Hainan's Promise
I woke to the sound of loud voices. The voices were disturbingly near, so I peeped through the heavy curtains of my hotel room. In front of my hotel, a congregation of ladies teetering on high-heels, shading themselves with umbrellas from the sun, and men clutching white handkerchiefs to their foreheads, filled a pathway that flanked the hotel entrance. This was an unusual morning call, but it reminded me I was on vacation. Here I was in the Holiday Inn, Yalong Bay, Sanya, Hainan.
Coaches queued opposite on the road, and were revving their engines. I looked ahead of them and the congregation and spotted a white patch in the distance. That must be the beach. Were the crowd heading for the beach?
I felt a sense of confusion. Last night, all was quiet. We didn't see a soul during our one-hour drive to the hotel. But then we didn't arrive until 11:00 p.m., after an hour's flight from Hong Kong. I had promised my 4 year old son that we'd take him on a summer holiday with his 3 year old cousin, Yan, and her 14 year old sister and parents. Marcus and Yan were best friends, so a promise was a promise.
Would Sanya, Hainan hold up to its promise of being the 'Oriental Hawaii'? This was something I had to find out.
'I can see the beach,' I cried. My husband and son stirred from their sleep and leapt to my side. 'Look, there.' I pointed to the edge of the window. They gawped at the glimpse of the beach, and rushed to get dressed.
Half an hour later, we were joined by Yan and family in 'The Café' for our Asian and Continental breakfast buffet.
The sea-view from the café extended around its balconied exterior. Every five minutes one or two para-gliders would float across the backdrop of a small island and interrupt the sea-view, reminding us that we were in a resort that had the usual swimming activities: scuba-diving, deep-sea fishing, island-hopping, canoeing, and cycling.
A waitress asked in Mandarin whether we would like coffee or tea. I felt obliged to reply, 'ka fe,' (coffee) in my beginner's Mandarin, and my cheeks flushed in embarrassment for not being able to speak it fluently - I grew up in England and have settled in Hong Kong. Although my ethnicity is Chinese, I still feel unnerved when I can't speak Mandarin, let alone read or write Chinese. And that was what struck me about Hainan. Hainan essentially caters for the locals.
Going through Sanya's Phoenix airport, you sensed the Motherland's territorial grip when entering the airport lobby - a red flag with five yellow stars announced you were in China. And the immigration counters, were lined with queues of local holiday-makers. Now in the hotel, the scene at the airport re-played with the café filled with more local holiday-makers at the breakfast buffet tables.
Was the lack of non-local visitors due to the fact that Yalong Bay, Sanya was still developing as an international resort? Yalong Bay was designated a national resort area in 1992, and its sightseeing spots, which include the Shellfish Museum, Valley of the Butterflies and other hotels along the Bay, weren't completed until 1995.
We didn't learn about our hotel - the Holiday Inn - until our Hong Kong travel agent said, 'So you want to be near a beach? Why not book the Holiday Inn? It's only been open for two years and it's the newest hotel.'
He was right. Our hotel was the last hotel along Yalong Bay and it felt new. The walls were white-washed, the carpets were crispy bright, and the marble sink tops and bathroom tiles in our rooms were crack free and spotless.
But the chairs in the café had a distinct, worn touch, and judging by the number of full tables, the café was probably the most frequented place in the hotel.
Yet despite the café being full at breakfast, most of the people later disappeared. Notably, an American family sauntered into the café, just as we decided to leave and head for the beach. Perhaps the Holiday Inn was beginning to attract international visitors after all.
After changing into our swimming suits, we took a lift to the lower lobby. The lift doors opened onto a peach-marbled lobby, where the Chinese Restaurant - Hui Ting that offered dim sum for lunch, and the Tea Tree Spa were housed. As we passed the spa, I was tempted by the various massage options for over $100 RMB, such as the sunburn herbal massage for 'delicate skins'. But the spa wasn't as luring as the smell of sea air that wafted in from an open entrance next to the spa.
When we neared the entrance, another breeze speckled our faces with sand, and we winked to clear our eyes. When we opened them, the view was stunning -- in front of us, stood a row of red, gold-gilded chairs on the steps of the entrance. Two men, dressed in polo-necked shirts, tailored trousers and polished shoes, were struggling with a red banner that flapped in the wind. One of them shouted into a cell phone as he pulled the banner, and stepped aside for us. We didn't expect expensive chairs to sun bathe, but the banner did give us a clue as to their function - an international conference photo shoot?
'I'm going to the swimming pool,' Yan's mother suddenly said with a smile.
'I'm going to the beach first,' I said smiling in return.
Yan's mother crossed her arms. But I was rescued by the rest of our team, who all said in unison,
'Let's go to the beach.'
Yan's mother shrugged her shoulders and headed off to the pool, while my husband, the kids, my brother-in-law and I made for a wooden boardwalk that seemed to lead to the beach. We had to pause on the boardwalk and gulp in the view. An infinite stretch of white sand greeted us; on the shore, waves crashed against a blue horizon - we had beamed into Hawaii; no, this wasn't Hawaii, it was Sanya, Hainan, and the beach was ours. Well, almost.
We spotted a few telescopic matchstick figures on the shore. A green uniformed man was approaching the figures and was directing them towards a matchbox-sized ferry dock, which seemed to mark the boundary of our Holiday Inn beach.
In a bid to check the extended zone of our beach, we marched towards the ferry dock. Laughter roared ahead, and we had found the congregation of people, who had given me my early morning call. We had ventured into the public area of the beach. Stalls sold drinks and snacks, but no one regarded us as odd intruders. The crowd were polite and more interested in spying a boat that zoomed towards the ferry.
My son and his cousin, Yan tugged at my hands,
'I want to play there,' they said, waving at the empty, sandy playground behind us.
I looked at my husband, who gestured that we should make our way back to our Holiday Inn beach. I nodded in return and smiled with a sense of satisfaction. Despite the crowd, Sanya did live up to its promise: we were in the Oriental Hawaii and this was paradise.
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Fact file
Travelling to Hainan
By air: 1 hour direct from Hong Kong or Guangzhou; 3-4 hours from Beijing or Shanghai
Accomodation
For a list of Hotels in Yalong Bay,including the Holiday Inn Resort, go to:
http://www.sixcontinentshotels.com
For general information about Hainan go to:
http://www.gznet.edu.cn/WWW/scn/hainan/e_hn.html
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Published on 12/11/02
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