Haikou

Typhoons Blow: Living through Rammasun

A lot of memories are sought in an active way; through vacations, birthday parties, anniversaries and the like. Many more are created completely unknowingly at the time and are only significant in hindsight; a random meeting with someone who becomes important in your life, an impromptu drive down a country road that fruits a beautiful …

July 22, 2014
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The bugs are back in town

The bugs are returning. After a couple months with a decrease in the number of insect invaders in our home, the warmer weather lately is bringing them back. There are a lot of things that living on a tropical(ish) island forces you to get used to. Things your typical Canadian just never really has to …

March 5, 2014
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Haikou, Hainan Style…

The other night I came into the living room, and the wife was watching the evening news. The segment ended, and what proceeded was proof that the whole Gangnam Style meme had most definitely jumped the shark. In an attempt to cash in on what is quickly becoming this decade’s “Macarena”, the broadcaster somehow managed …

November 26, 2012
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Haikou winters make me wet

As this has been our first winter in Haikou, I wanted to hold off with this rant public service announcement until I was confident it wasn’t just a passing thing. Unfortunately, I think I can confidently state, on the record, that Haikou winters suck. Crap winters aren’t something new to me. Growing up in Southern …

March 2, 2012
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A trip to Haikou Zoo

For the last few weeks Maggie’s been suggesting we take Casey to the Haikou zoo. I have deeply mixed feelings about zoos. Like the ROM for history, trips when I was a child to the Toronto Zoo instilled in me a great sense of wonder and a love for animals. On the same coin, I …

November 29, 2011
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Until Starbucks, Coffee World it is.

I never thought I’d be one of those people who craved a Starbucks, but the last few years in Suzhou spoiled me. Within a two kilometre radius of our place there we had four Starbucks. Four. That’s roughly on par with the number of mainland Chinese food restaurants in the same area. Haikou doesn’t have …

November 26, 2011
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Oh, so this is the rainy season…

According to Wikipedia, Haikou’s rainy season falls between May and October, with the most rain in September. We knew moving down here in April that we were essentially moving into heat and wetness. We waited for the rains all summer, not out of excitement but out of curiosity regarding this new and strange climate we …

October 8, 2011
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Nesat – our first typhoon

Waking up this morning and peeking outside, you’d hardly believe 150km winds were sweeping over us just a handful of hours earlier. Actually going outside, however, was an entirely different story. The first casualty of Nesat was our papaya tree, which had fallen before dawn yesterday. I say “our” papaya tree, as it’s right outside …

September 30, 2011
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State Mandated Beach Day

I’m not sure if it’s just our perpetually “under construction neighbourhood, or Haikou at large, but I’ve suffered more sudden power outages living here for 6 months than I did in 5 years in Suzhou. As such, yesterday when the electricity went out shortly after we woke up, it wasn’t a huge surprise. I took …

September 17, 2011
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