#347 Sanya Vacation

We spent the week before Christmas in the city of Sanya on Hainan Island in southern China. Hainan is supposed to be the Hawaii of China and was pretty enough to live up to that name. We had wonderful weather and stayed at a waterfront resort on a very nice beach on the South China Sea. The ocean was not terribly warm, but it did not stop the kids from swimming eight or more hours every day. Kathleen and I logged less than a couple hours all week because of the initial chill of getting in the water.

We stayed at the Aegean Conifer Resort on Yalong Bay and while it was a beautiful location at an attractive 5 star resort, the level of service was quite bad. For example, each day we had to ask the cleaning staff to stay out of the room until we left. One day, one of the maids kept asking me what we did with the fourth washcloth that was left for us in the bathroom. We had not removed any washcloths from the room and even if we did, for $600 per night, I think they could afford to let it slide if we did. We did have a nice two bedroom suite with a view of the ocean, but would not recommend the hotel to others.

Activities for the week were primarily sitting on the beach, watching the kids swim, reading books, and taking walks. The kids took a whirl one day in the inflatable cylinders pictured above. All through the week, our kids drew the attention of many curious onlookers. They will play prominently in the vacation pictures of dozens of Chinese tourists.