Sanya #1: Arrival

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A proper trip in China. Now that Covid is done and dusted travelling has gone back to normal and I am happy to be able to leave Shenzhen for my Spring Festival break. I had chosen Sanya on Hainan island simply because it was warm. Shenzhen had been pretty cold for the past month or so and I needed some warmth in my bones. Getting to the airport was quick and easy thanks to the subway. The airport wasn’t too busy which was nice. I made my way to check-in, tried to use the machine was given an error notice after getting so far, I presume it was because I was a foreigner and headed to the counter to check in. That was nice and simple, no codes, no Covid test results, just ID and my ticket was printed and my bag checked in.

I made my way through security. I love Chinese wisdom, so while Covid has been rife (I am the only person I know who hasn’t had it), the powers that be have banned hand sanitiser in your hand luggage, like wtaf... Luckily, I knew this before heading to the airport so I had my in my checked bag and had some wipes to use for on the plane. I was pleasantly surprised that my passport was able to be scanned by the readers at the gate, normally these things are mainland ID cards only. Once through, I headed in search of some breakfast and ended up at McDonald's. I hate the way everywhere wants you to download an app to order, I don’t want to waste my precious data and memory on something I will use once in a blue moon. Hash brown and sausage egg muffin scoffed, I made my way to the gate. Boarding was starting soon, so instead of taking a seat, I joined the growing queue of people waiting to board. After getting my ticket checked, I boarded the bus that would drive us to the plane. Well, I think that the bus drove us halfway to Sanya. We were driving for quite a while. I know airports are big places, but I didn’t realise Shenzhen airport was quite that big.

The plane was a smallish one, two rows of three seats, and I had somehow bought a ticket in premium economy so was in the first row after first/business class. This was not planned but a nice surprise to have a little bit more room. The flight was quite late leaving as there was quite a queue of planes waiting to take off that came to the runway from several different entry points. I had hoped that we would make some time up on the flight, but we didn’t and landed about an hour and a half/ forty-five minutes after we’d taken off. The flight was uneventful, I think I got a little snack but I can’t remember. I had a window seat so I enjoyed looking down at the coastline of the mainland and Hainan island as we flew over them. I really wish that there had been a route map on a screen so I could have seen the places that we had flown over. The descent into Sanya was great and I go to see some of the coastline.

Once landed it didn’t take long to disembark, however the wait for baggage took ages. I miss hand luggage only travel. I headed out to find the bus that would take me to where I was staying. It was across the road and through a shopping mall, but straightforward enough on the map. I had to wait a while for the bus. It was there but parked up as the driver appeared to be on a break. I had been trying to figure out how to use public transportation in Sanya and my internet searches had proved fruitless. I hate it when websites just say use a taxi, they are cheap. The bus is cheaper. Anyway, I found the bus thing on Alipay thanks to a friend. It was also really hot and having shed my coat in the airport, I was still sweating in jeans and a t-shirt. The bus eventually pulled up and me and one other person got on. Not exactly popular, maybe that’s why the buses run fairly infrequently (I think it was one about every forty minutes). The journey to my hotel took about an hour and a half. It was a bit too long, but I got to see a bit of Sanya as we drove along. The roads were pretty congested and it reminded me of Xiamen and how bad the traffic had been there.

From the bus stop, it was a short walk to my hotel. Originally, I had wanted to stay in Houhai, but by the time I got round to booking the place I wanted it had sold out. The other places were expensive and/or poor value for money going off people’s reviews, so I ended up at this hotel in Jiyang District. While it wasn’t close to any particular beach, it left me in between the beaches I wanted to visit east and west of me. There were also reviews left by foreigners so I knew that they would be able to accept me as some places in China can’t/don’t take foreigners. The owner was lovely and had me check that all my details were entered correctly on the computer system. By the time I got up to my room, I flopped on the bed and had a cuppa or two. Since the bus system isn’t the best, the buses tend to finish pretty early, I didn’t have time to venture any where. So after taking a rest I just went for a walk around the neighbourhood. To be honest there wasn’t really anything to see. It seemed like a bit of a mixed neighbourhood; lots of hotels to cater for the tourists but also clinics, dentists and other services needed by locals. There were also a few chickens wandering around. After an hour or so, I returned to my hotel via the shop for water and beers. It was nice to pick up some icy cold beers as often in China the fridges are set to just below room temperature. Now it was time to order dinner, another reason I had picked this hotel was that I had read a review saying that were plenty of delivery options nearby. After surveying the options, I went for Malatang, which is a spicy broth filled with goodies, like a mini hotpot. You can pick what you would like but most restaurants do sets, which are a little cheaper. I also ordered some rice to soak up all the broth. The delivery didn’t take too long and I was soon tucking in to my spicy dinner, which was delicious.

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Comments

[RENanDREW]

Spring holiday
I have a bit of catching up to do with this trip. I was shocked to read that hand sanitiser is banned in carry-on luggage! In the place you need it the most! I was further shocked that there are Chinese hotels that can't/don't take foreigners... I wonder what the reason is. Looking forward to reading the rest of your blogs soon :)

[Zephyr]

Shocked
Sorry it's took me so long to reply to this. Work, life and dodgy/slow wifi are to blame ;) Sometimes it's the normal/mundane things that are shocking. The hand sanitiser thing I don't understand in the slightest. I have never read from an official source about the reason foreigners are not allowed in certain hotels. The general reason given online is it is something to do with the registration system, as they upload your details into some local database. It's more problematic to enter the detail of non Mainland ID cardholders, as they need extra stuff like date and port of entry, even though you could have entered years ago. I have had people struggle with my passport validity dates too as they are not used to the day/month/year format and that the months are written in English. Generally most reputable hotels in big cities are fine, it's mainly smaller, local and/or cheaper places or chains that don't allow foreigners. I think it's only happened to me once, where we've booked a place and then the hotel has cancelled because they don't allow non Mainland ID card holders. I must catch up on your recent trip too.