How I got to China on the island of Hainan
So I ended up in China, on the island of Hainan. I thought that Sochi and Serbia would not run away anywhere, and I wanted to go there in winter, but while I was doing things, spring came. Therefore, I decided that it could be postponed, especially since Daria already needed help, was tired (she left before me). For a couple of days I got ready, did not say anything to anyone and flew to China. Like a surprise, just on her birthday was supposed to come. I flew with a transfer to Wuhan to make it cheaper, and on the spot I used public transport (taxi-train-rickshaw) to get there. It was possible to take a transfer from the hospital, but it is more expensive, and I really wanted to check if I could get there myself or not..
How easy it is to travel, compared to what it was before, even without knowing the language (in this case, Chinese)! I looked at the map of the island on Google, saw there a railway line that leads just in the right direction, found out the approximate train schedule on the Internet - the route is almost ready. But the plan was based on the idea that the airport of the resort city of Sanya should have Information, where English is spoken. In principle, one could try to find all the key names on the Internet in advance, but I would have doubts about their correctness.
(1 yuan ~ 10 rubles)
The content of the article
Airplane
The tickets were traditionally monitored by Aviaseels and Skyscanner. That's really, almost no difference, no matter who says anything. I also looked at tickets to Serbia from Sochi, that is, not only to China. Well, maybe it was 200-500 rubles different, no more. Moreover, I often buy at the Onetwotrip agency, and so when switching from Aviaseels it was always a little cheaper, about 300 rubles somewhere, than when switching from Skyscanner.
Most of all, I was worried not about how I would get there, but so that they would not take away my second laptop or some kind of battery. I read passions about the stringent requirements in terms of the battery and how they are taken away during customs inspection. I had two laptops, because I was carrying Daria, and from the batteries there were 3 pieces for the camera (it seems like only two are allowed) and the power bank is quite powerful, but it also seemed to pass through the parameters. After all, I still flew with a transfer, and if in Moscow, as it seems to me, they do not check this especially, then I did not know how it would be in China. But everything went smoothly and without incidents, everyone did not care about my laptops and batteries. So I just worried in vain.
First shoulder Moscow-Wuhan, large plane
The change took only 30 minutes! And this is with moving from one terminal to another (there is actually a 5-minute walk there). And I was afraid not to be in time in 2 hours :) It's strange that we could not find information about the transit to Wuhan, half of China Southern flights fly through it.
Transit to Wuhan, inscriptions in Russian!
In Sanya, workers move around the airfield on bikes
Sanya airport
The plan was correct, Information was in place and there I learned the most important thing, how to get from the airport to the railway station (taxi or bus), found out the fares, exchanged money there (I did not find a single exchange office or ATM at the airport), and asked to write me the name of the railway station in Chinese.
In general, everything turned out to be quite simple when you have the necessary names in Chinese with you. When leaving the airport, taxi drivers ran into me, offering to take me for «modest» 100 yuan to the railway station, but I looked closely, looked where the whole main crowd was going and realized that there was something like a public taxi, with payment by the meter. You just need to stand in a small queue (literally 5-10 minutes). In total, I drove for 25 yuan. There is a difference?
The taxi driver convinces me that 100 yuan is the right thing, although in the background there is a taxi stand on the counter
How do you like the solution for tinted front windows?
Sanya city looks decent
A train
The next step is to buy a train ticket. First, I poked into ticket machines, where it turned out to be English (!) And everything would be fine, intuitive control, you can pay with cash, you can pay with a card, but the machine requires some kind of ID-card with a barcode, and I only have a Russian passport ... I had to go to the cashier, in the hope that they would understand me, because the only thing I could say was the name of the city where I needed. Surprisingly, the woman at the checkout did not ask anything, showed me on the monitor, where in the intervals between the Chinese characters was the departure time, the train number, and the ticket price is 18.5 yuan. It's good that I had previously tried to buy a ticket from the machine and therefore knew all this data. I wonder what I would do if suddenly I would need a ticket not for the next train, but for the next one, or even in a day? :) By the way, yes, she knew the word passport in English, although at first she tried to ask me for it in Chinese.
Railway station in Sanya
Train departure board, try to understand
Rebus, find the number of the carriage and seats on the ticket
The trains are awesome! 200 km / h, inside, like on an airplane, the cost, even taking into account the course, is very low. I drove 80 km in 25 minutes and paid 18.5 yuan. Toilets are human, there is free water, but there is no wifi.
I really liked the Chinese trains
The train rushes 200 km / h
Rickshaw
Well, and the last stage is to get from the station to the city of Lingshui itself. It was about an hour on foot, but with a suitcase I decided to go on a rickshaw. They just stuck to me when I got off the train. They vied with each other to offer me a ride for 50 yuan! It is very expensive, and they did not settle for less, apparently a white guy with a red suitcase can pay whatever they say. In general, it was getting dark, barely knocked down to 40, although it really costs 15-20 there. Next time I'll go, I'll try to bargain a little longer, and it's even better to learn the numbers in Chinese, I'll look more advanced then.
Tuk-tuks are called rickshaws here
I explained to the rickshaw where I needed to be, very simply - they threw off a photo of the hospital brochure, there was a name, and I showed this photo to the driver.
P.S. By the way, I saw only one European on the Wuhan-Sanya plane. Another one at the railway station. Well, this is so that you understand that the Europeans are somehow tight, apparently that's why there is no point in knowing English. Although, the translators say that in Sanya itself, both Russians and Europeans meet in a season in a decent amount.
P.P.S. I will not sit down to work normally, but soon wait for posts about my first impressions, about our accommodation, about the non-resort town of Lingshui and about Chinese food..