The new kids arrived at about 11:00 am on Monday. As this group was large (70 kids plus 7 teachers) we split them into 4 groups, at the head of each was a team leader, these were Aaron, Laura/Peony, Wade and Vivian (a new arrival - Chinese). Myself and Kay were given the responsibility of carrying out activities; I was to take the kids "Coasteering" and on a "Coral Walk and Talk" whilst Kay was to take them paddling in kayaks. After we had finished introducing ourselves at the airport we took the kids to their hotel and checked them in, we then promptly headed to the beach where we had a picnic and played a myriad of team building games. Once the kids were better acquainted with one another and ourselves we headed to a local restaurant of a posh Chinese dinner.
Tuesday morning began with a slap up dinner at Pirates! restaurant after which I headed to Hou Hai with Wade and Vivian (groups 3 & 4). On arrival the kids in group 3 went coasteering with myself whilst group 4 learnt to surf with Brendan. Coasteering is simply a ramble over rocks. My version is slightly different however as I flavoured it with marine science! As the kids navigate their way around the rocky headland to the left of Hou Hai beach I lecture them on tides, intertidal ecology, corals and the impact of man on marine habitats. I also hold a shell parade and give the student with the best shell a prize (stickers). The walk around the rocks took about 1 ½ hours. I really enjoyed this activity as I took full control of the kids and had the chance to teach them about the subject I am most passionate about. We saw quite a lot of cool animals including several species of barnacles, small beds of oysters, a species of crab that seems adapted to living on top of the rocks, sea urchins, anemones, limpets, and top shell snails. Sadly there was also, like all the other sites around the coast, an abundance of washed up coral skeletons… Upon returning to base we had lunch and chilled for a bit. I then took group 4 around the rocks whilst group 3 went surfing. Once these activities were finished we gave the kids free time to swim in the sea and to relax on the beach until 6:30 when we had dinner. After dinner the kids set up their tents for the night and we played some more team building games. Bedtime was around 9:30!
On Wednesday the kids were up nice and early and ready for breakfast for 8:00 am. Once satiated the kids were introduced to our raft building exercise! This is a great activity and good for some healthy competition. Each group is given 12 bamboo poles, rope and 4 barrels plus 1 flag! Their objectives are two build a seaworthy raft, which they must name, and to use it in a relay type race. A marker is placed in the shallows around which the completed raft must pass 4 times, each time is passes it must have a fresh compliment of “sailors”. My group built a fairly decent raft and managed to beat Kays team – huzzah! After this exciting event groups 3 and 4 left for the Yanoda experience. Groups 1 and 2 were late in arriving at Hou Hai but we managed to fit their raft building into the day plus more team building games.
Thursday mirrored that of Tuesday with more coasteering and surfing tuition. During the second time coasteering we encountered some fishermen upon the rocks. Being interested I looked closely at their net – the mesh size was very small, approximately 1 inch in length. This is a really bad sign. If the local fisherman use nets with such tiny mesh times must be hard. What measures are in place to protect juvenile fish – I’m guessing few or none. I also noticed a free-diver by the rocks who was collecting oysters from around the rocks, he was descending with a simple knife and plying the molluscs from the rocks and depositing them in a floating container which was secured to himself via a length of rope. These signs show that these rocky environments are important to the local fisherman, I just hope that their activities are monitored to ensure sustainable exploitation of the animals…
Friday morning started with another slap up meal at Pirates! restaurant, after this the kids were transported to Luhuitou (where we live!) – half were taken on a “Coral Walk and Talk” whilst the other half were taken kayaking. The coral talk was great! It was another opportunity for myself to try and get the kids interested in the marine environment. I introduced corals to the students and spoke about their simple ecology as well as the detrimental affects that man has on these sensitive creatures. I tried to impress upon the kids the fact that they were here on Hainan to not only have fun but to make observations with regards to how we impact upon the environment. Sadly it’s all too easy to achieve this here… After the first walk the groups swapped over and we did the activities again. Now that we had worked up an appetite it was time for a BBQ! This was fantastic with tasty dishes like spiced/garlic flavoured egg plant, shrimps, egg fried rice and spicy chicken wings (my personal favourite). After eating we took the kids back to the airport and waved them goodbye.
Once back at our place we all chilled with a beer. That evening we headed out for drinks… I crawled back.
On Saturday we all waved goodbye to Ben - a very sound guy who had been living with us. I spent the best part of the day nursing my hangover… In the evening the girls (Laura and Kay) headed out to the local noodle stall for 2 portions of noodles. Unfortunately there must have been a misunderstanding as the noodle man presented the girls with 5 portions of noodles. The girls got frustrated and tried to tell him that they were only going to pay for 2 portions. Being foreigners (a rare thing here in our small village) we soon attracted a crowd. The girls relinquished and we payed the guy the 30 yuan (£3).
Sunday was another lazy day. I scouted the local beach for shells and found some interesting specimens to add to my now respectable collection. I spent the evening doing some paperwork and then had an awesome dinner cooked by the girls.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Week 3
Monday arrived and along with it so did our first group of kids. There were 20 of the blighters all from an international school based in Hong Kong. After checking the kids (and ourselves) into the hotel we played some team building games, which included "monkey see, monkey do" type games as well as a tree hugging game (!?) and a game called "Baby, do you love me?". We headed to the local beach (1 min away) and took the kids swimming. Whilst supervising the kids in the water I kept stepping on lots of small pebbles - on closer inspection I found out that these were actually hermit crabs! There are literally thousands of them... After splashing around for a bit longer we lunched, had a few more games and then had dinner at the hotel. After dinner the kids went swimming in the resort pool.
Tuesday was supposed to be a day of surfing at Hou Hai beach. Unfortunately the swell was too excessive so we kept the kids at Yalong Bay where the waves were good for beginners. The morning was spent tutoring the kids. Lunch involved another beach picnic. More surfing followed until about 5 o'clock when we packed up the surf gear and headed up to Hou Hai for camping. The tents are pretty basic dome jobs that are useless in the wind, but this was fine as the weather is pretty docile here (accept the heat of course). Night time brought more team building games such as "Pass the fruit" and "Balance the water!". Bed time for the kids was 10:00.
On Wednesday we packed up the tents, had breakfast and journeyed to good 'ol Yanoda. We took the kids on the gorge climb during which I spied a species of small frog clinging to a rock plus some sort of freshwater crab. Lunch followed the climb - traditional Chinese food. The rainforest hike was next. I was acting as the group rearguard for the hike and managed to spot a tree crab that everyone else missed! This shows you how blind people our to such things - it was pretty obvious to a naturalist! After the hike we set up camp at Yanoda and went to dinner. We were entertained while we ate by traditional music and bamboo pole dancing.
Thursday involved the school visit I mentioned on last weeks blog. On arriving we were greeted by the local school kids and the teachers. Our school kids split into groups (with a Hainan Adventures instructor at the head of each) and began to teach some of the local kids some games - which they loved! After the games we had a traditional lunch of boiled rice. This is done by filling a hollow piece of bamboo with rice and water which is then placed into the glowing red coals of a fire, the rice cooks and expands and is extracted by splitting the bamboo down the side. The split bamboo can now serve as a plate - although a rather warm one! After lunch we painted the alphabet on one of the school buildings - the local kids were amazed at the paints we brought and couldn't resist dipping their fingers (as well as sticks) into our paint cans... We also repainted the blackboards! After this we gave the kids a pencil case each as well as pens, pencils and exercise books. The children at this school were amazing, they have very little in terms of materialistic possessions yet they are truly very happy with their lot in life. There is a lesson to be learned here I think... Once we were done at the school we waved goodbye to the kids and took our group back to their resort where we had dinner.
On Friday we took the kids to the airport and sent them off to Hong Kong with Hainan Adventures apparel!
The weekend was dominated by the Surfing Hainan Open. The competition was held at a reef break further round the coast from Hou Hai. Sadly the best swell had occurred over the previous weekend (generated by a typhoon) and the waves were very small. The shortboard heats struggled to generate much excitement due to the tiny surf. The longboard heats fared better with some long rides. During the comp I headed to the right of the beach where there are number of strewn boulders. I found little of interest at the rocks except hundreds of small hermit crabs (again)!
Tuesday was supposed to be a day of surfing at Hou Hai beach. Unfortunately the swell was too excessive so we kept the kids at Yalong Bay where the waves were good for beginners. The morning was spent tutoring the kids. Lunch involved another beach picnic. More surfing followed until about 5 o'clock when we packed up the surf gear and headed up to Hou Hai for camping. The tents are pretty basic dome jobs that are useless in the wind, but this was fine as the weather is pretty docile here (accept the heat of course). Night time brought more team building games such as "Pass the fruit" and "Balance the water!". Bed time for the kids was 10:00.
On Wednesday we packed up the tents, had breakfast and journeyed to good 'ol Yanoda. We took the kids on the gorge climb during which I spied a species of small frog clinging to a rock plus some sort of freshwater crab. Lunch followed the climb - traditional Chinese food. The rainforest hike was next. I was acting as the group rearguard for the hike and managed to spot a tree crab that everyone else missed! This shows you how blind people our to such things - it was pretty obvious to a naturalist! After the hike we set up camp at Yanoda and went to dinner. We were entertained while we ate by traditional music and bamboo pole dancing.
Thursday involved the school visit I mentioned on last weeks blog. On arriving we were greeted by the local school kids and the teachers. Our school kids split into groups (with a Hainan Adventures instructor at the head of each) and began to teach some of the local kids some games - which they loved! After the games we had a traditional lunch of boiled rice. This is done by filling a hollow piece of bamboo with rice and water which is then placed into the glowing red coals of a fire, the rice cooks and expands and is extracted by splitting the bamboo down the side. The split bamboo can now serve as a plate - although a rather warm one! After lunch we painted the alphabet on one of the school buildings - the local kids were amazed at the paints we brought and couldn't resist dipping their fingers (as well as sticks) into our paint cans... We also repainted the blackboards! After this we gave the kids a pencil case each as well as pens, pencils and exercise books. The children at this school were amazing, they have very little in terms of materialistic possessions yet they are truly very happy with their lot in life. There is a lesson to be learned here I think... Once we were done at the school we waved goodbye to the kids and took our group back to their resort where we had dinner.
On Friday we took the kids to the airport and sent them off to Hong Kong with Hainan Adventures apparel!
The weekend was dominated by the Surfing Hainan Open. The competition was held at a reef break further round the coast from Hou Hai. Sadly the best swell had occurred over the previous weekend (generated by a typhoon) and the waves were very small. The shortboard heats struggled to generate much excitement due to the tiny surf. The longboard heats fared better with some long rides. During the comp I headed to the right of the beach where there are number of strewn boulders. I found little of interest at the rocks except hundreds of small hermit crabs (again)!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Week 2
This week was setup so myself and the rest of the newbies within the team could scout out and experience a few of the sites and activities that we subject are clients to.
I started the week by heading up to “Yanoda Rainforest Centre” with the rest of the team. This is a commercial privately owned enterprise that takes clients on tours around part of the Hainan rainforest. You would expect the site to utilize natural paths and to minimize development - but this is China. The Yanoda setup has completely missed the point of ecotourism. Everywhere you look swathes of rainforest have been cleared to make way for restaurants, shops, toilets, shower blocks etc. Concrete paths and roads network the site intensively, effectively bisecting the forest in many places. In fact there were many signs of soil erosion due to the loss of foliage and the large quantity of concrete covered areas (increasing surface runoff). The Yanoda experience felt very “Disney”. Large areas of natural plant growth had also been cleared for the placement of aesthetically pleasing arrangements of Hainan flowers and trees. Amusingly I saw a member of staff selling one of their eco-bags (made from natural biodegradable materials) placed kindly within a very non-biodegradable plastic bag! My advice would be that if you really want to see what the rainforest has to offer then head to a remote village in the hills at the centre of the island and explore it from there. While at Yanoda we did a gorge climb (hiking up a river!) and a rainforest hike. The gorge climb was fun but again the river had been heavily modified to ensure safety measurements – concrete walk ways lie on the banks destroying the habitat many river animals are dependent upon. The hike was a joke due to more concrete paths and strategically placed “endemic” species.
The next day we headed to Hou Hai beach to receive training in surf tuition by the boss of Surfing Hainan – Brendan. This was pretty fun. After being trained up by Brendan we had a bit of free time so I headed off to get a decent picture of one the ghost crabs. Another activity we undertake at the beach besides teaching students to surf is raft building. Aaron showed us where our raft materials are kept and how to tie clove hitches. With my new found knowledge I can build a fairly sturdy raft provided the right equipment (i.e. bamboo poles, barrels, rope etc). After building a raft we all headed to Hou Hai dock where we took a small boat to our snorkeling site, unfortunately we didn’t go in as the swell was picking up and water visibility was poor. The dock itself was very interesting and lent an insight to the local fisherman. The majority of fishing vessels are approximately 10 m in length and have a powerful light array at the prow. I am told that these lights attract insects at the fishing grounds (probably reefs) which in turn attract reef fish that are the captured via nets. These fisherman are therefore only active at night.
On Wednesday we had a day off. I decided to go for a 45 minute run with Ben in the morning and then headed to Dadonghai (nearest town) to use the internet. After this I walked the length of Dadonghai beach, combing the beach for shells. Not before long I was nearing the end of the beach and was surprised upon looking up from my activity to find myself amongst the nudist section! I beat a hasty retreat. Back at the house I met up with Wade and headed to the Police Station with Kay and Laura so we could register our arrival at Hainan (standard protocol for long term visitors).
Friday consisted of a visit to an isolated rural school 2 hours from where we live. The roads to the school were extremely windy and pretty tough going on the minibus – at one point we got stuck. I dutifully got out with Wade and pushed the vehicle free with a coating of mud as a reward! Once at the school we were disappointed to see that the kids had a day off. We were visiting the school as a potential site for some community service project our next group of kids have to undertake. The school itself was in a sorry state, most of the windows had no glass and the classrooms were bare of learning materials. There were too rectangular single story buildings separated by a dusty playground, both buildings were a study of grey. We decided that when we came back we would get our kids (as well ourselves) to paint the English and Chinese alphabet on one building. We would also donate some learning materials such as exercise books, posters and stationary. We left the site and had lunch at the local village, where strangely we had to buy the food ourselves after which it was then cooked for us! The village kids loved seeing a bunch of foreigners in town and we kept them laughing by speaking to them in our very basic Chinese! After lunch we tried to scout a hike route but turned rounded after 5 minutes due to massive amounts of hungry leeches. I found a river alongside which I saw many fascinating butterflies and damselflies. I also spied a man electrofishing along the river! On the way home the minibus got stuck again and I got more muddy…
At the weekend I worked for Brendan helping some Chinese and Russian clients to surf at Hou Hai. Ended the day with a fireside barbecue – Brendan sang some songs and played the guitar. Looking forward to our 1st group of kids.
I started the week by heading up to “Yanoda Rainforest Centre” with the rest of the team. This is a commercial privately owned enterprise that takes clients on tours around part of the Hainan rainforest. You would expect the site to utilize natural paths and to minimize development - but this is China. The Yanoda setup has completely missed the point of ecotourism. Everywhere you look swathes of rainforest have been cleared to make way for restaurants, shops, toilets, shower blocks etc. Concrete paths and roads network the site intensively, effectively bisecting the forest in many places. In fact there were many signs of soil erosion due to the loss of foliage and the large quantity of concrete covered areas (increasing surface runoff). The Yanoda experience felt very “Disney”. Large areas of natural plant growth had also been cleared for the placement of aesthetically pleasing arrangements of Hainan flowers and trees. Amusingly I saw a member of staff selling one of their eco-bags (made from natural biodegradable materials) placed kindly within a very non-biodegradable plastic bag! My advice would be that if you really want to see what the rainforest has to offer then head to a remote village in the hills at the centre of the island and explore it from there. While at Yanoda we did a gorge climb (hiking up a river!) and a rainforest hike. The gorge climb was fun but again the river had been heavily modified to ensure safety measurements – concrete walk ways lie on the banks destroying the habitat many river animals are dependent upon. The hike was a joke due to more concrete paths and strategically placed “endemic” species.
The next day we headed to Hou Hai beach to receive training in surf tuition by the boss of Surfing Hainan – Brendan. This was pretty fun. After being trained up by Brendan we had a bit of free time so I headed off to get a decent picture of one the ghost crabs. Another activity we undertake at the beach besides teaching students to surf is raft building. Aaron showed us where our raft materials are kept and how to tie clove hitches. With my new found knowledge I can build a fairly sturdy raft provided the right equipment (i.e. bamboo poles, barrels, rope etc). After building a raft we all headed to Hou Hai dock where we took a small boat to our snorkeling site, unfortunately we didn’t go in as the swell was picking up and water visibility was poor. The dock itself was very interesting and lent an insight to the local fisherman. The majority of fishing vessels are approximately 10 m in length and have a powerful light array at the prow. I am told that these lights attract insects at the fishing grounds (probably reefs) which in turn attract reef fish that are the captured via nets. These fisherman are therefore only active at night.
On Wednesday we had a day off. I decided to go for a 45 minute run with Ben in the morning and then headed to Dadonghai (nearest town) to use the internet. After this I walked the length of Dadonghai beach, combing the beach for shells. Not before long I was nearing the end of the beach and was surprised upon looking up from my activity to find myself amongst the nudist section! I beat a hasty retreat. Back at the house I met up with Wade and headed to the Police Station with Kay and Laura so we could register our arrival at Hainan (standard protocol for long term visitors).
Friday consisted of a visit to an isolated rural school 2 hours from where we live. The roads to the school were extremely windy and pretty tough going on the minibus – at one point we got stuck. I dutifully got out with Wade and pushed the vehicle free with a coating of mud as a reward! Once at the school we were disappointed to see that the kids had a day off. We were visiting the school as a potential site for some community service project our next group of kids have to undertake. The school itself was in a sorry state, most of the windows had no glass and the classrooms were bare of learning materials. There were too rectangular single story buildings separated by a dusty playground, both buildings were a study of grey. We decided that when we came back we would get our kids (as well ourselves) to paint the English and Chinese alphabet on one building. We would also donate some learning materials such as exercise books, posters and stationary. We left the site and had lunch at the local village, where strangely we had to buy the food ourselves after which it was then cooked for us! The village kids loved seeing a bunch of foreigners in town and we kept them laughing by speaking to them in our very basic Chinese! After lunch we tried to scout a hike route but turned rounded after 5 minutes due to massive amounts of hungry leeches. I found a river alongside which I saw many fascinating butterflies and damselflies. I also spied a man electrofishing along the river! On the way home the minibus got stuck again and I got more muddy…
At the weekend I worked for Brendan helping some Chinese and Russian clients to surf at Hou Hai. Ended the day with a fireside barbecue – Brendan sang some songs and played the guitar. Looking forward to our 1st group of kids.
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