Monday, January 20, 2014

Day 146 – Monkey Island

After breakfast, we met in the lobby of the hotel at nine a.m. and rode the bus to a place where we could ride a gondola to Monkey Island.  It is a preserve for the rhesus monkeys.  We walked around and took pictures and saw their cute antics.  They had two different shows that you could see; one was a circus type with the monkeys riding goats and ponies.  Also, they were riding bikes and doing other tricks.  The other show was with a "monkey king" and the trainer had then putting on hats and clothes and playing with balls and other props.  Both were fun to watch.
 
These motorcycles with a side cart are the way people get around and haul things here in Sanya.

This is Monkey Island from the gondola.
Mom and baby monkey.

They love to perch everywhere and we are strongly cautioned not to feed them or look like we are going to feed them.  They are very smart and they will attack you if you appear aggressive to them.  They even have a "monkey jail" for those who have shown unwarranted aggression toward people.


They had a buffet lunch there for us and after we ate, we walked down a road by an abandoned resort.  From near there, we could access the private beach that was a part of the resort.  We were the only ones there!  Some of us walked and played near the water.  We picked up shells and pieces of coral and just enjoyed a nice sunny day.  Unfortunately, we had to leave the peace and quiet that we had found there.
 
I got a little wetter than I had planned on when I first got in the water.

David in the tide.

Some of the rocks on the beach.

The boat ride back to Hainan Island.

We rode a boat back to the main island and the bus took us back to the hotel and we were on our own for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  David and I cleaned up after the beach and got caught up on the computer.  Then we met the Clarke’s, Schauerhamer’s and the Pace’s and took a bus to a Russian Restaurant that the Clarke’s had found.  It may have had a Russian name, but it had all the comfort foods of home.  We enjoyed succulent spare ribs, pizza, fajitas and sandwiches.  We were also joined by the only expat LDS member of the Church in Sanya.  Angelea has recently moved here for her job and she joins us in our Branch on Skype.  Wayne Clarke is her home teacher, so he wanted to meet her and now we all have met her. 


After dinner, we rode the bus to the bridge near our hotel and walked the rest of the way home.  But first, we walked along the river and watched the activities that were happening along the river: street dancing, karaoke, bazaars, etc.  It was all lit up with the light and sounds of China.  
It's hard to catch the lights at night with my little camera, but I tried.  This is part of the walkway along the river.

This walkway is for humans and there were pictures constantly changing.  It is the year of the horse and this one was the horses running along, but you can hardly tell.

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