Day 2

Day 2

We arrived at Xinglong after about an hour ride on a lousy coach from Haikou. We visited the largest bird park in Asia but I seriously think that the bird parks in Malaysia are heads and shoulders above the one that I visited in Xinglong. However, I would consider the bird show to be an eye opener as the birds were really adorable and smart, way better than those in A'Famosa, Melaka. Sorry guys, but I think the birds in Xinglong are better trained compared to Malaysian-trained ones. I was expecting to see a kaleidoscope of different types of birds there and it turned out to be disappointing. Due to the gloomy and wet weather, we couldn't enjoy sightseeing to the maximum :( Later, we visited the so-called Wen Quan river. We were supposed to go on a 'cruise' along the river to enjoy the picturesque sceneries and it turned out to be raining cats and dogs. To rub salt onto the wound, the tour guide actually guided us out of the coach and showed us the beautiful and marvellous river mentioned in the itinerary. We were again soaked and the history repeats itself. The river was so swollen and they actually expect us to go on a ride along the river on a small wooden boat. I mean we were there for holidays, NOT fear factor or amazing race... Who would dare go on a 'cruise' along that swollen river??? We ended up wet and soaked from head to toe. Again!! We put up with a bumpy ride out of that area and headed towards the restaurant. The weather was chilly and we were basically shivering. Here comes the super stunt of the day.. The waitress in the restaurant actually fitted three tables into a room made for two. Thus, we were cramped up like sandwiches .. To get to the washroom, I took take a detour from one end to the other in order to not bump into those gobbling down their meals hungrily. However, I spotted improvement in their toilet cleanliness. Sorry Malaysians, but I think their toilets are now way cleaner than our toilets here in Malaysia. I mean they are so odourless compared to ours which possesses a strong aroma. We can actually locate the toilet based on our sense of smell. Although not as superb as the dogs but you can actually sniff your way to the toilet. Later in the day, we visited Evan's Cafe, a famous cafe selling coffee based products. From coffee to coffee sweets to coffee with coconut milk to black coffee to white coffee to coffee biscuits and the list goes on.. The place was packed with local and foreign tourists and food samples were available throughout our tour in that cafe. Something like a gourmet festival but limited to coffee based products. Delicious and 'ho-chiak' as well as mouth watering.One of the set backs when visiting China is that possibilities you get conned there is 99.9%. Here is how my family and I were conned: 1)We bought six packs of biscuits for 10 yuan in that cafe and the next day we saw eight for ten yuan in a grocery store! 2)I bought a watch for 25 yuan in the cafe and the same watch was worth only 10 yuan at the road side stalls and the worst 8 yuan at the beach! And we were conned again.. We arrived in the hotel late at night at about 8pm. The hot spring pool was not a walking distance from our hotel unit. So, we did not manage to enjoy the hot spring and the we went to bed early.. Still sad about the fact that I got conned, I thought I was street-smart all this while. We took 0 pictures in Xinglong due to the sad weather.. TO BE CONTINUED