Celebration Worthy: A Lunar New Year Vacation
in Sanya Words Snigdha Bhowmick
The Chinese New Year is just around the corner and we must all be planning a holiday to celebrate it. How about heading to Right Streets of Sanya during China’s only tropical region and its favourite the Chinese New Year beach destination, Hainan? It is better to celebrations is often head over to Hainan a few days before the decorated with standout festive Chinese New Year season hits home. lanterns As the spring breeze starts to rustle Bottom through the Palm leaves, residents of the A line up on lanterns Phoenix Island, a man-made archipelago and Chinese New Year decorations adorning the just off the mainland set up for the New Year entrances of local shop with 2020 being the Year of the Rat. As soon as visitors get down to the street level, they can expect to find all the buildings adorned with lanterns of varying colours. Now these lanterns are something of a Chinese specialty. Found in every corner of the city during the new year, they are sold at street shops found in most of the shopping complexes. Abounding in colours of Crimson, Gold, Red and Yellow, they are decorated with animal motifs and geometric designs. All in all, they are always prudent to take a few back home. As the New Year comes closer, the streets start bustling with activity. Multiple street art pops up in areas, especially the Quilou Street as locals fill the streets finishing up their shopping over the holiday season. Although the Yalong Bay is famous for the lot with white sand beaches along with many opportunities to catch the surf, there is also the Wuzhizhou islands which offer the best of crystal-clear waters for Scuba diving. Head to the Leigong Global Geopark which allows you a view of an extinct volcano crater from its rim or the Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Park which offer a chance to view the beautiful scenes of the tropical forests from the viewing pagodas. Head to the Namwan Monkey Island by China’s longest oversea Cable Car and check out the macaque monkeys present at the natural reserve. The Rice Paddy National Park where you can find a Hainan Tropical Zoo, on the other has over surplus of flowers along with a concert right in 4000 animals with the famous Tigon and the middle of it. On the eve of the New Year, the Liger (crossbreeds between Lion and Tigers). archipelago of Phoenix decked up with parades Although the markets are filled with shops and Opera performances that fill up the streets. selling a plethora of food items, visitors can The New Year also means that visitors can catch a glimpse of the resident locals playing get to tuck into some scrumptious Chinese traditional games. Do head to the Sanya food. One of the must-try dishes to mark
24 | MALINDOMAG | JANUARY 2020 Voyage / SANYA, CHINA
Sanya’s ancient name was Yazhou, meaning literally “cliff state”, a reference to Top The imposing towers of Phoenix Fly with Malindo Air to Sanya the fact that the Island is a scenic view of the exquisite man-made archipelago are 7 times a week city is ringed on lit up every night. Bottom three sides by Food outlets gearing up for the influx of visitors waiting for try out snacks mountains. and food dishes. CONTRIBUTOR Snigdha on your culinary itinerary is to have the along with sesame oil and soy sauce mixed vegetable stew which is eaten on the first day with garlic juice and Calamansi juice. To dig Bhowmick is of the New Year. The stew is a quintessential into some of the local favorites is to also try a travel, food Buddhist dish made with fresh vegetables, their dynamite Rinixi Beef jerky, which is & beverage nuts, and beans. Also known as “Temple made from the rear haunches of selected Food” as it is supposed to offer good luck water buffalo. All in all, The Chinese New writer and and health for the year to come. For a dish Year is a time for celebration and revelry photographer. that is more bursting with flavor is to try out and the Phoenix Island in Sanya, Hainan is the Hele Crab along with a line up of other the perfect place to be for any holidaymaker She is The Wine & Spirit TMST seafood dishes such as clams and oysters wishing to celebrate the momentous (WSET), level 1 in wines, she at the Chunynan Seafood Square. This is occasion with precious company. travels to capture stories in the then followed by another one of the area’s forts of the medieval era and delicacies is the Wenchang Chicken. Freshly boiled Chicken is chopped up and served beverage based destinations. You can follow her work on twitter @saltandsandals.
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