三亚； 海南岛

So we made it to Sanya (Hainan Island), and boy was it incredible.
As much as I adore Shanghai, I was starting to get itchy feet that were dying to frolic in some hot sand. Enter Sanya; such an amazing place. I still find it hard to believe that this tropical paradise belongs to the same China that mothers a metropolis like Shanghai. 

Getting to the airport at 5:30AM was quite a mission, but well worth it considering we arrived in Sanya with a full day ahead of us to indulge in some much needed vitamin D. We spent the week at the Blue Sky International Hostel and had awesome bbq dinner on our first night. 

Dadonghai Beach is only a three minute walk from the hostel, so we enjoyed some beach volleyball and tanning at Dadonghai on our second day followed by burgers at our favourite restaurant in Sanya, Dolphin Bar [The pineapple mojitos are a must!]

Hiring motorbikes in Sanya is a pretty easy task, however, make sure you know what you’re getting into when you sign the agreement! [We learnt this the hard way] Nevertheless, it’s definitely worthwhile to get yourself a bike for a day to explore Sanya and see other beaches. We rode to a couple of beaches including Houhai Beach and paid a visit to DaHai Surf, to set the boys up for wakeboarding and sort the girls out for a jet skiing session. But we made it back to Shanghai glowing with colour (albeit the fact that most of us were as red as Chinese New Year 红包 - Red Packets) and buzzing from a week of much needed R&R. 

I still can’t believe how amazing China is. For those of you who wouldn’t hesitate to choose travelling Europe over Asia, think twice, because China is a serious contender. Time is flying by and there are still so many adventures to be had. 
I’ve eaten silkworms, driven (but mostly sat on the back of) motorbikes, jet skied in Hainan, explored Nanjing (a little hungover but nevertheless!) and had some proper good times in Shanghai. 

Fingers crossed we get ourselves sorted to climb Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) next weekend!

For now, all I can say is that I’m loving twenty eleven and there’s no looking back.
I’ll leave you with a couple of happy snaps to sum up our Sanya holiday : )

With love,
xx