Just the beach

04.10.2016

I had had enough sleep by 4 a.m. anyway so I went to see the sunrise and eat some dumplings for breakfast. The only goal of the day was to lounge around on Yalong beach. It was far away and surrounded by four and five star hotels on all sides, making it a little awkward to access. I almost had a meltdown trying to find the street after trying to leave the beach because I became trapped in some sort of crazy person's idea of a peaceful luxury vacation.

Some Argentinians sat down beside me and then a really snobby Italian woman sat on the other side of me. She didn't even introduce herself, she just put her bag down and told me to watch it while she swam. How was I supposed to know she wasn't some crazy terrorist? Also, probably no one wants your stupid ugly bag anyway.

It stated to rain and everyone left at the same time with lame excuses. I had the slight feeling they wanted to ditch me and instead of just saying goodbye, they felt like they had to concoct some sort of elaborate ruse to get rid of me. It was weird.

I should mention the awkward and poorly enforced rules at the beach. Every 50 metres there was a designated swimming area. If you attempted to swim outside of them, someone in a green shirt would blow a whistle and yell at you, sometimes they wouldn't. Whatever, the beach chairs were free and it was the nicest beach around, so I obeyed the silly rules. I believe they were created because of the brisk water sport business being done nearby, and they didn't want to cause any accidents.

At another point, some Chinese lady lost her giant pink floating flamingo. It went floating off into the distance and she was screaming for someone to help her get it back. The Argentinian dove into the stormy waves and tried to catch it but he couldn't. A lifeguard saw him and went out on his jetski to help them both come back.

I guess I should also mention some other rude Americans with identical bikinis and e book readers sat down and completely looked the other way when I said hi. I thought the foreigners here were total snobs and weirdos, I wished I spent a longer time at Houhai.

Sunrise at Dadonghai beach