My first trip to China

I've finished moving to my new (which s actually my old) home town in Japan.  We've opened all our boxes and now our apartment  is just messy because that's the way things are sometimes...


:)

I've been busy with business traveling every month, racking up (raking in?) those frequent flier miles...

This month I just returned from my first overseas trip of the year.  This was my first time in China.
I didn't go to the mainland so "technically" it might not count but I still learned quite a bit about the drinking habits, food, climate and architecture.

I was only 3 minutes away from a lovely beach but I did not swim nor sunbathe...Remember, this was for business and I didn't want to take my bathing suit...I am weird in that way...

The trip was a doozy from the beginning.  The day of departure "coordinated" with typhoon number 10 (Vicente). We still managed to land in Hong Kong and I felt like hugging the Cathay Pacific pilot for such a smooth landing.

I had no idea that the typhoon would be so devastating (my thoughts are with the people of Hong Kong). I am very glad that my colleagues and I were able to get to China eventually and most importantly, safely.

I spent a night in Hong Kong and the next day headed for the airport (in heavy rains) to catch the flight to Sanya, Hainan Island.  Our 3pm flight was moved to 6:30pm then 9:30 until it eventually left at around11:30pm.  We got to our hotel at 3AM. :-/

But the next day this was awaiting:

The pools were like lagoons!  (There was a regular pool too.)

The nights.

It's hard to see in the picture but there is a hotel staff member patrolling the beach.  The tides were high because of the typhoons so no one was allowed to swim in the sea.

After the conference, I went back to Hong Kong to stay a night...the flights were still delayed because of ANOTHER typhoon, so it was a good thing that I stayed.

Look at those lights!

I didn't have my tripod with me so I held my breath while taking this picture 

(so that the camera could soak in all the lights)...

Just for comparing, here is a similar shot I took with my iPhone:

                                                          Hong Kong in the daytime:

I didn't get to go shopping (no time) but the atmosphere was soooo different from any other Asian city I've been in that I am really hoping to visit again.

More posts to come on my new start in the south western part of Japan.

I hope you have a lovely summer!