The Qing Ming festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day as it is commonly referred to as, is a holiday where you honor and remember ancestors by visiting their grave sites. The holiday is also a seasonal symbol that welcomes new life to country after the winter season. It encourages people to go outside and enjoy being in 'nature'. This year, the festival fell on April 4th, which meant that I didn't have classes April 2-4. Unfortunately, to make up for those days, the weekend was a working weekend; no days off for anyone, not even students. Ahh, only in China.
Because I value my weekends, I decided to take the Saturday afternoon, Sunday, and the following Thursday and Friday off from my classes. My personal vacation dates were March 31st -April 8th :) I left beijing in the late afternoon, after an hour delay, and landed in Shenzhen that Saturday night. The hotel was amazing, but not as incredible as seeing Emma Russell!!
I woke up and headed over to Emma's hotel so we could have a fun filled day together. Shenzhen is beautiful and much warmer than Beijing. The people are so friendly and I didn't get the sense of feeling very small in a large city. We decided to go shopping so we could test out our bargaining skills. I know I am terrible at bargaining, but Em has a knack for haggling. She managed to get us great knockoff Ray Bans from 180 kuai to 60. After spending some time shopping, we made our way on the subway back to, what I thought was going to be, the hotel. Unfortunately, I lead the girls to an unfamiliar place and I got lost (story of my life). Thankfully, technology was at our finger tips - hurray for GPS. We tried asking locals for directions, but I've learned that the Chinese will always give you an answer, even if they have no idea where it is you are going.
I was very sad to leave Shenzhen, but I had to make my way to Hong Kong for visa purposes. My trip to Hong Kong was short lived (24 hours) before I left for Hainan. I did manage to wander around the streets and buy some fruit from local vendors. There were no more seats left on the plane, so we were bumped to first class - YAHOO! This was actually my first, first class experience. Definitely the way to travel, if you can afford it.
After a quick nap on the plane, I landed in Haikou, Hainan. We were picked up from the airport and taken to the hotel to sleep. After a much needed sleep, I woke up and ate the most glorious meal. The food in the south is delicious, and I prefer it to the northern food. There is an endless supply of fresh seafood and coconut, so I was living in bliss!
I was lucky to have a couple days of sun during my visit here, and I was able to take advantage of one of those days by going to the beach. A short ferry ride and I was on a beautiful sand bar. The instant I walked off the boat, people were waiting to sell you anything and everything. Eventually I did take a four-wheeler across the sand bar. For $5 CAD, I couldn't say no. For a few more $$ you could have your picture taken with a tortoise.
Unfortunately, the days to follow were filled with rain. Eventually, people were wandering through the streets in knee high water. The rest of my time in Hainan was spent sitting through meetings with my father and smelling Agarwood. Yes, I said smelling wood.. This wasn't exactly how I imagined spending my vacation. If you're interested in reading up on this resinous wood check it out here: http://therainforestproject.net/page6.htm
My Chinese is very basic, so most conversations went right over my head. The upside to being around people who don't speak English is that I was forced to really practice my oral comprehension and speaking.
To recap the week:
-My visit with Emma was just what I needed, but too short
-I have an obsession with coconut and Southern food
-Hainan is beautiful and a great place to vacation if you only have a short holiday
-Agarwood is a lucrative business but is contributing to the extinction of the this genus.
- Great to get away, but nice to be back in Beijing (I can't believe I said that...)
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