18 December 2005

Hainan





The sun has now set upon Sanya once again and the fireworks barrage has begun. This is my second night here in this furthest city in China. The island of Hainan is sleepy and peaceful, but it will not be this way for very long. Huge buildings are being erected just like everywhere else in China as the country goes through a construction movement that leaves foreigeners like myself wondering who they are building all of these for?
Here in hainan the problem is perhaps more pronounced as the buildings that have been built are all empty and one wonders who in China would be able to afford these places if they were to come south.
To the foreigner, Hainan is a place of unbridled beauty--beautiful tropical sun which I have never really experienced before, andy beaches with far less people on them than one would expect. If you keep your eyes focused on the sea, it makes for a really lovely place, but if you turn around and see the skeletons of the resorts being built in front of your eyes, as you see the future, you want to run into the warm water and stay there as long as possible before they take you out of it and charge you for using it.
Ahhh yes--the Capitalist China. It is coming alive. People in the capitalist trade, the taxi's, the fruit vendors, the shell vendors, everyone wants your money here and lots of it. Not that its expensive, because its not, but the constant barrage from people trying to sell you something really stays with longer than the fruit that the sell.
Christmas is a great example of just how pathetic China is getting in catering to Western causes. The Chinese do not celebrate Christmas but here in China all the shops and the shop workers are all dressed up in their Christmas attire and singing Christmas songs --because Christmas means extra sales and extra sales means, well, for these people, nothing. They don't get paid by how much they sell, they get paid very little to stand around and try to help you however they can--its better than selling your body for sex.
Not that I am not having a good time on the beach--its a little boring travelling by yourself to a tropical paradise and it beats being in America at this time of the year. Drinking and eating fresh cocunut off the tree and mangos for breakfast is really the life, even it is a bit boring. It would just be so much nicer if we werent all so fucking worried about money all the time and it really makes you ill to see it here because you know it doesnt need to be this way...!

More later.

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