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Published: April 17th 2008
This weekend, the International Finance College took us to visit a staggering Chinese paradise with a 25-degree average temperature; yeah, the largest Ocean island in China. Although the car drive and flight were both pleasant, I couldn't help having ants in my pants for the whole trip, I reckon it was down to my leg problems. Yet, as soon as we arrive in Sanya, I was a new man, ready to relax and enjoy the outing. So, one point to Sanya, and one point to IFC. Hooray!!!
Anyway, I was so happy to know that we would be going there as it seems that I cannot get enough of beach retreats, remember last year? my travel itinerary took me to four magnificent worldwide beaches at almost the same time; so, thinking of the possibility of spending another quiet weekend in a relaxing place was a sort of relief, so fascinating it was that I was counting the days before the trip. But I didn't have to wait for so long, I have the impression that time is flying even quicker on the last months, therefore, here I was in Sanya, a southeastern city of China enjoying what I never thought
it would be my off-the-beaten-track paradise. And as usual, I wanted to share it with you, I hope you like it and please do not hesitate to comment on it.
Ready then? Ok, here we go...
Hainan and Saynan, a desolate exile? what are you talking about?
Early accounts describe Hainan, also known as the Oriental Hawai, as an exile haven for so many Chinese officials. Hard to swallow, to be honest, if I hadn't seen it written on the net I would've thought that it was only chitchat and rumour... but hey, the bottom line is, the desolate place has turned into a mesmerising paradise offering a lovely ocean and breathtaking sky colours.
Due to my Chinese travel experience, when I first heard that we would be going to Hainan, I thought 'a tourist island? oh, just a place teeming with people lying on the beach and packed streets with lots of vendors pulling your shirt so that you buy anything...' but I couldn't be more wrong, not only was it not crowded but we were not approached by tons of vendors; on the contrary,
we were able to have lovely walks along the unpacked beaches and funnily enough, it was us, who approached the vendors in our search for hunting treasures or should I say pearls.
I thought that the reason why Sanya was not that packed was the fact that it was only a normal weekend, not a holiday period, thanks God as my idea of a relaxing weekend involves only a small handful of people, preferably natives, not tourists.
Yeah, that was my first impression of the city, as sunny and cut-off as it might be, with only one link to the world: the countless posters of the Beijing Olympics displayed everywhere. That, of course, was the fashionable decorative subject of the place. Another link was us and other tourists, obviously,; incidentally, I was flabbergasted by the number of Russian tourists who would walk along the street, I would say tons of them; looking back, I suppose that was the reason why, most of the street vendors would talk to Katie, one of our American colleagues, in Russian, yeah, did they take her for a Russian lady?... well, not really, it seems that Hainanians tend to
This is what I meant, don't they look cute, this big family thing
Next thing, I'll buy sets of clothes for the inhabitants of Zhuhai, sorry, only words, I won't put them into action for there are too many people here, but may be for the people back in my country, that will be lovelygreet people in Russian, which makes me think that they should make up their mind and adopt it as their own dialect, don't you think so? (you're supposed to answer :-) but I contend that this is if you due to the numerous Russian tourists flocking to Sanya every month. Not only that, but a great many posters are translated into Russian, which explains how eager the natives are to cater to them.
From my Lonely Planet, which is still helping me lots, I learned that the island has around 8 million inhabitants who speak Hainanese, a dialect that is very different to Mandarin, in fact, Sarah, one of my Chinese colleagues, told me she had tried hard to understand a conversation but was not even able to get the gist of it. I can't blame her, most of the dialects in China do not have much ressemblance with the main language. For my and your information, most natives are from the Han minority.
Before unpacking, our first stop was a small restaurant where we were served plenty of food, that was when my guilty stomach made me hesitate, but coward as I am
not a stale teacher...
This one is even better, with the wing, the coastline and the ocean
I know, there is sth missing,,, ME -sometimes only- I finally decided to avoid the exquisite fish my colleagues were devouring, poor me!! I was contented, though, I also had my good helping of rice, chicken and beef, not a flow of complaints this time, you see, how much I've changed!!! Although the restaurant was sort of quaint, at least my stomach behaved quite well; here you have it, moaning again, you knew, I couldn't resist it...oops.
The hotel and its happy ending
We stayed at Sanya Huayuan resort, which they advertise as 'A Dreamy Paradise'; I agree wholeheartidly with their motto as far as the location is concerned, it is located at only, 200 metres of the beach of very azure waters and pleasing breezes; the place, on the other hand, is just reasonable. The resort offers lots of facilities to make your dreams come true, I said everything from natural hotsprings to interesting massage rooms, yes, you got it right, I said 'everything' as there must be things going on in those rooms... well, it's not me taking the mickey or anything, the waiter told one of our colleagues, 'we provide everything there, a simple
Stacey, a Chinese teacher whose name I can't remember and me
A lovely flight, we were all very excited to be going to Hainan, apart from Stacey who had been to the island, most of the teachers were going there for the first time. massage or whatever you want..' and he was giggling, well, glad, we didn't use the service :-)
What we did use, though, was the dining room where a nice buffet was displayed every morning, even though it was catering more to Chinese than westerners, I was glad to find sliced bread and some porridge. No cereals, I almost died ;-(
Incidentally, I want to add that last week, I learned something about those massages , it seems that they customarily give you a normal massage and then it is up to you to accept something they call 'a happy ending', I don't know whether it is a joke or not, but the service they give you is advertised as full service, up to the end and you are happy, they say, so put 2 and 2 together and you get to know what I mean. I'm telling you, every day I learn things from friends, the friend was Diana by the way.
The look-alike tourists
It has to be said, one of the highlights of the trip was the sight of throngs of tourists,
specially Asian, wearing the matching Hawaian shirts, I am telling you, this was far better than any museum or night club visit. They all looked so cute, as if they were in kindergarden, the only thing missing was a guide holding one of the umbrellas with the same pattern; and it has become a sort of a trend to buy those clothes and offer them as presents back home, I just didn't have the drive to do it, but I thought it was a great idea, though.
The transport in the city was quite good, double decker buses and the rickshaws transporting us to different places in the city; funnily enough, the buses are not as packed as I thought, which adds up to the beauty of the island, not too many people, as I said above; some of the tourists or should I say most of them, wearing sportswear on their way to the beach.
I suppose you've got the picture now, it was easy to feel that we had Sanya to ourselves, unbelievable, you are in China but there are not many people bathing in such pristine beaches. Where do they go?
I'm the king of the sky
Told ya, I had the window to myself Beijing? maybe, now everybody is getting ready to live the Olympic dream and shows are being shown everywhere in China, lots of preparation.
In the evening, Katie and me walked along the beach near the hotel, there were some people singing karaoke songs. We were approached by a very smart boy, therefore, Katie was able to practise her Chinese, which is far better than mine; I just kept smiling and trying to understand their conversation. We were having fun enjoying the spontaneity of this child when out of the blue some children appeared. They looked like 7 to 10 year old boys and we had to buy some sorts of flares which was a mistake; as the flames were extinguishing from our new devices, they started pulling our t-shirts as they wanted us to buy more. It seems like a national sport down here, but that was cute, somehow.
The West Mao Island
For the next day, there was this trip organised to a big island including some hiking to a mountain, and most of the teachers were going there. Some of us were just loath to
join the crowd as we just wanted to spend a very relaxing Saturday. In the end, we decided to go to a different spot, the West Mao island, by we I mean Stacey, Hansen, Jenny, Sarah, Katie, Elisa and me. All of us are English teachers, most of them Chinese, except for Katie and me.
I must say it was a magnificent choice for me as neither was I in good health to be hiking or doing sth tiring nor had I the drive, so it was easy to decide, what I wanted was to go to this island to relax, sleep and eat, which we all did. With lovely landscapes and limpid water surrounding us, you don't experience any discomfort, on the contrary this was just what everybody needed.
This island is part of the reserve of coral reef in Sanya. It is known to have a lovely variety of reef species and fish, 120 for the former and 300 for the latter. Not bad for the lovers of the ecological scenery, well, I could be one as well but my fear of diving will spoil my chance of enjoying the seabed of
a teacher always a teacher
Am I not a wonderful photographer?
...or only a lucky one, up to you...guess what I'd use to teach the word coastline? Sanya, yeah, even with a breather pipe, I would still feel afraid, so no way; however, I imagine the views must be breathtaking. Well, on this occassion I just had to be contented with the view of the seacoast which was beautiful too. No complaints, you see? I am becoming less of an indulging child :-)
On the beach there were some hammocks waiting for us, so, we didn't have the choice :-) we just had to lie down and take pictures which you can see now. We stayed there for some time but then I decided to go for a walk, Stacey and Sarah preferred staying put in the hammocks, I don't blame them as it was extremely hot; Hansen and Katie wanted to have a swim. I didn't follow suit as I was still very worried about my leg, but I had a lovely walk and came back to them.
Katie was getting a bit shy to swim but I managed to talk her into doing it, I suppose she didn't regret it later as she looked very happy showing off her skillful swimming ability. The afternoon was kind of pleasant and
we were entertained by some kids from Hawai, one of them was very naughty and soon, he and Jenny started splashing water to each other, the others followed and we had a laugh. Elisa was the photographer that day but she didn't want to swim either.
In the afternoon, we had lunch at a restaurant recommended by one of the rickshaw drivers, the food was great, lots of seafood, accompanied with a delicious coconut drink; it seems that at the end they overcharged us, you see, the price was too high compared to the fact that the ingredients were local and my Chinese colleagues know about prices, so there were reasonable grounds to think we were ripped off, oops; it took us some time to come to terms with that, but anyway, no time to get angry as we were there only to relax.
The rickshaw drivers took us back to the hotel as we had paid the lady for the whole trip, she should have her own company; she's very quick and organised, I suppose the way it works is like she hires some rickshaws, takes people to a known restaurant and drives
people back to their places, what else can you expect from a guide? Well done, a very efficient entrepreneur lady!!
The Shopping Street
In the hotel, we had a lovely nap and after that, we went out to eat at the shopping street. Lots of shops and pearls all over. There, we were approached by a youngster who spoke to Katie in Russian. I then heard him speaking Italian, that was all it took for me to approach him and ask him how many languages he spoke; I was disappointed as he told me he spoke 6 languages, so consumed with envy I was :-( Apparently he does the marketing for a big barbecue restaurant and approaches the potential eaters in their own language. As you might imagine, I was there dreaming and feeling guilty for not being like him, yes, I'm a lazy guy.
Then we had to decide where to go for dinner, as there were 7 of us, it was difficult to make a quick decision, some of the Chinese teachers wanted to do McDonalds, that was Lina for her own good and Peggy
as she had brought her child with her. surely they haven't read 'Food Nation'; Michael and Vivian were convinced by the multilingual guy of the barbecue place; and Hansen, Katie and me, we opted for a Western restaurant which I thought it was really good, clean, cheap and the food was exquisite too.
The meal was followed by some bargaining. As we were on the same street, we reunited again and decided to try their haggling skills. We wanted to buy some pearls and some bracelets but we had problems trying to cut the prices down, and then Lina came, God bless her, I must say she is so skillful at bargaining that I don't know how some vendors can resist her demands or... commands to put it bluntly. That was obviously very funny and we saved some money, not much but some, and I couldn't help feeling bad for the vendors, what a loser I am! living in China and I don't do as in Rome.
I reloved fish and seafood
I will always remember Hainan as the place which made me relove fish and seafood;
kuai le!
Hurry up, I want to go to the hotel
Here is us hopping on the bus to the hotel although I would hesitate each time, in the back of my mind I was commanding myself not to panic and just enjoy the appetising dishes that were lying on the table; and I was not wrong, they were delicious, but the best thing ever was that I didn't have the runs. oh, sorry, I forgot to remind you that I had previously given up eating fish as the water in China does not seem to befriend me, if you know what I mean. But this time, I was ok.
Oh no, it's Sunday!
On Sunday morning, we decided to spend some time in the swimming pool of the hotel and I couldn't resist the desire of swimming. Not a big problem as having a flat ground would completely reassure me and there were only four people in the pool so I really enjoyed it. I had a laugh looking at one of the signs that they display for security reasons, you will see it in the photos.
I tried to beat Hansen in some silly competitions, Katie being the impartial judge but then I found out I
was far too weak: is it a sign that I'm getting old? I'm only 22 :-) I couldn't stay submerged under water for more than one minute and, even when splashing water I lost, but then, I was the only one who was able to lie completely on the back while showing the toes, have you ever done that? I know, silly but I couldn't help crowing about my small victory, do you reckon there will be an Olympic contest like that in London 2012? then I will definitely go back to Europe :-)
Sunday was the time to pack and get ready as the unexpected and unwanted Monday was approaching. At noon, it was more like 'get ready to check out and go back' but we were not ready to say goodbye to the beautiful paradise. So, after packing and leaving our stuff at the hotel, we then reunited with the other colleagues and leaders at a wonderful restaurant overlooking the beach. Yeah, the place is magnificent, it is called Dadonghai Fisher's Village, which is a very lively area, with lots of restaurants, some tourist shops and Latin music, seriously, I don't know if it was
More of the airport, learn the characters
Yeah, Chinese will be the language of the future, so get a pencil and some paper and start writing. a coincidence that day but the spot transported me to my country. How is that possible? well, while we were having lunch, they played 4 Shakira's songs, some other Brazilian songs which was just too much for a Colombian to take, just joking, loved it.
The view was breathtaking, the food exquisite, I swear to God, it was right at this moment when I wanted to be a Chinese official being exiled there. The menu was so colourful and full of tempting hors d'oeuvres and main courses, fish, soups, mango, lots of scallops, mussels, prawns, and the list was long. The uniforms of the waitresses were as colourful as the food, red and yellow, which I thought they were flying the flag, but my Chinese colleagues did not agree with me. Conversation was lively and I was happy that Michael, another American colleague was sitting in the same table as we had time to share some silly jokes, his was a bit too much for Chinese to take but mine was just cute, that's what katie said. My joke was a silly one with some chicks talking to each other and talking differently...bla bla bla, I won't
Looking for Nemo in Hainan
couldn't find it... sniff continue or else I might lose you.
After lunch, I offered everyone a tiny treat, well, I still had some of the cynnamon mints I bought in LA, I adore them, a shame I didn't buy them all. While leaders and teachers were playing cards, I decided to go for a walk along the beach; Katie, an American colleague accepted my invite and we went strolling. Nice views all around us, children being dug in the sand or making some sand castles, their parents would look so mesmerised at their children's happiness, there were also westerners lying on their backs soaking up the sun, mind you! I said Westerners, not Chinese; the big contradiction of sunbathing is a must in China, seriously, while we, foreigners, go to the beach to get tanned, it is funny to see the Chinese getting as far away from the everlasting sun as they can; westerners, on the other hand, could be easily spotted lying there on the sand getting ready to be burnt. To tell you the truth, I was very surprised to see so few umbrellas on the beach, something I find so fascinating.
Then we had
A quaint restaurant
or should I say run-down but who cares, the food was great to go back to Zhuhai as the weekend was about to end... at the airport, everybody was hungry, some of my colleagues went out to get a hot dog at a small shop, I tried my best not to be very picky this time but after asking Katie and Sarah how the food was there, their answer encouraged me to go and find something on the second floor; Michael joined me on the spot and off we went to another shop as we didn't see any restaurants around, after looking for some time, he was satisfied with a pack of nuts, I was not; I left him and found a restaurant where I had a delicious noodle soup with egg, porc and vegetables inside, that was an excelent bargain, not that I haggled but the price was very low given that we were at an airport. Then I rushed to the first floor to find out that I was one of the last ones to get on the bus which would take us to our plane, a nightmare of a boy I am, but I was ravenous. We boarded at 8:00 pm and I was lucky to have a window
seat again.
In a Hainan-shell
I also read on the net that in order to encourage tourists to come to Hainan, the government now allows tourists from 21 different countries to come without visa on condition that they come in groups, how bad is that? very clever I must say, one of my colleagues had told me it was only Russians who had free entry but apparently, lots of people can come here, I wonder if they are not on the brink of changing this commodity as the Olympics are approaching. Entering China nowadays is known to be more difficult than before and all due to the Olympics.
Well, looking back, I cannot believe what history books tell us about the island in the past; in fact, the island was regarded as 'a miserable place', no way, who could've believed that this tropical paradise was for years considered a hell for cut-off officials, what were they thinking? Come on, you can exile me there and I'll be so happy as far as I am on the beach reading my favourite books, the world can continue, students can
stop coming to our optional courses, Shakira might decide -for a second time- not to go to a peace concert in Colombia or Spielberg can pull out of the Olympics in China again; I'll still be there, cut-off from the world, enjoying my exile, mesmerised by the colours of such a blue ocean, flabbergasted drinking the delicious coconut juice, amazed at my stomach's new reaction to Chinese fish and seafood. Believe me, that's all it takes to make me happy, I'd be willing to be hidden away in my beach retreat during my exile, still I am touching wood so that it doesn't happen :-).
For what it is worth, I somehow felt I was not in a Chinese island, the organisation and cleanliness of the city made me think of other wellknown tropical destinations. It is easy to understand why the city has hosted the Miss World pageant contest a couple of times, lucky misses around the world have had the chance to come to this paradise and show their tempting curves while being surrounded by so many coconut palms. Throngs of tourists come here to elude the insupportable winter days of the north and I
don't blame, but I didn't see many.
The future seems to be very promising to Sanya, not only the tourism industry has been booming for years but in spite of the current hullaballoo of the Olympics abroad, the city will become the spotlight of the country as it is supposed to be the first stop of the Olympic torch on May 4th. The city itself is at the moment very busy preparing to build what they expect to be the fascinating Beijing Olympic Village. The village will then cater to lots of athletes around the world who can come there and enjoy the magic of the city; it goes without saying that the latter will be the opportunity for the island to be known around the world, which is fair for such a lovely paradise where you can easily go into ecstasies.
Well, I hope you liked my description of the trip, looking forward to reading your comments...
Frank
18th-04-08
I just wanted to add that we were extremely lucky for the trip to Sanya was organised last weekend; the weather has dramatically
changed and there seems to be a typhoon coming to the south as I write this, the images on the TV set are not nice to see, everybody running as the wind is very strong. So, I thought of thanking IFC for choosing the right time and also to China for giving us Friday off.
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gineth adriana
non-member comment
no pues me encanta le puedes estar quitando el puesto a clodo que paisajes geniales, oye esos zapatos rojos son ahora la moda aca en todos los colores para descansar,divino el hotel paisaje estaba haciendo frio cierrttoo el estilo y al muy bien congratulaciones