Vacation/Break in Hainan, Sanya

April 1st was the start of an amazing Tomb Sweeping break on the island of Sanya. The exact location is near the South China Sea by Taiwan. The weather was in the mid 80’s all week and humid! Everyone knows how much I love humidity! The island had clear blue skies and clean sea air. I was in heaven!

The hotel my friend and I stayed in was booked for a steal! $250 for six nights at a five star hotel seemed impossible, but dreams do come true. Our hotel included a private beach, pool, hammocks, breakfast, etc. The room itself had a balcony view of palm trees. As for the hotel workers, my friend and I always kept them entertained by using our body language to go places and ordering room service.

The people in Sanya were relatively nice and friendly. Only a tiny percentage of people spoke English, so I improved my Chinese because my friend’s Chinese was really poor. The taxi drivers were by far the coolest people I met on vacation because we would get lost most of the time. So all of us would make conversation in the cab. Visiting lower Sanya was the first time I experienced angry stares. The area in itself was filled with negative energy, so we decided never to go back down there. But ultimately the natives were very nice.

Nice taxi drivers show us a great time in Upper Sanya

During the vacation, I only wanted to relax, rest, and recharge my batteries because I was so busy in Beijing. So all I did was eat, sleep, exercise, go to the beach, and study by the pool. But during the weekend, I spent my nights exploring Hainan night life.

Food in Hainan was quite a hassle trying to find. The hotel supplied us with a map, but even that wasn’t helpful. My friend and I got lost so much! One evening we got lost at ten pm and the only nearby restaurant open was at the Sheraton hotel. I ordered a Chicago styled hot-dog ($14) and got hit on by old Norwegian steamboat racers. But once we got use to transportation, we ate out comfortably. Sanya has the freshest seafood I've ever eaten!

The most relaxing part of the trip was my friend’s birthday. I was cool with the hotel manager, so I asked him to prepare a birthday cake and send it to the room. He happily put in the request and afterwards helped me study Chinese. An hour later, a couple hotel staff came to our room and sang the Chinese happy birthday song. For the rest of the night, my friend and I ordered room service and watched movies on tv. It was such a chill night.

Lexi's birthday cake with whipped frosting, dragon fruit, apples, cantaloupe, and kiwi

My vacation came to an end after six days and I was ready to part ways with Sanya. Once we arrived at the airport at 9am, the flight was delayed twice. We finally took off at 10:50pm! In between the time, we checked back into our hotel and slept. After a medical emergency, two passengers getting sick, and experiencing the worst turbulence of my life, we landed in Beijing at 2:15am. I did not get back to my dorm until 4am because the line to get a taxi was really long. But a week of relaxation made me smile through the nightmare. 

Despite the torture coming back to Beijing, I am extremely grateful that I had the chance to spend my break in Hainan. Chilling on the beach and doing everything I wanted (which was absolutely nothing) helped me recharge my batteries. Midterms bring it on!