My mom was born in Vietnam and grew up in Hainan Island.
The last time I was in Hainan was probably about ten years ago. Since it's Chinese New Year and I'm in Hong Kong, my mom has a reason to fly back "home". :)
My CNY vacation started on February 8 and ended on February 17. So, it was nice to spend that many days with my mom. :)
Chinese New Year was on February 10 this year (it's different ever year). Typically, celebrations begin CNY's Eve (February 9). I think my mom landed on the 8th in Guangzhou and took the bus with my cousin down to Shenzhen. After school, my uncle and I started heading to Shenzhen as well. This time I went to Shenzhen via the Shenzhen Bay Crossing Border.
We all met at the aunt's apartment... We just had a simple dinner since the extravagant dinner was supposed to happen on February 9 anyway. Ahhh, it was nice seeing my mom again! :) We actually Skype a lot, but, you know, it really isn't the same!
On actual CNY day, we went to Hainan via airplane. The other way would be via boat. I think that takes like two or three days, LOL. You're stuck in a really small space too. Airfare is supposedly a lot cheaper on the actual day of CNY because... well, like I said, people celebrate CNY Eve. Everyone should have been back home by the 9th. There was no crowd at the Shenzhen airport at all on the 10th, lol.
When people think of Hainan, they think of Sanya. That's the vacation spot. Beautiful beaches, bountiful coconuts, etc. But, that's not where I was headed toward. I'm going to somewhere that's like the opposite of that, LOl.
We landed at the airport an hour later, and my cousin's friend drove his car to pick us up. My mom's hometown is in a really rural place... Cars don't usually go there since it's mostly just farm land everywhere. It used to take like 2-3 hours to get to my grandparent's home. Now, it takes about 60-90 minutes? Thank heavens for paved roads.
Let me show you some pictures to give you an idea of how rural my mom's hometown is...
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| Grandma's new crib, LOl |
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| Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has one of these. No cars. |
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| Grandma's backyard |
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| Chicken on the loose |
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| Goose(?) on the loose |
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| Walking to my mom's elementary school |
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| I think that's a restroom? Or is it a pig barn? |
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| OLD house... was there when my mom was young, I think. |
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| Still on the way to my mom's elementary school |
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| Coconut trees |
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| Rice paddy |
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| Mom's elementary school's sign. It says "#3 Elementary School" |
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| Not sure what this is... |
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| Dragon fruit trees |
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| Entrance of my mom's elementary school |
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| Apparently, this is a student store... |
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| Ping pong table, lol! |
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| Classrooms |
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| More classrooms |
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| More classrooms |
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| Another chicken on the loose |
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| More chickens on the loose |
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| A cow... not on the loose |
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| I guess people just chill here |
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| This... is a restroom... |
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| House under construction... next to my grandma's house |
You actually can't even find this place on Google Maps. LOl. Anyway, I stayed here for a week or something. I left on the 17th because I had school the next day. My mom stayed a few days longer though.
So... there's no street light here. We had to carry flashlights around. LOL.
One night, my cousin and her friends decided to go catch paddy crabs... in ditches near the rice paddies or something. So, I went with them. We were all in farmer boots looking around for crabs. The mud was so slippery! I almost fell in a ditch. OMG. Thank god someone caught me.
All the other days and nights... I played mahjong.
I don't know how to explain what this is, but it's a very popular gambling game in Asia. It's pretty easy to learn too. I knew how to play since third grade, lol.
Seriously, there's not much to do here. We just went around visiting relatives that I don't really know during the day... My grandma also had a housewarming party because she just moved into her new home. Basically everyone in the village is invited to eat lunch at her house. That's how everyone does it there.
I would've liked to go to Sanya, but... we're way too far from the beach, lol.
So... I basically ate a lot there. The food was SO fresh. :') You just can't taste that in the States.
The day before I left to Shenzhen, I spent the day in Haikou, the capital of Hainan.
My cousins and I went to get massages... which I really don't enjoy because I feel like I'm getting beat up really bad. Also, foot massages are uncomfortable because I feel like they're tickling my feet. :( I actually saw prostitutes in the massage parlor... They're all dressed the same and kind of off to the side. I guess people just order their services if they want to.
I had the BEST seafood dinner everrr. We went to a seafood market to get everything fresh and took it to a restaurant to have the chef cook it for us.
FRESH SEAFOOD. I'm getting kind of hungry just writing about this.
I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the food. We devoured it too quickly. :)
We went to a bar afterward... I forgot the name of it, but it was a revolving bar! So cool. It was really weird for me because we were hanging out with my cousin's friends... Everyone was drinking, except for me... and they're asking why I'm not drinking (I'm allergic, but people usually think I'm just using it as an excuse). -__- I also can't communicate well because my Mandarin isn't that great. So... that was a really weird experience for me, lol.
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I was the only one leaving Hainan that night, so my cousins saw me off in the Haikou Airport... and went home. I accidentally had a bottle of orange soda in my backpack, so when my backpack went through the scanner, it didn't pass or something. BUT, I didn't know that. I just kind of stood there the whole time since they didn't give me the OKAY to pass through.
Then, I hear this Hainan customs man... saying something like... why is she standing there like an idiot.
-________________________-
Obviously, I didn't know something went wrong. It's not like they were being very being communicative. I should've just spoken to them in English. Give them a hard time for treating me like that. What the heckkk. I'm still kicking myself for not defending myself. HOW DARE THEY!!! -_-
Anyway, I landed in Shenzhen, where my aunt picked me up. Apparently, everyone else's vacation ends on Sunday because we waited like 60-90 minutes in a line to get a taxi. We got home and I went to sleep immediately because I had to go back to CUHK the next day.
The best part of my vacation was just seeing all my relatives. I mean, yeah, the location could be a lot better, lOL. Buttt, it's okay. It makes me appreciate everything that I have even more.
I wish my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were in the States. I don't really have any immediate family members here. :( I just want to put them in my pocket and bring them over! Sigh.
Jenn
