Internet connection; the enabler As my previous trip to China was 9 years ago, this is my first visit since the country went largely cashless.  I came prepared and everything worked like a dream.  I didn’t use any cash or my credit/debit cards for any travel-related expenses during my whole stay! An internet connection is […]

Above:  At the next massage table.  My turn next.   Massage and cupping Our flight back to New Zealand leaves at 0230 “tonight” (technically tomorrow morning) from Haikou.  We have the day to kill before taking the train from Sanya to Haikou airport before killing more time there. I opted to skip breakfast and take brunch […]

Today we had agreed on an excursion to Binglanggu (Betel nut valley) Li & Miao Cultural Heritage Park, about an hour out of town.  It is somewhat of a tourist trap but how bad can it be after yesterday?  At least here, we will get to learn about the native people of Hainan. I opted […]

Visiting Nanshan I woke at 0600 today and fell asleep till 0750.  I quickly messaged Swee and Chen to make arrangements for breakfast a few doors away, where I had a lean pork and century egg congee. Apart from the beaches, there’s not much to do in Sanya.  Many of the attractions are out of […]

Train to Sanya With an early afternoon train soon after check-out, I decided to skip breakfast and have some pastries instead.  The idea was to have brunch around 1045 then checkout and get a taxi to the railway station.   All went according to plan and we got to Haikou East high-speed rail station around […]

Morning wander Having decided not to go the volcanic geopark outside of town, we spent the day largely exploring the old town. We started breakfast at a cheap eatery that sold steamed and baked dimsum items.  They sold coffee, possibly Vietnamese style, very strong and sweet. Once we had slightly over-eaten, we repeated the walk […]

Guangzhou Metro Today, we explored the sights of Guangzhou that were further afield, requiring some form of transport.  I had set up my WeChat to include Guangzhou metro and to my great surprise, it worked perfectly!  I only had to scan the metro sub-app barcode at the turnstile and I was let in (and out). […]