Week 1

The flight to Amsterdam was amazing with the setting sun on the horizon. From Amsterdam we then flew to Beijing then Guanzhou and finally to Sanya - the whole trip took 20 hours in total! When we arrived we were introduced to the team: Aaron - surfer from America, Kay - Kayaker from UK, Wade - the boss from Oz, Monica - in charge of logistics, Peony - local Lee Minority girl from Hainan and Cathy another Chinese girl. After a slap up meal at the local restaurant it was time for some well earned sleep.

The next few days saw us sorting out our passports and opening bank accounts. One thing that is striking here is the sheer immensity of dragonflies, these insects dominate the skys over Sanya and their shadows can be seen at all times as they dart after mosquitos! I did my first work on the Saturday – teaching Chinese businessman to surf! These guys really have no idea about the mechanics of surfing and I really had a difficult time getting them up. The beach (Hou Hai) I was teaching on is in a terrible state. Ghost crabs scuttle from their holes to forage through heaps of rubbish in the form of plastic, glass and polystyrene. The hill to the right of the beach is being quarried for aggregates, as a consequence the vista of greenery is interrupted by an ugly scar that gouges deep into the rolling countryside that backs the beach. Massive cargo ships arrive at the base of the quarry to haul the rocks away to god knows where.

At the weekend I visited the local market. This place is amazing and exactly how all markets should be – it is noisy and crowded with stall holders hawking their wares and customers bartering. The meat section consists of whole animal carcasses that are chopped up to your requirements. The saddest section for me was that of the fish market, here there were many small fish that should never have been taken from the seas at such a small size. Most of the fish at the market were smaller than my hand.The Chinese seem very willing to eat any size of fish and do not seem to desire decent fillets, instead they take large pieces of the animal into their mouth after which they will spit the bones out onto the table, this is pretty disgusting to watch! The diversity of fish is quite astounding and includes primarily reef fish. Many different types of shellfish are also available as well as sea cucumbers and sad looking terrapins. The saddest thing for me was the presence of hundreds of dried seahorses (thought to be an aphrodisiac – utter crap) and packets of dried shark fins. Finding these here makes me very angry at these guys – there is no excuse for such pathetic fancies.

The next week will see us scouting out a few of the activities we have for our first group of kids who arrive on 02/11/09.