Travels - Indo China Cruise (March 2008)
(Day 8 - Sanya, China)
Our last port and our last full day of cruising was in Sanya, China located on the island of Hainan. Sanya is the southern most place in China and has become known in the region as "The Hawaii of China". It was our most disappointing stop and not to pop anyone's bubble, but Guam is about 100 times nicer. While I've never been to Hawaii, I think those residents should be offended by Sanya's reference to them and sue.

The reason I say this is pretty simple. It's China's problem everywhere. Pollution. Air pollution, water pollution, ground pollution. Sanya is just not a pleasant place to be. Perhaps we just didn't get the right spot, but everywhere we saw was dirty and reminded me of a Shanghai shopping alley stuck on a beach.

Fortunately, we did not plan to spend significant time on the beach in Sanya. Before disembarking, the crew was already warning passengers to be careful of swimming in the water there. Winds we running across shore so the trash was not being carried out as it usually might be. The beaches were full of debris so "watch what you do on them" was the warning we got.

Anyway, our day was spent on a shopping tour. It held a few points of interest for sure:
  • A stop at a pearl museum/shop and a chance to see the worlds largest pearl.
  • A tour of a silk factory to see how silk is made.
  • A visit to a tea house to sample Chinese tea and learn the proper way to drink, eat (yes eat) and in some cases wear (yes wear) it.

After this we did visit a beach for about an hour. Having seen the water from the ship there was no way I was getting in it (and our guide warned against it again). But Sanya is very popular with Russians and there were many there swimming in the waves. Of course on the beach and just beyond them in little boats were people raking trash up or plucking it from the water.

One quick acknowledgement.. The sand is the finest I have ever seen outside of Marco Island, Florida. If they could get the water clean they might have something good here. It's not like the place is without possibilities.

Also, to be fair, pollution was a problem everywhere we went on this cruise. From the time we left Hong Kong we could be completely out of site of land but we would routinely see trash float by the ship. Bits of white foam packaging, shoes, plastic bags, and on one memorable occasion a dress would go drifting past as we looked off our railing. Asia has serious problems with waste management (so does the world for that matter). It was a sorry site to see this so prevalent in our oceans.

Anyway, I was glad to have visited and seen Sanya. The people we encountered (and this is a running theme with everywhere I have visited) were friendly and welcoming. Certainly the people are trying to make Sanya something special (there are clean up projects underway in the city). Unfortunately, at lease for now the advertising is proclaiming what they wish to be, not what they are now.
Entrance to the Peal Museum.
World's biggest pearl and the shell that birthed it. The pearl is about the size of a large head of lettuce. Shell about the size of an average person's torso.
The entrance to the tea house we visited
How they poor tea in Chinese tea houses. Not recommended for home. FYI, some Chinese teas you can chew after making your tea. Some tea leaves you can put on your face to remove wrinkles or bags from under your eyes. Who knew?
The tea tasting room.
Entrance to the silk factory.
Silk worm cocoons soaking before the larva is removed and the husk cleaned to leave the silk. Never ones to waste anything, in Asia the larva is a snack food.
Silk worm cocoons
Once the larva are removed from the cocoon, the wet cocoon silk is then stretched on a loom and the silk is left to dry.
After drying the silk is further stretched into 4ft x 4ft gauze like sheets. These are later turned into fabrics, made into pillows, etc.
The beaches are pretty to look at and the sand is a wonderful texture. Maybe someday...