eat your dead skin. It was the weirdest thing I have even volunteered to experience. Emily and I sat in the middle of the pool and attracted quite the school of fish. Lucy and Lauren, not too keen on the feeling, sat on the side and hung their toes over the edge. After the fish therapy pool we went to the coffee pool, the milk pool, the fragrant liquor (red wine) pool, and regular hot spring pools. We took a break at the infinity pool while Lauren got an hour long massage and then headed back to the fish therapy pool. While it was a very strange tickling sensation and slightly disgusting, it was addicting! Plus I think it really worked because my skin is oddly smooth! On the way home from the hot springs they crammed our 15 person group into a 7 passenger van. From the beginning I was thinking it was a bad idea, but when in China right. I felt like we were being illegally smuggled across a border. Emily, Lucy and I were put on the bench seat in the back which came from a different vehicle and was just set in the back, not fastened to anything. About 15 minutes from home our seat broke. Literally caved out from underneath us and we all screamed. The van driver barely looked back and just kept on going. We moved up into some of the empty seats from departed passengers and anxiously awaited returning to the hostel. Lauren wasn't feeling well so she stayed in while Lucy, Em and I went to Dolphin. A notoriously good American sports bar. It had a reputation for a reason. We had cocktails and American food and listened to American music and watched ESPN. Lucy even had some of the best ribs I have ever tasted. We stopped at Fat Daddy's on the way home to say hello to our new friend before going back to the dreaded hostel. We were beginning to get home sick for Shanghai.

Fish Therapy Pool 

Natural Hot Spring Pool

The next morning we returned to Dolphin for their effectively advertised brunch. It wasn't great and it took forever to get served when there were only two table of customers in the whole joint. We decided to go in search of a private/public beach on the island. The beaches around our hostel were covered in trash and smelled awful. We went to Yalong Bay, which was a pay to use beach with all the amenities. We bought a coconut to drink and then had it cut open to eat the coconut meat 椰肉. We decided to skip the fried whole fish and whole squid kabobs the coconut man was also selling. We spent the day in the water and on the beach. We left our bulky towels at the hostel to we bought cheap matching towels, the only trade off was the embroidery bears on the front. We had a very relaxing day away from the grime of Sanya City and the jail of Thorn Bird Hostel. We had dinner at a restaurant highly recommended but weren't impressed. It did not compare to our 学友 restaurant out the back gate back home in Shanghai. Plus everyone just stared at us while we ate. 

Fried fish or squid kabobs anyone?

Emily and I in our sweet hats with our coconut 椰 

An entire tour group with matching attire on the Sanya beach

Yalong beach with our matching teddy bear towels

 We woke up Sunday morning as excited to get home to Shanghai as we were to leave it 9 days prior. We quickly packed our bags and headed for Fat Daddy's one last time. We had their famous clay pot breakfasts. It reminded me exactly of John and Karen Kreft's mountain man breakfast they made for us this summer at Diamond Lake, expect this one wasn't quite as good. When the waitress brought us our silverware I was surprised to see something so close to home. A Rogue Brewery glass in Sanya, China! I started to look around and realized that all the ash trays and "silverware holders" were from Rogue. Apparently the owner used to sell the beer at the restaurant, but had never actually been to the brewery. What a small world! 

Rogue Brewery in Sanya, China!!

At least the sun came out on the day we left

Our trip to Chengdu, Xi'an, and Sanya was an amazing adventure. It was a great trip filled with lots of excursions and "experiences". The best part of the whole vacation is that it made us appreciate our home in Shanghai so much more. We are so thankful for our "comfortable" beds, our clean showers, our back-gate dinners, and all our friends. We came home to loads of homework and midterms and papers due, but we are slowly working through them and will have a relaxing weekend ahead.