Wai Ling Ding – One of Zhuhai’s Islands

This past weekend InternChina, the organization with who I came to China with, organized a trip to beautiful Yang Shuo (Guilin). I’ve heard a lot of great things about this place and I was really excited to there.

Unfortunately, the travel agency canceled the trip due to heavy rain in the area. Instead, InternChina planned a trip to one of Zhuhai’s many islands – Wai Ling Ding Island. As the water of the sea in Zhuhai is brown and probably poisoned due to the chemicals from the factories around, the islands are a good alternative with nice and clean water.

Wai Ling Ding is an island south of Hong Kong and a popular vacation spot. The boat ride took about 1.5 hours, the sea was a little rough, and a lot of passengers had to throw up. Luckily, I was sitting all the way in the back at the window, and I just slept the entire time. We were all happy to finally arrive.

Upon arrival, we went to the beach to find the camping area. Most of the people from the group decided to camp at the beach, only me and 3 other people preferred the hotel. I was already covered by mosquito bites and not eager to get more, and the provided camping equipment was limited to a tent and a very light mattress (can’t even be called a mattress). The hotel was located close to the beach and was an average one or two-star hotel. We didn’t spend much time in the room, so it served its purpose.

Wai Ling Ding looks like one of those small fisher villages with many fishing boats and a small center. Unlike in other Chinese cities, on this island everything was in walking distance. The beaches seemed to be man-made, because the coast line is covered by those beautiful orange/yellow stones. All in all, the scenery is beautiful.

After setting up the tents and doing the check-in at the hotel, we all had lunch together at one of the typical Chinese restaurants in the center. The weather changed completely in the afternoon. All the clouds were gone, and it was sunny and hot. We went to the beach where the tents were set up, and played volleyball, went swimming and relaxed in the sun or in the shade. When I was about to leave the water, I saw two big jellyfish. They were about 10-15 centimeters long, so I didn’t go back into the water again.

Instead, I bought a fruit juice and a delicious Hong Kong waffle for a snack. I wanted pineapple with mango but the guy at the stand told me that this isn’t a good mix, because both fruits have a strong taste. I ended up getting a mango and lemon juice. It was really refreshing.

In the evening, we walked around the island to find a nice spot to watch the sunset. We found the perfect spot but the sunset wasn’t as incredible as we hoped for, because there were some clouds. Then, we headed back to the beach and had dinner at one of the barbecue street food places, directly at the beach.

After a nice shower, at least for the ones that had a hotel room, we stayed at the beach around a bonfire and had some beers.

The plan for the next morning was to get up, have breakfast, walk around the village, and then get on the boat back to Zhuhai. It started out how we planned it, I enjoyed one of those amazing Hong Kong waffles with a mango/papaya juice. But when we were heading to the port, we got told that there were no tickets available anymore for that ferry, although we booked them through an agency. We still had 2 hours until our ferry took off.

Most people weren’t happy about the delay, because everyone was tired and not prepared for another beach day. Some of us walked around the island, others grabbed lunch or went to the beach. Eventually, our boat arrived, and the sea wasn’t as rough as when we came to the island, so people felt much better. I basically slept during the entire journey again. J

Weekend Trip to Hainan – Day 3 & 4

Day 3

On Monday, we just wanted to spend a day at the beach. We decided to go to Haitang Bay, because we read that it wasn’t very crowded. The beach is over 45 kilometers long and it took as an hour taxi ride to get there. We went somewhere close to the new Duty Free Mall, because we thought that there must be some places to eat around as well. But no. The mall was surrounded by construction sites and hardly anything else. It seemed that they were building two huge resorts to attract more people to the mall in which you can find Western luxury and premium brands.

We still went to the beach and it was beautiful. There was literally no one. We went swimming and enjoyed the great weather. After a while we left to go to the more popular place which wasn’t completely deserted.

For dinner we went to a nearby street food restaurant that offered seafood, because Hainan is known for its seafood. On the side of the restaurant they had different aquariums with fish, crabs, shells and other seafood stuff. Most of them were still alive. We told the waitress that we wanted some mussels, oysters and a fish. We chose the fish we wanted and she took it out of the aquarium with a net. Before I realized what she was doing, she smashed the net with the fish inside on the ground, so the fish died.

We sat down on one of the tables and chose the rest of the food to share. There was a sticky coconut rice dish that I wanted to order, because it is also a specialty of Hainan. Soon, one after the other dish arrived and we started eating. We ordered so much that we were hardly able to finish it all but it was delicious. My favorite were the orange mussels and the spicy bean dish. After dinner, we walked around for a bit and bought two scarfs that we could use for the beach.

Day 4

On our last day, we got up a little earlier and visited a pearl museum. In Hainan or in the South Sea they cultivate and breed many seawater pearls, white and black ones, because the temperature of the sea is ideal.

It was interesting to learn something about pearls. I didn’t know anything about them expect that Chanel loved them and that they are quite expensive. After the museum they had a big shop where they sold any kind of pearl jewelry and skin care products with pearl powder. Pearl powder is used by Chinese women to maintain beauty and youth. It’s supposed to whiten your skin – a reason why I did not buy any. J

Later, we took a taxi to Yalong Bay which is a 7 kilometer beach, where all the expensive resorts are located. We had coffee and a snack at the Starbucks and looked at the few shops they had in that area. Then we headed down to the beach and sat under some trees that didn’t belong to any hotels. It was too hot for being in the sun. The waves were a bit high but we could still swim in designated areas. The water was almost crystal clear. No wonder this is the most popular beach in Sanya. It was the perfect place to spend our last day in Hainan. I got an ice-cream and a coconut from one of the street vendors. Unfortunately, the milk of the coconut had gone off, so I wanted to exchange it. When my Chinese friend asked him to do so, he answered (without tasting it) that the coconut is good and she probably never had a coconut before. Well, the street vendors are obviously not part of the 5-star resorts.

Before we left to go back to the apartment, we had some dinner in the restaurant/shopping area. The restaurant we chose, offered steaks and other western dishes. The images of the menu looked delicious. What they served, though, was a little disappointing. The steaks tasted more like burger meet. I definitely would not recommend this restaurant. We got some soft ice which made us happy again. Then we went back to the apartment, jumped in the pool to get rid of all the sand and tried to get a taxi to the airport (3 taxi drivers refused to take us, because the airport was close, so they didn’t want to use the taxi meter). The flight back to Zhuhai was less pleasant but this couldn’t change that we spent a great weekend in one of China’s most beautiful places.

Overall, the landscape and scenery in Hainan are beautiful. However, the region is definitely still being developed. There are many construction sites although it seems like there are already plenty of resorts and hotels, and a lot of them were half empty. Although it is just one city, it is really big and for a tourism destination the infrastructure is not sufficient. Only Yalong Bay has a shopping area with restaurants. But, directly at that beach there are no cafés which is too bad, so picnic is the solution. ;) And there is much else to do than going to the beach, for example we could have visited the rainforest or one of the small islands if we had spent some more days there.

Weekend Trip to Hainan – Day 1 & 2

Over May 1^st holiday, I went to Hainan with 3 friends for a long weekend. Hainan is the smallest Chinese province and an island in the South Chinese Sea. It is also called the Hawaii of China because of its beautiful landscapes and beaches. For a long time, Hainan used to be an exile place for criminals and disgraced officials, whereas now it is a popular tourism destination, most of the tourists are Chinese or Russian. We went to Sanya which is the tourist city of the island. It is located at the Southern end of the big island.

Sanya City

We left Zhuhai on Saturday, April 30^th and remained in Sanya until the evening of May 3^rd. The airport in Zhuhai is really far from the city. It took us a while to get there but then everything went smoothly. Already after exiting the plane, we felt the tropical climate. The temperatures were always between 25 and 33 degrees and it was very humid but sunny! J

We stayed at the Palmena Apartments which were very close to the Sanya Bay. From our balcony we were able to see the blue ocean. The residence had a pool which was one of the reasons why we chose this place. The area was quiet but a little far from the city center. The apartment was clean and had 2 rooms and a kitchen.

Shortly after our arrival, we packed our towels and walked down to the beach. It wasn’t the cleanest beach and I got bitten by small mosquitos, so I didn’t want to stay there. After walking along the beach for bit, we soon realized that there was nothing – no restaurant, no café. So, we took a taxi to the downtown to find a place for lunch. We had sushi and enjoyed an ice-cream at the Sanya beach which was the most crowded beach we encountered during our time there.

Sanya Bay

On Saturday night, we headed downtown again but to the Dadonghai area to check out the Dolphin Sports Bar & Grill which was rated very high on TripAdvisor. We arrived there quite late for dinner, and because they had a special night, and it was already crowded, we decided to eat somewhere else first, and then go back for a couple of drinks. 

We came across a square where they set up different food stands with a sitting area in the middle, and a stage with live music. We got a noodle soup and a beer from one of the stands, and sat down close to the stage. After dinner we walked down to Dadonghai Bay Coastal Bar Street and enjoyed a Pina Colada at one of the bars there. It was already a little late but the place must be really nice in the evening.

Then, we went back to the Dolphin Sports Bar & Grill and enjoyed ourselves there for a few hours before taking a taxi back to our apartment.

Entrance of the Nanshan Park

Day 2

On our second day in Sanya, we took a taxi to see the main attraction which we saw already from the plane: the 108 meter tall Buddha statue which was situated in the Nanshan Culture Tourism Zone. It was a 45 minutes taxi ride, the bus ride would have taken us much longer.

Statue of Guan Yin Buddha

Apart from the statue and the Buddhist temple, the park – in the middle of the Nashan forest – has little to offer. Its purpose seems to be to attract tourists and to make money (entrance fee of 120RMB). But this is just my opinion…The statue on a man-made island has been added to the area recently and it reminds me of the statue of liberty.

Still, we spent a couple of hours in the park, because the park had a lot of green areas to relax and enjoy the great weather. Also, the sites were far from each other and we discovered the park by walking, so it took us a while to go to the temple which lay at the end of the park. There was a bus but for that they charged an additional 30 RMB.

Picture with other tourists...

We decided not to go to the second biggest attraction on the island, the Tianya Haijiao, because they charged again 100 RMB for two big rocks on the beach with some inscriptions. It is said that this is the “edge of the world” and hence, very popular among Chinese tourists. We did not really want to go to another crowded place and thought that this area was not worth the entrance fee. Instead, we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed the pool for a bit.

At night, we went to Casamia – an Italian place on Sanya Bay and enjoyed a pizza and a glass of wine on their terrace. Although we were full, we still went to the city center to have ice-cream at a coconut themed place and took pictures of the city lights. The city comes to live at night. You can see many locals on their motorbikes, sometimes an entire family on one bike. It seems to me that Asian people do not like the sun, so they stay inside during the day and go out as soon as the sun is down.