Craig and I just returned from our One Year Anniversary trip(a few months to late) to Sanya, Hainan. It was absolutely beautiful! We put pictures on our picture website for everyone to look at.
It did not feel like we were in China when we were there, but it still had unique Chinese characteristics. We really had a great time for the week we were there. It was nice to get away from the frigid temperatures in Enshi and go to an island where it was 80 degrees. Since I only see the sun once a week, the sun really got me down there. I was under a beach umbrella and still burnt my legs from the reflection of the sun off of the ocean.
We flew from Wuhan to Sanya and we were picked up at the airport by a surfer named Joey from Taiwan. We really enjoyed getting to talk to him. He took us to our hostel where we stayed during the trip. We met a lot of people there. We met people from Oregon, Illinois, Montana, Florida, South Carolina, New York, and Colorado. There were also people from Russia, Sweden, and France that stayed there. A lot of Russians come down to Sanya to vacation. It was nice seeing people that looked similar to us even if we didn't speak the same language. Over our vacation we had a multicultural experience with all of the different people there.
During our first day, we relaxed on the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. On the way to the bus stop, we had a unique experience. In the middle of four lanes of highway, a water buffalo was wandering down the street. Of course there was a crowd following it and also a police car honking and yelling at it. The water buffalo got scared and jumped the median and attacked a lady. She stood up and then it hit her again. We tried to make it across the street, but the traffic was too heavy. She was okay and walked away with no problems. We got on the bus and the water buffalo was still making his way down the street. We do not know what happened, but hopefully he did not hurt anyone else. Our other encounter with another wild animal comes later.
We also got to enjoy a lot of American food while we were there. There was a restaurant named the Rainbow Cafe. We ate there a few times because it was so delicious. They had the most amazing hamburgers and salad. It made us miss American food even more! The waiter, Tony was also really cool so liked going there because of him. We also ate some McDonalds while we were there. We don't eat when we are home, but here it is so nice to have a Big Mac or Chicken Mcnuggets sometime and of course an ice cream cone. We also found a little street restaurant that had delicious seafood fried rice. It was nice to enjoy Western food when you leave in a city that has NO Western food, unless we cook it.
We got to go snorkeling in the ocean. It was my first time and I loved it once I got over the initial fear of being in deep water and going under. We saw a beautiful coral reef, some tropical fish, and even a few squid. Our guide spoke two English words, come and go. It was pretty funny to hear him yelling come and go at us. I tried to speak a little Chinese to him and I failed!
Our favorite part of the trip was going to Monkey Island. You had to drive an hour outside of Sanya to get to the island and then ride a cable car across forest and ocean to get there. The drive there was through rural areas. We saw cows! I know that sounds silly, but we haven't seen them in five months. All we see are water buffalo. There were also pigs, chickens, and goats walking around along side the roads. It was also the fastest we have gone in a car in five months. Our taxi driver was going around 80 miles per hour on the interstate. I was absolutely terrified because the fastest we have gone since we have been home is around 30 miles an hour. Once we made it on the island, there were monkeys everywhere including little baby monkeys. They were so curious and would walk right up to you or try to get into your bag. We took pictures and put them on our website so you could see how cute they were. I did have one scary encounter with a mother monkey. Craig left me for a few minutes to go the bathroom. I was standing in an area watching the monkeys play in the trees when a baby monkey swung about 2 feet from my face in a tree nearby. All of a sudden a mother monkey came running at me with her teeth showing. I was terrified! I walked away slowly and it stopped coming at me, but I thought I was about to have to fight a monkey. Another monkey tried to climb on me when I was kneeling down to take a picture. I liked the monkeys, but after the close encounters I was ready to go.
We had a lot of relaxing on the beach, a little bit of street shopping, and just enjoying the warm weather. I was not ready to come back, but was happy to come back to our friends. Since flights were too expensive, we took a bus from Wuhan to Enshi. It was a little crazy trying to find out which bus we needed to get on to go to another bus station, but we had people help us the whole way. There was not a direct bus to Enshi so we took a 4 hour bus ride to Yichang and stayed with Zach and Elizabeth for a night. We enjoyed getting to hang out with them and Elizabeth made cheesecake! The next morning we got up at 6 A.M. to catch the bus from Yichang to Enshi. The ticket we had bought the day before did not have a bus number or a seat so it was first come first serve. We were the first ones on our 18 passenger bus so we had the two best leg room seats. It was the most pleasant bus experience, minus our chain smoker driver. The bus ride took 10 hours through bumpy mountain roads, but has incredible views the entire way.
So now we are back to our ice box and living in our bedroom again, but we are happy to be back. Norse and Bevan cooked us a big meal when we returned and we were so happy because all we had to eat was a PB and J sandwich and a bag of chips. We really missed everyone while we were gone.
We still have 3 weeks of vacation left and then we start our second term. We are ready to get started again and have our students back. Our part of town is so quiet and most of the businesses are closed because the students are gone. It will not be quiet for long because the 26th in the Chinese New Year and that means lots and lots of fireworks. I don't know if I'm mentally prepared yet. They have the loudest fireworks I have ever heard! They make the windows rattle and your ears ring and they are nonstop sometimes.
Our trip gave us some rejuvenation and we are ready for the rest of our adventure here in Enshi!
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