The Resort Hotel

After the first two nights at the other hotel, our group moved to a bona-fide Resort Hotel.  The Cactus Sanya Resort is located in the Yalong Bay area and offered everything expected of a tourist comfort cacoon; private beach, big pool, restaurant with killer evening buffet, sauna, gym, game room.  Most importantly, its rooms had air conditioning equipment capable of handling Hainan's 90 degree heat and 100 percent humidity.

 At the first hotel, Theresa and I were the only non-Asian guest in the whole building.  No one on the staff spoke English.  (I know that for a fact, because when I went to the front desk for help, the checked with the entire staff and could find no one to speak with me.)

At the Cactus, we saw the place was crawling with Westerners the minute we walked into the lobby.  Almost all of them were Russian though.  (This makes sense once you think about it.  Hainan is probably the closest tropical resort for a Russian who is looking to escape the winter weather.  For an American or a Brit, it is probably the most distant option.)  To the hotel staff, Theresa and I looked like every other pale, sun-starved Muscovite in the place.  We had the pleasure of being greeted in Russian where ever we went.