This year, it was really tough to make a choice on where to go for our couple trip. I wanted to make it special since the hubby also turn 40 this year.
Last year, we did a Shenzhen/Hong Kong and we had a fight whilst we were in HK.. That is another story but that episode made me think harder on choosing the destination and activities to do together.
We deliberated from Bali, Korea, Japan.. but since we will do a extensive NZ trip end year, we decided to take the cheaper(est) option.
4D3N - May 30 to June 3.
Effective "summer" in an island which shares exactly the same climate as Singapore/Malaysia. And it's OFF peak season - not the most interesting place for mainland chinese to visit another sunny island during summer. End year is super peak since they will seek places to wear off the harsh cold climate.
I left the research to the hubby on places of interest but he complained endless that he had a really tough time. I had the easy job on booking the hotel and air ticket *phew*.
On transport:
Air tickets on promo can get really cheap. We took Jetstar to Haikou airport which cost less than S$500 for a couple. Inclusive of all the taxes and baggage fees. And it reaches the destination around noon. There's no time difference between Singapore and Hainan island.
After clearing the real seamless custom, the exit will lead you to Meilan railway station.
You will need to take a 5mins walk in the super clean underpass to the ticketing booth. Foreigners will need to purchase the tickets from the counter - which potentially can take up a good 10-15mins. Depending on the crowd. When we were there, the queue had about 10-12 pax in front of us but there is only one counter. It took us about 15mins to finally speak to the customer service officer who answers everything we queried curtly. Because of the 15 mins wait, we were unable to take the earliest train to Yalong bay station but had to take a later one to Sanya railway station..
 |
| the Queue |
1. you will need to provide passport to make the train purchase.
2. altough they serve local meals and beverages on trains, I would recommend that you buy some bread, cake, pie, cup noodle, biscuits etc before going on board. At the waiting lobby for your train, they provide piping hot water for your cup noodles, beverages.
3. keep your tickets well, you will need to exit with it at your final destination.4. it is worthwhile to pay for class 1 tickets - designated seats and comfortable cushion seats.
5. it takes 2.5hrs to travel from Meilan railway station to Sanya railway station.
 |
| really nice experience on train |
The sights along the railway tracks were pleasant, very neat plantations - rice, bananas, acres of coconut trees...
When you reach Sanya railway station, you would need to take a public cab to either the town or yalong bay - where the beautiful beach is.
Metered fees to town from Sanya station will be 50yuen. Whereas to the area of yalong bay hotels will be about 60yuen. that is, if you don't get rogue driver who drives you around the place on metered fees.
On Hotels:
We stayed at a villa at Pullman Sanya yalong bay resort and spa. Do print the chinese version of the hotels' address or name. the local cab driver don't know English at all.
The villa is alright, nothing like Bali W's resort.. but clean enough and facilities reasonable.
 |
| private pool |
 |
| Jet Tub big enough to fit both of us! |
We went to the overpriced market to have our tunch.
第一市场 Di(4)yi(1)shi(4)chang(3) :
- Enter market to get the seafood of you choice. Sea urchin, fresh fish, lobster, clams..
- choices of about 15-20 eateries to cook your seafood. they call this 加工.
- the eatery will provide anything you want, however you want. Juice, beer, vegetables..- it's quite warm so.. so be prepared.
We actually did the reverse by picking the eatery first as the person from the shop assisted us on advising what to choose and play part on bargaining.
 |
| the market |
 |
| clams - alot more varieties! |
 |
| mud crabs |
 |
| abalone |
 |
| fresh sea water fish |
 |
| Sea urchins - steam with beaten egg |
 |
| lobster - fresh and steamed |
 |
beer - to cool off the heat and goes well with seafood
|
 |
| how the shop looks from sitting from the inside.. |
This tunch cost us around S$100 for 2 of us. Really expensive considering the place. We hear that it would likely cost us half the price if we've weren't that hungry and would try somewhere more "local".
other things we ate:
- KFC - cheap and good breakfast
- 渔人码头 (new) - the locals may ask you the new or the old one as there are quite a fair bit of development so road names changes, new building sprouts.
This building has at least 5 restaurants worth trying. We had hot pot, delish soup in big bones and sides.
 |
| the yummy hotpot |
 |
| the seeds |
 |
| cat eyes with veg |
 |
| sea cucumber in abalone sauce |
 |
| don't order this.. taste like cold beehoon |
 |
| coconut juice - comes in milky form |
- Hotel restaurants - various hotels have offers depending on the time. We were suppose to go for a BBQ at globe hotel but decided to go out for food instead.
During the cab rides, I noticed that there are huge restaurants along the way and I do suppose it's catered for drive ins and tour groups. Next time perhaps.
- Fruits.. huge variety of tropical fruits... but not sweet. We tried the lychee which is sour. The peach is totally disappointing. The mango should be good but it's larger than the usual ones so it's kinda suspicious.
Oh and they are tough to bargain. U take it or leave it.
- before we left home.. we had to try a plate of hainan chicken rice. The rice has very very slight chicken stock fragrance... chicken fresh but tough, reminds me of the lean chicken I had when i was young. nothing to shout abot, definitely old school. S$10 bucks for this set.
DO!
What do we do when we are near the sea? And this island is termed to be Eastern Hawaii? Sea sports of course!
So we tried to SCUBA dive. with no expectations but with a little fear since we don't know what to expect in terms of quality. at that time, I just pray that I come out alive and well. You see, doing the dive there doesn't require you to be properly trained. Lots of first timers there and the divers there does massive crowds day in day out.
The recycled equipments, suits, gears.. are in good condition. It's compulsory to purchase your own mouth piece. Don't ask me if they are recycled as I didn't even have the chance to try away the mouth piece myself, it was left with the company.
At 30m down the sea waters, I saw some sea urchins, quite a number of starfish, unattractive corals, specs of fishes and jelly fish.... Redang offered much better view even just snorkelling..
The whole experience cost S$100 per pax exclude meals. Total of 3-4 hours with taking a cab and boat rides, looonnggg wait and the whole diving ordeal is only about 15-20 mins..
 |
| the chartered boat that brought us to the island |
We realised thereafter that there are 2 other better ways to experience this:
1) charter a boat that comes with fishing, diving, meals etc. (pre-book with any of the tour tug) though risky.
2) hotel beaches offers all sorts of water sports. including scuba dive. Comparitively cheaper since you don't really need to spend on taking cabs and boat rides. AND the hassle shuffling through the places and the wait with the BULK of tourist. It'd make more sense to try that out at the comfort of the hotel dedicated sea sport centre.
- other stuffs we did at the beach:
swim (duh?!) but it was not enjoyable since I got bitten by the jelly fish. What do you when you are stung is to wash with plain water, ask the bodyguard for a lotion to put off the swell.
What will you then do if you can't really swim in the b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l waters with the clear blue sky? read and sleep with the sound of waves.. until you are disturbed by some shrilly, sultry voice of women trying to get pictures.
then try to rock on the hammock... and occasionally you will get a see a french hunk or babe.
otherwise? stare into nothing. haha.
but the beach is really nice, soft white sand, clear sea water.. with good facilities.
Night walks are romantic and nice. I wanted to see the sunset but was a little sabo-ed by the cab driver but saw the moon instead. It happened to be full moon so it made it especially awesome.
- 温泉, about S$40 per pax, you get to dip into 20over spring pools that has various flavours. Milk, ginseng, lavender, red/white/yellow wine and alot of other types of medicine and flowers.. good for blood circulation, smoothing of skin, healing etc.
they also have a pool where you can do fish spa.
that all?
For now I suppose, we didn't have any transport on our own thus time were spent on waiting and resting. We also treated ourselves a bit by hibernating at the villa.. pool, game centre.
to add some spice to the trip.. we spoke a fair bit with locals, cab drivers, tour sales person and even had a good conversation with a couple who shared the cab with us from XiAn.
We could be going there again - hopefully the next time, we will find the real stuffs of the island.
