My Spellbound Travel Hainan Galore

Introduction

2009-04-26T02:03:00.001-07:00

The third tour destination to be added to myspellbound-travel blog. This time round, I went back to where my ‘roots’ were; i.e. Hainan Island. It has been 16 years since we had traveled together as a whole family. The primary factor was to go back to pray to my ancestors (扫墓) during this Qing Ming festival (or known as “Tomb Sweeping Day”); but since we have to go all the way there, we took on a five-day tour package as well to do some sight-seeing on the island.

Located at the southernmost part of China, Hainan (海南) literally means ‘South of the Ocean’. In the past, Hainan was a remote place where failed officials were exiled to this island. Today, this island is undergoing a major transformation, turning out to be tourist-oriented area. The whole island has now been declared as a ‘Special Economic Zone’ flourished with visitors all over the world.

30.03.2009, Singapore --> Haikou

2009-04-26T01:58:00.000-07:00

One good thing about going to Hainan Island is that there is a direct flight from Singapore via Tiger Airways (www.tigerairways.com) which took less than 3 hours. You can save the hassle of waiting for transfer and taking their domestic flight (*RELIEVED*). However, it is best that you go to the counter 2 hours before the boarding time to get good seats in the plane.

And yes, please do not confuse the Budget Terminal with T3 in Changi Airport, they are totally different terminals…And since it’s a budget terminal, the facilities are pretty budget as well. O_O

The very contented man heading back to his hometown…
There’s a Gadget Charger machine in the Terminal; so you can charge your electronic equipments whilst waiting to board your flight. There is a variety of charger brands and they even have one for the PSP! Pretty cool huh! All you have to do is put your gadget inside the slot and lock your item with the key provided. Very useful, I must say!

As it is a budget airline, try not to compare with normal airlines. Heh heh. There is no TV screen for viewing of movies, music to listen to; you have to pay for the food they sell on board (in SGD) and the pathway can be pretty narrow. I would recommend you to bring an mp3 player/PSP/Nintendo DS/book to kill time as it can be quite boring to stare at the ceiling for 3 hours. Haha.

That’s my sister impersonation of the Tiger logo…maybe Tiger Airways can recruit her as the ambassador. Haaahaaa!

Also, you have to walk on the runway to the plane yourself; there is no conveyor that leads to the door entrance. Something fresh which I have never experienced before!

And off we head to Meilan Airport，Haikou.

As it was already in the evening when we reached there, the tour guide brought us to have a quick dinner at one of the restaurants (海口鸿运大酒店) in the vicinity and we headed back to the hotel after that for a good rest.

We stayed in the Oscar Hotel (海口奥斯罗克酒店) for the night and I would highly recommend this to anyone who intends to go Haikou as the facilities are quite new and the rooms were quite spacious.

HAIKOU (海口)

2009-04-26T01:56:00.000-07:00

“Haikou (海口) is the provincial capital of Hainan Province in southern China and is located at the north end of the Hainan island.

Haikou is a fairly large tropical coastal city. Haikou has a different vibe to many cities on the Chinese mainland. The tropical climate is probably a major influence on the laid-back atmosphere. Whereas on the mainland many cars drive too fast, in Haikou many drive too slowly. The local Hainanese man has a reputation for being somewhat lazy and can be seen sleeping in the street during the afternoon and then playing cards with friends until the small hours of the night. Silk pajamas can be seen worn during the day and add to the atmosphere. You will not be hassled to buy anything which makes a refreshing change to more touristy cities.

You will soon notice the abundance of coconut trees within Haikou. Most streets are lined with them. Its greener than most Chinese cities and has decent air quality." – adapted from Wikitravel

31.03.2009, Haikou

2009-04-25T22:19:00.001-07:00

We had our breakfast in the hotel the next day; sumptuous buffet with a variety of food to choose from! Look at how pleased our faces are…. ;)

After the breakfast, we headed to our first destination for the day, the Wugong Temple.

31.03.2009, WUGONG TEMPLE (五公祠)

2009-04-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

“Wugong Temple (五公祠), A Ming dynasty construction dedicated to five officials who were banished to Hainan during the Tang dynasty for criticism of the government. This is a pretty temple in a tropical setting, surrounded by ponds filled with lilies, winding bridges and exotic palm trees. The main building is the Wugong temple housing life like statues of the five officials and known as the first building of Hainan. The Song dynasty poet, Su Dongpo, is also commemorated here. There is also a newer museum building here with further information on the five officials, a shop and also other exhibitions with absolutely no relation to the temple, everything is in Chinese only.” – adapted from Wikitravel

As mentioned in the above write-up, the five statues represented the five officials who were banished to the island, namely Li Deyu (李德裕), Li Guang (李光), Li Gang (李纲), Zhao Ding (赵鼎) and Hu Quan (胡辁). However, as some parts of the place were under maintenance, we did not get to see much of the historical buildings beside the statues.

Sugong Memorial Hall

This hall was built to commemorate Su Dongpo (苏东坡), also an exiled official to the island. However during his stay, he did a lot of changes and improvements to the living standards of the Hainan community.

These are the descriptive drawings of his major contributions on the wall of the memorial hall.

Something fun for you to try out: see whether you are able to figure out the messages which these drawings are trying to convey. *grinz*

Beside this memorial hall stood another building called Xixinxuan (洗心轩), which keeps all the historical drawings and writings during that period. However, most of the drawings on the wall were actually photocopies, so it was quite a disappointment.

However, the painting below is a very interesting word, which was written by ??? to his mother on her 70th birthday. The Chinese word is ‘寿’ at first glance, which means ‘Longevity’. On the other hand, there are two hidden 4-chinese characters in this word. Are you able to spot it? I shall provide the answers at the end of this entry…haa haa haa…

Outside the building lies the “desalination plant” Su Dongpo invented, which was able to purify sullied water to drinkable water for the citizens back then. It is really interesting to have such a filtering system hundred of years ago and though the structure was simply made (no machineries involved), this thing still works till today!

The purified water that flows to a nearby lake…

The area map…

And that concludes the temple visit. Well, so have you figured out the two 4-chinese characters in the painting previously? Heehee…here are the answers:
1. 生老百年 ( To live a hundred years)
2. 生母七十（70th birthday of his birth mother）

So are you able to match the words back into the painting now? =)

31.03.2009, BO’AO (博鳌)

2009-04-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

Our next stop is to Bo'ao (博鳌), located at the East coast of Hainan island. It is somewhat over an hour from Haikou and about two hours from Sanya. Boao is best known as the seat of the Boao Forum for Asia.

When we reached the place, we were greeted by the Guoxi Garden, which possesses many stones carved in the shapes of the different Asian countries taking part in the Forum. The garden was a mini Asia map, BUT we can’t find Singapore…except maybe the dot in the grass patch? -_-

This is the entrance of the Asian Forum.

The Chinese characters on the top of the building were mould exactly to the words written by Jiang Zhemin.

Rows and rows of coconut trees were used to beautify the surroundings.

On the way to the exhibition hall of the Bo’ao Forum.

A bird’s eye view of a coast formed naturally by waves on one side and calm waters on the other; the left side of the picture is the sea with really fierce waves whereas the right side is a river with calm waters. The uneven speeds of the waters on both sides allow sediments to be deposited and thus forming this coast.

A satellite picture of the Bo’ao…looks like a shape of the turtle isn’t it? Actually ‘Ao’ means ‘turtle’ in mandarin, hence this place is named “Bo’ao”. Noticed that there is nothing built on the turtle’s head? Well, there is a Chinese saying that goes ‘不能在鳌头上动土’(Do not touch anything on the turtle’s head), else it will bring bad luck. So there you go!

Photos of different delegates attending the forum…and that’s our Senior Prime Minister! (I mean the photo in this photo, not the person…hahaha)

A Chinese Calligraphy written by Jiang Zhemin for the Bo’ao Forum.

And that’s our very own Singapore flag! Yippeee!

A sculpture which possesses a dragon head with a turtle body…the tour guide told me that it was an offspring of a Dragon with a Turtle. Hmmm….to believe or not to? Haahaha…and yes, I almost forgot to mention that you have to PAY to take a photo with it.

From here, we have to take a ferry to the naturally-made coast mentioned earlier.

When we reached there, the wind was very strong and I noticed that there was really a vast difference on the parallel waters adjacent to the coastline; the water was calm at the side where we were traveling on and the waves were awfully fierce on the other. I’ve never seen such waves before in Singapore!

A video I’ve recorded…listen to the sound of the waves!

And that’s us going crazy…haha

As this is considered one of the tourist attractions in Hainan, hence they will be expecting many visitors per day, so they actually built a portable toilet on a boat…hohoohoh…I wonder where all the poo goes to…so think twice before you stick your legs into the waters….hahahaah…. With that, we headed back to the main land and left the place.

31.03.2009 XINGLONG (兴隆)

2009-04-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

Our last stop for the day was to Xinglong, where it is famous for its coffee. Well, there are many factories in Hainan that the tour guide will bring the tourists to buy their local products, and this was one of them. But beware, there are MANY people in such places and lotsa shoutings here and there…so do bring some ear plugs. Also, try to remain your cool…

These are the coffee plants…the coffee seed are the ones in red.

01.04.2009, THE LI TRIBE

2009-04-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

The day started off with a visit to the Li Tribe (黎村) , which showcased a lot of their historical culture.
A map of Hainan Island; the green portions are the mountainous areas, hence there are nobody residing in these places. Most of the people stay in the North-east part of the island (in pink) and the red dot indicates where the Li people are situated.

As it is considered one of the smallest villages in Hainan, they are overpowered by other tribes in the past and the Li women were often taken hold of to be their wives or even concubines. Thus to protect themselves, the Li women actually tattoo-ed on their faces, making themselves look hideous so that the men would not be interested in them. Kind of sad isn’t it! These three women are the living history…pls do not try to snap pictures of the people in the tribe as they will demand you to pay for invading their privacy! That’s what my dad got after he clicked on the camera…-_-

A little performance by the tribe…but all of them looked pretty grumpy throughout the show. Heh.

They have pineapples planted everywhere! How exciting!

The entrance.

SANYA (三亚)

2009-04-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

“Sanya (三亚) is on the southernmost point of China, at the tip of Hainan island.
Billed as "China's Hawaii", Sanya has long stretches of beach, water sports such as snorkeling and jet-skiing, rainforest hiking, and innumerable hotels ranging from one to five stars. However, Sanya is becoming more crowded and more polluted (refuse from tourism, unchecked construction) as each year passes. Islands and beaches that could have been compared to Hawaii a few years ago are still beautiful, but no longer pristine or secluded.

Even in January, temperatures hover around 30*C and the ocean is still warm enough to swim in without a wetsuit. Thus, Sanya is a popular escape for Russians fleeing sub-zero winters. Russians primarily stay at Dadong Hai (Great East Sea 大东海). Sanya is also a very popular vacation spot for Northern Chinese to escape cold, arid weather. Especially around Chinese New Year, the city will overflow with tourists. Fireworks will sound constantly, often being carelessly thrown around by children, for the weeks leading up to and the weeks after Chinese New Year. Sanya can be divided into four tourist zones: Sanya Bay beach, Sanya Downtown, Dadong Hai (Great East Sea 大东海), and
Yalong Bay (亚龙湾).
—adapted from Wikitravel

01.04.2009, Sanya, Sanya Bay Beach

2009-04-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

As Sanya is famous for its beaches, it would definitely be included in the tour package to visit the place. It really had clear blue waters, but the place was too over-populated with people that it did not seem to be as clean as I thought it would be. Litters were spotted everywhere and the people there can be really intimidating to hard-sell their products. I did not really enjoy my time there.

But the sea is really blue...something you won’t see in Singapore! Haha!

01.04.2009, Sanya, Dadong Hai (大东海)

2009-04-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

We headed to another beach after that, this time less populated but with many Europeans sun-basking. ;) Ha ha ha…it’s not against the law to strip over there (not like in Singapore), so you get to see loads there.

And yes, candid shots which we were unaware of….

…till I spotted the culprit and stopped him...hahaha

Can you spot the black octopus ‘flying’ in the sky? :O

01.04.2009, Sanya, Lu Hui Tou (Deer Turns Head 鹿回头)

2009-04-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

Next, we went to one of their famous lovers’ park, called Lu Hui Tou (which literally means the deer turns over its head…).

As it is situated high up in the mountains, it would be quite tedious to walk up the steep stairs. Hence we took a ride (something like roller coaster seats, but they are individual seats, not chained to other seats) up the slope WITHOUT a seat belt.

!!!!

Yes I was gripping really hard to the sides of my seat, afraid of falling at anytime and dying a terrible death. The safety standards were obviously not applied there; you can even hear the cranking of the mechanism as you were transported up the steep slope. Bleah! Thus, no photos taken in the process as my hands were too shaky to hold the camera properly….hahaha

When we reached the peak, we were greeted by a magnificent view of the Sanya city. Pretty, isn’t it? Kinda akin to the famous Hong Kong view huh!

Well, there is a myth on this park; this large stone statue above Sanya harbour tells the story of a hunter pursuing a deer to an isolated headland in the sea.

The hunter was actually seeking for the deer’s horns to cure his sickly mother. He spotted the deer and chased after it for 7 days and 7 nights (!!!). The deer ran and came up to this mountain, where it actually reached a dead end. When the deer could not escape, it turned over to look at the hunter with tears in its eyes. Seeing how pitiful the deer was, the hunter could not kill it and spared its life. However, the deer turned into a beautiful woman (who was actually a deity banished to earth) and both fell in love with each other. :)
Thus, Luhuitou is a place for lovers. Ever wonder what happened to the hunter’s mother? Cuz the story just ended there. Hehehe…. If anybody knows, do let me know! Or maybe I should not question so much and just leave the ending as it is.

And that’s me ‘touching’ the mountains….

And yes, we are on top of Sanya! Yipee!

01.04.2009, Sanya, Beauty Pageant Building

2009-04-23T06:23:00.000-07:00

After eating our dinner, we headed to another famous location where the different kinds of Beauty pageant were held, namely:

1. Miss World contest in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007
2. Mister World 2007 contest
3. World's Strongest Man contest in 2006

The building was shaped in a form of a crown as seen. When no major pageants are held, they do have their own performances every night, which was recommended by our tour guide to watch the show.

Before the show commences, they will have a half hour interaction with the audience outside the performance hall, where the audience were encouraged to participate with the performers to dance and play their games. The interaction was hosted in a humorous manner, which the host really cracked me up with his witty jokes.

With that, we headed into the hall. Look at how grand the whole stage is! And there…I got to experience the ‘Miss World’ atmosphere…haha. World Peace!

The one and a half hour show was about the diverse ethnic cultures all over the world; my dad took a lot of pictures and let me present them in this slide below:

You can take photos with the performers at the end of the show, but for a limited time only, so my sisters and I rushed up the stage at the last minute to take some pictures. Well, we were too late and were unable to take with the lead ‘Peacock’ (I was hesitating because I was afraid that it will be another ploy where I have to pay to take photos…I’ve encountered too many there!), which was quite disappointing. Nevertheless, we still managed to take with some other performers.

Well, the show wasn’t that fascinating as what the tour guide said…it was something like our Chingay back here, just that they have a wonderful surround sound system (hey, it’s for Miss World, so sound quality must definitely be good). It’s costly (200RMB per person!!) and I tend to doze off after a while…oops. Not my cup of tea, I must say! My take is, go to this performance if you have too much RMB to spare. Haha.

02.04.2009, Sanya, Crystal Factory

2009-04-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

Another factory visit…this time to a crystal factory, which was actually a short stopover.

02.04.2009, Sanya Nanshan Temple (三亚南山寺)

2009-04-22T05:51:00.000-07:00

“The Guanyin Statue of Hainan, also known as Guan Yin of the South Sea of Sanya, is a 108 metre tall statue of the bodhisattva Guan Yin, sited on the south coast of China's island province Hainan in the Nanshan Culture Tourism Zone near the Nanshan Temple west of Sanya. The statue has three aspects; one side faces inland and the other two face the South China Sea, to represent blessing and protection by Guan Yin of China and the whole world. One aspect depicts Guan Yin cradling a sutra in the left hand and gesturing the Vitarka Mudra with the right,the second with her palms crossed, holding a string of prayer beads, and the third holding a lotus. The mantra Om mani padme hum is written in Tibetan script around each aspects' halo. This is currently the fourth tallest statue in the world.

The statue took six years to build and was enshrined on April 24, 2005, with the participation of 108 eminent monks from various Buddhist groups in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and Mainland China, and tens of thousands of pilgrims. The delegation also included monks from the Theravada and Vajrayana traditions.”—adapted from Wikitravel

Our last stop for the tour was to visit the famous Guanyin located in the Nanshan Temple. This is one of the most magnificent statues I’ve seen and if I am not wrong, the tallest Guanyin in the world.

Though it’s a place of worshipping, you still have to pay for the admission charges to get inside. I heard that it’s 150RMB per person (well, mine’s included in the tour package, so I’m not exactly sure about the admission fee…heh heh), which is not considerably cheap! But if it’s your religion, I would say it’s good to go there to experience it at least once.

There are many temples in this place, housing many different sculptures of God for worshipping. However, I did not take any photos inside the temple, so I can only describe to you in words what I remembered from the visit. You can choose to walk, or take a tram (yes you have to pay, it’s not free) which will take you from one temple to another.

One of the temples you should visit is the Qian Shou Guanyin (千手观音, Guanyin with a thousand hands), as it is made of gold and it is really beautiful. The main Guanyin is accompanied by many similar but smaller Guanyin surrounding it. It is really impressive as the temple within is very dark but these sculptures actually lit up the place with their shimmering gold.

The next one you have to visit is the temple which housed thirty-three Guanyin. And that’s the entrance…

Inside this temple, thirty-three different wishes are allocated to each of the thirty-three Guanyin. Say if you wished to be successful in your work, just look for the Guanyin with this wish (the wishes are written on the panel of each Guanyin) and pray. There’s this majestic Guanyin situated in the centre of the other 32 Guanyin, which is to bring peace and harmony to the family; so if you are going there as a family, this is one you should not miss! Not all 33 wishes apply, so please don’t be greedy…heh heh.

There are many “Pu Ti” trees（菩提树, the tree which the legendary Buddha sat below to attain enlightenment）planted all over the place, and every tree was planted by the different Chinese officials with their names indicated on the tablets.

This tree is called 不老树 (a tree that never grows old), and the people there said that these kind of trees will not die (!!!). Even a fire cannot set it ablaze; you will at most see some smoke. However, though the wood seemed to be ‘strong’, but it is not useful as it can’t be made into furniture…and in case you are thinking that you will not grow old (like the tree) and become ‘长生不老’ if you eat the fruits, well, you have read too many mythologies….time to wake up…hahah!

When we were heading to yet another temple, we were told to look at the mountain at the background…spot anything?

If you look closely, the picture on the left (with a coconut tree) has some stones on the mountain which resembled the stripes of a tiger. On the second photo, there’s a tree which looked a lot like a dragon’s head. In the old Chinese saying, if you have a tiger on the left and a dragon on the right, it indicates that this will be a very auspicious location. And miraculously, this is a natural phenomenon. Amazing!

Next, we headed to a podium where we can see one the three Guanyin situated on the sea; this was one with her palms crossed, holding a string of prayer beads facing the sea.

And this is our tour guide and me.

After that, we went to eat the vegetarian food for our lunch. It is buffet-styled, and the food is really nice (best among all the meals I had there) so do remember to try it! But don’t be greedy as they will fine you for the unfinished food in your tray.

Our last stop was to get up-close with the grand statue, which was in the open air. Fortunately, that day was quite breezy, so we did not get scorched under the sun. Look at how big the statue is; I can see it very clearly even from afar!

For this Guanyin, it is cradling a sutra in the left hand and gesturing the Vitarka Mudra with the right, facing the mainland instead of the sea.

The atmosphere there was very peaceful and tranquil. I’m not sure why but I could feel the calmness within. :)

Alas, we had to leave the place. Of course, what is happiness without showing it out? :)

That ended our five day tour and it was time to move on to our main plan for this trip…the Qing Ming festival.

03.04.2009, Qionghai (琼海)

2009-04-22T05:32:00.000-07:00

Our kind driver of the tour dropped us at my dad’s hometown the following day and after saying our goodbyes to him and the tour guide, we booked into the hotel to stay for the night.

When the relatives in the village heard that we were coming, some of them came to welcome us…whom most of them I had never seen before. Best of all, my 70++ year old aunt came with a picture which was shot 20 years ago…

!!!!!!

When we saw this picture, we were LAUGHING. IT’S HILARIOUS MANZ! Where the hell this photo came from? I’ve never seen it. But there’s the 5 of us (me with my two elder sisters and my two elder cousins) in it! Look at our facial expressions! Whahaha. Really brought back fond memories. And god I do looked pissed off in the picture…hahaha…it was actually a photo taken when my aunt visited Singapore 20 years ago and she still kept it with care. Seriously, I do not remember anything about it…probably I was too young back then. Hah!

As the tomb sweeping day only took place the next day, it was still early and we had some free time to explore the area.

The streets of Jia Ji Shi…surprisingly it’s VERY CLEAN. I was so amazed. And yes, I feel SO much better with this kind of environment after five days of torture. Hah!

After our dinner in KFC (ohhhhhh yes I found KFC…and it’s NICE as I had not eaten something Singapore-style for 5 days), we headed back to the hotel. And while we passed by this medical shop, guess what I spotted!!

A goose tied in a plastic bag placed inside a box!!! It’s alive, mind you! Something I’ve never seen before which I really had to take a picture with it…children please not try this when you see a goose as it will really bite you. It tried pecking at me and quacked so loudly after it failed to do so…and the sound was really deafening manz…brrrr….

04.04.2009, Chang Long Hotel （昌隆酒店）

2009-04-22T05:28:00.000-07:00

Oh, I forgot to mention about the hotel we stayed in; it is one of the best hotels I’ve experienced throughout the trip. Only at 178RMB a night, the facilities are very new and you get to have a personal computer in every room for you to surf the internet. WOW!!! Just that the browser and icons are in mandarin, other than that, the operation is fairly similar. I was able to chat with my friends back in Singapore that night for hours, and I almost dun want to sleep. Heh heh.
You can book it online at www.changlonghotel.com, or give them a call if you are thinking of planning a free and easy holiday there. Highly recommended!

04.04.2009, Qing Ming Festival （清明节）

2009-04-22T04:47:00.000-07:00

After a dim-sum breakfast in the hotel, we had to go to the village for the tomb sweeping. When we reached there, we were greeted by many village kids running around the place…how can we miss taking a picture with them? ;)

Not forgetting the relatives (whom I’ve never seen before..hehee)

As it was the first time I’ve been to a village, I’m quite “suaku” as I’ve never seen such things before. Especially with chickens running around…interesting!

A brief visit to my ancestors’ house...

Time for the real task!
First of all, we had to look for my great-grandparents’ tomb. Look at how much the grass has grown! They took some time to find it as the tombs were covered by the tall grass.

That’s my dad working ‘hard’ to rid the grass… When we found it, we had to repaint the words with red paint on the tombs and pray. The last step was to light up the fire crackers to indicate that we had came back. That’s my cousin and dad with the fire crackers…dangerous!!

My relative showed me this coconut tree and told me that it was planted by my grandmother. COOL HUH? She effortlessly plucked the coconuts from the tree and voila, we have fresh coconut drinks! Damn it is Y-U-M-M-Y!

The next two tombs were the one we actually came back for; my uncle wanted to re-make a bigger and a grander tomb for my two grandmothers, so we had to be present to witness the event. Of course, everything must be in a good feng-shui location, so they actually engaged a feng-shui master to do the job.

While we were waiting, see our tired faces in the photo…that day was scorching hot I swear!! I think I was burnt after the whole event as there’s no shade to hide!

The process of setting up the new tomb…

Well, we weren’t as strong as the villagers, so we had to steer clear…and rest on the bike! Haa…lazy bums we are…

After everything was done, we could finally head back to my ancestors’ house to rest and had lunch. As usual, the kids there are very different from our kids here; they are not afraid of strangers and would come and join the crowd. Very cute huh! And they are camera whores! Hahaha.

This is my favourite picture of all…Jiajia and her brother…this girl is cute! But kinda unhygienic…haha… but I guess this is their way of life. My 70++ year old aunt and me…manz she is STRONG! She can carry >40kg of stuffs! How scary is that?

The final praying to the ancestors.

Noticed this dog? It will come and stay below the table the moment it sees people in the house. The dog will not disturb anybody and sit there quietly. As the tradition there is that people will throw bones and such on the floor during mealtimes, the dog has actually ‘parked’ itself there to feast on the bones. Smart huh!

With that, this wraps up the tomb sweeping day.
As I’m considered to grow up in a city area, this is something new I’ve never encountered and I’m actually glad to have experienced it. I’ve noticed that though the standard of living there is low and the people there lead simple life, but you can see that they are happy. The kids there are not as fortunate as Singapore kids but they do know that bonding is important. They know how to take care of one another even they are not related. Also, they know the meaning of sharing good things with one another.

From this, I’ve learnt how to better appreciate what I have now and not complain so much. Comparing with them, we are really very fortunate and we should really be contented.

04.04.2009, Haikou （海口）

2009-04-22T04:41:00.000-07:00

We left the village after that and headed back to their capital, Haikou. As it took more than an hour to get from Qionghai to Haikou (we were stuck in a traffic jam under the pouring rain), it was already night-time when we reached there. After booking in to the hotel and had our wash, we did some quick shopping in the vicinity. Of course, to explore the place as well…

The streets looked somewhat like Hong Kong’s Temple Street/Market Street, but a dirtier version. The street was crowded with people, probably due to the reason that it was a Saturday night.

I dun really like to go out at night because the streets are very, very dark there; the lights are very dim and you can hardly see anything. Also, the people tend to push their way through in the crowd. With so many people squeezing past, you have to be very careful with your personal belongings.

05.04.2009, Haikou （海口）

2009-04-22T04:30:00.000-07:00

This was the last day for us in Hainan Island. As our flight was scheduled to be at 5pm, we still have some time to do some last minute shopping around the area. And some last minute photo taking on the place.

As usual, the place is well-known for its coconut trees.

The traffic…you have to be a dare-devil to drive on the roads!
Their public bus. Looks kinda comfy huh!
The hotel we stayed in…Sun Plaza(太阳城酒店).

The location of the hotel is considered good as it is near to many shopping areas, but the customer service was not that fantastic. I feel that they should be more customer-oriented and try to solve problems, not push responsibility elsewhere. Oh, if you need a room with internet connections, you have to book the rooms located in the 17th floor only. Of course, it will cost slightly more than the other rooms. -_-

CONCLUSION

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Lastly, we took a cab from the hotel to the airport (approximately half an hour) to catch our flight back to Singapore.

Ten interesting things I’ve learnt from the trip:

1. The four famous Hainan dishes are Wenchang Chicken (文昌鸡), Jia Ji Duck (甲基鸭), He Le Crab (何乐蟹) and Dong Shan Goat (东山羊). Try out these four delicacies if you can.

2. There are herds of cattle roaming freely in the rural areas, some to graze on the grass whilst some helped out in the farm. Something you will never get to see in Singapore!

3. The place is kinda sexist in a sense that Males are more dominant than Females…the women had to do all the work whereas the men only enjoy their lives behaving like kings. Hence, the women there are very healthy and strong as they are the main people behind the farm…and even as construction workers! Let’s salute them! :)

4. When the people say that a certain place is nearby, they actually meant that it is at least a half-hour duration walk. So if you want to get to one location to another, be mentally prepared to exercise your legs. Else, just take a cab. Hah.

5. If you are traveling from one state to another by taxi, it is recommended to ask for a fixed price per trip with the driver instead of paying by the meter. Though it may be cheaper if you choose the latter option, it is not advisable as they will tend to drive you in rounds and you may have to pay more eventually.

6. Try to give exact notes, if not, small notes if you are buying things from the streets. Counterfeit cash are common, so do take note!

7. Beware of ‘hidden cameras’ everywhere; they will take your photos with you unaware and demand that you have to pay for it. And trust me, their photo skills suck. So just avoid if you can.

8. When you need to ask any questions, DO NOT (EVER) call the girls there ‘小姐’， call them ‘小妹’ instead. They will get angry if you call use ’小姐’ because it meant prostitutes in Hainan Island. Different language usage between here and there!

9. The people there cannot really understand English, so polish up your Mandarin speaking skills if you think of going there. Better still if you can speak Hainanese.

10. As it is considered a tourist attraction region, the pace there is quite slow and laid back. The itinerary is very relaxed and you won’t feel the stress of meeting the time-line every time you visit a place of interest. The residents there are also very laid-back, so you can just let your hair down and unwind yourself.

Thus, that concludes my Hainan Trip. I must say that this trip has been a real eye opener for me! Of course, hope you enjoy reading this blog! Any comments are welcomed. ;)