How has my trip been so far, you ask? Well, it's nothing short of enjoyable and breath-taking. Let me state this frankly. Haikou, or more specifically Hainan, went through rapid development for the past three years or so. Before 2004, much of Hainan is still rural. Now, skyscrapers fill the air-view. Highways wider than our Malaysian highways are everywhere. New houses are sprouting from every corner. In fact, there are more high-rise buildings in Haikou than Kuala Lumpur! Within a year or two, it can be more advanced than Kuala Lumpur! This is totally the opposite from what we initially expected.

Hainan is an island that is about 600 kilometres away from Guangzhou. Only three years ago the people here were still in poverty. But now, surprisingly very few beggars are seen on the streets. Cleanliness is comparable to that of Singapore although the people's mentality needs some changes (will talk about it next time). The people here are polite and the food is just as good as our Malaysian food! In fact, their taste is very similar to ours!

Communicating with the people here isn't a problem at all for me. I put up my apparently Beijing accent (that Joe and Melissa agreed on) and I did manage to fool some of the locals here. Some guessed I am from Beijing, some thought I am from Shanghai or Hunan. They were surprised when I told them we are from Malaysia. The people in Hainan speak Mandarin which is influenced by the Hainanese dialect accent. Nevertheless, their intonations are clear although the pronunciation may run a bit.

I wonder where Brian's (Gungrave1988) hometown is. He is a Hainanese and here I am, Brian, in Hainan! On the 21st of June, I'll be travelling from Haikou to Sanya (三亚) which is three hours away, so you can imagine how big Hainan Island is generally. On the 23rd, I shall be flying back to Guangzhou (广州) where I shall stay for another three days before flying back to KLIA on the evening of 26th. For those who don't know, Guangzhou is the FOOD HEAVEN of China. In fact, the best food can be found here in Guangzhou. The Malaysian Chinese food that you taste locally are heavily influenced by the Guangzhou taste because the great majority of Malaysian Chinese originate from the area of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton).

Well, I shall be updating you all soon about my overall trip. I shall be posting up pictures as well then. But here's an eye candy and some information for you. You see, in China, Blogger blogs are blocked from being viewed (so even though I can post this I can't view it!), but surprisingly I can log into Blogger to post this! And best of all, by default when I browse into Blogger, everything is in Mandarin! Here are some pictures of the screenshots that I took:

Fortunately I can understand all that is written in Mandarin (although I'm not Chinese educated!). Otherwise I'd have some troubles trying to post this in the first place.

That's all for now. Cheers! Remember, I can't check on how my post would turn out to be. I'd like to ask for assistance from the administrators if my post turns out wrong, as in looking strange or something like that.