Explore the Rough Side of China’s Tropical Paradise | Travel
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MADS VESTERAGER NIELSEN
“A thousand kuai,” the seller says, while nervously scanning the roads left and right of the square in front of Haikou’s Wanda Plaza shopping mall. The secondhand Suzuki motorbike I’m hoping to buy from him is in battered condition, with a rusty tailpipe and defective ignition fuse, so I counter: “500.”
After he lets me take it for a spin, I realize the bike’s state is worse than I thought. I can hardly see the engine revolutions or the speedometer through plastic stained by what must have been years out in the Hainan sun, and after second gear, the digital gear number indicator burns out. I have to count in my head as I shift: “1, 2—accelerate!”
The bike is what’s known as a heiche (黑车, “black” vehicle), unregistered and likely to be taken off the road by traffic police if they cotton on to it (hence the owner’s nervous glances up and down the street). But I need to get moving, and reckon the two-wheeler will probably get me the almost-300 kilometers from Hainan’s capital, Haikou, to the southern holiday resort of Sanya. To be safe, I decide to pick an auspicious number for my final offer, and announce it dramatically: 888 yuan. The seller nods in agreement and scarpers, blocking me on WeChat as soon as he receives my transfer of the money.
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