Hengsha Island, An October Staycation

Those of you who tuned in last year at this time may remember that the beginning of October is a very big holiday in China: the National Holiday, coinciding with the Mid-Autumn/Harvest Festival. (Mooncakes anyone?) Typically businesses shut down for at least a few days around the 1st of October. Heinz took the "Golden" week off. For many, it's similar to a Spring Break in the Fall: elaborate travel plans are made around the kids' school vacations. For us, since I had returned from the States at the beginning of the holiday, it was an opportunity to relax and take it easy. (And battle my jet-lag!!)

Earlier this spring the local Swiss Club sponsored a cycling trip to a nearby island where the Yangzi meets the South China Sea. Their brochure read as follows:
"Hengsha island is the smallest of the three islands at the mouth of the Yangzi. Apart from a military base and a couple farms it doesn't have much else on it. There is not a single factory on the whole island. Granted it's not that big, yes, but it's nice. Swiss people know that a place isn't measured by size of the area. And since the military runs the show the whole island is kept like a public park. Seriously it looks like one big garden! Hengsha Island has been called the least polluted place in Shanghai. I think that's true." 
We missed that event, I can't remember why but we were intrigued by the description and have been wanting to check it out ever since. So one day during the "Golden Week" we loaded the kids' bikes in the car and headed out.  After about a 25 minute ride in the car, we reached the coast and took a tunnel from the mainland to Changxing Island and then a ferry to HengshaXiang (Hengsha Island).
On the Ferry to the Hengsha.

There is a resort (I use the phrase loosely) on the northeast coast of the island, Angel Bay Vacationland, billed as the ideal getaway, offering clean air, private cottages and a few extracurricular activities so we headed there and rented bikes for Heinz and I. 

I know riding a bike does not come naturally to everyone but, really, who needs this instruction?? (And why does it have so many characters in Chinese?)

Riding down the main street of the "resort"

 Angel Bay Vacationland, as seen from across the lagoon.

Riding next to the "golf aquatic exercise court", basically a driving range into the lagoon. Bet that's great for the local marine life!

We stopped beside the go-kart track to eat our lunch.

Then Daddy and Conrad went for a ride. 

Vivi got in on the action too! Girls can do!

Is that the Little Old Lady from Pasedena who can barely see over the steering wheel?

 The island is mostly made up of peanut and orange farms. We rode down a few lanes between the groves. 

The houses line up in long blocks along the roads with the farmland stretching out behind.

There is an elevated sea wall that seems to ring the island and it makes a nice bike path. Here we are riding out to the seawall.

Passing backyard farms on the way out to the seawall.
    
My intrepid little adventurer. I know I'm biased but...isn't she cute? Pretty good on her two wheels at 3 1/2!

A view from the seawall.

Looking back to the island

On the seawall

The view out to sea. I wonder what the nets are for.

Along the way we passed an old WWII bunker.

And then we passed this thing. I saw the food at first, realized it was an ancestral offering of some kind but on our return trip, from a different angle I realized that the black charred thing next to it resembled a body. (At least I hope it only "resembled" a body!) It totally creeped me out!

 I mean, really, could it be any creepier??

Conrad and Vivi went for a pony ride.

The farm nextdoor to the riding stable.

Goodbye Ferry, thank you for giving us a ride today!

Two tired adventurers after a lovely day on the island~

It took us about an hour to get home from the ferry, but other travelers in China were not quite so fortunate during the holiday. Taken from zerohedge.com: 

"This one is for the the no good Keynesian deed goes unpunished files. As part of its 8 day Golden Week celebration, China's central planners decided to do a good thing for the people and remove all tolls from expressways. That was the populist explanation. The fundamental one was that this act would somehow spur the economy. Alas, while the same people may have saved some transit money in the process, what they did not save was on transit times. As South China Morning Post reports, millions were promptly stuck in traffic jams as a result of the politburo's generosity."

Thankfully our drive home did not look like this:

First of all the Chinese love free stuff but for some, the free tolls meant saving as much as 300-400 Yuan, or about 50-65 USD on their holiday travel. And the traffic jams are only part of it. The crowding at all forms of tourist sites during the major holidays in China has gotten so bad that I feel the need to dedicate an entire blog just to that! Stay tuned for the next installment...

Happy Golden Week to you all~