Tag Archives: travel
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 the dog out, figuring it would be back on before I returned and I’d jump into the day’s task list. Getting back into the community a half hour later, I could hear a massive generator running from a maintenance building I had always assumed was empty.
A quick call (after a whole lot of busy signals) to the management office revealed that the power would be off for the next 12 hours, we should fill up what we can with water as the generator maintaining water pressure is only going to be running for a few hours — and didn’t we see the notice?
We had not.
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 article:
The first guy I saw out of the airport was a betel juice-spittin’ Hainan islander in flip flops and tube socks. He had a three-hair mustache and a kink in his neck that made him lean even when he was standing. He tried to charge me RMB 50 for a RMB 10 cab ride, and when I tried to haggle he just spat out some blood red juice, dropped his shades down over his eyes and ignored me.
That’s island.
While I was waiting for the Line 25 bus outside of Tianya Haijiao, I watched three kids naked from the waist down watch me as some chickens pecked in the dirt between us. It was hot as sin and the breeze was taking a rest.
A hip-swaying mama sauntered across the street and handed me a plastic cup of mango pulp and ice. When I dug in my pockets for cash she waved me off, spat some juice and waddled back across the street.
That’s island.
Things move slow on Hainan island, even when the modern world has encroached as much as it has in Sanya. The Li are making do as best as they can. They are street-level hustlers making as much cash as they can off of the tourists, and they are builders of new homes (using cash from the land they sold to resort developers).
Check out the rest of the article.
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 …
Goodbye Suzhou; Hello Hainan
The places I've lived, or will live, in China
After more than four and a half years, we’re leaving Suzhou.
My favourite photos
I think once, in my ignorance, I may have rashly stated that I would never be one of those dads that subjects anyone who’ll look to photos of their kid. As the majority of postings since Casey was born have proven, I was terribly wrong about that. But in an effort to revisit a time …
World-renowned author visits Humanaught
Alright, Lisa might not be world-renowned yet, but she’s well on her way. And she’s certainly a well-known fixture in the China expat/blogging circle.
Perhaps best known as “Other Lisa” in the comments at the Peking Duck (or @otherlisa on Twitter), Lisa’s a long-time blogger (her blog, Paper Tiger Tail is one of my favs., she was also a past contributor at the Duck) and has the distinction of having seen a side of China most of us expats have only read about in books.
Dalian vs. Suzhou
Despite the combative title, it’s rather tough to A-B the two places I’ve spent the most time with in China. They are both supported and mired by a number of attributes that make them both rather unique places to live. Last week Maggie and I grabbed a flight out of PVG and made our annual …
Holiday Fu’s Suzhou City Guide
Iain Manley, editor of City Weekend‘s relatively new Holiday Fu, has just put together an excellent city guide for Suzhou. Most all the large travel portals give Suzhou a mention, but Iain’s writeup is full of a wit and insight that makes it a fun and informative read, even for this laowai that has called …
Summertime and the livin’s easy
So summer’s definitely here – I know this because when I’m outside for more than a few minutes everything gets blurry and my skin starts to melt. I’m Canadian — +40°C weather is something for fairytales of where the old folks go come winter.
Of course it’s the perfect time to take a holiday and trek around the country — so that’s exactly what I’m going to be doing next week and the week after.
Heat or not, I couldn’t be more excited. The timing of the vacation is because my best friend Cory is (coufinallygh) coming to visit me in China. We’ve been friends for going on 20 years, which for me is no small feat. See, I’ve called 25 different places “home” over the course of my 32 years (birthday this Thursday), and as such have shuffled through friends nearly as much as I’ve shuffled through addresses. But whereas many friends come and go, Cory is as close as to being kin to me as you can get without sharing blood. It’s been a year and a half since I’ve seen him, and even then it was only short visits. It’s going to be great to be able to spend two weeks catching up.
My ChinaTravel.net Feature on Suzhou
A while back I was approached by the fine folks at ChinaTravel.net, an English-language travel site about China that is “editorially independent” but strongly affiliated with Ctrip.com — one of China’s largest online travel booking Web sites. The site’s editors wanted me to put together a summary article on “my Suzhou”, and as of last …
