Hainan, Chinese version of South Island
The lesson 7 of my favorite English program, Peter Lai's Advanced American English, features a nice travel report of South Island. Having listened to it for I
don't know how many times, I can almost readily tell what it is like to be in that area: pollution-free mountainous area, Mount Cook, glaciers, clean yet warm
waters, and perfect climate. South Island remains shrouded in mystery, and appears only too far for me, though, since I can only draw a picture of it in my mind
. The dream never seemed possible to come true until word came out that we were
going to have a trip to Hainan, and I had been looking forward to it ever since.
The first leg of the trip reminded me almost immediately of what I have been learning about South Island. Though not the first time I set my foot at a beach,
I was still greatly amazed by the charms of The Beach of Jade Band (Yu4 Dai4 Tan1). So immersed in the splendid view was I that I was totally oblivious of the rising wave and got my sport shoes soaking wet with this sea water. The soft, warm sand and the scenic views I saw at the beach soon made me forget this incident
and before I knew it, the shoes were dried after some time's sun shining and wind blowing.
The most breathtakingly beautiful beach among them all during the entire trip,
however, was The Bay of Yalong (Ya4 Long2 Wan1). If The Beach of Jade Band could be compared to a naughty boy with its enthusiastic waves and hot sun and warm
sand, I couldn't think of a better way to dub The Bay of Yalong than as a beach
of a peaceful girl. The water was brisk and pleasantly cool, and was as tender as any young lady you would fall in love with. The even better part was that it was extremely clean, with everything seen as if there weren't really any water. The feeling of walking barefoot on the beach's soft sand was simply beyond all words! With a few white clouds flowing at the deep blue sky, for a moment I thought I had died and had gone to heaven. Our fortune didn't stop here. It was in a tourism off-season, and the beach didn't see as many visitors as it did in the high-season. Gee, just give me another chance to get there again and stay for a few days, and I am willing to die!
For those who have spent most of their time at computers and those who have suffered long enough city's hustle and bustle, a water fight at this tropical paradise is sure to please and to rejuvenate. Water-gun in hand, and feeling like a
real navy soldier, everybody was ready to go for broke. The most exciting part was you could shoot at anyone you thought to be an anemy, whether or not you knew
him/her, on your own bamboo-raft or other's. Our war lasted for nearly an hour
and after we fought our way to the shore, we were amused to find that each of us
was wet like mad. At this moment, nobody's ever about to think of his life worries.
Hainan has much more to see, to feel, and to taste, than one can ever do within a few days' trip. For those young and energetic young man and women, The Great
Eastern Sea (Da4 Dong1 Hai3)'s deep sea diving would leave them an experience which would last a life's time. Discriminating restaurant-goers are likely to lose themselves in Hainan's fascinating seafood cuisines. Hold your wallet tight, though, if you are a regular mall rat. The whole trip was dotted with small and large-scale souvenir shops in which you would probably find everything worth taking home! Coffee and tea leaves products are never ending, and well packaged coconuts might be too much trouble to carry along, but are indeed worth the trouble.
Your children would have a fond weekend if you buy them some of the locals' handicrafts made of clam shells.
This Chinese version South Island may not have high mountains for mountain climbers, but its ubiquitous coconuts trees and areca trees are definitely unique and exotic, and thus are a good compensation. Even both sides of the highway roads are scattered with bizarre-shaped and multicolored flowers, not to mention
there a special tropical botanic gardens. Scenic beaches, perfect climate, fresh
air and clean water -- a real well-kept, unpolluted paradise in human landscape
. Can I ask for more?
Panpanpan.
