Boats
Getting from Island to Island
(and Chinese mainland to islands)
always involved boats and ferries:
always involved boats and ferries:
 |
| Does our first boat, heading out to a South China Sea island, seem too low in the water to you??? No life-jackets are apparent on these boats, either......And I always look for them! |
The boat from Beihai to Weizhou Island, in the Gulf of Tonkin
Boat going back to Beihai.....especially cool (and lucky) because the first character is Chris's "given name." His Chinese name is O Fei, which means flying seagull!!
This was our ferry to Hainan. There were only two trucks and one car on the whole vehicle level, but the swarm of people was incredible.....standing-room-only on the small decks, with no places to sit down, anyway. (We were frustrated that the entire uppermost level was barricaded off.) We spent the night on this ferry, in our 8-bunk room, departing the ship the next morning at 5:00 am. The passage took 11 hours, again with no sign of anything remotely resembling life jackets......
 |
| Qing, at the barricade to the upper level, watching the sunset |
High-Speed TRAIN
Trains are always our second-favorite way to travel
(second only to motorcycling.)
On the island of Hainan, we had the opportunity to ride twice on China's brand-new high-speed trains, only operational for 10 days!!!! Too cool! There was a panel, with speed-indicator, posted at the front of each car....We got up to 250 km per hour.
Everything was beautiful and new,
but, as they washed the windows at every major train stop, the cleaning-employees allowed the dirty water to streak down onto the lower part of the train, making it already look grungy......
 |
| Photo, from the brochure |
Speed-indicator:
 |
| Our own photo of the aerodynamic Train Engine |
Of course, the brand-new Railway Stations are big and beautiful, too.
(Took this photo for Jared)
Chinese log truck....Other than the big trees of some city parks, we have seen NO BIG TREES in China, so far. (They seem to cut them down before they have the opportunity to grow beyond 4 or 5-inches in diameter.)
Bicycle Transport
 |
| Working Side-cars |
Melody and Qing, in "our car."
**We had made arrangements to pay a driver handsomely for his day of service, transporting us to several beaches and parks. Then, he wanted us to pay extra for the gasoline (much more than we used that day).....then, to pay for his breakfast.....then, to pay for his lunch....then, he came and sat at our table and probed around in our community dishes with his chopsticks, for his dinner..... He was a very obnoxious fellow, and provided a learning experience for us, as far as booking an all-day taxi.
 |
| Heading back home to cold Chongqing |
It was an awesome 21 days of
Winter Holiday, 2011.
