Sanya, Take 2.

I had planned to take Sar to Sanya before Lydia invited me down the first time and despite my previous theft experience I was looking forward to going back.  After rain on the mainland we were hopeful for sun.

Sadly, this time there would be little sun.  Fortunately it was still warm, our hostel owner, Chris, was great, and we met these guys.

James and Brian were the first Americans I’ve met travelling who I’ve really got on with.  They totally broke my stereotype.  We spent the first few Sanya days hardly moving from the rooftop terrace of our hostel (Sanya Backpackers), playing cards and just generally having a laugh.

In the evenings we would go to Dolphin, our favourite place ever.  Dolphin was a sports bar that served amazing Western food, had a pool table and basically provided us with something to do/eat at all times of day.  Here we are just after brunch.

We met a few more Americans in Dolphin and after drinks we would head down to the beach bar, where a very talented Filipino band played every night.  When the band finished we would hang out on the beach, setting off fireworks that Chinese men bought us, and running around with sparklers.

It was the perfect way to spend nights on a tropical island.  Unfortunately, I had forgotten that Sanya has a dark side; namely, that of petty theft.  So it was a nasty surprise when I was robbed again, this time of my whole bag.  Goodbye purse no.2, phone, keys, hoody and, tragedy of tragedies, camera.  It was actually Lydia’s camera, which she had lent me after I broke my camera in Sanya the first time around, and it had all my photos on from a whole month of travelling.  Not good.

Oh Sanya.  Truly ours is the epitome of a love-hate relationship.

I have been able to (painstakingly) recreate my photographic memories from 10 different people’s cameras; enough for the last 5 blog entries at least!  But, needless to say, it was very upsetting at the time.  However, after initial distress and a thwarted attempt to drown myself in the sea, I came to terms with my loss, and got on with enjoying the holiday.  Again.

One day we went to the beach, even though it was about to rain, to show the guys the nudist colony.  We didn’t get too close.  In the far background of this picture are a lot of very dark, very naked Chinese men.

When the boys left we were extremely upset.  Fortunately, the next day the sun came out.  We spent most of it on the beach.

Drinking coconut water…

Sitting around with our other American friends...

Singing the Dambusters theme tune...

And pretending to be mermaids/dead bodies washed up on the rocks.

We also went scuba diving.

We had a very busy time in Sanya.

One evening we went out for sushi with a couple of girls from Brazil and Colombia.  The sushi was good, but the chairs at the entrance to the restaurant were better.

The day James and Brian left, our old friends Rik and Susan turned up!  Here we all are with Chris at the hostel.

On our last night, Chris took a group of us out for a seafood dinner.  In Sanya the streets are basically lined with seafood restaurants, where all the fish and other creatures swim around in tanks stacked up outside.  You choose which fish you want.  Then they throw the fish on the floor in a bag and smack the bag on the floor until the fish is dead.

It was a little traumatic.  But the food was delicious.

We then went back to the beach bar for the last time.

The next day Sar had to leave in the morning to catch a flight to Hong Kong and then back home.  Chris has a couple of big maps on the wall and gets all his guests to put a pin in to show where they're from.  Here we are trying to guess where Stoke is...

I was very sad to see Sar go and spent the day moping around until Harman, a Canadian policeman staying at the hostel took me out for lunch.  And then gave me $100.

I tried to refuse it, but he said I'd had a lot of bad luck recently and I should see it in a 'Pay it Forward' light.  Someone had done him a favour in Malaysia, he was doing something nice for me now and I would be able to help someone out in the future.  In the end he didn't give me a choice and, as it turns out, I needed the cash.   I can't get another bank card until next week, so Harman's money allowed me to get back to Pingxiang, get a new phone and is currently allowing me to eat.  So that worked out well.

Harman's kindness broke the trend of unfortunate things happening in China and me wishing I wasn't here.  But I still didn't want to go back to work.  When Chris offered me a job at the hostel I was extremely tempted.  However, due to my integrity, and a clause in my contract that makes me liable to pay up to $9000 if I breach it, I returned to Pingxiang last weekend.

Apart from the gaping hole in my heart from Sar's absence, it's actually nice to be back now.  I enjoy not living out of a rucksack.  And I'm too much of a celebrity here for people to try to rob me.  Pingxiang has its perks after all.