Day 47-49

"readers note: I must have dishonered some chinese god, because for two days I got nothing but terrible photos, so please excuse, the following"

My journey to the islands took me through Beihai (a big fishing city, gone tourism crazy), where I stayed in my first proper hotel (and honestly I could get used to that), then it was off to North Qinzhou (South Guanzi), arrived at 10pm, a local took me down a dark alley to some place that you would never call a hotel. Accomodation was "dirt" cheap, plus the rats stay free of charge. Next day was a 10km hike through some farms to Qinzhou port, however getting a lift from here to the islands proved more difficult than previously expected......HORRAY, more hiking, this time along train tracks!

But just five Kilometers further and suddenly it all became worth it...

The islands stretched out to sea as far as you could see. They varied in size, some small like football fields others as big as city blocks, all covered in pristine forests, the occasional stilt house and circled by small fishing barges. The funny thing is that not 500m from the most inland island was a fairly big town (could have used the bloody bus!!!), anyway other than this town the further out you go the fewer people you see, oh and there are no Mac Donalds... . The islands were great the people really freindly and the water really warm. The first set of islands are surrounded by a large estuary, while the ones further out are in the sea. Unfortunately I couldn't explore out as far as I wanted to, I had been a little ill for two days, and by 6:00pm I was really feeling sick, so I called it a day and made for Qinzhuo. Although this short taste of island life has got me wanting more...lots lots more!!!