Field notes
The journal
What we've learned walking this city — written when there's something worth saying, not on a schedule.
Hainan2 min read
Village Life in Hainan
A tropical fishing and farming village runs on tides and heat rather than clocks. Everything happens early, nothing happens at midday, and the whole thing starts again at four.
Hainan2 min read
Sanya — China's Resort Coast
Sanya is where China goes on a beach holiday, and the resort strip is genuinely world-class. Twenty minutes inland it's a normal southern Chinese city with an excellent seafood market.
Hainan2 min read
Rural Hainan — The Island Behind the Resorts
Everyone flies to Hainan for the beach. Turn inland and the island is rice terraces, rubber plantations and Li and Miao villages in forested mountains — and almost nobody goes.
Hainan2 min read
Lingshui's Floating Village
In a lagoon on Hainan's southeast coast, a fishing community lives on floating platforms — houses, walkways, fish pens and all. Children can swim before they can properly walk.
Hainan2 min read
Hainan by Motorbike
Hainan is the best motorbike destination in China: a complete coastal circuit, mountain roads through the interior, warm weather year-round and a strong local riding culture.
Hainan2 min read
Crossing to Hainan — China's Tropical Island
The ferry across the Qiongzhou Strait takes about an hour and puts you somewhere that grows coconut, rubber and betel nut. Hainan is China's only genuinely tropical province, and it behaves like it.