Haikou (capital of Hainan province) has the largest concentration of mainland Chinese on the island. After spending the past few days in "real" Hainanese towns, Haikou simply feels like a watered-down version of Shenzhen. Due to silly work commitments (had to leave 1 day earlier), I brought Mum and Bro to a 4* hotel along Haixiu Road (near Haikou Park). Wanted to find a good place for lunch but as of Qionghai and Dingan, we were not able to find any in the 1st attempt. Settled for Wenchang Ji (boiled free-range chicken, one of the top 4 cuisine from Hainan) at a small eatery along Donghu Nan Road. It was not the best but the food was ok. Remaining highlights of my trip includes a visit to the hairdresser (got my hair washed/trimmed/blew for only RM15/S$3.33) and a last-minute shopping session at JiaLeFu (a.k.a. Carrefour) for some coconut candy.
I see this return to our roots as a revelation. After travelling to so many places, this is the first time that we came back to our ancestral villages. It must had been impactful for my mum as well since she had to wait for 63 years before visiting her mother's village; a place that only existed in her dreams. This is also the place where we understood the dialect - it is just like visiting a SUPER BIG Hainanese clan association. As a 4th-generation overseas born Chinese, I cannot consider this as home though I had to acknowledge this is were my ancestors "came" from. I wondered if the same would be felt during the second visit, but hey, let us just embrace the present moment.
As of all other trips, no single trip is perfect though this nearly was. In fact, the main agenda was to rediscover my paternal ancestral village, though this actually resulted in the only disappointment of the trip - the failure to find it. I suppose this would be another "excuse" to visit Hainan again; a place where eternal spring could be found. |
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Picking up fresh vegetables for dinner - the advantages of having a garden at your doorstep.
- impressions of Dingan, Hainan, China
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The evening view of Dingan City (along Jianlong Road); taken from my hotel.
p.s.: Dingan is just 60 kilometers away from Qionghai but the Hainanese accent here is different and we had difficulty understanding it.
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Booklets (advocating safe sex) and condoms were found on the table of my hotel room.
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We stayed in Fenghuang (or Phoenix) Hotel (RMB68/S$15.11 per room) for the night in Dingan, was just a stone throw away from the bus station.
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Evidence of minor flooding along the Eastern Expressway; this was due to the fact that Hainan suffered the worst monsoon rains in 100 years.
This was taken just before we reached Haikou (Eastern bus station). |
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wyattwang.com doing it in the City of Coconuts (a.k.a. Haikou), Hainan, China. |
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Nothing much here; just the leftovers of the good lunch we had before I left for Sillypore.
p.s.: We paid RMB56/S$12.44 for 0.5kg of boiled Chicken, 0.5kg of roast duck, braised eggplant with salted fish, spring onion with egg, rice and a bottle of beer. |
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The stark contrast between progression and deterioration. The one-million-dollar is who is the one that has progressed or deteriorated.
- impressions of Haikou (along Haifu Road), Hainan, China. Many property developments in Haikou may soon make it a stifling city |
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The staff at the duty-free shop in Meilan Airport closed as soon as most of the passengers had boarded the flight. This was probably the last international flight for the day. |
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The plane probably needs some cabin maintenance eventhough this is a budget airline.
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