Sanya - part1 The Disney Plane Ride

ME and I had gone with a Dow collogue to their kids school gala fundraiser one evening last month. ME had bid on several items at the silent auction and had won a trip to Sanya. Sanya is a tropical city on the southern most  point of China on the island of Hainan. It is billed as the "Hawaii of China" with long stretches of beaches, year around sunshine, winter temperatures in the mid 70's and  summer temperatures in the upper 80's. It has become a year around Chinese tourist destination.

With the freezing winters in the north and the rapidly growing emerging middle class in China, Sanya has become a very popular destination during the Chinese New Year holiday and for the mid winter school breaks. Because of the difficulty for many Chinese to actually live the country it has also become an ideal place to visit for a get-a-way during the winter months. At one time it was a very popular winter escape  for the Russians. Many of the street signs, billboards, and store fronts have Chinese, Russian and English signage. There are many Russian hotels and restaurants featuring Russian food along the beach area. We actually ate lunch at a Russian beach front/boardwalk café. The waitress who was Russian had been living there for several years and committed that there are less and less Russians now vacationing in Sanya. I think the Chinese have been taken over with their extensive building projects and all Chinese resort areas. We knew we were going to an all Chinese resort area based on the conversation or the lack-there-of due to no one speaking English when trying to finalize the travel arrangements.

The adventure began before we even left Shanghai. The plane with the cheapest tickets to go to Sanya was Spring Air, a no thrills low-cost China airline. When arriving at the gate and looking around we realized that we were the only westerns waiting at the gate. We were bused from the terminal to the plane sitting on the far end of the tarmac. As families got off the bus many stopped with their child and grandparents for a photo opportunity to document their child's first plane ride. As we walked down the aisle (we booked late so we were sitting towards the back of the plane) we realized that in every row, which had 6 seats across, there was a child under 5 occupying one of the seats. We found our seats and for me squeezed into it, my legs were jammed against the seat in front of me. Luckily the seats did not recline, I would have had to stand in the aisle if they did.  As the plane left the ground there was a low hooo coming from crowd. As we reached flying altitude the din of noise increased too. It was a mix of the Chinese who speak loudly anyway, the kids laughing, crying, screeching, playing with their little recorders and electronic games and generally enjoy their first plane ride. About an hour into the 3 hour flight, the stewardess came around  with their cart and that is when we realized how no thrills this airlines was. No give-a-ways, if you wanted anything you had to buy it, even the water. Looking around further we saw bags and bags of food that the Chinese had brought on board. They obviously read the fine print, in Chinese only, about the flight. Further into the flight these long announcements started  over the intercom system it seemed that several went on for 10 to 15 minutes. I have no idea what they were about.

About 20 minutes before we landed several of the stewardess lined up in the aisle and over the intercom system came a soothing voice leading the travelers in a series of exercisers to help "engergize you" and get the circulation going, which we all gladly participated in along with the crowd. Upon landing another hoo and haa came over the crowd and the Chinese version of the Chariots of Fire began to play over the intercom to celebrate a successful landing at your vacation destination.  All this seemed very surreal but all in all it was a very interesting and entertaining experiences.  

exercising before landing

enjoying the boardwalk

beach scene 

ME's in heaven selling pearls on the BEACH

Chinese enjoying the sun

view from the cafe

menu cover

waitress shirt

Next door to the café we had lunch at was one of these highly advertised outdoor karaoke bars. While we were eating, there were several folks who did get up and attempted to sing. I commented to the Russian waitress who also moonlights as a singer in a band, about the singing, she said that she schedules her work hours at the café around slow times at the karaoke bar, because the singing is that bad!

outdoor karaoke bar

if they only know how bad they are