Haikou 1

Time to leave. I filled up at breakfast, then checked out. The sun had started to come out so I had another stroll around the beach esplanade, which was only half complete. There were constructions noises all the time I was there and buildings in various stages of completion.

The reception said that the bus left from the junction near the hotel, it's very handy to the town that way, and only minutes after I arrived, a bus came along. Public transport services are frequent in Hainan as there are people constantly on the move.


I was too late for the same service that I arrived on. It would have been a nice symmetry, to stay exactly 48 hours in Qionghai/Boao. I helped a man with a vending machine. He tried to feed all the notes at once. No doubt unused to automation. But he had a mobile. I guess a mobile is intuitive and there are lots of people to take cues from. 

Almost an hour later I arrived in Haikou (海口) East (Rail) Station. Haikou simply means, unimaginatively, seaport. Following the instructions provided by the hostel, I caught the right bus and ended almost at the Haikou Banana hostel's doorstep. It's a little bit messy, not as neat as Sanya Backpackers.

I got my laundry done and then went to Evergreen Park for an evening stroll. It's nice to get away from traffic, especially those dastardly scooters that can come at you from the wrong direction, since they don't respect traffic rules. They seem to be mostly electric now which makes them silent until you hear a warning beep. Streets in Chinese cities are a cacophony of honks and beeps since vehicles make turns or stop by the wayside whenever it suits them, and other traffic flows around the stopped vehicle, making noise to warn that they are coming through.

Here are some flowers from the park.

I liked the stripes on these.

Kite flying appears to be popular here.

There are exercise machines for the locals.

Haikou is a port but it faces the mainland. The coast around here is a bit muddy and there are mangroves and of course mosquitoes.


Two princesses: As I was having dinner in a restaurant serving soy milk but also meals, two mothers came in with their little girls. The one with a ponytail had just finished a dance class to judge from her leotard. She was doing her stretches on the sofa, to the annoyance of her mother, who was trying to get her to eat. The one with the pigtails was at the next table and talking animatedly with her mother, and also not very concerned with eating. I'm sure that little girls are cute as long as you are not the exasperated parent.