Sanya's Public Beach

Most tourist spots like Sanya have two basic types of hotels - Resort Hotels and Attraction Hotels.   The Resort Hotel has all the comforts - private beach, big swimming pool, posh shops, nice restaurant.  It is intended for people who want to spend 80% of their time lounging around, relaxing, and being pampered by courteous staff.  When you go to a Resort Hotel, the only time you need a taxi is to come from and go to the airport.  Think Four Seasons of the Polynesian Resort at Disney World.

The Attraction Hotel usually has little to offer other than a cheap bed and convenient access the main roads.   The Attraction Hotel is meant for people who get up early and spend all day going from attraction to attraction and just need a cheap, clean place to sleep at night.  Think Holiday Inn Express.

Our hotel for the first two days in Sanya was an Attraction Hotel.  The folks from Suzhou arranged the trip that way purposely.   All the Chinese travellers were anxious to get out and see the many attractions - the rain forest, the beaches, the shopping - and had no desire to spend extra money on a resort that they wouldn't utilize.  Luckily Fred and Andy and the others were kind enough to take Theresa and me along with them to the attractions.  (We had no idea what was on the island before coming.)  And the hotel facility was not too bad a place to come back to at night.

The best thing about the hotel, though, was that is was close to the Sanya's public beach.   This section of beach was for the local folks to enjoy.  It is where they would come in the morning to do their Tai Chi exercises and to take their morning stroll or morning swim.

In the evening, the locals would come to the beach for an after dinner stroll or to meet up with friends.   Once the sent went down, the beach came alive with music.   There were people playing traditional Chinese music on traditional Chinese instruments.  There were others who dragged out their boom boxes to play rap.   But the biggest groups were the dancers - big clusters of people doing the Hainan equivalent of country line dancing.

The folks from Suzhou saw nothing special about this.  They said that it's what "old people" do in every Chinese city...and that there were plenty of places around Suzhou where you can find the same thing.

For Theresa and me, though, it was pretty cool.  To see the best attraction we only had to cross the street from the hotel.