Video of Mission Hills Resort - click on the arrow above to play the video
I am sorry for the delay in updating my post. We had a great 11 days in China, a full weekend when we got home and then a rushed trip to Lismore for the funeral of Trevor Gardiner - a long time friend. Today (Wednesday 19th October) Joel is in hospital having his tonsils and adenoids removed so I am squashing this update in before I go over to the hospital to see him. Anne rang earlier and said the operation was successful and Joel was doing well.
While we were away I was unable to update any of my blogs as the Chinese Govt have a standoff with google - probably through a security concern so I was unable to view or access any of my blogs.
Also while we were away we heard of the tragedy of Gina & John's 9 year old son being killed when he ran in front of a bus. To top that off Trevor Gardiner died of a heart attack aged 73. He is also a long time friend. It was all devastating news. Fortunately Trevor's funeral was held over to allow for family to fly in from WA so we were able to have time to drive to Lismore for the funeral after we got home.
My long awaited lap top turned up while we were away so it has been updated & ready to go. This morning I WiFi connected it to the printer so I can scan & print at will. The only outstanding problem is my Bigpond Wireless connector which of course does not fit the new laptop. - Another trip out to Telstra.
Tuesday 4th October 2011 - We left home at 6.30am with Annie & Bert who's son-in-law drove us to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time & had a comfortable trip to Guangzhou flying premium economy. We had a couple of hours to fill in until our connecting flight to Haikou, Hainan Island. The flight took bit over an hour. We were picked up at the airport by our tour manager & bused to Mission Hills Golf Resort. The Resort is beautiful and our rooms very spacious and comfortable. We had a large balcony overlooking the complex & the resort itself was enormous with indoor & outdoor swimming pools, gyms, shops, pro shop & lovely restaurants. The only problem was that we arrived at the end of the recent typhoon & had some very heavy rain while we were there. In the resort it was not too much of a problem but the golf course access roads got flooded and only a few courses were open. We had a bit of trouble checking in as there was some confusion with our bookings. We finally got it sorted & then had to change rooms as they gave us a wrong room configuration. It was a long day of travel & it was nice to be able to unpack.
Wednesday 5th October 2011 We played golf as scheduled on "The Vintage" Course. We met my friend Judy at the Caddie Master's Office where Judy works. Judy had lined up all of our caddies & we set off to have a good day. All went well for the first 9 holes where we just had a few showers to play through. On the back nine the heavens opened up & the course was under water in a very short amount of time so we came in after eleven holes. It was a shame because it was a lovely course & we were enjoying ourselves. We dried out & went down to the swimming pool for an hour or so as it had stopped raining by then. We had a nice dinner in the Resort Restaurant.
Thursday 6th October 2011 the rain had continued to tumble down overnight & in the morning. The girls decided that golf in the rain was not on so Judy took us all shopping into Haikou by taxi. The roads to the better shopping part of Haikou were closed due to flood water so Judy took us to downtown Haikou which was quite an experience as I don't think the locals had seen a European before & we got some odd looks. My best buy of the day (& the week in fact) was a pair of rubber sandals which saved my good shoes from being ruined in the wet weather. Judy bought us each an umbrella which was also a bonus for the week. The boys were determined to play golf so they played the No5 course in the rain. The "Blackstone" course we wanted to play was closed. Again we had dinner at the resort restaurant.
Friday 7th October 2011 The rain again continued and we decided not to play any more golf but to continue on our bus trip to Sanya which is on the other side of Hainan Island - about 4 hours drive. We said fond farewells to Judy. The weather improved as we drove towards Sanya so we had a good look at the countryside & stopped at a local Village which is a tourist stop of the "Minority Village" It was very noisy & busy with market stalls & loud drums etc. We did a bit of shopping and watched some entertainment before continuing on to Sanya. Some of us bought "Hainan Island" pj's just for fun. (check out my photo). We arrived at the Sheraton Hotel at Yalong Bay, Sanya late afternoon.
Saturday 8th October 2011 it was pouring rain again so we switched our day to a touring day and visited the Pearl/Jade/precious stones Factory where we all did some damage to our credit cards. We had a nice lunch at a local restaurant and then went back to the hotel for a swim in the pool and a coffee in the foyer coffee shop. Again we had dinner at the hotel.
Sunday 9th October 2011 we played golf at Sun Valley Golf Course which was not far from the hotel. It was a beautiful Course & we got our game in without getting wet. The weather is so hot that a bit of cloud or a light shower was not a problem We had lunch at the course & then went back to the hotel for a swim at the beach which is only a very short distance from the outside swimming pools. There we could order cocktails & lie on the lazy lounges right on the beach which was very pleasant. The waves were not very big but the water was beautiful. Again we had dinner in a private dining room at the hotel which was lovely, but made the mistake of ordering Australian wine which cost us an arm and a leg.
Monday 10th October 2011 we played golf at Yalong Bay which was just across the road from the hotel. It was an easier course to play than Sun Valley but we still had a very pleasant day there. After golf we had drinks and lunch at the course. Each evening we met at 6.30 pm in the coffee lounge in the foyer of the hotel and had a daily presentation to the winners on the day. It was all good fun. In the afternoon after golf we went shopping at the Summer Mall which was a rather expensive area. I bought Emily a gorgeous pair of shoes & Anne a nice handbag.
Tuesday 11th October 2011 We played golf at "Dragon Valley" golf course which was a bit further out of town. It was a beautiful course with magic clubhouse - very 5 star with luxury locker rooms and amenities.
We all enjoyed the challenge of this course and had a good day. Afterwards we visited "Deer Looking Backwards" Park as it was on our way. It is a beautiful place overlooking Sanya where we could get a good look at the city and beaches. That evening we went out to a Chinese Restaurant where Peter tasted "Frog".
Wednesday 12th October 2011 We played golf at Forest Valley Golf Course which is set in the Mountain area. It was a difficult course for us ladies as there was a lot of water carry on some of the holes. It was a very enjoyable day regardless of most of us losing all of our golf balls. Peter last eight balls in the first five holes. We had showers through the day which were not too bad. Our caddies did not speak English which made it very difficult at times. On the way home from golf we called into the hot mineral spas which was a great experience. There were a heap of different spas to choose from ranging from cool to very hot. We had a lovely few hours there relaxing. One of the pools had little fish that would nibble at your skin eating off all the dead skin cells - that was an interesting experience - especially if you are ticklish. It rained fairly heavily while we were there but it did not matter as we were all wet anyway. That was a fun experience. We had our final presentation evening in the coffee lounge of the hotel where Ron and Annie were declared the Champions of the 2011 Hainan Island Golf challenge. I won a prize for having a "Fish" - " (****) it's still here" airswing at one of the courses. Our highlight was all three of us girls getting our drives to putting distance of the hole on the "Island" hole of the course and all getting a par. We had our final dinner night at the hotel.
Thursday 13th October 2011 the girls wanted to have a shopping morning before we had to leave for the airport. It was still raining so we did not want to play golf. Harry, our tour guide took us by taxi to the "Walking Street" which was a big shopping centre in Sanya. We did some good shopping there at more reasonable prices and we could barter which made it even cheaper. I bought Joel a remote control car, both of the kids some clothes and some more handbags for the girls. We caught a taxi back to the hotel at 12 o'clock. The boys spent the morning relaxing at snooker & at the pool. We were packed and ready to leave for the airport so we decided to wait and have diner at Guangzhou airport while we were waiting for our flight to Sydney & doing our last minute shopping. The flight from Sanya to Guangzhou was okay but running a little late. The weather was not good with rain all the way. Guangzhou was even worse weather with the rain pouring down the whole time. Our flight home was comfortable but our luggage including golf clubs got soaked during transport between planes so everything had to be laid out to dry when we got home and our house looked like a disaster area.
We were picked up at the airport by Bert & Annie's daughter who drove us right to our door which we really appreciated. We arrived home about midday which gave us time to buy some milk, bread etc to have some fresh food in the house. We went over to Rod & Anne's to see the kids and to pick up my laptop computer that was delivered there while I was away. We were very tired by the time we had unpacked so an early night was essential as we had a big weekend coming up.
Saturday 15th October 2011 Peter was playing in the golf Championships. There was a wedding at the club on Sunday so I went over & spent the morning tidying up with the help of fellow F-Troopers Di & Anne. It was a nice sunny day so I had loads of washing on the line. In the afternoon I set up the new laptop computer with the programs that I wanted & updated the golf club blogs & downloaded all the holiday photos which I had taken with my iPhone. The iPhone was fabulous overseas although I had to be cautious with my download time as the cost can be horrendous. The hotel had free internet for 45 minutes a day so I took advantage of that.
Sunday 16th October 2011 Rod, Anne, Joel & Emily came over before we went to golf. I took Joel for a walk to see the trains. Emily was very cuddly and well behaved giving us some lovely smiles.
The golf event of the day was a Captain Vs President Day and we were on the Captain's side. Our opposition was Rhonda Jordan & Geoff Bridge and they beat us by a point and a half. It was a shotgun start at 12.30-pm so we all came into the club house together. The President's side won the day. We stayed for dinner at the club with some of the Members which was a good finish for the day. Peter & I had two birdie holes which was good.
Monday 17th October 2011 we were up and over at F_Troop at 7 o'clock and were happy to have 16 of us there to help out which made things a lot easier. We managed to get some good repair work done on one of the fences and cleaned out a couple of the gardens for new plants to come in. The boys also got some more mulch for the gardens which makes them look better. We finished F-Troop at about 11.30 am & came home to get ready to drive to Lismore for Trevor's Funeral. We left home about 2.00pm and arrived at Grafton about 8 o'clock after a couple of refreshment stops. We stayed overnight at a motel there so we would be rested enough to get to Lismore for the funeral by 11 o'clock. We had dinner at the restaurant attached to the motel which was convenient.
Tuesday 18th October 2011 we were at the Lismore Memorial Gardens in plenty of time to have a coffee & get dressed. The funeral was well attended by family and friends and we had a good catch up with some of the family we have not seen for a long while at the Worker's Club where the wake was held. We got away about 2 o'clock & travelled straight home arriving back at 10.20pm which was good after some refreshment stops. Harry's Pies was a place I have been meaning to stop at for years as it one a prize for the "Best Pies in Australia" a lot of years back. We stopped for a coffee and pie & that got us home. The variety of pies is amazing & it took me ages to choose what I wanted. I can now tick that off my list of "Things to do before I die" list. We got a bit of rain along the way & it was cool at Grafton which surprised me. The Jacaranda Trees were just starting to come out & we were a bit early to see the magnificence of "Jacaranda Drive" which I always look forward to if in the Grafton area at jacaranda time.
I have just had a message from Anne at the hospital to say that Joel is having a good sleep so I will go over shortly & see him.
The rest of my holiday photos from China will be on my travel blog shortly. You can view the travel blog easily by clicking on my profile; arrow to the bottom of the page and select my travel blog from there.
