Sanya Travel Notes | Our Island Trip

Hi! haven't seen you for a long time

Share a running account of your travels

Here we go!

The last meal before departure~

Sanshitang Beef Tenderloin Hotpot

22:05 MU2679 Destination: Sanya

Airport-Dadonghai

I landed in Sanya around one o'clock at night. It took more than two hours to travel from the severe cold winter to summer. The moment I got on the shuttle bus, it really felt unreal. The sea breeze, coconut groves, and salty water vapor rushed into my ears and nose from all directions, filling me with breath. The whole mouth smells of the sea.

I’ve really arrived in Sanya!

The Sanya Jingwei brand you saw as soon as you got off the plane

The B&B has an airport pick-up service. When we arrived, it was about two o'clock. The grandma at the front desk was still awake. She was so beautiful in a red floral dress and a silver hairdo. She was super kind and she slowly and orderly checked us in. She said with a smile: Come and have a look in the backyard! Just leave your luggage here

The real coconut tree stood in front of me, and the red flowers that had not been seen for a long time in winter were in full bloom.

B&B backyard

Our room is on the third floor. When you open the window and look up, you can see the blue-purple sky, shining stars, and coconut trees within reach.

Looking out from the window, the coconut trees are so close

Day 2 8:03 am

The sun is warm, the coconut trees are green, and the cats are basking in the sun downstairs.

Lazy cat!

I found a breakfast shop in the alley that might be owned by a local. It was opened in the garage and the large curtains were drawn to block the sun. There were three uncles sitting at the back table with their legs crossed. They had a pot of tea and talked while drinking tea. The weather was not too hot and the sea breeze was blowing, so it was very comfortable.

When I came back, I climbed up to the rooftop and took a look. The rooftop was the laundry room, and the sunlight was super warm. This place near the airport should be regarded as a village. At about five or six in the morning, I was woken up by the crowing of roosters next door and the rumble of planes flying overhead. Apart from the noise, the environment of the B&B is really great.

The grandma at the B&B was really super nice. “I’ll go take a nap when I’m ready. There’s no one there, I’m sleepy.” She found a bag to put our coats in, and tied them carefully on the suitcase, just like my grandma. .

B&B rooftop

clothesline

You can see open-top sports cars everywhere in Sanya, and you can see locals taking a hammock between two trees on the roadside to take a siesta. There are awnings when waiting at traffic lights in Sanya. The roads in Sanya are super clean. The sky is pure blue, and the green plants on the roadside are pure green. The sunlight is so dazzling that it feels like it has been overexposed. The colors are neatly separated and the contrast is strong, as if there is no trace of impurities.

clean road

Awning while waiting at traffic lights

Locals sleeping in hammocks on the roadside

There are plants on the roadside that have never left a mark in my memory.

strange

In the afternoon, I moved to the hotel in Dadonghai and took the bus which seemed very long for the first time but was relatively fast compared with the next few days. Route 8, for a section, drives along the seaside. The coconut trees and the shimmering sea in the coconut trees jump back and forth from the car window. This bus did not have a ticket sales assistant. The driver looked very tired and taught us to use Alipay to scan the QR code and give money to passengers with cash. Each stop had to stop for a long time.

Coconut grove and coast outside the bus

The Dadonghai Summer Department Store where we lived felt very trivial. There were winding alleys, and every road was filled with pedestrians, battery-powered cars, and cars. The battery-powered cars just happened to drive slowly and carelessly, but they were driving so fast that they didn’t swerve. Stopping without leaning, people in a hurry and people strolling slowly crossed the intersection. It was like a delivery truck filled with freshly caught sardines. It was bustling with people, fish and dragons mixed together, and various sounds intertwined one after another. There is always an endless stream of people, crowding the narrow road without leaving any gaps.

The hotel is very close to Dadonghai, less than ten minutes' walk. After returning to the hotel, we packed up and headed to Dadonghai.

The sea!

Dadonghai

After leaving Dadonghai, every shop on the roadside sells island clothes, swimsuits and swimming rings. When you leave one store, there is another store next door, and you can't go to the end. We visited many stores, and one of the ones we liked very much was only available in size XXXL. It was too big and difficult to wear. As a result, we didn’t buy island clothes when we arrived on the outlying islands.

The city tree of Sanya City—Tamarind tree

Dadonghai at night

Hainanese food

Then let’s sum up the food in Hainan!

We have eaten at the Chongqing Restaurant in front of the hotel many times. After the experience of not being used to eating seafood on the first day, we ate the boiled fish fillet at this restaurant and couldn't help but sigh that Chongqing people are really good at cooking. The food I order every time is delicious!

They live here and then open when people come to eat. We went there early in the morning and the store was dark. We called them down from upstairs, turned on the lights in the store and started cooking. We could always see them when we walked out of the hotel and back to the hotel. I moved two stools and sat across the road to enjoy the breeze.

A young man with yellow hair wears the same super baggy sleeveless gray T-shirt every day. A thin aunt helps us open the mangosteen and shouts, "Sister, you bought the wrong mangosteen." I miss you so much. I regret that I didn’t have any photos to remember.

I always feel very comfortable eating in Sanya.

Probably because there is always a cool sea breeze.

Jiqing Square, Mid-Levels Sailing Port-Yemeng Corridor

The experience of contacting the first experimental station was very tortuous. I went through several teachers and finally only had an online meeting. Because the experimental station is near Jiqing Square, I stopped by the Mid-Levels Sailing Port.

sailing port

Jiqing Square is not open

We also passed by a beach that was probably a wedding photography base. There was no one there. A brother and an uncle were sitting quietly on the beach blowing the sea breeze. We even wanted to order takeout and eat here. Dadonghai is really crowded, and it is so comfortable here.

Small beach without tourists

When I took a taxi in the morning, I saw a section of road that was super beautiful, so I wanted to go back by bicycle. As it turned out, the section of the road up the mountain was so steep that I couldn’t even push a car up it. I almost suffered from heat stroke due to the heat, but I happily went to the roadside to take a bird’s-eye view of the city when I saw a suitable spot halfway.

In fact, it’s only about six or seven hundred meters up the mountain. After reaching the top, it’s all the way down. You don’t have to ride at all for several kilometers, just keep going down. It’s super, super, super cool.

After destroying the strength of nine cows and two tigers, I finally reached the top

I wonder why the children are so energetic!

Overlooking Sanya, it’s so beautiful!

The past few days we were in Sanya were a bit cloudy, not so sunny, and the sunrises and sunsets we watched were all cloudy. I was rushing to the Coconut Dream Corridor in the evening. Because there was a bit of traffic jam on the road, I got off the car early because I was afraid that I would not be able to catch the sunset. As a result, God had no pretense at all and only caught a glimpse of the setting sun.

Sunset at Coconut Dream Corridor

Unfortunately it was cloudy and the only sunset shot was this video on my phone

Two children shoveling sand

In the evening, I was "beaten" and went to the seafood market.

This is another complicated story.

motorcycle

West Island

West Island Travel Agency charges NT$98 per person, but we bought student tickets ourselves for only NT$48 per person. It reminds me of the countless flyers I received from travel agencies on the road. Basically, after you hold one in your hand, countless people will continue to hand it to you. The purpose of collecting flyers is mainly to sit on the beach, and also to store the shells I picked up.

When you go out in the morning and wait for the bus at the bus station, there will always be countless people chasing you and asking you where you are going, trying to sell you travel agency projects or sending you there. In fact, I was thinking of signing up for a one-day tour, but in the end I didn’t find the time.

Sanya is really too big, with a long and narrow coastline, and every bus trip takes an hour and a half. Some buses barely run at all, so you have to wait for a long time, so it is true that you should not live in the same place all the time.

We are a children's ticket!

We need to take a boat to the West Island. When I looked out from the cabin window of the yacht, I was already amazed by the beautiful scenery on the sea. When I arrived at West Island, I immediately felt that the sea I had seen before was too rubbish. This is the truly beautiful sea, clean and blue, how can it be so clear!

cabin window

The ship is sailing to the West Island

The sea is so clean!

crystal clear

I rented a battery car for half a day and wandered around the fishing village for a long time. It was super comfortable to drive around, but I couldn’t wear a hat and had to stand against the strong sun. The wind was so strong that my hair was all tangled, and the photo looked like a lion's head.

fishing village market

Fishing Village~The end of the alley is the sea

Roof

West Island is one of the islands in Sanya with relatively few people and a relatively strong cultural atmosphere, so I chose to come here. After visiting the century-old coral house and the cultural and creative museum, Xidao really pays attention to environmental protection and has made many attempts to turn waste into works of art. It has not been commercialized much. This is the way of sustainable development. On the way to Niuwangling, I saw B&Bs being built everywhere in the fishing villages, and I felt that the future was uncertain. Maybe in a few years, West Island would be completely different.

West Island Cultural and Creative Center

"Hello, Life"

Centennial Coral House

The sea here is too blue. There are many check-in points while riding along the coastline. There is a beverage shop that is an internet celebrity check-in point on Xiaohongshu. The owner is extremely vicious. There is a shore that extends to the middle of the sea. We rode a battery car as if we were going to rush all the way into the sea.

too blue

Port and lighthouse

sea study

I picked up a lot of stones on this beach

After spending too much time in the fishing village, it was already past five o'clock when we set off to Niuwangling. The last boat out to the island is at six o'clock. So we were very pressed for time, so we basically drove all the way there and back. It feels like the Niuwang Ridge side has not been developed much, and a section of the road is in the barren mountains, which is very difficult to drive.

When I finally got to the beach, I was completely shocked. It was so beautiful! The pictures and videos on our mobile phones are completely unable to restore the beautiful scenery that greeted our eyes at that time. It was after five o'clock, the eve of sunset, and half of the sea was filled with golden light, shaded by green trees, and black goats jumped through the trees. I extremely regret not setting aside more time for Niuwangling. I can only take a quick look at such beautiful scenery.

At the end of the road is a rocky beach.

The sunset when leaving the island, see you on the west island!

Yalong Bay Coral Reef Protection Base

This area of Yalong Bay is a coral reef protection base, and the underwater world is also here. You can go to the sea to see the real underwater world. We were fooled. We originally wanted to take a semi-submersible boat to the bottom of the sea, but the project we got was a glass sightseeing boat. A boatload of people gathered around the glass bottom of the boat to look at the underwater corals. The coral viewing experience was not very good. , wandering in the middle of the sea for more than half an hour, the glass bottom is quite far away and it is not clear. But the experience of riding a boat is great, charging at high speed on the sea, and the water is made of white water by the machine paddle.

The further away from the shore, the bluer the water becomes. Does this mean swimming until the water turns blue? The sea on the shore is tender green, and when the boat sails to the middle of the sea, it is surrounded by endless blue.

snow white water splash

The shore is tender green

The middle of the sea is dark blue

Beautiful stay!

Atamisuo

Today’s experience was also very tortuous. I set out at around 7 a.m. hoping to arrive early, but ended up not arriving at my destination until the afternoon. I was so tired that I just went to Dadonghai to enjoy the wind for a while in the evening.

The night market closest to our hotel is Dadonghai Night Market, but I always thought that Dadonghai only had music bars and the like, so I never thought about going there. After dinner today, I took a walk and found that there are a lot of food here. , looks very good, but unfortunately this is the last night we eat here, which is extremely regrettable.

Dadonghai Night Market

Houhai

Going to Houhai on the last day was a spur-of-the-moment idea. I had vaguely heard of Houhai before, but I was afraid that it was too far away so I never thought of going. The end of the trip with Houhai was really perfect.

Despite the mixed reviews of Houhai on the internet, for the little more than an hour I spent hanging out after surfing, I absolutely loved it. Young people sitting around small tables in coffee shops playing instruments and music together, black girls and boys walking through the crowd with surfboards on their hands, big dogs and small dogs that you can meet everywhere on the road, hiding in the alleys A small art exhibition...

Walking through the streets and alleys, you will really feel that it is full of charm. This is also the only place where I wanted to stay for a long time when I first came here. Living there for half a month, learning to surf and enjoying the sea breeze is really very desirable. Even though this is a small fishing village, not as glamorous as the pictures on the Internet, it is full of vitality and freedom because of the young people gathered here.

The beach is full of surfers

Houhai ~ every shop carries surfboards

When I got back on the plane and saw the colorful braided hair, I knew she must have gone to Houhai too, haha

Here’s a beautiful water splash captured by a GoPro

I forgot to mention that I also went to watch the sunrise over the sea today. I got up later than expected, and met three cute bouncing corgis on the way out. I actually found a plastic chair at the beach. During the 27 minutes of waiting for the sunrise, I sat quietly on the beach, watching the waves rise and hit the shore and then fall back again. Round after round, I seemed to have entered infinity at this moment. .

The sunrise time was 7:27, and the overwhelming dark clouds above my head actually gave me full expectations, but I was still waiting for the last second, waiting for the golden light to pierce the thick clouds. The six children who were watching the sunrise next door have begun to sigh under the dark clouds. Is there still hope? Can we wait for that moment?

Twenty-seven minutes passed quickly without any change.

Well, our sunrise plan failed. Although, although we can't see the sun, subtle changes occur before and after the sun rises. The camera may be more sensitive than the human eye. The skylight overflows from behind the clouds behind the sea, and the colors are so wonderful.