Wenchang @ Hainan Island - Photohunt 海南文昌之旅

Photohunt theme : Ball

It was evening when we reached Wenchang Rail Station. We were lucky to find an honest-looking cab driver who apologised for charging us 30 RMB for the short ride to the hotel. He claimed he had waited 5 hours at the railway station and we were the only customers he had that day. Wenchang is a small, quiet town with few tourist visitors. The locals do not ride cabs usually as the fare price is costly.

After checking into our hotel, we went out to meet our clansmen for dinner. We hired motorbikes to bring us to the restaurant. I was apprehensive and scared because both my husband and I had to ride on a motor bike. 3 people on a motorbike and without helmets!

But it was a good experience. It's been a long time since I rode on a motorbike. It costs 6 RMB per bike ride. It is the most common mode of public transport in Wenchang. We arrived at the restaurant safely :D

After our dinner, we went to shop for souvenirs. We were offered Hainan Island Chinese tea which is fragrant and has a slight bitter taste. Several members bought the tea leaves.

We went to a snack shop and bought some snacks to gift our relatives and friends back in Singapore. The prices here are cheaper than in Haikou and Sanya.

After washing up and changing back in our room, we went for foot reflexology and massage (99 RMB per person). The foot massage was so painful but my feet felt good after that. :)

We went to an open air food centre near a river for supper. I didn't dare to eat the food, the others ate traditional Hainanese desserts.

The next day, a fellow Hainanese bought us lunch. He bought fresh seafood from the local market and the famous Hainanese "goi yam" (desexed cockerel 海南阉公鸡) to the restaurant for them to cook.

There were about 12 dishes, some of the food are not easily available in Singapore. I tried a little of every dish so as to taste authentic, traditional Hainanese food. I felt so full after the feast.  

My husband's favourite traditional Hainanese snacks - sweet potato balls, deep fried peanut balls and salted egg yolk custard balls!

Nanshan Guanyin of the South Sea @ Sanya 三亚南山海上观音

The guys woke up before 5 am for their early morning Buddhist studies. The hotel buggy came to pick them up at 5.10 am to the hotel entrance and from there, they walked to Nanshan Temple.

They came back around 7.20 am and we went to the hotel restaurant for a vegetarian breakfast. To our horrors, the whole restaurant was packed with Chinese tourists and there was not much to eat - only fried noodles. The staff were trying their best to replenish the food but every time a new tray of food arrived, it got snapped up.

We had to sit in the driveway eating fried noodles. When they left at 8 am, we were able to get a table and had a leisurely breakfast.

After breakfast, we were walking towards the Guanyin statue and chanced upon this Nanshan Tree House in a tamarind forest in a secluded part of the ecological theme park. We detoured for a closer look.

The tamarind park has more than a thousand tamarind trees which are between 400 - 500 years old. Some of the trees have pictures of babies and charms hang on their trunks. Looks eerie.

The tree house was set at the top of a towering tamarind tree above a sand dune, accessible only by suspension bridge. There was a small path leading to a private beach with a fantastic view of the Guanyin statue.

Studying a map of the park, we would not be able to complete visiting the various attractions if we walk. We decided to take a train ride. We had to go to the main entrance of the park to get the tickets which cost 30 RMB per person.

The train goes around the park taking about 30 mins from start to finish, with many stops along the way. The must-see attractions are the Guanyin statue and the Nanshan temple.

Next to the train ticketing booth was Gold and Jade Guanyin Temple. There is a 3.8-m high gold and jade Guanyin statue (金玉观世音) in the temple. It is made with 100 kg of gold, with 120 carats of South African diamonds embedded on it together with other countless jewels such as pearls, green jade, emeralds and coral.

There is an entrance fee. The guys just offered prayers and we took the train to see the Guanyin statue of the South Sea.

Stunningly beautiful and majestic statue!

The guys offered incense and prayers while I took pictures. I discovered that we have to pay 20 RMB entrance fee to visit the temple, pay for the incense. To go up to the feet of the statue costs 50 RMB or 88 RMB plus a charm. It is annoying that we have to keep paying if we want to see what we came for.

We visited the Nepalese temple before returning to the hotel to pack our luggage and check out. We deposited our luggage with the hotel and had vegetarian lunch before getting the hotel buggy to send us to the main entrance of the park to take a cab to Sanya Railway station.

We were fortunate to get a lady driver who did not attempt to fleece us when we asked her for a quoted fare. I gave her 120 RMB although the meter showed 103 RMB.

Tickets to Wenchang were all sold out for the next two hours. There were people selling scalped tickets (黄牛票). We bought 2nd class train tickets for a much later time and while away the hours drinking tea at a fast food joint. :D

Journey by high speed train from Sanya to Wenchang is about 70 minutes.

Nanshan Buddhist Cultural Park @ Sanya 南山佛教文化苑

Stunningly beautiful

After spending time and money to see the sea, sand and rocks in Sanya, I was not going to waste more resources on Nanshan Big and Small Caves (next destination 大小洞天).

We were all tired after walking so much and the scorching sun was draining our energy, so I made the decision to drive straight to our hotel inside Sanya Nanshan Buddhist Cultural Park (南山佛教文化苑).

We had a slight problem checking in our hotel as Agoda had not sent payment for our rooms and the hotel demanded a 2000 RMB cash deposit. We had paid in full for the rooms a week before our trip so we refused to comply. The hotel finally agreed on 500 RMB cash deposit.

Our hotel is located at the middle of a mountain. From our rooms to the reception desk, restaurant, train stop etc, we have to call for a 6-seater buggy to bring us round. We didn't have to pay for the rides.

The buggy driver doesn't carry our luggage so we had to do it ourselves. Our rooms were huge and face the sea. Lying on the bed, we could see the 108 m high Guanyin statue in the distant. It is larger than the Statue of Liberty.

5.20 pm! We were famished and quickly went out for a meal after depositing our luggage. We went to the hotel restaurant but it was closed. A hotel staff directed us to the park's vegetarian restaurant.

The hotel buggy does not travel in the park so we had to walk to the restaurant which is a 20-minute walk from the hotel. Fortunately, the weather was cool and breezy.

The vegetarian restaurant was empty, it was closing for the day but the staff kindly took our orders and served the dishes pretty fast. Vegetarian dishes and they were so delicious!!  

We went back the next day for lunch and the dishes were just as delicious. Food and drinks are a bit pricey here.

It was still early after our early dinner, so we took a walk in the deserted park. We came to a Guanyin temple and posed for some photos with the eighteen lohans, :D

We came across another small temple .... there were quite a few big and small temples within the gigantic park,

There were some designated spots where worshippers hang red charms for good luck.

We saw a huge Nepalese temple in the distance. By now, the park was all quiet and deserted. There were only three of us. It was a fantastic opportunity to snap more pictures - minus the annoying crowds!!

Lots of greenery around us, it's so peaceful.... I love being so close to nature.

The Nepalese temple doors were closed so we could only take pictures of the building.

We returned the next day for prayers only as photography is not allowed inside the building. -_-

I had wanted to continue taking pictures of the Guanyin statue but my brother-in-law was exhausted as he had been walking all day. so we called it a day.

On the way back, the guys stopped by reception to register for early morning Buddhist studies which starts at 5.30 am.

Darkness was creeping in slowly as we walked back to our hotel rooms.  

The End of the Earth @ Sanya 天涯海角

Next stop after our trip to West Island - The End of the Earth (天涯海角).

Before we came on the trip, our Hainanese clansmen said if we did not visit this famous tourist attraction "The End of the Earth", we are considered not to have visited Hainan Island. OK,  we put it on our itinerary.

Entrance fee 105 RMB per person (peak season 1 Oct - 30 April ). Train ride 15 RMB per person. We exit in 40 minutes.

Busloads and busloads of Chinese tourists arrive. There are queues to buy tickets, long queue to ride the train, but no queue for taking photos of the famous rocks.

You can wait until you are covered with cobwebs and no one will allow you some space for a picture, so I had to include the strangers in my pictures.

 
The scorching sun was baking us alive. We brought our own bottled water, sparing ourselves from being "slaughtered" by the hawkers.

Not going to post pictures of ugly behaviours of the Chinese tourists. There are signs everywhere to warn visitors against littering and climbing on rocks (dangerous because of the slippery surfaces)... but they do it anyway. :D

Driver Xiao Yu asked if I enjoyed the attraction. I told him there are only rocks. He laughed and said that's what you paid to see. He disclosed : ALL tour agencies must include this in their itinerary or else their license will not be renewed. -_-""

Been there, done that...... I went to The End of the Earth.

West Island, Sanya 三亚西岛

The car we hired arrived at our hotel around 11.30 am to pick us up. The enterprising young driver Xiao Yu was moonlighting on his day off.

I had wanted to go to Yalong Bay but Xiao Yu said it was not on the way to Nanshan Cultural Park. He suggested West Island (三亚西岛), Tian Ya Hai Jiao (三亚天涯海角) and Da Xiao Dong Tian caves (三亚大小洞天).

Not knowing where or what is West Island, we were dismayed to discover that we had to take a ferry to an island for sea sports..... and we were not dressed for it. Xiao Yu gave us one and a half hours to explore the island. *Huh!?*

Entrance ticket plus ferry per person is RMB160. -_-

It was a 15-minute ride by ferry. When we arrived at the island, our eyes brightened up. The crystal clear water and white sand!! Unfortunately we didn't bring along our swimming attire. We could buy them but the prices were exorbitant!

There is a tram to bring us round the island but we thought we could see more if we go on foot. Big mistake. There was a private resort where a huge bull statue was located, we were denied entry. We must pay for the tram ride if we want to take pictures of it. grrr.....

Since we did not have much time, we skipped visiting the statue. My brother-in-law wanted to try parasailing. After checking the prices, he passed. hahaha....

We watched some tourists learn scuba diving. It would be fun to try.... the water is so clean and clear. We seriously need a dip in the cool water. We settled for cut-throat ice-cream cones. *long sigh*

Everything costs money on this island.... be it taking pictures with a parrot, resting on a beach chair, sheltering from the hot sun under a beach umbrella etc.

West Island is not a must-visit. $$$$ fly.......

So we had a photo shoot by the beach ... with a busybody lifeguard giving suggestions. hahaha....

Very soon it was time to go, and it was jostling time with scores of Chinese visitors to board the ferry. Glad to land safely on the main land. Feeling exhausted and withered.

Sanya City 三亚市

We had spectacular views of Sanya River from our hotel room. The hotel was recommended by a friend when he visited Sanya last year.

We went out for an early dinner as we had skipped lunch. The bellboy gave us clear directions to a good Hainanese restaurant behind the hotel. I ordered sweet and sour fish, Wenchang chicken and braised brinjal with salted fish. The portions were too much for 3 of us, but they were delicious.

There was a chef from Bangalore flipping pratas. We had a chat with him. He works for two months at this restaurant and goes home for 3 months before returning. The poor guy speaks a little English and cannot converse in Mandarin. It must be lonely for him here and he was glad for our company as he flipped pratas non-stop.

Before we left, he gave us a scallion prata. We offered to pay as we were afraid it would affect his job. He just smiled and waved us goodbye. We were thankful for piping hot prata in Sanya. :)

After a good dinner, we took a stroll back to the hotel, taking in the sights of downtown Sanya city. We passed the 7-star Beauty Crown Hotel which has a record number of 6,668 rooms. The 9 unusual buildings look like beautiful tree structures. I regretted not crossing the road for a closer look.

Found an interesting book dispensing vending machine (24小时自助图书馆). Residents of Sanya can borrow up to 3 books for 15 days with their library cards.

We saw a tiny ice cream shop and went in for a yummy coconut ice cream.

It was dark when we emerged from the ice cream shop. We saw the bright lights on Sanya River and decided to explore it. I think we walked more than two kilometres, taking more than 2 hours to cover both sides of the river between two bridges.

We met many local residents dancing or playing chess during our walk. The river is clean and there was no unpleasant smell. It was a breezy night, so we were not perspiring much.

It was a tiring day, having walked a few kilometres. We had an early night.

The next morning, we decided to have breakfast at the dimsum restaurant located on the second level of our hotel. There was such a wide variety of dimsum to choose from. There was a cart displaying cooked blood curds and innards of cow, lamb and pig, We chose vegetarian Hainanese snacks which were delicious.

After our breakfast, we booked a car through the bellboy. For 300RMB we could select 3 places of interest (exclude entrance fees) to visit and the driver will send us to our final destination at Nanshan Cultural Zone before 6pm.  

Haikou To Sanya By Express Train - Photohunt

Photohunt theme - Yet

We had a long walk along the main road after dinner on the 2nd night in Haikou. We were looking for a massage parlour and found ourselves in another neighbourhood. Saw a dimsum restaurant and decided that would be our place of breakfast on the 3rd day.

The restaurant was crowded on a Sunday morning, fortunately we didn't have to queue. I took a look at the dimsum and found the portions too big. Before I placed my order, the waitress asked how many persons were eating. I told her two. She politely stopped me from ordering when I selected four types of dimsum. She suggested I finished the food first before placing more orders. Thankfully I didn't order much because we couldn't finished eating them, so I brought them back for the chambermaid.

My brother-in-law arrived around noon. As we didn't book the express train tickets in advance, we took a cab to Haikou East Railway Station to purchase the tickets. There were long queues for tickets, I managed to get the last 3 First-class seats (99.50 RMB each) on the 2 pm ride.

Realised we didn't have our lunch yet.

We had more than one hour before boarding time, we tried looking for a place to have lunch but there were only snacks available, I consoled the guys that we could buy packed meals (便当) on the train. I enjoyed my train trips in Taiwan because of such convenient and yummy meals (坐火车吃便当).

Journey to Sanya takes 2 and a half hours. The guys fell asleep on the train, skipping their lunch. I amused myself by taking photos of the villages we passed through.

We arrived safely at Sanya Railway Station around 4.30 pm. The weather was extremely hot. We joined the long queue for a cab to the city. There are buses to the city but we didn't know the location of our hotel.

The queue cleared slowly. Glad the cab driver knows where our hotel is located and promptly drove us to our destination. There was no need to bargain, he turned on his meter. :)

We reached our hotel in 15 minutes. The hotel receptionist and the bellboy were very helpful. They recommended some places to visit in Sanya city and pointed out the restaurants serving good food.

My charming guys got us two rooms with spectacular views of Sanya River!

Haikou Qi Lou Food Court 海口骑楼小吃

Haikou Qi Lou Food Court (海口骑楼小吃) was strongly recommended as a place for good traditional Hainanese food. I checked up on the location and decided to take a public bus the following morning,

The guide books I bought were not useful, fortunately the map I took from the hotel listed detailed bus routes to various places of interest. The bus fare costs only one RMB per person per trip. *Wow!*

Besides the public bus, one can also hire the 3-wheel vehicle to get to your destination. The food court was a mere 15 minutes bus ride from my hotel.

It was still early when we reached this huge food court. We went round the building and took a look at the food. There were over 2000 types of dishes to choose from! We were very excited by the variety of food and they looked yummy.

We had to purchase a card which we paid 150 RMB (refundable 10 RMB deposit and whatever money left). At each food stall, we ordered the dishes and the cashier would deduct the price from the card.

There was so much choice .... everything looks delicious and reasonably priced. I have to control my purchases in order not to waste food. We tasted 15 dishes. I particularly like the Black Chicken Coconut Soup, coconut ice cream, salt baked pulled chicken and the savoury steam cake.

The hawkers come from all over Hainan Island, they do not have to pay rent, utilities nor service charges. To keep costs down, there is centralised purchasing of ingredients and a kitchen for preparing the food, profits are shared with the food court owner.

The food court is clean and no unpleasant smells, the food looks safe to consume, we were told there is no risk of gutter oil, LOL

This place gets very crowded from 11 am. We were there early, so we were able to get a table and eat comfortably,

After our yummy brunch, we walked to a nearby street on the left of the food court. It was the Tailong Taipei Food Street (泰龙台北小吃街). There are some stalls selling Taiwanese food and most of the stalls sell food from all over China. We just tried a Hainanese prawn fritter as we were too full.

We took a walk around the neighbourhood and took a bus back to our hotel for a nap.

We showered before going out at 4 pm to the street behind our hotel. On both sides of the street are long rows of eateries and shops. We met many locals who offered us tea and chatted with us.

We had dinner at a Hong Kong cafe which serves delicious soups and roast meat. They serve good milk tea too. Prices are cheap when we convert to SGD. :D

Spotted a Taiwanese Yong He Soy Bean Eatery (永合豆浆) on the second storey of a building, probably could have lunch here with my brother-in-law before leaving for Sanya the next day.

Haikou Trip - Local Night Market and Street Food

We were looking for authentic Hainanese food and chanced upon a street which was lined with shops and street hawkers on both sides.

Armed with my list of Hainanese food to eat, I selected a small eatery that sells traditional Hainanese noodles (海南著名地方风味小吃抱罗粉 RMB8) and coconut milk dessert (海南清补凉 RMB8).

It was our first time tasting these food. The noodles (bee hoon) were yummy.... the thick gooey gravy tastes similar to our Singapore Hainanese beef noodle. There are beef, mutton and roasted pork to choose from, but only pork was available that evening. I didn't like the dessert as the coconut milk was too diluted, too many ingredients and too sweet. :P

As we were walking back to our hotel, we discovered many snacks which we had never seen before. Curious we bought small portions to taste and chatted with the friendly hawkers. My hubby had a good practice with his dialect.

dried foodstuff  

We bought some food for takeaway to our hotel. There were half a salt baked spring chicken (RMB6) and 4 quail eggs(RMB1 for 4); mini pineapple (RMB5 each); coconut roll (RMB5 for a slice) and one MacDonald's Darjeeling blended tea (RMB28 - can you believe this!? And the open-24-hours place was packed with customers!).

It was half past six in the evening and this local market was bustling with people. The street vendors were doing a brisk business as locals stopped by to buy vegetables, live seafood, meat or some ready-cooked food for dinner.

local zichar and street food

It is interesting to know that we could buy the ingredients and then popped into a nearby restaurant to request them to cook a meal at a nominal fee.

There were several fruit stalls selling a wide variety of fruits. I was fascinated with the huge mangoes. I bought one mango which weighed slightly more than 2 kg for only RMB22 from an elderly street hawker. The mango was so juicy and sweet. Reminded myself to buy a crate back home on our last day. hahaha....

Hainan Haikou Trip

Both my husband and I travelled to Hainan Island at the end of March for the Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day). It was our first visit to my late parent-in-laws' homeland, so we selected 3 cities to visit before going to our village for the ancestors worship.

from Singapore to our Haikou hotel

We took the early morning flight to Haikou. We met many Hainanese at both the airports, they were also visiting Hainan Island. The Wenchang Cultural Fair 2015 would be held on 2nd April, we should be seeing many of them there.

We arrived in Haikou around midday, temperature was 23 degree Celsius - love the cool weather. We had to  bargain with the driver. The airport taxis do not use meters. The trip from the airport to our hotel was initially RMB100 but the driver reduced it to RMB90 after he picked up another woman passenger on the way. It would be scary if he picked up strange men to ride with us. *shudders*

Mingzhu Plaza ..... bikes for hire 

Our hotel was recommended by my husband's friend who had stayed here last year when he came to Haikou. It was located in Meilan district amidst shopping malls, eateries; and easy access to public transport. We were famished after checking in the hotel and quickly went to a nearby mall for lunch. The Hong Kong cafe was a bad choice as the food was 5 times more expensive than a local eatery and not tasty. Ish.

We spent some time (actually 2 days.... LOL) looking for a SIM card but discovered that we had to furnish our passport particulars and subscribed for a package. Before returning to our country, we must go back to cancel our subscription or else we would incur debts. It was such a hassle, we gave up getting a SIM card in the end.

gifts for subscription packages

We spent some time exploring the area surrounding our hotel. We took a walk in a park, found a huge supermarket that sells a wide variety of products(WOW!!), checked out an IT mall and finally ended up in a large book store for two hours.

This is the airport bus from Meilan Airport to Haixiu Road, Haikou city. It costs RMB20 per trip. Found this money-saving opportunity and sent the pictures to my brother-in-law who would be arriving the following day. Ha.

It was evening time when we finally lugged the books I purchased back to our hotel. We showered and changed before heading out for dinner.

Not far from our hotel, we discovered a local market and street food.