Journey of contrasts Part 3

China definitely beats them all. The island of Sanya also known as Chinese Hawai (not sure where that came from). Best known for it's wonderful and mild climate and (for Chinese conditions) extremely clean air. The island is fully loaded with holiday housing for government officials.

We've chosen to go and see the Chinese Minority Village hoping to be able to some real life. Nothing farther away from it. It was like a Jurassic Park or Disneyland. Fully commercial entertainment park where absolutely nothing was real ... even wood-looking-like cottages were made out of plastic! Our tour guide still kept repeating that she was born and bread in that "village" ... The whole experience was not really worth taking photos maybe except for local 75% strong alcohol tasting and Avatar like landscape:

The most interesting stuff was again seen only through the bus windows and the few moments we managed to sneak out after lunch.

we did enjoy the one on the right

BYO?

didn't know Apple was into seat covers!

At the end of our day trip we were forced to spend time (over an hour!) and money in a jewelry shop specialising in pearls. Not many were interested but we still had to go and do it. We walked around the shop instead ...

The above pictured group of gentleman was coincidentally present wherever we stopped and disembarked the bus. They seemed to minding their own business, playing cards, talking, drinking water and watching the world go by. Well, the guy in green was too easy to spot everywhere and this is how we found out about their real business. Seriously guys? They were very photo-shy too. This is the only shot I've managed of them. They liked to disappear in the bushes for a while and then magically appear somewhere on the other side. Not many have noticed. Again, we had the advantage of experiencing that system before ...

We hopped of the boat in Hong Kong and got a nice private car to the airport where we boarded a Qantas A330 back home.

tenders go down

shallow waters ...

it's not clouds ... it's the air quality ...

brand new cruise terminal

drive through Hong Kong

last Asian meal before boarding the plane