I had no preconceptions about Sanya. I didn’t even know where it was when the girl at Jinling Hotel was booking the flight. All I knew was that it was south and warm and I needed a break from Nanjing so I didn’t really care where it was – it was cheap and only a 2 hour flight away.
I had a couple of hours between booking the flight and getting on the plane during which I managed to book a 5 star hotel at a knock down price. I also had a look at some pictures and was pleased with what I saw – beaches, mountains, boats etc.
The exciting thing about arriving at midnight is that you have to wait until the morning to see what the place looks like. In the morning I was not disappointed with the view of the harbour – a sort of mini version of Monaco.
Of course I headed straight for the beach and was pleasantly surprised at the relative peace and quiet given it was still the May holiday.
One thing I wasn’t expecting was so much cyrillic script – an indication of a strong Russian contingent. It’s a nice place but what are the Russians doing coming all the way here? Seems a long way to come and yet there must be lots of them as there are so many Russian restaurants and shops.
The place is friendly and the people are good natured. I have been taking the local air-conditioned buses to and fro, which at 70p for an hour is reasonable. Although the timetables are all in Chinese I have been able to navigate my way around using them and my iPhone Google map app (would be lost without it – literally!).
Took a look (and a dip) at the hotel swimming pool tonight and have decided that tomorrow I will spend all day there, lying amongst the palm trees around the roof top pool looking out over the harbour.
All the unpleasant work I have been doing recently is suddenly all worth the trouble. Let’s spend our money on experiences rather than accumulating stuff.
