My Weekend in Hainan

My weekend in Hainan was everything I wanted it to be. It was a perfect getaway, a warm refuge from the frozen tundra of Beijing and a lot of fun. If you’re actually interested in what all I did, keep reading (this means you, Mom & Grandma); if not, just have a browse at my photos from the weekend!

I started my trip by flying in to Haikou, the island-province’s capital on the northern shore. I only flew in there rather than the more resort-oriented Sanya in the south because it was cheaper. (To see where Hainan is located in the larger map of China, click here.) I only spent the night in Haikou and Saturday morning hitched a private car ride with another American and some Germans down to Sanya. The trip from one side of the island to the other is about three hours and, though a bit long, is rather interesting. From what I could see from the car, the island is mostly rural and incredibly lush with vegetation. The entire place seemed green! There were even cows (though they are some sort of water cows, grey with the big longhorns) and many workers out in the fields tending to the crops with the pointy straw hats (it made me think of popular images of Vietnam).

 

Hainan Island: I started in Haikou in the north and ventured down south to Sanya.

 

There’s not a whole lot to tell of this trip because I really just spent almost the entire time out on the beach lying in the sun near the water, relaxing and enjoying it all! The beach really was beautiful, reminiscent of any of the better beaches I’ve seen in Florida. It wasn’t too crowded, and it wasn’t dirty. In short, it was quite hard to believe we were still in China at all! Our hostel was located just a five-minute walk from the beach and it was nicely situated in a back alley off a main highway. It was a real slice-of-life alley, with little noodle restaurants, street vendors selling meat and veggie skewers and tea shops.

 

 

Dadonghai Beach in Sanya

 

I even got myself out of bed early enough in the morning a couple of days to go on some outdoor runs, a much-welcomed respite from all my boring indoor treadmill training in Beijing and an excellent way to see some of the local neighborhoods up close.

The first night, we went out to get some dinner at the 第一吃场, Di Yi Chi Chang (literally, first food market). It was a lively little street with restaurants all along the sides. They weren’t typical restaurants, but more just open downstairs rooms (think small garages) where the food was prepared, accompanied by a smattering of plastic chairs and tables out on the sidewalks. Many of the foods were prepared right out on the streets, such as these noodles we had fried up in a wok:

 

 

Street vendors frying up the noodles in a wok

 

We also had some yummy banana-buttered crepes and chuan (skewers of meat, fish, vegetables, etc., cooked on a grill) and some Muslim hand-pulled noodles with beef, potatoes and peppers.

On Sunday, I went out to the beach on my own and spent most of the day basking in the sunlight, again. As I was splashing around in the water and attempting to write my Chinese name in the sand, I came across a group of Chinese boys about my age. (They were trying to help me write my name properly.) We talked a little bit and since it was getting to be late afternoon, they invited me to head over to the seafood market with them for dinner. Of course I agreed! (And mind you, 95% of all of the conversing I did with them was in Chinese since they didn’t speak much English.)

We went to the city’s seafood market, a large building full of row after row of any kind of raw food you could want: fish, shrimp, crab, squid, clams, mussels, eel, fruits, vegetables, pork, chicken, beef… You just pick it out and they chop its head off and bag it up for you. My “hosts” for the evening picked out a few dishes and off we went. At first I was rather confused. Sure, we had some raw fish, but where were we going to cook it? Then, as I followed them to a street full of open-air restaurants just outside the market, I saw the twist. You buy your own produce at the market, then you take it to a restaurant where they will prepare and serve it to you for a fee (I’ve always heard that Chinese people are very particular about ensuring that their food is indeed fresh, so I guess this is the best way to do it!). We feasted on fish, shrimp, some sort of shellfish I didn’t particularly care for, these green vegetables that I actually liked (I tried to look up the Chinese name but I don’t think it exists in English), the famous Wenchang chicken (which I’d previously had on my last trip in Qingdao) and local beer. The meal was great (altho I claimed to be allergic to shrimp to avoid eating them; I just hate shrimp), and the boys insisted on paying for everything. (And one of their girlfriends came to meet us for dinner as well.)  It was a successful night of eating and speaking Chinese!

 

 

My Hainan dinner feast

 

Later that evening, we went out with some of the other people staying at our hostel to a really nice outdoor bar on the water. I invited my newly made Chinese friends, and two of them came to meet us. We spent the night just hanging out and drinking beer under the stars (yes, you could actually see stars!), and our party taught me and a Swiss girl in our group how to play the apparently-famous Chinese dice game. (It’s simple but probably hard to explain in words. Just think the card game Bullshit, only with dice.)

 

 

View of Sanya at night from the riverfront bar

 

On my final day, I went with the Germans I’d met on the ride down to Yalong Bay, another beach that was about a 30-minute bus ride away from where we were staying. This area of town is where all of the higher-class resorts and hotels are located, so the beach was much less crowded. We simply laid on the beach all day till the sun went down. That night, my last night on the island, the block on which our hostel was located actually lost power until morning. At first it was a bit annoying (especially when I thought I’d lost my Nike running bracelet), but after the staff set out some candles for us to take with us, it actually became kind of relaxing and a nice way to end my trip: No lights, no power, no distractions. I simply lay in the candlelight, enjoying the warm air and the immense feeling of total relaxation. Perhaps I should have more some self-imposed powerless, candlelit nights in the future?

 

 

Oh, hey! from Yalong Bay

 

Other observations:

• The city of Sanya has a ton of Russian tourists. Most of the signs in the area where we were staying actually were in both Chinese and Russian (but not always in English), and frequently I was approached by someone speaking to me in Russian.

• The mall across the street from where I was staying had an awesome little deli/grocery store. I got two deli sandwiches and Doritos! Even though altogether it cost me like $20, it was well worth the price to be eating my normal beach packed-lunch!

• This trip was so cheap. I took out 1,000 RMB before leaving (about $147) and didn’t even spend all of it (including 4 nights’ accommodations). This is definitely in contrast to many other tropical destinations, where the prices of everything are jacked up to tourist-price levels.

• I went on a run through a really interesting residential area. Check out the photos from it on my Flickr page.

• As in Key West, there were random chickens running around everywhere. I’m not sure why, but it made me laugh.

I consider the trip a complete success and I already can’t wait to go back to Hainan. The people there were all so nice and the whole city had such a laid-back atmosphere. It was totally contagious and I really felt relaxed. I have made quite a bit of progress in my Chinese speaking abilities since my last travels in October, and this time was able to get all around the city (and even back across the island by bus!) using my Chinese. I would definitley recommend this place if you’re looking for a cheap, sunny destination in Asia!