Review of a trip to Hainan Island
I want to share my impressions of a trip to China on about. Hainan in Sanya. We traveled with a group of friends of 8 people in late October - early November 2012. They flew out of Ufa. A group of 16 people gathered from Izhevsk, so they ordered a minibus. There was only one minus: the 18-seater bus was too crowded, especially on the way back, since there is no room for luggage in such a bus.
Before this trip, I have been to Egypt and Thailand, so I will compare with Thailand, since the places are similar. I must say right away that in Thailand for a comfortable rest of tourists, the conditions are much better.
Hainan Island for the Chinese is like Sochi for the Russians. There are practically no foreigners in Hainan, except for Russians and Koreans. Therefore, it is much easier to meet a Chinese who understands Russian than English. And you can still fully experience the flavor of the lifestyle of Chinese vacationers. And they are quite noisy people, often dirty, shameless and unpretentious. They love to walk at night. The seashore at sunset turns into a gathering place for Chinese vacationers. Where is a cafe with karaoke, where are dances or songs, where are wu-shu classes, where is collective gymnastics, and so are kilometers of beach. Noise and din until the morning was on the street where our hotel was located. The street also turned into a continuous bazaar with eateries.
We stayed at the Haosheng 3 star hotel. The Chinese have a significant difference in hotels in terms of star rating. Friends from a 5-star hotel were very pleased with the service, but we have: breakfasts are very modest (the Chinese were generally given one chicken egg in their hands, at least we were not limited in this), there were no beach towels, there were cockroaches in the room, cleaning was so-so ( a dead cockroach in a corner could lie for up to three days). The pool is also larger for the Chinese - the maximum depth is a meter. In general, the hotel works as a transshipment base for the Chinese. Apparently, sightseeing tours around the island are popular with them, they are not lovers of swimming and sunbathing. Therefore, every day, clouds of Chinese settled in the evening, and in the morning they left early and drove on, and all this with the usual Chinese noise.
China is not only a country of fakes, but also a country of thieves. There are plenty of cases of theft. One of our women had her purse with money and clothes stolen on the first day on the beach. We unwisely positioned ourselves too close to the locals. In the following days, we became more circumspect and chose a place further away. Fortunately, the beach, compared to Thai or Sochi, can be called deserted. The Chinese themselves carry backpacks not behind their backs, but in front, like a kangaroo bag. And their windows are covered with bars not only on the first floors, but along the entire height of the building, even if it is 30 floors, thieves are so deftly operating. And this is despite the fact that the punishment for theft is very serious - from 10 years in prison. In general, you have to be on the alert all the time, just like in our Chelyabinsk.
We received the biggest negative from the work of guides, especially our Russians. Our guide's name was Zhanna. Outwardly very pretty. But you can only get information from her that can be beneficial to her. Most of the introductory lecture consisted of various kinds of intimidation, which we should not do. It turns out that we can stay with our group visa only within the territory of the city of Sanya, and that's it. You can’t swim on small islands near the city either, there are military bases everywhere.
Dollars for yuan at the hotel changed at the rate of 6.05. In the city and some cafes you can change at 6.15. Guides are silent about this. Zhanna sold Chinese SIM cards for a phone (a call to Russia - 1 yuan per minute, not like our mobile operators - 16 yuan) for 100 yuan (18 yuan on the account). In the city, such a SIM card is sold for 20... 30 yuan. Sightseeing tours are very expensive, 2-3 times more expensive than similar tours in Thailand. But if you go on an excursion with third-party guides (1.5 times cheaper), you can run into big trouble. The Chinese partner of Pegasus (it seems the only Russian tour operator in Sanya) arranges natural mafia showdowns with competitors if he finds out about it. But that there will be such persecution, Jeanne also did not say.
We were lucky, we did not have time to drive away from the hotel and they just dropped us out of the car when we wanted to go to the thermal springs from a competing company. Then we nevertheless went on another day, taking additional conspiracy measures. But for another group of our tourists, the Chinese Pegasus spoiled the entire tour already in its process. A similar picture can be seen when visiting competitive massage parlors or medical centers. So everything must be done quietly so that the information does not get to the guides.
About the markets, the guides said that they are not in the city. But in fact they are. There are three Chinese markets in the Sanya riverfront area, not far from McDonald's. It's just that the range of goods there is not very interesting for Russians, they are focused on local Chinese. The most interesting stores for us are located in Dudonghai: Winter-Summer shopping center and neighboring ones. And the most interesting products are Chinese silk, tea and medical products. In general, as knowledgeable people say, all goods on the island are 1.5... 3 times more expensive than on the mainland. So for goods it is better to go there, to the mainland.
More about guides. Some tourists had an insured event (the boy broke his arm), so there was practically no help from the guides. As they told the injured parents: you have the Moscow phone numbers of the insurance company, so call.
According to the Chinese taxi driver Boris 5... 7 years ago there were a lot of Russian tourists, but now it is becoming less and less. The reasons, I think, are clear. Therefore, apparently, the prices for these tours are now falling.
Now about what I liked. Sea and beach. They are cleaner than in Pattaya. Crabs are in full swing on the beach, because there are not so many people yet. Good local beer, especially yellow, and inexpensive local brandy. I did not like rice vodka, but coconut deserves attention. Food in Muslim cafes is inexpensive and close to our habits. Great choice for seafood lovers, but they are not cheap. The abundance of fruit roughly corresponds to Thai. I liked the little tangerines on the twigs, very tasty.
The Chinese approach to medicine is special: any massage parlor is a small medical center. And Chinese massage is a medical massage, and Thai, rather, commercial. Although, it all depends on the massage therapist.
The Chinese mainly drink tea for health, and not like us, for taste. Therefore, it is problematic to find a truly delicious tea here. As they say here: tasty is not useful.
But in general, the country is very interesting, and I do not rule out that someday I will come to China again. But already with a visit to the mainland.
