News from the South China Sea!!!

after a long and bumpy ride from an airport that no one had heard of (it actually used to be an old military base a 40 kuai taxi ride from the Southern most subway stop), i finally made it to Sanya, on the island of Hainan, in the South China Sea . the moon is almost full and the water is blessedly cool, at 11:30 pm. i love watching the moon's reflection in the sand and then the water recedes, wiping the brightness away like a cosmic etch-a-sketch. to my left was offensively loud Russian music and to my right was a ridiculously bright and far-reaching laser show from a hotel at the end of the beach. good grief. Yet the little space of beach i occupied tonight was just brilliant. i could feel my heart actually opening up under the smiling moon and crashing waves. so romantic...in the big sense of the word. :)

The room at the hostel is a slightly obnoxious version of the summer camp i never went to. so far, the best i can say for it is it has air-con. oooh, and I saw two white geckos. i love those little creatures (and not just because they eat mosquitos)!

so, i'm off to start my vacation in earnest and even though the heat is oppressive, i'm so excited to have fresh air and clean water!!!! whooo hooooo!