Sanya – Why We Wouldn’t Visit Again!

At first, I felt we were a bit harsh about Sanya. Still, after we met some fellow travellers who said the same thing—some who had lived in China and travelled extensively through it—I decided to let my readers know what we thought of Sanya, on the island of Hainan. Furthermore, I don’t believe that I should only share the “highs” of travelling and not the “lows”.

Firstly… Why Sanya?

We had never heard of Sanya before we were asked to sail SV Lion Rock back to Hong Kong. Lion Rock was competing in the Hong Kong to Hainan Race, and it was an excellent opportunity for us to visit a place we hadn’t been before (which we absolutely love doing!) When we googled Sanya and the things to do, we were quite excited… it is known as the Hawaii of China! So we decided to go a few days early to explore.

Getting visa-free entry to Hainan…

The first thing we needed was a Chinese visa. We had to apply for one while in Phuket (If you want to know where and how to apply for a Chinese visa while in Phuket, you can read about our experience below). Long story short, getting a visa was becoming a real pain in the butt for us. So, after a couple of days trying to organise a visa, we found out that as Australian passport holders, we could fly into Hainan visa-free. We just had to arrange it through a travel agent.

I googled and found some information online, and I sent five emails to each agent, informing them of our needs and requesting their assistance. I didn’t get a reply. A few days later, we picked one of the agents and phoned them. Mr Ji told us what information he needed from us – a completed application form, a copy of our passports, details of our flights (round trip) and our hotel accommodation for the entire time we were there.

The main problem with this scenario is that we were sailing out of Sanya. Therefore, we didn’t know how long we would be staying in China before departing, as we might have to wait for favourable weather. We explained that to him, but he said there was nothing we could do about it.

To obtain visa-free entry, we had to arrive on an international flight; therefore, we could not fly via China, as most flights did. So we booked flights from Phuket to Hong Kong and then on to Sanya. We then had to purchase flights out of Sanya. We were not going to use the flights, so we just picked the cheapest flights we could find, which were back to Hong Kong. Apparently, we had to decide on which day we would leave Hainan, which, when you are sailing from your destination, is not always easy, as you need to watch the weather. You cannot go in a storm! Anyway, we picked a date, booked the flight, and arranged the accommodation for the time we’d said we’d be in China. We sent this information to Mr Ji, along with a copy of our passports and the completed application forms.

We hadn’t heard back from Mr Ji for about five days, and our departure date was approaching, so Dwayne phoned him. He said he didn’t have his computer with him and had been unable to check emails (wtf). He then asked us to send the documents via WhatsApp to his phone. About a day later, he sent us a copy of the details, asking us to check them. We confirmed all was as it should be, and then never heard back from him. Assuming everything was in order, we flew to China.

Arriving in Sanya, Hainan…

When we arrived in Sanya, we were actually in a small terminal that caters only to arrivals from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. We walked in and, we would have followed everyone else through to immigration; however, we made a quick toilet stop, and we noticed the “visa-free desk” We stood in line behind a couple, and a small family, for about 40mins, not knowing whether we needed to be in this line or not, because we had arranged our visa-free through an agent. However, we stayed in the line because we didn’t relish the thought of lining up at immigration just to be told to go back to the visa-free desk. (I’ll let you know here that the first staff member we encountered at the Hong Kong Airport asked to see our Chinese Visas. When we explained we were going visa-free, he had no idea what we were talking about and had to ask another staff member… thankfully, she knew about the visa-free travel.)

At the visa-free desk, it took the staff about 20 minutes to process each group, and then it was finally our turn. We had to show proof of our return ticket and all our accommodation. Once that was done, over one hour after we got off the plane, we went through the health quarantine area, where we were asked by the police to take a seat.

We sat about 10 metres from the immigration desk, wondering how long this would take. Every other passenger had been processed and was on the way to their hotels! Finally, after about 15 minutes, we were invited to go up to immigration and were allowed to enter China. We picked up our checked luggage – the last two lone bags on the carousel going around and around – then went out to get a taxi. Something worth noting here is that we didn’t have any Chinese money and wanted to withdraw some from an ATM. We found an ATM, but it wouldn’t give us money. I’m not sure why… maybe it had just run out of cash.

A taxi driver approached us, and we agreed to let him drive us to our hotel, but we told him we had no cash and needed to use an ATM. He let us know that it was okay, and we were pretty sure he meant the hotel would have an ATM. So we got in the car. When we arrived at the hotel, the name on the hotel was similar but not the same as the name on Booking.com. This concerned us, so before we retrieved our luggage from the boot of the car, I checked with the door person to confirm that this was indeed the right place. It was. Dwayne went and got money, paid the taxi driver, and we checked in.

Our flight had arrived at midday, and it was now 15:30, so we went for a walk in search of a late lunch/early dinner, after which we walked along the beachfront at Dadonghai.

So what disappointed us about Sanya?

The day after our arrival, we decided to go sightseeing. I had, in the interim, been researching what there was to do at Sanya. I discovered there were hot springs, waterfalls, forest walks and a colossal statue (bigger than the Statue of Liberty). However, nothing was close by, so we decided to hire a motorbike (scooter). We went into a bike-hire shop and tried to hire a motorbike… We had no luck… the lady didn’t speak English. She showed us a laminated form with information on cars and bikes for hire, including their prices. We pointed to one that said ¥ 50, and she said something in Chinese… What? I have no idea. Dwayne pulled out ¥ 50 and said he’d like to hire a bike for the day. She said something in Chinese (a lot of something), but again, we had no idea what she was saying. After five minutes of this, we realised it just wasn’t going to happen, so we said thank you and left.

It was then that we decided we’d do a day tour to see some of the sights. We went to a tour agent. They also spoke no English, so we pointed to the photos on the walls of the waterfall and tried to explain that we would like to go there. This time, they didn’t even bother to get out of their chairs and approach us or try to help. They merely said something in Chinese and looked away. Definitely not going to happen! We tried a few more tour agents with similar results, so we gave up. We decided to make the most of the few days we had there by walking on the beach and enjoying our meals (which we both love)! We relaxed by the pool one afternoon and also walked into the city of Sanya, where we found some street markets and bought some trinkets. We also enjoyed a seafood feast or two!

What were we doing wrong? Did I have food on my face? Were Dwayne’s pants undone?

I’ll just say here that we have travelled in so many places, in the “back of beyond” or “dingo whoop whoop” as us Aussies like to call it, in places like Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, etc. We have not been able to speak their language, and they haven’t spoken English. Unlike Sanya, we were able to, through actions (a fun game or two of charades), get the message across that we wanted something to eat, hire or catch transport, or ask directions, etc. The main difference we detected was that when in these Southeast Asia countries, our attempts to explain ourselves were met with smiles, laughter and usually, the help we needed. We never felt that we were being intrusive, annoying or a bother to the people; in fact, most people appear to really appreciate the fact that we approached them. Not so in Sanya…

In Sanya, we found the people unhelpful and outright rude. That is generalising, I know… but it was voiced by more than just us. Other travellers we met said the same thing. In fact, we did encounter one charming Chinese lady, who, with the help of a voice translation app, chatted with us and tried to assist us.

Furthermore, I am sure that if we had been in Sanya for more than four days, we would have met more helpful people. Unfortunately, our experience there has impacted our desire to travel there again. However, if we are called upon to deliver a boat from there again, we wouldn’t say no. We would still go. Maybe with a little more preparation, we might get to enjoy more of what Sanya and the island of Hainan have to offer.

Now, on the other hand, if you are Russian, you will probably love the place; it seems that many do. Sanya, otherwise known as “Hawaii of China” (due to its tropical climate, beautiful beaches, and scenery), is also known as “Little Moscow” because of the significant Russian tourist presence. I heard many local Chinese people speak to us in Russian, which we could not understand. Furthermore, many of the food and beverage menus also have Russian translations, as do the tour agents, massage parlours, etc. I believe it is also a popular tourist destination for mainland Chinese, which is entirely understandable, as it is a beautiful island and offers a range of great things to see and do. Unfortunately, we were not adequately prepared for this non-English speaking environment and missed out on a great deal.

Things we didn’t like about Sanya…

• A lot of the restaurants have the plates and cutlery wrapped in single-use plastic (not very environmentally friendly).
• There’s very little to do unless you have an interpreter or speak Chinese (and possibly Russian).
• People were rude and unhelpful.

Things we liked about Sanya…

• Motorbikes are electric, which makes the streets quieter, less smoggy, and they are environmentally friendly.
• The electric power boxes (or that’s what I think they are) are painted with murals.
• We had some delicious seafood meals, including yummy chilli clams and garlic prawns.
• There are lots of lovely gardens around.
• For sailors, the Sanya Marina good.
• Dadonghai Beach is a lovely, touristy area with many restaurants.

Verdict?

I would never say to anyone, ‘Don’t go there. ‘ However, I did want to pass on our experience. If it’s a place you’d like to visit, I hope you have a great time! If you’ve been there before, I’d love for you to share your experience in the comments below —good or bad. I’d like my readers to have other perspectives to draw on.