Sanya, Hainan Island, China

The resort has 5 pools, this one was a "beach" pool, half sand, half tile.
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Just a short 90 minute flight from Hong Kong and you can be on the island of Hainan, "the Hawaii of China". I traveled for 3 nights with my friends, Nancy and Patrick who teach at the high school. They have 2 daughters, a 2nd grader, Phoebe, and a 5th grader, Megan. It rained 2 out of the 3 and half days that I was there. The rain did not stop the girls from swimming in the five pools at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Yes, I did say the Ritz Carlton. As you may know, this is not my usual level of hotel, but Nancy and Patrick had already reserved 2 rooms for their family so I joined in with the girls by just paying a bit for having an additional person in the room. Good deal for me! This was luxury accommodations to say the least; TV in the bathroom at the foot of the tub, fresh fruit plate delivered every day, 8 restaurants on the premises, 5 pools, spa, outrageous breakfast buffet with food from around the world, etc.  There is nothing like pampering.

cool intinity pool
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We did not eat dinner at the resort every night because, as you can imagine, it was quite expensive. We ventured out by taxi to the city of Sanya, about a 30 minute drive from the resort. We went to a local Chinese seafood restaurant recommended by the bell boy where you walk up to the fish tanks and pick out your meal. We had fresh local crab, scallops and shrimp. All was cooked with a very generous amount of garlic!

the Hawaii of China..........

Phoebe with her mom, Nancy, in the infinity pool on a rainy day
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Day 2 was cloudy, but not rainy which was fun for a day of swimming at the beach and pool. It was also a great beach to stroll along and collect sea shells and coral pieces. My suitcase was definitely heavier when I left and added the coral collection to it! That night we walked down the beach to another resort (more reasonably priced) for a nice Thai dinner.

Day 3 was rainy again. Nancy and I hired a taxi to take us back into the city to get a massage and pedicure. We each got a 90 minute massage and a 30 minute pedicure for a total of about 232 RMB (Chinese currency) which equals about $30US. Not bad for a 2 hour treatment but........it was definitely not the Ritz Carlton! I kept forgetting that we were in China and people smoke everywhere there, even in a spa! We had to ask for another room when we were directed into a smokey pedicure room. It was awful! Mind you, neither one of us speak Mandarin. Luckily Nancy was smart and brought her Mandarin phrase book along. It came in quite handy! We were placed in another smoke free room and it was much more pleasant!

Megan's highlight of the trip was being able to sleep in the closet on the sofa bench!
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After the spa, we met our taxi driver out front and he suggested we take a ride to the Hau Yu Pearl Research Center, he suggested this by pointing at a brochure (he speaks only Mandarin remember). This area (and China in general) is known for their pearls so we were up for the idea. We drove in the opposite direction from which we came and before we knew it, the road ended, we were on a dirt road in the midsts of rubble, building remnants in piles along the road, people, biking, walking, motorbike riding in every direction, cooking on the sidewalk, ducks walking down the street, butchered chickens on the sidewalk tables, men playing mahjong, etc. We both were now wondering what we agreed to, could this road of poverty really lead to a "pearl research center"? Then the taxi driver took a right after seeing a Pearl Center road sign. We had turned into a construction site, bricks and cement everywhere, piles of sand, no pearls. We turned around and went back to the dirt road. The next right finally did take us to the paved parking lot of the pearl research center building. We entered the very manicured building (odd in the setting we just drove through) and they quickly went to work finding us an English speaker to guide us through the facility. Our guide explained the pearl developing process and explained the various levels of quality, level A, level B, etc. Level A is the best, highest quality and then she proceeded to lead us to the A level jewelry that each cost thousands of dollars. We had to tell her that was out of our price range. It was hard to convince her at first, but then she allowed us to look at the "cheaper" floors. After we purchased a few Christmas gifts (sorry they were not purchased on the A level, family members!), we headed back to the hotel and had dinner at the beach restaurant at the resort. Nancy and I were glad in the end that the girls decided they did not want to join us on the city adventure!

this was our view of the mangrove forest from our hotel patio
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Day 4 was beautiful and sunny and of course, I was leaving. I got up early and took a peaceful walk along the South China Sea beach, had my last amazing breakfast, played one more card game poolside, and headed off to the airport.