Trip to Hainan Island

As many of you are aware, I’m still vacationing in Malaysia and I just got back from a week-long trip to Hainan Island, China. that’s where my ancestors were from and that was my first time there. The purpose of the trip were two-fold: first, I wanted to take my dad there so that he could show me and my brother where our grandparents used to live more than 70 plus years ago before they migrated to Malaysia, and secondly I wanted to get the most out of my vacation by visiting more places 🙂

The trip was great. I was truly amazed by how modern Hainan was. Since I had never been there before, I always had a different picture in mind LOL.  When I was a kid, I went to another city in China. It was dirty everywhere — polluted air, congested and dusty streets, and of course the toilets. Hainan is mainly a tourist destination even for the Chinese and there was literally no heavy industry. They called it the Hawaii of China. The air was fresh, streets were somewhat congested but there was no hole or litter at all. And the toilets were with plumbing LOL.

Haikou Airport

The city was full of high-rise condos.

This was in Sanya… one of the top tourist destinations there.

The highlight of this trip was to visit the ancestral village where my grandfather, great and great-great grand fathers used to live. We could trace it back to 250+ years ago. The land (actually a small lot) where my grandfather used to live was still there but the house was destroyed a few decades ago by typhoons. It remained that way since my grand father migrated to Malaysia 70+ years ago. The relatives who have the same great-great grand father still lived next door. My dad had visited them 20 years ago. Some older generations have since passed away. Surprisingly some younger generations still remembered my dad. When they saw my dad again this time around, it got pretty emotional.

A shipyard located near the ancestral village.

I learned from those relatives that the lot where my grand father used to live still belongs to us. They encouraged that we claim it from the province and build a house on it. One of the reasons they said was that there were going to be tourist resorts and projects done in the village and some right in front of the lot. If we don’t claim it soon, the local government might just include it in the new zoning. I’ll have to do more research on this.

In addition to visiting the ancestral village, I also went to a few other tourist spots. One of which was an amphitheater where an outdoor musical called “Impression, Hainan Island” was being performed. The musical was produced by Zhang Yi Mou, the movie director who produced the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies.

“Impression, Hainan Island” – an outdoor musical produced by ZhangYiMou

Another scene from “Impression, Hainan Island”

Diet wise, it was pretty similar to that of in Malaysia where rice and noodles are the staple food. However, Hainanese Chicken, a steamed or braised chicken dish, is famous in Hainan. So I ended up eating chicken every day with some rice 😉 There were also a bunch of fresh seafood. The only complaint I had was that the food was not cheap at all, due to the booming tourism industry on the island.

A grilled fish dish I had in Sanya.

The seafood was pretty pricey!

Fitness wise, I couldn’t do any weight lifting since the hotels I stayed didn’t have any gym facilities. But I was able to either swim or do some cardio. On top of that, I probably walked at least 3 miles a day.

All in all, it was a great trip. I look forward to visiting again in the future 🙂