I had been planning for this trip for more than a month now, since shortly after my trip to Harbin on Christmas. However, when I say planning, I simply mean I was imagining in my head what it would be like to go to this tropical island. So on Wednesday, we found out we were getting an extra day off for the weekend. Well that's all the incentive I needed. Me and my buddy Dane took to the internet, and looked up all the cheap prices, and I booked a hotel room at a resort that was right on the beach. Then the next night, Thursday I suppose it was, I went to book our plane tickets. Well it turns out we had to have our passport numbers to get plane tickets, so they can confirm who you are at the airport. However, because we have diplomatic passports, we have to keep them locked up in a safe at work. Still, we figured it wouldn't be a problem, we'll just get tickets in the morning.

So the next morning came, we got our passports out of the safe and I got out my laptop to purchase the tickets. For some reason I couldn't find the tickets anywhere on the internet. Keep in mind, I had already given the hotel my credit card number to confirm that I would actually show up, so not going was not an option, unless I wanted to pay for a hotel I didn't use.

We got to our hotel after dark. It was a pretty amazing looking place, almost a Greek style architecture. And a pretty big reception area. So we were pretty impressed coming into the hotel, but when we got to the front desk the mood soon turned sour. . . Turns out they had canceled our reservation. Something about a fax not coming through on time. But hey, we are flexible people, so we asked them what rooms they had available, and they had one room type available, they told us it was a little over 2000RMB. So we decided to go up and look at it before we spent that much on a room. The room turned out to be pretty nice, so we decided to stay there for a night, and then maybe the next day check out some other places.

Of course, by the time we got back down to the front desk, the price had somehow managed to grow to 3500RMB. So we quickly said goodbye.

Then there we were, standing outside this big huge hotel, with our bags in hand. Not exactly knowing what to do. . . And just that time, I got a call from our favorite travel agent wanting to make sure everything worked out alright. Lucky us. She got us a reservation for pretty cheap at the Marriott that was just down the beach. And the Marriott, it turned out, was amazing. You walk into this hotel, and the whole front of the lobby is open, maybe a hundred meters long. There's the reception desk off to one side, and this big fountain and lots of sky lights. And then there are the lounge area, which is huge, and on the backside is totally open to this outrageous balcony that overlooks the beach and the ocean.

Our room was amazing too, It was a good size, and perfectly clean with an American bathroom, and a shower that I could stand up straight in. The best part though, was the balcony. We opened up two sliding doors and just let the breeze blow in around us, and there were a few chairs out on the balcony, perfect for soaking up the sun, or watching the stars. I had nearly forgotten what stars looked like, we don't have stars in Beijing, only smog. So this was a refreshing view for me.

I actually didn't do anything very exciting, nor did I have any other mishaps to write about, it was just a very relaxed, amazing weekend. I had never stayed in a resort before. Let alone one this insanely nice. So it was quite the new experience for me.

A typical day on this vacation consisted of me getting up around seven to watch the sunrise from our balcony. It was a very unique sight due to the combination of mountains on half the horizon, and ocean on the other.

After the sun rose, we slowly get dressed and cleaned up for the day. By dressed and cleaned up, I mean I put on a pair of swim trunks and a shirt. Maybe some flip-flops, or not. Then downstairs to this huge breakfast. They had the best of Chinese breakfasts and American, everything from waffles and omelets, to Dim sum and Jaoze. And all of the freshly squeezed juice you could imagine. Oranges and apples and pairs and bananas and kiwis and pineapple and grapefruit and mangos, all fresh and wonderful.

After eating breakfast we'd sit and digest while soaking up the sun that poured onto the restaurant's porch, we were generally head upstairs to the lounge to, well, soak up some more sun. The balcony of the lobby had these huge couches, just perfect for a mid morning nap in the sun. Oh and of course, to make any tropical journey, pina coladas.

Once we've had our fill of relaxing in the sun, we head down to the beach for a little dip in the ocean before lunch. This is actually a somewhat sad and happy point, but the most amazing part of this beach to my poor Americanized self, is there was no trash. No cigarette butts, no candy wrappers, no bottles, it was just sand and water. And Cabanas to lounge in. The waves varied in heights, the first day we had almost four foot swells, but by Tuesday when we left it was down to maybe two feet. It was great for playing in the waves, and maybe a little mischief with wave runners.

After swimming in the ocean we had to jump in the pool to get a little bit of the salt off. Plus, there was a poolside bar. Who wants more Pina Coladas?? When I write about this pool, don't start envisioning some little kidney pool, or even a nice lap pool, this was really four long river like pools, interconnecting under bridges and waterfalls. There was a water basketball area, and a net for water volleyball. There was a great spot for swimming laps. You could swim right over to a little lagoona area that turned into a hot tub, or swim over to one of the many lounge areas with benches where they will bring you drinks or whatever you needed. Also there was a grill with some tables beside the pool so we could grab lunch there, while we listened to a philipino band play various American and Chinese songs. They were actually incredibly good. A lot of the bands you & l hear around here can't seem to get the right feel for playing western songs, but these guys had it down.

After lunch it was pretty much time for a nap, either lounging on the beach, or even in the hotel room with the ocean breeze blowing in through the balcony. The afternoon consisted of just that, lounging on the beach, playing in the ocean, more lounging on the beach, maybe a couple more pina coladas, or mix it up with a Mai Tai, or some other equally frooffy tropical looking drink. I like the ones with the little umbrellas best.

For dining options the hotel had three restaurants, There was one Cantonese Chinese place, with amazing fresh seafood. And there was an American/Western place, with amazing fresh seafood. And also there was a Thai/Indian place, with, yup, you guessed it, amazing, fresh seafood. My favorite was the Thai grilled Red Snapper with grilled Calamari. Mmmmm. . .

As for night time activities, there was the pool, and the beach, and in the lobby/lounge, the had yet another philipino group, this time a group of three singers who sung a bunch of popular songs. It was entertaining enough. You could sit on the balcony of the lobby and watch the sunset while listening to the girls sing in the background, sipping on some fresh squeezed pineapple juice with Coconut.

And that pretty much sums up my trip. Everything was incredibly laid back, relaxed, and pretty much perfect. I've never been on a vacation that consisted of fancy resorts and luxurious things, so it took some getting used to, but I think I could get the hang of it