Hainan - a Beach experience!

Last week was the Dragon Boat festival and we all got enjoy another long weekend. With Paul´s parents around this was the perfect opportunity for us to explore China´s tropical paradise - the Island of Hainan which is located in the very southern part of China. So the six  of us took a 3 hour flight with China Southern Airways and checked in at the Mariott Hotel at Yalong bay which to be fair is one of the nicest hotels we ever  stayed in (and most expansive to make this statement complete):

http://www.marriott.de/hotels/.../syxmc-sanya-marriott-resort-and-spa/%20-

Despite the grand and international 5 star standard and atmophere in the hotel you could just not ignore the fact that you were still in China and we got to see and experience  some fun things during our stay:

1) In contrast to beaches and pool sides in Europe we never had a problem getting a lounger. This is not due to the fact that no one bothers placing their towels at 5am in the morning, more so because of Chinese are not very fond of sunlight. As a matter of fact I have seen a lady carrying an umbrella and beeing  covered up in long trousers, long sleeve shirts, sun hats, sun glases (nothing too strange so far..), gloves and believe it or not - a mouth cover.

All this effort is made to ensure that not a slingle sun beam can find the Chinese skin and turn it yellow.  Having seen this I would now not be surprised if the sun protection cream is even containing whitening cream to ensure that when Chinese People come home from their relaxing beach holiday, they look nice refreshed and - white. To be fair - they must find it just as strange that we layed around in the sun and eventually turned pink, followed by shades of rose and red before turning brown (the girls - despite factor 60)  and black (the boys with their quarter of Italian genes..)

So this would make you wonder why on earth they bother going to the beaches at all? Here is the answer: Because they all come out of their rooms at night! Once the sun is gone, hordes of people come out of the hotel, dressed in their swimming suits, carrying inflatable lilo´s wearing their bath robes and towels and enjoy their swim in the sea until late at night.(not sure if they are wearing moon protection lotion?..).

Later on we also understood why the hotel used those  massive flood lights for lighting up the beach for a romantic sea BBQ: It may have been as romantic as dining on a light up football stadium at night,  but it allowed everyone to enjoy the sea and for us was certainly entertaining watching people diving into the waves whilst munching chicken satays and lobster claws.

2)  Another great thing for the Chinese tourist to do is to buy matching his and hers hawaian outfits. In the picture above it may actually be a his and HIS one.. We were meant to buy them ourselfes but we were too busy taking care of our tan´s...

3)  If you were still not sure whether you were  in China or not than you  just had to keep an eye out for the cameras. People had their pictures taken everywhere. Sitting  on the beach during sun set was like watching a massive summer photoshoot for a fashion magazine.

 

4)  Last not least: Safety armbands - commonly worn by adults. Or even better- inflatble rings and animals to hold on to. I can only assume that a lot of people here can not swim because no one seemed ashamed of wearing them. Unless it is a fashion thing - you never know here.

 

Despite all the differences,  there is one major thing we all like and accross the nations have in common, and that is writng messages in the sand... :

The heart gives it away, the rest is Chinese.

Deep down in our hearts we are all the same..