Korean Job Discussion Forums

Flossie · Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:33 pm Post subject: Anyone been to Hainan?

My friend is going to Hainan next week and was reading up on the Lonely Planet website. It apparently said that there was a lot of corruption, even the expensive hotels like Hyatt weren't clean, the chances of getting ripped off were quite high...

Obviously my friend is less than keen to go now but I wondered if anyone had been there and what they felt. Was it safe? How easy was it to avoid places/people that were more corrupt than others?

Any help appreciated. Thanks

peppermint · Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject:

Haven't been to Hainan, but I heard a lot of the same warnings about Xian, and it was great.

saint57 · Joined: 18 Jun 2003

The worst vacation I have ever been on in my life was in Hainan. First, there is nothing interesting to see. Second the beach is ok but I'd only rank it slightly higher than Haeundae beach. Most importantly, we got a "good deal" on a Chinese package tour. We were basically held hostage on commission based shopping experiences to crappy stores. After saying all of this, I could possibly see someone having a good time there. You can find cheap accommodation. Every Chinese hotel displays ridiculous prices, but they drop them instantly by at least 50% (they just want to find some suckers). Personally, I'm no fan of Korea as a holiday destination, but I think Jeju beats Hainan hands down.

ajgeddes · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Location: Yongsan

My buddy took his wife to Hainan for a 6 day vacation and they loved it. You really have to watch where you stay on the island though. All the nice beaches are in one area, but the hotels are all around the coast. Anyways, he highly recommended going there as a great holiday.

VanIslander · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 6:01 am Post subject:

Tjames426 · Joined: 06 Aug 2006

I took a trip to Hainan several years ago. I got away from the coast and Haikou. I traveled through the middle mountain tribal areas. Had a wonderful time. Coconuts trees and tropical weather

Problem is, you need a native contact or know Chinese to get around.

Hightop · Joined: 11 Jun 2003

Not so sure about Hainan but Hainan Airlines is awesome, best airline in China hands down.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

I haven't been there, but recently been thinking I should. They seem to be promoting it as a beach destination, and while it doesn't seem to have turned into one yet (at least not internationally), the typical Chinese gusto to make it into one will happen I'm sure.

With a country that big and with that many people recently coming into money as well, there has got to be one decent beach somewhere in that country with that much coastline.

Maybe Hainan will be that place?

mistermasan · Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Location: 10+ yrs on Dave's ESL cafe

my first teaching job in asia was on hainan.

as always get off the beaten path. if you buy one of those "captivating" tourist packages you get what you pay for.

i loved placed. green and beautiful and people so kind. but...that was a decade now. goodness only knows what that tourist buses from north with business men on "moral building" holidays'll do to a place.

back then it was not unusual to see hill folks walking around with old muskets and shooting anything that moved. dirt floor restaurants. old villagesn with pictures of mao still painted on the houses.

they had just put in the superhighways (7 lanes each way iirc) AND THEY WERE GHOSTTOWN EMPTY. the water buffalo would wander upthere and the speeding buses would whack one andtheir would be amess quite often.

as always, if you are gonna travel-go now. nothing gets better with time.

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

I went to Hainan, I think, when I was 10 years old. I remember visiting Sun Yat-seen's house and those coconut trees and having a fresh coconut to drink out of... only to get sick later.

I don't really remember a lot of it because we got a packaged tour that really toured around the whole island... and seeing that I've always had motion sickness, I spent a lot of time being quite ill...

mistermasan · Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Location: 10+ yrs on Dave's ESL cafe

IIRC that wasn't sun yat sen's house but rather that of his wife and her famous sisters- the soong sisters.

one married sun yat sen, one married chaing kai shek and ther other a banker. when i was there the house was surprisingly "open" and a family relative still lived there.

oh, i forgot:
the beach at haikou was wild. in the day time it is often too hot to swim. what to do? swim at night. the people pack the water in the darkeness. then they blast music over the loud speakers. no wave action to speak of. every once in awhile the nearing sound of an engine will catch your ear as a speed boat races thru the mass of humanity. the baywatch boys'll ram the craft up on the shore and try to resucitate another person who couldn't swim or be seen in the dark or be heard over the music. victims of getting rammed/chopped by the rescue boat are on their own. seriously.