Day 20 -- Changsha to Sanya, China

I barely slept last night. The room was so hot from trying to get our laundry dry (by hanging it and cranking up the heat while we were gone during the day) and it never cooled down. We had to get up early in order to be able to spend some more time with Netta and Tai before we left. At breakfast, Tai had a blue mini M&M up his nose. Netta isn’t sure which way it went in—through his nostril or through the hole in his palate. Went back to the room to finish packing and then left about 11:30am to go to the airport. The taxi was so weighted down in the back from the four of us and all of our luggage. After arriving at the airport, we actually got service seemingly fast. A woman came back to us in line and got us our tickets. I think it was because we were Westerners, but I can’t be sure. We got checked in then found a restaurant to eat at. Two things that we tried to order they told us “mei you” which means don’t have. Finally managed to get some food then headed to our gate to catch our 2:40pm flight to Sanya. Three gate changes later, we got on the plane and headed out. One nice thing about flying over here is that we seem to only be on the plane for about 20 minutes before takeoff instead of sitting there waiting forever. I got a text from my friend Steve just after boarding and wrote back, of course boasting about the warm sunny weather I was headed towards. When we arrived at the airport into t-shirt weather, we called the hotel and managed to get a shuttle to come pick us up. The taxi drivers, for as much as they hounded us to use them, were actually helpful and told the hotel what we needed. Different than what I am used to because I am typically very suspicious of them and halfway expecting to be screwed. Proved me wrong this time I guess. We pulled up to our hotel, Universal Resort, which is an African themed hotel. It is quite nice and has zebra print everywhere—the chairs, the carpets, the headboard on the bed. We ate dinner here at the hotel out by the pool and Daniel and I also bought swimsuits (I’m almost positive mine is sitting at home on my bed waiting for me to pack it—doh!). Fell asleep watching DVDs.