Beach Vacay, China-Style

Caitlin and I getting sand-covered and sun-kissed.

Last month, our center closed for some much-needed air conditioning repairs. The closing coincided with a national holiday, May Day (the Chinese Labor Day), so by taking one day off I got five days of vacation! An opportunity I couldn't (and didn't) refuse.

Just south of mainland China is a little island province called Hainan. Known to some as the Hawaii of China, Hainan came much recommended and is only an hour and a half plane ride away.

So when Caitlin and I heard we'd have some time off, we bought plane tickets to Sanya and packed our bags for a few days of blue skies and sand! The train is cheaper and supposed to be really cool, since at one point the train cars are actually loaded on a ferry to get to the island, but would have taken too much time away from our vacation. Alas.

Hainan was everything we had hoped for and more. We were a bit worried about the weather, since we were going at the end of April and May is the beginning of rainy season, but it only rained the last morning we were there. Which meant 3 full days of sun, which I enjoyed too much!

A group of crazy hostel-goers enjoying the waterfall.

We stayed at a fantastic hostel, the SanyaBackpacker Hostel, which definitely earns its 98% rating on Hostel Bookers – it was the perfect place for us, and we met a lot of cool people in the few days we were there. The location is fabulous, a quick walk to the beach and close to a lot of good food options, and we went on a tour to a rainforest waterfall through the hostel with a bunch of other people staying there, which was a lovely beach alternative.

But most of our time was spent on the beach! The first day we never left it, really. There's a great beach bar, Macca (I can't seem to find it online, but it's right on the beach where you walk from the hostel), so we spent a few hours rotating between the beach and the ocean, went in for a quick shower and some dinner, then went back to the beach for a night out making friends.

Our second day was spent in the rainforest at the waterfall – it was a few hours away by bus, a very bumpy ride, but worth it to swim in the clear fresh water and wander across rocks along the river. The water is populated with these little fish that nibble at your skin, which tickles but is probably quite exfoliating.

Our third day we ventured over to a different beach, Yalong Bay, which was gorgeous. We used our white people inability to speak Chinese to our advantage and pretended to be hotel guests at some resort, which got us free beach access and free beach chairs under tiki hut umbrellas! A highlight of our trip. Yalong Bay was 30 minutes by bus away from the hostel, and well worth the small excursion.

Drawing a crowd - crazy Westerners being ridiculous is
apparently prime-time entertainment!

The last day it rained all morning, which was a great excuse for a nap. But by 2pm it was sunny again, so we went out for some last few rays of sunshine. One of the girls at the hostel had consented to be buried in the sand, an event which drew the attention of about a several dozen Chinese beach-goers, since the beach was packed for the May Day holiday A bunch of white people being silly in bathing suits is something that's guaranteed to draw the attention of any Chinese person unused to seeing Westerners.

But actually there were a surprising number of non-Chinese in the area, mostly Russians (some of the signs in the area were in Chinese and Russian, not English). And the beachwear was widely varying, from the conservative Chinese under umbrellas to shield their skin from the sun (most Chinese try to be whiter, not more tan, and go to great lengths to protect themselves from the sun) to the older Russian tourists in their thongs. We got some seriously wonderful people watching in while we were there.

Caitlin enjoying a fresh coconut.

And the food was fantastic! Plenty of seafood, and a fresh coconut every day. There's an area with stalls of seafood street food not far from the hostel, where we got an absolutely fantastic feast one night of mussels and crabs and fish and shrimp for relatively cheap. And one of the stalls was a micro brewery, so we had some of the best beer I've had in China.

All in all, it was a relaxing vacation. Plenty of sun and vitamin D, beautiful blue skies (a rarity in Guangzhou), and good company. A good Chinese version of spring break!

Anyone else been to Hainan? Any questions about Chinese beach style? Any suggestions for where I should go in China when I next get some time off? Let me know!