BREEZY HAINAN ISLAND

BREEZY HAINAN ISLAND!!

Photographs by Diana Yeoh

SANYA

One of the tallest Buddhist statues in the world, is none other than the holy Guan Yin of the South Sea of Sanya and it is one of the reasons tourists (including myself) will definitely go for ‘Her’ when we arrived at the Hainan Island.

Also known as the Goddess of Mercy, the three sided statute, stands at 108-metre tall, is located at the heart of the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone in the Sanya area.

The statute is also named as “The Number One Statute Project in China and in the World”. The three figures stand separately for peace, wisdom and mercy. The project took six years’ construction and there was a a grand Buddhist revealing ceremony in 2005.

Apart from its majestic height, the statute sits strategically in her ‘best’ position overlooking spectacular landscape and the China South Sea, adjoining the Nanshan Temple.

Upon reaching the Guan Yin statute, I am mesmerised by throngs of visitors surrounding Her, either taking a closer look at her beautifully carved features of elegance or knelling down to pray for her blessings.

Professional photographs are jostling to take photographs of tourists who are too busy to take photographs for themselves. Most of the tourists do not mind paying a small sum to get their photographs taken by these professionals.

It includes my mother and me, who engage one of the professionals to get our best shot taken without the hazzle of taking it for ourselves via selfie. 

VISITORS POSING WITH GODDESS OF MERCY

TALLEST GODDESS OF MERCY IN THE WORLD

Around the Nanshan Buddhism Cultural Park, we take a stroll around the garden to view scenery showcasing buddhist culture namely - Savior Garden, Auspicious Garden, Longetivity Valley and Small Moon Bay.

Interestingly, the park has a collection of thirty-nine ancient Brahma bells made in Mind and Qing Dynasties and three new case bronze bells designed with Tang Dynasty style named “Peace”, “Gratitude” and “Prayer”. It is believed that one must go one-round touching the bells for a change of luck. Definitely, I will not missed the rituals involving a change of fortune for anyone who touches these large bells, here.

 

LUCKY BELLS AT NANSHAN BUDDHISM CULTURAL ZONE

Apart from admiring the Guan Yin, we proceed to the Nanshan Temple which is the core of the Buddhism Park. It is the largest temple built by the government where the late great master of Buddhism Zhao Puchu selected the temple site himself and authographed it as ‘Sea and Mountain Monastery'.

Thinking of shopping, there are more than 50 stores in Nanshan offering items like gifts, souvenirs, handicrafts characterized with the national and Buddhist culture.

Other must see attractions are - “Gold and Jade Guan Yin Statute” which was awarded the World Guinness Record, the “Statues of 33 Guan Yin” acclaimed as the largest group of Guan Yin and the world largest stone ink “Dragon-Phoenix Stone Ink”.

ONE FOR THE ALBUM AT ENTRANCE OF NANSHAN CULTURAL TOURISM PARK

After a hearty vegetarian lunch in one of the restaurant located at the nearby Nanshan Zone, our next stop is the Yalong Bay Rose Valley - home to an enormous number of flowers with exquisite beauty that steals the heart of tourists. It has a variety species of roses, sunflowers, bougainvillea, orchids, heliconia, fairy lilies and tropical trees.

As time is the essence, a buggy trip was arranged for us to experience a journey across waterfalls, winding paths, streams and bridges where stops are made in a number of areas to view roses and take photographs with the tropical flowers.

YALONG BAY ROSE VALLEY

Next day in Sanya, the tour has arranged for us to visit the Luhuitou Peak Park (Deer Turning Head Park) to view a giant sculpture on top of a hill formed with clay. It is in the shape of a deer looking backward. There is a story behind the Deer Turning Head Park - it is of a hunter pursuing a deer to an isolated headland near the sea. When the deer could not secape, it tuned to look at the hunder and became a beautiful woman. The hunter could not kill the deer and instead fell in love with her. People leave a padlock on a chain at the top of the mountain in the hope that that their love wil last as long as the lock remains. 

LUHUITOU PEAK PARK (DEER TURNING HEAD PARK)

Another cultural must see in Sanya is the Yetian Ancient Village where the descendants of warrior Chiyou, ancestor of people in South China, used to inhabit. Here, the village garden is planted with betel nut tree - a native plant to Hainan Island. The tall palm with shallow roots looks similar to the coconut tree. Under these palm trees, you cannot miss the handsome boy and charming girl ready to showcase the Bamboo Dance to visitors. For fun, one can try out the traditional wedding ceremony of the Li or the Miao Minorities. As we walked through the attap-like wooden houses, there are numerous activities await us - such as putting on traditional hats for a photography session and watching how the ladies doing their handicrafts (stitching and making of claypot), and cooking.

SKILL WORKER WEAVING USING BAMBOO STICKS AT YETIAN VILLAGE

SKILL WORKERS MAKING CLAYPOTS AT YETIAN VILLAGE

 

HAIKOU

Haikou is located in the North of Hainan Island or so-called Easter Haiwaii, is house for the Temple of Five Lords - a memorial place to five officials from the Tang and Song dynasties. During the times of these dynasties, Hainan was perceived as a remote part of the Empire and was used as a place for banishment for disgraced court officials. All five officials commemorated at the temple encountered such a fate, typically after losing power struggles within the imperial court.

Haikau is also popular for its food street where one can take their time hunting for their favourite food stuff at the Haikou Arcade Snack Street.

On our third day in Hainan, we completed our tour to Temple of Five Lords and going for food hunting at its snack street.

TEMPLE OF FIVE LORDS

QIONG HAI

Getting back from where we first landed at Qiong Hai on our 5D4N tour, we make a quick visit to the BFA Permanent Venue to learn about the political leaders, industrial and commercial giants, experts and scolars from all Asian countries, gather around to do the research fo the development of Asian economy every year.

We then take a five-minute walk down to the wharf located along Jade Belt Beach to take a boat across to see a natural landscape listed in the Guiness World Record for its perfect combination of natural. Geographically, the three rivers of Wanquan, Jiuqu and Longgun flow into the South China Sea, a narrow long golden jade belt beach separate the river and the sea, forming the natural landscape. Here, tourists are entertained with a buggy motor ride, taking photographs with a live giant turtle or the natural landscape, and taking a breather on the majestic sea view.

GUINESS WORLD RECORD'S NATURAL LANDSCAPE AT JADE BELT BEACH

The next day in Qiong Hai, we make a visit to Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden - a place to get in touch with exotic plants. The garden comprises of more than 1,200 plant species such as coffee, pepper, coco and dragon trees. Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden is regarded as a hot destination dedicated to issues to botany and environmental protection in cooperation with agricultural authorities in China.

XINGLONG TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN

 

LOVER'S TREE AT XINGLONG TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN

SHOPPING & FOOD

On our tour calendar of event - shopping is not to be missed as this activity is an evergreen one in China, where we were ushered to shop in a few popular places namely Bao Shu Tang (medicine/herbs), dried seafood shop, tea house and bamboo charcoal shop.

Obviously, food is a plentiful in Hainan - go for its popular  Wenchang chicken (Hainanese chicken rice), betel nuts, coconut sweets, seafood (particularly crab), Jiaji duck, pumpkin rice and Qiongshan towfu (beancurd).

GOODBYE

We then took-off from Hakou back to Kuala Lumpur - I have a last look at this beautiful so-called “Coconut Island” in Hainan - whereby the whole island is neatly planted with coconut trees. I know I am gonna missed this petite island of coconuts. The locals celebrated Coconut Festival (Sanyuesan) on March 3, where visitors can appreciate the cocunut lantern, taste delicious coconuts, watch the dragon boat race and a folk martial art competition.

A BIRD'S VIEW OF HAINAN ISLAND