Xiaomeisha Beach

 

The only thing surprising about the fact that we went to the beach today is that it took us this long to go to the beach. I mean, really, it's HOT. It's been over 40 degrees with the humidity every day since we landed. We pretty much expected the heat after our experience in Taiwan, and I'm happy to say that- although it is damn hot- it's not quite as bad as Taiwan was.

It was really easy to get to Xiaomeisha. We just got on the subway at nearby Shuiwan Station and rode it to the end of the line. Then we hailed a cab and drove another 25 minutes ($10) to the beach. Our school gave us a bunch of guide books in our welcome basket, so we were able to show our driver where we wanted to go in Mandarin. It helps. 

We were hungry when we got there, so our first stop was a little restaurant along the strip. The pictures of the food on their signs looked pretty decent, and when we went in we were shocked to be given English menus to order from. Awesome!! Also, when we first got there, the waitress directed us to a table that was covered in leftover food from the last guests. Ooh la la, but then we figured out how the process works: the tables were covered in dozens of thin layers of plastic tablecloth, so she just lifted everything up off the table at once with the top piece of plastic, threw away the plastic, and sat us down. We were then given our cutlery: bowls, mugs, chopsticks and a saucer, all wrapped in vac-packed plastic. This was a very hygienic restaurant.

Wish I could say the same for the bathroom. I ran to the public toilet across the road before we ate, and someone had actually TAKEN A POO in one of the urinals. In my 31 years, I'd never seen that before.

Our fine meal of beef(?) stir fry, rice and a noodle soup.

After we ate, we passed this guy sweeping the sidewalk on our way down to the water. I love the brooms they use here.

We paid our $5 per person admission and entered the beachy area. There were a lot of little shops and beer tents set up. It was landscaped really nicely too... there were lots of little bridges and statues where A LOT of Chinese photo shoots were taking place. There was a booth where you could rent umbrellas and chairs, and they had an English price list as well. It was 100 yuan ($17) to rent 2 chairs and an umbrella for 4 hours. If you think that's steep, get this- you also have to pay another 200 yuan deposit. For an umbrella and chairs that are screwed into the ground and can't be moved anyway! We actually didn't have 300 yuan on us, so I asked if a 100 yuan deposit would be okay. The cashier didn't have a f*** to give and said yes. Sweet! We marched down to our new umbrella.

It was time to put on our Tom & Jerry sunscreen.

The beach was really busy- we were there on a Sunday after all- but it was still a pleasant swim. The water was awesome! It literally felt like bathwater, it was so warm. Most of the people swimming (we were the only foreigners) had innertubes, and they kept floating by greeting us with "hello"s. One guy said, "hello. I can't swim." and then floated away.

After our swim, we read on the beach for a long time, and then I fell asleep. It was so nice and relaxing! We'd noticed a trail that went along the edge of the beach and ended at some cool looking rocks that kind of went out into the water facing the beach, so we decided to take a stroll over there. But first, Mel had to pee. *insert sound of doom here*

Most of us are aware that the most common type of public toilet found in Asia is the squat toilet. Well, Xiaomeisha has taken it one step further and introduced us to an even worse type of toilet: the trough. Mel came out of the washroom almost as quickly as she'd gone in, and the look on her face told me I needed to send her back in with a camera. The entire room was open- no doors, no stalls, no walls. There were just open troughs, surrounded by women just openly peeing away. Imagine that.

After deciding to just hold it, Mel and I carried on along the path. We passed by this cool shrine, with it's unmistakable aroma of incense burning away. We used to see temples and shrines like this everywhere in Taiwan, but they don't seem as common in China. This is the first one I've seen in our 3 weeks here.

This is a shot of the beach from the end of the trail we'd walked.

It's not only the toilets that are interesting at Xiaomeisha- the fashion deserves a mention, too. Swimsuits ranged from naked toddlers, to jeans and a cardigan, to the most common for the ladies: the swimsuits seen in the above picture. Mel felt like a ho in her two piece. The guys all wore speedos and the girls wore these frilly, gaudy, outfits.I've noticed a questionable taste level in China's fashion and I can now report that it extends to swimwear as well. 

One notable exception is this PYT, who chose gogo boots, a t-shirt with a Jacob's ladder sewn on the back, and an innertube for the occasion.

We were thinking we were just about ready to leave, when my plastic beach chair suddenly collapsed into pieces, so we decided the timing was right to get our deposit back and head home. It was easy to get another taxi back to the metro and ride that the whole way home, where we finally peed in a non-trough-like, non-poo filled receptacle. It was a good day.