Jailbreak 6: SanYa Summer 2020

Mine was the last on the right. 

Bath on a balcony

After climbing a mountain, taking on the world largest aquarium and everything in between, I felt it was time for some relaxing beach time. Where else but SanYa in Hainan, the "Hawaii of China" apparently. I wouldn't have gone that far but I can see how they got there. 

Anyway, I stayed in two different places. The first, SanYa Bay, I decided to stay in the landmark Pheonix Island which had both good and bad aspects. It was the poshest hotel I have ever seen, note the bath on the balcony with the seaview. The bed was so wide I had to roll over three times to turn off all of the lights. Despite the posh room, fancy bath and the beautiful pool, there was nothing else on the island. It was a 15 minute walk to the mainland to get some food. There was a little golf car shuttle thing but it wasn't a long enough walk to justify waiting for nearly twice as long as the walk takes. 

I stayed for a blissful three days before I moved to the more famous of the beach areas YaLong Bay, about a 40 minute drive from SanYa Bay. 

Sanya as a whole was hit badly by the virus, not in terms of cases but as it is a completely tourist dependent area. YaLong Bay is a long coastal road that is just resort after resort. I was lucky in that I chose a place within walking distance to a "commercial area" so I wasn't dependent on the hotel restaurant, especially lucky as it was closed for half my time there. 

It wasn't a huge area but it had a nice selection of different types of food, mostly based around seafood.
My resort was huge and pretty much deserted. My first night there I was told there were only ten rooms, out of several hundred, being used. As a result, the staff were bored and very very attentive and chatty. I had the larger of the pools to myself, the rest were in the kids pool a little way away. My grand plan was to ride out the hottest part of the day in the pool and investigate/ explore later in the evening. Originally I planned to stay in Sanya for only 5 days in total, I changed this almost as soon as I got there to nearly ten. Six just in my last place! As every where has been struggling in the post virus tourist slump, I found my very nice hotels at amazing discount rates. There is no way I would have been able to stay there for as long as I did on any other occasion.

All in all, a truly stunning and accommodating place. Loved it, and will be more than willing to go back in the future.

Jailbreak 5: Chimelong Ocean Kingdom Summer 2020

Finally, the main reason for my Southern China adventure. ChimeLong Ocean Kingdom! The world's largest aquarium.

They hold records for (in no particular order) largest acrylic panel, largest aquarium window, largest underwater viewing dome and largest single tank.

I was staying in a slightly tacky ocean themed hotel very close to the park. As the park opens at 10 I didn't get up too early, so I was still in the hotel when I hear a kid running up and down the hallway outside my room shouting "Fish, fish, FISH, fish!" I was very close to joining him.




I bought a ticket online the day before as they were limiting the numbers sold (because of the virus) and managed to avoid all of the lines and waiting. I made a beeline straight for the whale sharks as I have long been obsessed with them. I was right at the far point of the park so I got a pretty good look around on my way there.

The park is split into about a dozen different areas or zones, of which 7 or 8 were aquarium and the rest were rides and more theme park style things.

Bliss

The main viewing window was mesmerising, I stopped in my place and had to just find somewhere to sit to take it all in. In one tank, there were 5 whale sharks, a few manta rays, sharks and millions of fish. Just beautiful!

I had heard rumors that you can camp in this room but again, the virus messes everything up. Maybe next time! To one side of this huge wall of water was the entrance to the tunnel and a giant done. Standing in place and watching these huge beautiful creatures swim over your head is something very special. Feeling very much like my day was complete already, I moved onto other areas to see what

else I could find.

I spent my day wandering around very happy. I watched Beluga whales catch fish, dolphins playing with a ball, walruses fighting (albeit playfully), penguins falling over and so much more.

All in all, I spent nearly 8 hours wandering about. I loved it and would be perfectly happy to go back.

Jailbreak 4: ZhuHai Summer 2020

ZhuHai is a city right on the Macao border, which in normal non virus times, I would have loved to visit. Its one of the three cities connected by the giant record breaking over sea bridge to Hong Kong.

I was there to visit the world's largest aquarium (because I'm a child, before anyone says it) so I was staying very close to there. It ended up being the newer business district so all of the roads were wide and newly built, the pavements were thought out and the transport was convenient. I was there for about a day before I realize that there were no e-bikes. After years of living under constant threat of being caught by one of those silent death traps, not having them around was fantastic. As well as there being no e-bikes, there were millions of well maintains scan/rent bikes so what would have been a several hour walk in the heat, became a very pleasant half hour cycle.

I had heard of some weird Van Gogh exhibit that was supposed to be a living art thing. Intrigued I decided to head in that direction and see what was what. I ended up cycling along the river to a small commercial area that sold nothing but phones and antiques.

The exhibit turned out to be a selfie haven with the vague theme of Van Gogh. It was fun for about 20 minutes but that really was it. Slightly disappointed I got back on a bike and just picked a random direction and cycled off. Despite the stupid temperature and humidity, cycling was actually quite pleasant.

Although my tourist time in ZhuHai was short, I was very taken with the city. I hope to return when I can jump across to Hong Kong and Macao.

Jailbreak 3: QianDaoHu Summer 2020

After finally getting down the mountain and being very lucky with getting dropped off by my hotel, I passed out for the evening. Shattered would be a bit of an understatement at this point.

My next stop was only one on the fast train from the mountain stop. Although the train is great, all of the train stations are about an hours drive from anything useful.

The difference in weather in one day. 

As it turned out, I messed up when booking my hostel. I was in the middle of nowhere which was a little inconvenient but I wasn't really in the mood for anything too strenuous yet. I borrowed a bike and pooled about the edge of the lake for a few hours.

I met a couple who were playing with a drone camera and who kindly gave me their pictures. I think they were just happy to have the excuse to play a little more with the camera.

The lake feels as if it was designed and built to be a large and busy tourist attraction but it was the whole area was deserted.

On the whole the place was a very pretty bust but that rally wasn't a problem for me.

My next job was to get back to HangZhou and then cross the city to get to the airport down to ZhuHai. It became a long and boring day of traveling.

 

HuangShan Day 2: West Sea Gorge Summer 2020

Day two involved taking on the West Sea Gorge, which was actually very close to where I was staying. I walked up some steps for about 20 minutes before getting to the entrance to the gorge. Again, it stated out as a nice comfortable wide path, very few people, plenty of shade and rest stops.

To give scale.

To show how steep

This however stopped pretty quick as I had to go down stairs for miles and miles. Endless steps with very few easy places to stop and rest. Luckily there were also very few people so I could just stand in place and not annoy anyone.

The whole circular route is up to 10 kilometers but I only did half. By the time I got to the bottom my leg were screaming in agony. So much so, it took nearly 4 days to stop taking an old person noise whenever I stood up. The main problem was the uneven stairs for the second half of ht descent. At points they were ranging from nearly knee high to only a few inches so it was very difficult to get a rhythm going and instead I was braced at all points for nearly 3 hours. Like I say, AGONY!

There was one part in particular that was more terrifying than the others. The stairs here went on for about 400 meters and scared the living daylights out of me. I have no problems with heights but this was different, I clung to the handrail and nearly scooted down. Again luckily there was no one there by the time I had to tackle this so I could take it very slowly.

Once I arrived at the bottom I discovered a funicular railway that shuttled you back to the top. Once I had finished thanking every one I could think of that I didn't have to climb back up, I got in the very short line to the train and made my way back up.


Once back at the top I had to walk about 4 km back to the hotel for some food before going in search of the second of my cable cars for the trip.

HuangShan is a truly stunning place that, despite getting parts covered in guided tours, is a very worthwhile place to visit. I am very glad that I finally made it and can cross it off my list.

My saving train! 

Jailbreak 2: HuangShan Summer 2020

Yellow mountain has long been on my bucket list. The main problem with visiting here was finding the right time to go. Public holidays, especially Spring Festival the mountain is packed and those are generally the only time I can go. I figured that this could be my last chance and so I just bit the bullet and made my way. I was fully prepared for a sea of tourists, long lines everywhere and a certain amount of shoving. Amazingly I hardly encountered any! I got picked up at 6:30 from my hotel, so I was through the security and foreigner health checks and on a cable car by half 7 in the morning.

The initial cable car was only about 12 minutes but already I knew I had made the right choice. Even with a vert scared Chinese family in with me, and filthy windows, the view was stunning. I chose to go up the mountain from the west car and come down the next morning on the west one. It was an ambitious one but I was told not impossible.

Confusing mountain rules. 

 As it was early, it wasn't too hot but I was still sweating buckets! My first plan was to make my way in the direction of my hotel for the night (I splashed out and got myself a room on the mountain  for the night), which turned out to be a very good idea. I arrived about 10 am and hoped to just drop my bag off, they let me check in early and were very pleasant.

The hotel itself had received very poor reviews online, so I was expecting very little from the place. Apart from having very few food choices, I was impressed with the place and slept wonderfully. Having the mountain without the tourists was fantastic. I wandered up to a nice sunset spot and made friends with a guy who was a part time travel photographer, He is responsible for the tree sunset one. My poor phone tried hard but just couldn't quite manage it. After sitting and watching the sunset with the calm of a million strangers I braved the dark track back to the hotel and crashed out.

"Hiking" the mountain is mostly  just climbing billions of steps on wide concrete trails. Its hard work in the heat and humidity of Chinese August but not impossible. I was expecting much worse!

Jailbreak 1: HangZhou Summer 2020

West Lake

After getting through months of quarantine, online teaching, health checks and being told I wasn't allowed to leave the city, my chance finally came. The summer holidays! As international travel, and domestic travel to some of the more high risk areas was off limits, I decided to tackle my still somehow very extensive China bucket list.

I finished up at school, collected all the paperwork needed for my trip and jumped on a plane to HangZhou. I was expecting traveling, especially as a foreigner, to be complicated and unpleasant, but it really wasn't bad. A lot of scanning codes and filling in forms and that was about it.

My hostel was somewhere in one of the "old streets" of HangZhou which actually turned out to be a nice area. It was mostly quiet and deserted throughout the day, I suspect as it was about a million degrees in the sun and very humid. The place was a little busier and the shops had opened. It had a very staged feel, similar to all other "old streets" I've visited in China but it was still pretty.

The old area was about a fifteen minute walk from the West Lake for which HangZhou is famous. It's a very pretty and very large lake in the middle of the city. As I was only in town for the one night I was determined to make the most of my time in town and set off in search of the best spot on the lake. A plan that was soon dashed by the crazy heat and adapted to a rent a bike to a bar. Still I found what I was looking for and so had everyone else.

Although it was a very fast trip, I do feel HangZhou made up for its disastrous first impression from a few years ago.

The next morning I jumped on the fast train to HuangShan (Yellow Mountain) which was the first of my bucket list objectives of the summer.

It was a very fast hour and a half trip on an almost deserted train.

I got to HuangShan "town" and found my hotel. As its a purpose built area for access to the tourist favourite mountain I was expecting to pay a little more. What I wasn't expecting was a stay in one of the poshest hotels I have ever stayed in. I was so out of place that the door man tried to give me directions in an attempt to remove the very sweaty backpacker from outside his hotel. Many apologies later, I caught him trying to teach the other staff my name. Yet another place where I was known as "Chair" for the weekend. Lovely people in a beautiful luxurious (and cheap) hotel.

I got an early night as the next day I was to take on the mountain and hopefully win.

Love a good sunset pic. 

Laos. Vientiane: Spring Festival 2020

The bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane was another 4 hour monster but actually fairly comfortable. As luck would have it, I was dropped off at the end of the road by my hotel, another easy walk from bus stations.

I found my hotel and then immediately went in search of food, my empty stomach bus prep was a killer plan.

I sat in a small restaurant for about half an hour and in that time had 4 people approach me trying to sell me drugs, including one who confessed to being an undercover police officer after I turned him down. I had only been in the city for about an hour and was already feeling on my guard.

My hotel was in the middle of the city and so very close to the river and the night market. I wandered about tasting the local street food and watching the night life. Next to the night market was a small park that was full of aerobics classes run by a Laos Mr Motivator style couple. They were great fun to watch, especially as most people couldn't keep up with the instructors.
The next morning I picked a direction and just walked for the day. The city is most large and busy with not loads of character.

I followed a very rough trail that my hotel had said was a highlights of the city tour. It took about 4 hours and circled the historic markers.


I wasn't hugely taken by the city and decided to leave back to Luang Prabang. My hotel was very unpleasant and expensive so I booked a flight back for a whopping £10. My flights out of VT had all been cancelled because of the virus and the travel restrictions on getting in and out of China. I was now running out of places to kill some time.

I went back to LP for a few more days before finally getting a flight to Bangkok.

All in all, I was in Laos for about 17 days and was very taken by the place. the people are amazing, the food very good and the scenery just out of this world. I am very glad that i finally made it through the country and managed to cross it ( or at least parts of it) off my travel list.

Laos: Vang Vieng: Spring Festival 2020

I left LP after having fallen in love with the sleepy little town, but keen to keep exploring the country. The bus journey from LP to Vang Vieng was described by many on the internet as a truly horrific journey. Long, uncomfortable and very bad for anyone who gets motion sick (like me) so I was dreading it. It's 4 hours but goes over the mountains. What I hadn't realized was that there was recently a new road that had opened that was supposed to be much better to travel. I was prepared! I had travel sickness tablets, some herbal sticker thing that goes behind your ear and an empty stomach. On top of this, my hotel lady called the bus people and got them to pick me up first so that i could sit in the front. A fantastic decision! It did mean that I was sitting in the van as we drove about town collecting people but my bag was first in the van and I was comfortable. I felt very sorry for the people getting picked up at the end as they were crammed into small spaces that were being over run by backpacks and for some reason, boxes of fruit.

The view from my hotel room.

The journey was nowhere near as bad as i was expecting. It wasn't fun by any means but it was OK. most of the road had been completed but there were odd spots of interesting hair raising corners.

I arrived into VV for about lunch time and walked to my hotel. This was my splurge place. I decided to get the nicer hotel with the pool and I am very glad that I did. It was lovely and very pleasant after the long journey. I was upgraded to one of the 'mountain view' rooms which was on the top floor and much posher than my previous place.

Vang Vieng had a reputation a few years back for being a party and drug place. After a serious of nasty accidents and I suspect a few tourist deaths, the government stepped in and cleaned up the town.

There were still traces and hints of its previous life but they weren't in plain sight. The goal now seems to be to fit as many different types of holiday sports into a very small area. Hot air ballooning, ATV hire, canoeing, speed boats, motor bikes, rock climbing and many more. If LP was the sleepy town, VV is its hyperactive younger brother. Everyone was charging to some activity or another, most people were soaking wet from just jumping in the river to cool off or from swimming across the river (bridges are so boring). No-one cared of you were dripping or carrying large inflatables, it's just a relaxed but active holiday place. I really liked it but being on my own, many of the activities would have been  a little dull. I spent my time walking up and down the river to various restaurants that had been recommended or sitting with my feet in the water reading my book. After my time with Mam and Dad I was enjoying not having to organize too much. The scenery in this part of the world is just stunning and doesn't get boring. My three days in Vang Vieng was fantastic but I felt a little out of place at times. Everyone was very friendly so I had loads of people to chat to at just about every place I stopped.

I spent 3 days in VV in the end before moving onto the capital city Vientiane. Another 4 hour bus journey but this one didn't involve any mountains so I wasn't too worried about it. I booked a ticket on the big bus and went to the next stage of my trip.