Hainan - Haikou

Hainan (meaning South Sea) is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China. It is also, I think, the only province of the country with a tropical climate.

I went to Hainan a couple of weeks back with 2 other girlfriends - G and R. It's been more than 10 years since I've travelled with both of them.

We went to Haikou for 4 days.. and actually, if you were to ask me, I wouldn't really recommend Haikou as a travel destination for Singaporeans. It is 4 hours away by flight but there isn't really anything terribly interesting or different about Haikou because a lot of the sights are really familiar to those of us living in a tropical climate - mangroves and lush greenery.

And for all the good Hainanese food we have in Singapore, you would think that Hainanese food in Hainan would be fantastic. However, I think I had the worst Hainanese chicken rice in my life in Haikou.. and the Hainanese noodles were so awful, we couldn't eat much of it at all.

But it was overall a nice getaway from everyday work and I enjoyed spending time with my 2 friends very much.

Hainan is supposedly one of the places with the best climate in the whole of China and with the least pollution. I would agree that it is much less polluted compared to the other major cities I've been to... but the noise pollution is just as bad and if not worse. Cars in Haikou drive using their horns, not signal lights.

At a volcano crater (It looks very dormant.. thankfully!)

A nice view of the surroundings.. and a pretty nice weather!

 

Hainan food - the big disappointment - very bad chicken rice 

(best in town according to our driver and a few others) and odd tasting noodles

A boat ride through a mangrove swamp

A big park in the city. We actually took a ride in those swan boats!

Our last meal at Haikou is.... KFC! I like KFC in China - this is the Peking roll. 

A bit like Peking duck but it has fried chicken fillet instead of duck

The Duty Free shop at the airport - I like the vintage look!