Advertisement
Published: February 4th 2009
Yalong Bay
A little cold and cloudy but the water was really warm.The last 5 days in Sanya were rainy and cloudy so we decided to give the Nantian Hot Springs another go. We went to the same hostel to see if anyone else posted interest in going as a group to the hot springs. Thankfully, we met a couple Agnus (from Poland) and Thomas (from Germany) who joined us with Cat. Also Mark mentioned that his wife had made a sweet deal with a taxi driver to drive 5 people to the Nantian Hot Springs for 300 RMB including entrance fee and a ride back. SO we all thought it was a good idea to negotiate with the taxi drivers first and see if we can get a better price than going with the hostel package. Well it took us an hour to negotiate 600 RBM for all 5 of us but the driver would not give us a ride back. However the taxi driver did call me "Incredible," I will personally translate this one for all of you, INCREDIBLY CHEAP! When we were done at the hot springs...well lets say "we all felt a little stranded when we came out and it was dark with the sound of crickets in the
background." We were approached by a man who owned a 8 persons van and offered us a price for a ride back to Sanya and we negotiated and agreed 300 RBM for 5 people. Well knowing we had two more spots available, as we were driving away a couple came out searching for a ride just like we were. The more people the merrier, so the couple jumped in and we made it back to Sanya with out any troubles. At the end of the whole ordeal we saved 40 RBM each compared to the hostel charge of 188 RMB each. Man, sometimes its really not worth arguing for a few bucks but the bargaining was an experience on its own.
Yalong Bay's grand resorts and lavish amenities were well mentioned by tourists and travel guides. We took a 30 minute bus ride to this resort area for something to do on a rainy day. From what we saw of the resorts, they were beautiful. The beach was nice and definitely less crowded but lacked the charm of Dadonghai beach.
From our experience when it comes to accommodation. Backpackers hostels, especially ones printed in the guide books are
convenient for English and usually their willingness to help with seeing the sights at a destination but they aren't always the best option. We’ve stayed at nicer places with friendlier English speaking staff and internet. Our advice, is that if you have a bad experience and have some patience to look around, often you can get a better deal someplace else. That being said backpackers hostels are great for meeting people and sometimes that’s worth the extra cost or discomfort. We did a bit of hopping around while in Sanya but the Dadonghai beach area has tons of accommodation so looking around doesn't require a long jaunt especially when the rates threaten to double.
Interestingly enough we learned a bit about Chinese labour practices through our friend Jessy that formerly worked at the Eagle's Hostel. Jessy complained that she was given a hard time for wanting a break for meals and the final straw before she left was when the management decided to cut her wage after she received tips from a tour group that she hosted and was arranged by the hostel.
We left Sanya, having met some really great people and we had some great experiences.
Not to mention we got some great beach time. We flew back to Hong Kong January 2nd.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.127s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0615s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Shari
non-member comment
Cheap??
I'm not sure who was writing this part but had a giggle when you talked about this. As your Grampa B would say..."Grind em"!! He taught you well :-)