quiet sanctuary: breathtaking hainan island

BEWARE. THIS ENTRY CONTAINS SOME UNSIGHTLY IMAGES.

a 7 days stay in a place totally cut out from the rest of the world.
Hainan island thru my eyes.
The first impressions when you reach is that the airport is buzzing with activity. 海口美兰国际机场 is a short building with (at least) mandarin speaking people around. My first pitfall came when i was trying to find tiger airways counter in the airport to ask if i could extend my stay as i wanted to fly to HK(nearer and cheaper ma) and back for a few days. But after trying to find words in my chinese vocabulary, communication is still broke down with the customer service people there who directed me in circles. fine. anyways, just take note that there's freaking no tiger airways counter there and tiger is called 虎行 by the locals there.
The weather is cooling in 海口, hovers around 20 degrees, while 三亚 is quite like singapore's temperatures with slightly lower humidity. very pleasant.
cars are quite sparse in the country, you hardly see cluttered roads/highways around. their haiwen highway is a perfect link between 海口 and 三亚, the 2 main cities of activities on that island.
first thing is i cant stand smoking in hainan island, and i believe, in whole of china. the freakin problem why they are so poor is EVERY male smokes. their pastime is basically that and it goes like 3 packets (3 X 25 RMB) a day, and they get started at very young age like 10. its like some national activity. even in the airport no one gives a hoot about the aircon, its really frustrating to be beside all of them. and their amicable nature means that they offer cigarettes to frens whenever they smoke, and it subsequently forms their easiest way of gifts. im really flabbergasted by that, it is almost akin to the alcohol consumption by rural thais. that's really the problem with china, their rural folks who can almost never progress despite how much they earn and reap. yucks.
life in a kumpong is quite okay, something like army.. but again, basically cleanliness is zero, no one gives a damn about buzzing houseflies around the food. anything that is not needed on the hand or mouth is flung to the floor even at the freaking DOORSTEP of their own house. even when travelling in cars along the highway/built up areas, you just wind down the window and dispose of any sweet wrappers you have like its a 'ought-to-do' kind of thing. the kids there are so used to it, they frolic in chicken poo, on the dirty ground and the next moment, pick food with their hands.

wadever food is needed for any meal is gotten from the wild, they are almost self sustaining, like duh. presenting a first person preview of how its done in hainan island, chicken and lamb.
(removing the feathers from the chicken)

(weighing the lamb for payment)

(the poor dude)

(removing the lamb's outer stuff)

(removing the hair from the head. earlier when they rip the head out, the green bile drips tremendously. but they dont really know wad issit anyways)

(next, the innards. the stomach/liver and intestines are very visible.)

(of cos, it must be shown that its FIRST hand encounter)

vegetables are grown in neat rows in land nearby, whose ownership are already demarcated by the villagers long ago. if you need coconuts, they will just climb some trees and get them for you, and those are like 6-7m tall kind of trees. its really an eye opening experience. of cos, for females the toilets are a real hassle, but for guys, its prolly nothing special..
(me on the back of a motocycle)

motorcycles are the most used form of transport around the 村 and nearby ones if they need to get items or hang out. dont need any license, just need to know how to ride but the roads (basically mud tracks) are treacherous so i gave it a go. somethings you really cannot compare places and say this is more laid back and stuff because somethings they do have and somethings they dont. in most homes around the place i was in, they have TVs with cable, HiFi sets, dvd-players, water heaters, proper beds, VERY GOOD hps and receptions(yea, singtel is world class, that's what they always say. WORLD CLASS i wonder how well will singtel perform in china).. of cos again, this is the richer part of the families around but quite alot do haf these stuff.
the people there are very un-stressed, most do simple work like rearing chickens, opening up a food store in their home, do trading in snakes etc. they go about everyday simple and hang out mostly in common areas and chat the night out. very friendly people, they basically gathered in like 30-40 odd to see my family arrive in the 村. they were damn fascinated that i went thru army before and know how to listen to hainanese but jusdt cant speak it.
i got a lifetime experience when some relative got married in the week i was there. they have very weird customs and stuff heh. one is that the cars must haf hazard lights on throughout the travel journey to bring the bride home. im like, wtf! wont it be some hazard on the road to on it while travelling. and its some 5 car convoy all with hazard lights on. reason - its a celebratory symbol of a wedding there. i shant elaborate much, its just groom take bride from her place, come to his place, extravagant dinner with MILLIONS of dishes that you really can eat until u drop and still have food left for 5-6 meals..
(sitting around for some finger food)

(making of some praying kueh at night, after the dinner)

(getai)

its when thousands of people in the village you have never seen before pop up to help out with the food preparation and the dinner rendezvous. that's the thing about hainan island and kumpongs, the bonds between villagers are so strong and they share joys and woes together. of cos, the next night followed with a getai style hainanese opera where people again gathered and watch. they are really really really into it. and the getai is quite a zai one, with sound mixers, lightings etc.. but the difference is that they set up everything with pulleys and wood, string only. a stage built in 3 hours. that was really amazing. what's a festival without firecrackers and fireowrks. these are not controlled in rural hainan island so i got to see them live for the first time.
(firecrackers!)

when you get out of the village and approach bigger towns, you see much better infrastructure and stuff, like basketball courts, glass buildings, hospitals etc. travelling to Wen Chang, it was quite built up, apartments everywhere and one cud find adidas, Samuel and Kevin, Bossini shops there.
(Wen Chang street)

(shopping centre at wen chang, with SnK, Adidas and Bossini quite visible in the far background)

(another wen chang street)

its just 40-50km away from the village i was in. but the stuff were damn ex. travelling to 海口 main, it is quite built up with hotels, etc. 三亚 is much the same but in a sense less nucleated, it stretches some 20km along the seaside of activities. but there's nothing much really in both cities, you hardly see anything considered 'built-up' in that sense. i only saw one MacDonalds, 1 KFC in the whole 7 days of travelling.internet cafes are nono in the island itself.
(珍珠shopping centre in 三亚)

but travelling some 600-1000km on road for the 7 days, it really allows you to see the entire hainan island, their agriculture beauty, their built up areas, their mountains, pass through tunnels channeled through mountains along the highways, eat at really cheap eateries with great food and realise singapore is just so small, so small.
(across the beautiful greenery)