Sanya #2: Yalong Bay

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I woke up early but didn't rush to get out of bed. This trip was all about taking it easy. I heard the cock crowing outside, but I was already awake. I pottered around for a bit before getting myself sorted and ordering some food for breakfast. I ordered a breakfast set from a porridge place; porridge, soy milk and youtiao (fried dough stick). It didn't take long for the food to turn up and I happily dug in. You can't go wrong with porridge and youtiao, it's one of my favourite meals and I enjoy it at anytime of the day, not just breakfast time. When I was finally ready, I headed out to the bus stop on the main road which was a two minute walk from my hotel. I had decided to go to Yalong Bay today. I had read that it was the nicest beach in Sanya, since this is the first beach I am visiting I have nothing to compare it to. There are a couple of buses that I could take to get there and one was at the bus stop. I thought I had missed it as the doors were closing, but someone else was wanting to get on, so I managed to get on. The buses don't hang around here and the drivers are quick to leave. The bus was quite busy when I got on, so I had to stand. This wasn't too bad and an older woman gave me her seat when she was getting up to alight. I love it when people choose who has their seat next especially when I am the beneficiary. It was also nice because there can be quite a bit of anti-foreigner sentiment at times in China, especially in the media and during Covid. The bus journey took about 35-40 minutes. It remined me a little of driving through the Dapeng peninsula in Shenzhen as there were lots of lush green tropical looking trees lining the sides of the road. We drove through what I presume to be the town part of Yalong Bay, there didn't look like there was anything there. I think it's all high end resorts set in gardens far from the road. I thought that there would be people around walking to the beach, but the area looked pretty dead. Maybe everyone takes a resort shuttle.

I got off the bus at the stop my app told me too and backtracked a few steps to the entrance to the beach. It was spitting a little and I hoped that it wouldn't turn into full on rain. There were some rabbit decorations up to mark the New Year, these were quite cute. Just beyond them and up the steps there was a big column surrounded by a pool of water. I took some photos but it looked pretty meh against the overcast sky. There was also a viewing platform which gave you a view of the beach. Once again the view was pretty meh. I'm not sure if it was because of the weather or that it wasn't the best view of the beach. While Yalong Bay is said to be the nicest/best beach in Sanya, my first impressions were rather underwhelming. I was nicely surprised that there was a little plaza here with some food and drink options, and some of them were non Chinese. I was looking forward to a coffee later.

I headed down to the beach, there was a large convenience store here under the platform the pool was on. First impressions of the beach were that it reminded me of Jiaochangwei Beach in Dapeng. I think it was because the weather was the same as my first day there. It was overcast and cloudy and the sea looked moody. Also there were mountains in the background. Luckily, the light rain had stopped. The beach stretched out in both directions, so I decided to head left first as there seemed to be more going on in that direction. The beach was fairly busy but not crowded. There was plenty of space for everyone to spread out. I could see some resort hotels further along the beach and also a pier jutting out into the sea. This section of the beach seemed to be for water sports as there were some windsurfers, jet skis and small boats in the water. I could also see someone using a jetpack/flyboard. That looked like a lot of fun. I would love to have a go on one of those. As I had walked along the beach, the weather had cleared up nicely. Gone were the grey clouds and they had been replaced by a bright blue sky and sunshine. It made the beach look so much better.

I walked past the pier which is where the water activities started from. I didn't get much further, only another couple of hundred metres or so as the beach ended. There was a kind of pier thing made out of concrete blocks and beyond that a beautiful untouched beach. It looked stunning and I really wanted to go for a walk along it, but there were signs up saying it belonged to the Chinese navy and not for us plebs to use. There were one or two brave souls ignoring the signs and using the beach and ocean on the other side of the barrier. They hadn't strayed too far onto the private military beach and were only just over the barrier. As much as I would have liked to have ventured onto the beach, there were CCTV cameras and I didn't want to be shot or accused of espionage. I did sit on the concrete bollards and took in the gorgeous views. It reminded me how much I love that China is so huge and diverse. I was sitting on a sunny tropical beach and people in the north would be freezing in the snow. Having been to Harbin for the Ice Festival, I can really appreciate the contrast.

I walked back along the beach. I decided that it was time for a coffee so I headed back to the plaza to get one. First stop was the toilets though and I have say they were a bit grotty. They were fairly clean, just old and worn. Also they were like half underground so had little natural light, but you could hear all the people outside walking past. I know that Covid has impacted tourism in Sanya so there has probably been a lot less money coming into the area, but I hope that the powers that be will invest in some nice nice modern toilet blocks. I'm glad that public toilets in Shenzhen are usually airy and immaculate. The midday sun was also making it pretty hot so I was glad to sit in a shaded air conditioned café for a bit. This also led to me developing an addiction to espresso with oat milk and salted caramel syrup. Once rested, I was ready to head back out and take a walk along the other section of the beach.

When I made my way back down to the beach some of the stalls opposite the convenience store were now open and selling food. I like that there are quite a few options for food and drink here. Back on the beach, I headed in the opposite direction to earlier. I enjoyed my stroll along this section of the beach. Near the entrance, there were quite a few people but the further along I got the quieter it became. There were so fancy looking resorts that had sun loungers out on the beach for their guests. I loved the views of the ocean, beach and the surrounding hills. The beach seemed to stretch on forever and I gave up my walk after a while and flopped into the sand to rest and take in the views. It was really hot, so I was glad to take a break before deciding to head back home.

My map app showed that the bus stop wasn't too far away, so I headed there. I got quite the surprise when I got to the spot on the app to find that there was no bus stop. Now I wasn't expecting a shelter or anything, but there wasn't even a board with the bus routes on. There were a few other people standing around so I presumed that they were waiting for the bus, too. Standing on the side of the road waiting for a bus with no indication it would stop there really made me feel like I was living island life. The journey back was fine and I stopped off in the bakery for a snack before heading back to my hotel. It was nice to spend the evening relaxing and I ordered some fish flavoured pork for dinner. That was tasty.

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