China Travel

Everything to do with travelling in China

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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Bugs!

I realize I risk a little goblin coming in the night and stealing the essence of my manhood by saying this — but I fucking hate bugs. I’d have to be more than a bit ignorant to move to a tropical island and not expect to cohabitate with the creepy crawlies, but it doesn’t disturb …

August 26, 2011
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Hainan’s Red Detachment of Women Ballet

While later today Canada will be celebrating its own anniversary with fireworks, BBQ and a whole lot of drinking; in China it’s all about the Communist Party of China’s 90th anniversary. Not one to shy away from the spirit of things, I figured it was an excellent time to showcase one of Hainan’s most well …

July 1, 2011
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Attn: parents of mixed Chinese kids

From the Global Times: The city’s Exit-Entry Administration Bureau on Monday strongly advised parents of biracial infants born in China with Chinese nationalities to make sure their paperwork is in order before arriving at local airports, after some 100 families have been prohibited from taking their infant children out of the country this year. Mixed …

June 28, 2011
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Learning about the Li – Hainan’s largest minority

ChinaTravel.net has an excellent, and cleverly titled, regular feature called “Minority Report” in which the Ctrip-sponsored blog explores China’s numerous non-Han peoples. In the most recent edition, Minority Report: China’s betel nut-chewin’ islanders, the Li people of Hainan, Sascha talks about Hainan’s large Li minority population and their long history on the island. From the …

June 8, 2011
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Haikou Airport Pickup

I’ve learned to set my expectations low with service in China. I don’t mean for that to come off too jaded, but there’s only so many times you can say “it’s just done differently here”. So, when I do get amazing service, I love sharing it for both the benefit of anyone who happens upon …

April 22, 2011
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Trip to Haikou’s Holiday Beach

We’ve had awesome weather here in Haikou for much of the last two weeks — in stark contrast to the cold and rain of our first week on the island. Not wanting to push our luck though, Maggie and I decided that we’d play hooky from the massive amount of stuff we still need to …

April 16, 2011
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Home Hunting in Haikou

I thought I had a decent amount of apartment hunting experience, but Haikou was beginning to kick my ass. The problem is a simple one — pretty much all the decent apartments are owned by Mainlanders, and so most potential landlords are either not here or here but on their way off the island until …

March 30, 2011
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