Post 87 Sanya, Hainan, China

1000 Days in China – Post 87 February 11-26, 2021 Traveling to the End of the Earth – Part 1 Sanya, Hainan, China My plane's view as it circled the Nanhai Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy of the Southern Sea). It seems so amazing that at Christmas, I was in Harbin, China looking at Siberian Tigers and Ice Sculptures and then had dinner in a Mongolian Yurt at New Year’s and now I am lying at the beach in Sanya which is also referred to as “End of the Earth (Tianya Haijiao)”. In 7 weeks, I had travelled from a polar climate to a tropical one while staying in one country, China. China often refers to itself as the Middle Kingdom between Heaven and Earth. Sanya is an island that is at the southern-most point of China and is nearly the same latitude as Da Nang, Vietnam. Being so far South, it has a tropical climate and has beautiful beaches. On clear days, the sea seems to stretch on forever, with small islets visible in the distance. Part of the lure of Sanya on Hainan Island is the view when you look out from the Southern most point – “Tianya Haijiao” which translates to ‘edges of the heaven, corners of the sea'. When you’re sitting on the sun-warmed sand of this vast beach fronting the South China Sea, the name makes sense. According to local legend, a young couple from two rival clans ran away and ended up at the beach. Believing it was the end of the earth, they swore their love for each other, jumped into the sea, and were transformed into two stones. Two large boulders poking out from the sand represent the star-crossed lovers’ eternal love, and newlyweds often come here during their honeymoons. In visiting different areas of China, one of the interesting things is finding out about the history and the legends/stories about the area. When flying into Sanya, my plane rounded the 3 faced - Guanyin statue at the Nanshan Buddhist Temple in Sanya. This is a 108-meter-high (354 ft) statue. One face is directed inland with the other two faces pointing out towards the South China Sea, to represent blessing and protection by Guanyin of China to the whole world. Under the statue is an elaborate Buddhist Temple that is ornate as you could imagine with gold and various shrines. Another famous story of Sanya can be found at Luhuitou Park. Here there is a 12-meter-tall statue commemorating the legend of a brave young hunter chasing a mountain deer. It was believed at the time that the gods of the forests would transform themselves into animals to be on the Earth. When this young hunter had cornered a deer and was about to shoot it, the deer turned into a beautiful young girl and the rest of the story you can probably guess. Besides this statue, this park actually had the best views of Sanya, especially at sunset. Walking through Luhuitou Park there were some surprising things to see as well. Such as live Ostriches complete with a saddle so you could go for a ride on one! You could also buy Ostrich eggs that are the size of 5-pin bowling balls. I did not understand why or how Ostriches were associated with the park but they were there. Of course, there were also live deer that you could feed. This park is also filled with various flower displays and orchids. Being in a tropical climate, it is so exhilarating to see these flowers in full bloom with the colours and the settings. Here at this pond a lady blows into the horn and the louder and longer you blow into the horn, the higher the fountain of water rises! Another surprising resident of Luhuitou Park was a troop of wild Macaque monkeys. These monkeys were very smart in that they would steal a plastic bottle of orange soda. Then they would puncture a small hole on the bottom of the bottle and drink from the bottle. I didn’t get a picture but I did notice that the security guards would carry a slingshot and shoot it at the monkeys to keep them away from certain areas. Another feature of the park was a suspension bridge. This suspension bridge gave you a great view of the city but you need to hold onto your hat as I saw a number of hats below the bridge. LOL! During my stay in Sanya, I stayed at three different Hilton hotels. The first was at Yazhou Bay which is west of Sanya. Then I moved to Haitang Bay (East of Sanya) and finally into the city of Sanya and Dadonghai Beach. I also visited Yalong Bay to the east. Each area had different characteristics so depending on what you wanted, you could find it in Sanya. One of the fortunate things about arriving in Sanya this time was that because the government was recommending people stay at home during the Chinese New Year, and there were still travel restrictions on out-of-country tourists, the crowds that you would normally see were not present. Another interesting thing I also noticed about Sanya was all of the signage, and even menus to a large extent, not only had Chinese writing but also Russian - with English not necessarily presented to the same degree. But as mentioned, due to travel restrictions, I hardly saw any Russians in Sanya at all. Normally, they would come to Sanya in the same way as Canadians would fly to Florida in the winter. In Yazhou Bay, I had a huge 2 room suite and each day they would bring me a bowl of fruit and a huge coconut. It just started to pile up as I could not eat it all each day. LOL! The resort had its own beach that was fenced off. It was kind of strange to have almost a mile of beach all to myself and then see a bunch of people on the other side of the fencing on the public beach. This resort is very secluded in that there is almost nothing in terms of restaurants or shops outside of the hotel and all of the tourist attractions are quite a distance away. However, it was a great place just to relax whether it was by the pool or by the beach. Being alone at the beach, it made me think about how much I missed the sounds of the ocean waves coming onto the shore. I took up Karen’s thing of collecting some sea shells and I was quite fascinated by the patterns that some of the shellfish would make on the sand. If you did not want to go down to the beach, the resort also brought the beach to you as there was sand and all sorts of toys to play in the water. They also had a separate pool that resembled a large cave complete with waterfalls, stalagmites and stalactites! Besides the water scooters for kids, they also had larger ones for adults so you (LA!) would not feel left out! LOL! Breakfast was served on the terrace and the dinner meals were also wonderful whether I choose a buffet or went for Cantonese food. Delicious! In Haitang Bay, there are a number of resort hotels along the beach. Each one with some amazing architecture. The Doubletree Inn Resort where I was staying was right beside another Hilton property – The Conrad and I could enjoy the facilities of both. My room had a private patio with a swim-out to a private swimming pool - which I used each day in addition to going to the beach and the other pools. The awesome thing about Haitang Bay are the waves. Being on the eastern windward side of the island, the waves are much more dynamic with 3-to-8-foot swells! I just sat at the beach in one of the lounge chairs mesmerized by the waves. I must have taken over a hundred pictures because I was trying to catch a picture of the perfect wave. LOL! Walking along the beach, you could walk for kilometres on the soft sand. It was interesting to see that due to the force of the waves that perch or other larger fish would be washed up on the beach. It was interesting to also note that there were not sea gulls around scooping up the fish for food. I was also told to watch out for jellyfish but I did not see any. Guess what I found! (Inside joke!) As before, there were just very sparse gatherings of people on the beach, mostly around the access areas from the hotels. But there was still a number of activities that people could enjoy from hiring helicopters in order to have an arial view of the area to renting My footprints in the sand! ATV’s or even going horseback riding through the waves. But for me, I was quite content to lie back in a lounger and take in the scenery. Parallel to shore was a boardwalk that would link the various hotel properties and where joggers could run if they wished. The gardens and some of the other hotels were very impressive along this stretch of beach as well. In addition to the beaches, there were other amusements such as an aquapark with waterslides, they had a large Ferris wheel called the “Eye of Sanya” and an amusement park and other water shows like SeaWorld.

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