Thursday, February 23, 2012

A Day Warm on the Sand



Sanya! The Chinese Hawaii. The southernmost point on a Chinese island (Hainan) in the South China Sea. I kept hearing about it from other Disney English people, so I decided to go while I could still appreciate the warmth. It has been about -5 to 10 degrees Celsius (freezing) in Nanjing, so temperatures in the 20s (70s in Fahrenheit) were amazing. 























Sanya has 3 main beaches - Xianlong, Dadonghai, and Yalong Bays. I went to and stayed on Dadongbai. Fortunately, the expected rain stayed away. Tuesday, I played beach bum - I  walked on the beach (until I stumbled upon the nudist part), laid on a different part of the beach, read my book, listened to music, window shopped, explored the main streets, and got a massage. Very relaxing. My favorite part was going swimming in a resort hotel's pool.


Wednesday, I went back to the role of tourist. In the morning, I walked to Luhuitou on Sanya Bay, which is a famous peak in Sanya, known for the statue of Deer Looking Over Its Shoulder. A plaque said "Luhuitou represents the legend of mountain and sea and gathers endless love." The legend goes something like a hunter was about to kill a deer when a bright red cloud appeared and became a beautiful Li (Chinese ethnicity) girl. They looked upon one another and fell in love. I liked the views. 
Deer Looking Over Its Shoulder
View of Sanya from Luhuitou






















After that, I picked up my stuff from the hostel and took a bus to Tianya-Haijiao, also known as "The Edge of the Sky and the End of the Sea" (or the ends of the world). It's basically a series of giant rocks on the beach. But it's very pretty, and there are also nice gardens to explore. There's even a star named after it. Tianya is the Safe Stone, so if you touch it, it will bring you safety and happiness, and Haijiao is the Lucky Stone, which brings you luck. And there's another rock that is found on the back of Chinese money. It's interesting how the end of the earth is also in the greatest romantic paradise. 
Tianya
Haijiao






















Then it was back to winter in Nanjing.

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