Sanya Bay

Alright, I could pretend like the week and a half since we returned from Sanya was used to properly reflect on the vacation before I post final thoughts about China’s only tropical destination. But that would be a lie.

Every time I go on vacation I think to myself, “Hey, why the hell am I not doing this ALL the time. This is great! Problems are so far away. The air is fresh. The food it fantastic. Life is moving at a pace I am entirely comfortable with.” Then I get home — load up the 200+ e-mails, overflowing RSS reader, and super-long task list — and I remember why one week a year off(line) is such a challenge.

I left off last time complaining about the DaDongHai beach and saying I was going down for a sunset swim. We nixed the swim and just walked along the beach admiring the sunset. Eventually we tracked down the location where we got married (three palms in a bit of a V-shape) and reflected on that hectic day and the sometimes hectic, but mostly wonderful two years that have followed.

A horse, of coruse, at sunset in Sanya

The next day was our anniversary and for dinner we had made reservations at a hotel in the Da Dong Hai area called the Resort Intime Sanya. The hotel has a nightly BBQ buffet and Maggie loves buffets (anyone that’s met me is probably thinking, “and what, you don’t tubby?” – and they’d be right, but man, the girl LOVES buffets).

The food was great. Though the standard buffet stuff was mediocre (for the 150RMB/person price tag at least), the long line of BBQs grilling and frying up all the meat and seafood your heart could desire balanced it out. Dining is all outside, set around a large koi pond that features a small stage in its center that was playing host to a (what appeared to be Filipino) duet performing covers of soft-rock hits in Chinese, Russian and English.

Fishing Boats & Sanya Sunset

For the last couple days in Sanya we basically just chillaxed. Before heading down we had made plans to visit some of the typical tourist trappings (Monkey Island, Nantian Hot Springs, ethnic villages, etc.), but in the end we agreed that chilling out by the sea was far more appealing. It was a vacation at all, and I was doing my best to momentarily forget about planning, scheduling, crowds, etc.

Our last night in Sanya we decided to grab a bite at a Western restaurant just outside where we were staying. The place, Fat Daddy’s, is run by an expat named Sheldon who made the move down to Sanya a few years ago after spending a number in Shanghai. While there I happened to run into Mario Cavolo, a speaker and trainer who also runs the Sanya Expat site.

I chatted to both about what life was like as an expat living down there, and I gotta say – it’s appealing – but more on that later.

For now, I need to resume the mass game of “catch-up” I’ve been playing for the past week and a half. Seriously, why can’t the world stop while I’m on vacation?

Maggie @ Sanya Bay sunset

Palms and the Sunset

The Crowds at Da Dong Hai

As I mentioned in my previous post, Mags and I are down in Sanya for a vacation and to celebrate our 2nd anniversary.

Yesterday we finally managed to get off our asses and go further than the beach across the road. We headed down to Da Dong Hai – a beach we had heard was much better than the somewhat murky waters of Sanya Bay, where we’re staying.

Getting onto the beach I was immediately surprised with its lack of depth. Perhaps it is the several rows of loungers, or the reddening mass of sunbathers, but the relatively long horse-shoe shaped beach seemed extremely cramped and crowded.

Swimming is sectioned off into floating squares, protecting swimmers from parts of the beach where numerous motorboats and seadoos land and launch from.

Maggie showing off her new swimsuit

We moved down to the far eastern end of the beach, where we managed to find a square of sand to drop our gear while we took a dip. The water at Da Dong Hai is no clearer than the water at Sanya Bay – meaning visibility was next to nil. However, unlike Sanya Bay, while walking out into the surf at Da Dong Hai I was continuously stepping on stones and shells, and wading through garbage and chunks of seaweed.

Needless to say, I wasn’t impressed. I stayed in the water just long enough to get wet and then hit the beach to work on my melanoma tan. Maggie tolerated the water longer than me, and then joined me on the beach – sunbathing with as much clothing and suntan lotion she could get her hands on.

Me, doing what I do best

After upping my shade of red to “lobster”, we decided to walk around the area a bit and see if we couldn’t salvage an otherwise disappointing 20 RMB taxi ride to Da Dong Hai. Redemption was found in the form of a Rainbow. Rainbow Bar & Grill (99 YuYa Rd. – across from the City Hotel) is everything one would hope from a bar and grill – cold beer, great Western food and relatively good prices.

Mags ordered from the Louisiana menu (a decent lineup of Cajun food, but no blackened catfish), while I went with the house burger – loaded with cheese, onions, bacon and mushrooms. Most mid-level dishes where south of 50 RMB, which is completely reasonable by Suzhou SIP standards.

After lunch we took our time on the patio with a couple pints, reminding ourselves that vacation = no rush.

Tomorrow is our anniversary and we’ll be heading back down to Da Dong Hai as we’ve made reservations at a hotel for their seafood BBQ buffet. Afterward, I think we’ll head down to the section of beach we got wed on and reflect on our 730 days of marriage.

For now – I’m off for a sunset swim.

The wall at Rainbow - St. Catharines represent!

Sanya Bay - from our balcony

Mags and I are down in Sanya, Hainan, for a week-long sun and fun vacation to celebrate our second anniversary. Long-time readers will remember that we got married on a beach in Sanya. We are actually staying at the exact same apartment complex on Sanya Bay that we stayed at the last time we were here.

Sanya River splits the downtown in half.

Sanya Bay runs up the coast away from Sanya’s downtown area and is the most cost-effective (marketese for “cheap”) place to stay. Accommodations are largely serviced apartments which are rented by the owner (via an agent) and can be got for a fraction of the resort prices. We are staying in a place with a king-size bed, kitchenette (microwave and fridge, but no stove), cable TV and Internet with a nice-sized balcony with a sea view for 280 RMB/night.

I’ve never been much for resorts, as I’d much prefer to throw a blanket down on the beach then jockey for a lounger with a well-oiled speedo-wearing European. That coupled with the nostalgia of being right back at the place we got married to mark our anniversary, it’s quite cool.

The Sanya Bay beach isn’t as nice as Yalong Bay or Da Dong Hai (I assume from pictures and descriptions – we are heading to Da Dong Hai in about 1/2 hour for the first time, and wont hit Yalong Bay for another day or two). The water here isn’t very clear, but the swimming is decent, and rock free. Sanya Bay is also much more popular with domestic tourists than the droves of Russians and Europeans at the other beaches – this tends to make the beach sparsely populated during the high-sun times, as you rarely catch a Chinese out vying for the darkest tan. They will however stare from the shade of the palms at the pinkening hairy laowai as he runs around in the sun.

One annoyance of the beach here is that there are a number of motorcycle taxis driving up and down the beach begging to give you a ride for 1 RMB. I imagine it’s convenient if you need to go far up or down the long, long beach, but mostly it’s just completely annoying.

Well, off to the beach and then out for some BBQ. This is the first vacation I’ve had in ages, and I’m soaking up every relaxing moment of it.

This year’s Canada Day marked the fourth I’ve been in China for, but the first I’ve celebrated – and what’s better, we did it properly with a BBQ and beer!

I had tossed around the idea of doing a Canada Day BBQ a few weeks back, but some other Canadians here in town mentioned they may put something together and I didn’t want to conflict. Besides, with a recent move and an impending 31st birthday just a couple weeks away, I’ve plenty of excuses to celebrate.

However, the alt.Canada plans fell through, and so on somewhat of a whim Maggie and I decided to put our new apartment and adjoining backyard to use and host a little party.

Initially I was just going to use the crappy little BBQ I’ve had for a couple years now, but realizing I have a whole summer of outdoor cookery ahead of me, we headed over to B&Q (like Home Depot for the N. American readers) and found a decently sized grill for about 150RMB (about $20).

Alright, I admit, I wanted the big 550 RMB one, and was set to settle on the 350 RMB one – but my wife used her Jedi mind tricks economic common sense in illustrating that the 150 RMB one was the same size as the 350 RMB one, and only lacked a little bun warmer rack.

All that to say – we got to eat charred flesh for Canada Day. I did marinated chicken breasts, seafood pasta salad, and burgers. The burgers were the most amusing to make. Not really certain how many people would be coming, I bought a massive wad of ground beef, and after mixing in some seasoning, I had what looked like the world’s largest meat ball.

After fantasizing what it might be like to actually cook a meatball that large, I tore it apart and smacked the bits into patties. Good times.

In my rush to get everything bought and prepared, I forgot a few things – fortunately my neighbour, the handy and well-informed guy that he is – swung by the import shop and grabbed cheese slices, relish, mayo, lettuce and tomatoes to assure the guests would have all the fixings.

The grill took a bit of effort to get going, and once lit required my company pretty much the entire night, which meant I didn’t get as much a chance to hang out and chat with everyone as I would have liked, but all in all the day was a success.

As I had no real desire to trek into town searching for fireworks, I figured we’d have to go without, but my Canadian friends Mark and Sarah showed up with a big box of them (bought at a rather well-fought discount I hear).

It was nearly 10 pm by the time we got out and started lighting them off in our community’s courtyard, and after a couple window-shaking bangs we realized we weren’t making any friends (despite that we were operating under the guise of it being a celebration for the founding of the Communist Party of China) and so moved it to an unpopulated area a block or so away.

Being a work-night, things slowly wound down after the fireworks, and thus my first Canada Day celebration in China came to a close. It was great to be able to hang out with a bunch of Canucks and celebrate the way we do best – with beer and beef! Hell, we even sang the national anthem!

Earlier that day my neighbour Glenn came by with his golden retriever Huáng Huang and I took the opportunity to grab a few new photos with Addie.