Haikou, Hainan Island

Note: Roger Allnutt, Australian experienced travel writer, the columnist for CNTO Sydney’s website was invited by CNTO Sydney to attend the 2010 China International Travel Mart and do FAM trips in Wuzhen and Hainan Island, China.

While Sanya on the south coast is the tourist centre for Hainan Island, the capital city Haikou in the north also offers plenty of attractions and has some excellent 5 star hotels.

As the capital Haikou is the administrative centre and the burgeoning modern city centre is crammed with tall buildings including office blocks, residential apartments, department stores and specialty boutiques.

I am not a shopper but can’t resist a bargain and the old town has a number of narrow streets lined with interesting, fading buildings that contain many small shops. Haikou’s Qilou Arcades are a fusion of European and Asian architecture and form an exotic street landscape. If you are prepared to accept lesser brand names and ‘genuine’ fake knockoffs then this is the place to go , not only for the bargains but also to see the locals going about their daily lives.. Jackets, clothes, shoes, watches and optical wear appeared the best options.

old building in Haikou’s Qilou arcades

The northern part of Hainan Island was subject to volcanic eruptions many centuries ago and the Leiqiong Haikou volcanic cluster (dormant for over 8000 years) is a world geological park only 15km from the centre of the city. Visiting the park you can explore the weird and wonderful shapes caused by lava flows, and climb up to the rim and look down into the crated now full of greenery. Higher vantage points give views over Haikou city and the surrounding countryside.

There are lava tunnels and lots of colourful flowers.

the flower pots spell out Chinese characters for volcano

The day I visited a very large group of young male Army personnel were celebrating their last day of duty before returning to their home provinces. After they had toured the park they had a farewell banquet with lots of noise and copious toasts; many of them wanted to be photographed with members of our group.

young soldiers celebrate release from army

For the nature lover the Hainan Tropical Wildlife Park has ten tigons, the largest surviving group in the world.

One of the most recent developments near Haikou has been to transform the desolate and rocky volcanic plateau into a number of championship golf courses. Quite remarkably the volcanic landscape now boasts four courses of the Mission Hills complex (the same company has exclusive courses at Shenzhen and Dongguan near Guangzhou) with many volcanic boulders used as walls and hazards. By the end of 2011 it is expected that 10 courses will be operational and the World Cup will be held there in 2011. The courses were designed by America Bruce Curley and the construction must have been a huge undertaking; at one stage there were over 500 digging machines clearing the ground and bringing in soil.

The four courses currently operational are the signature championship course Blackstone, Stone Outback (described as Australian sandbelt meets lava rock landscape), Stone Ruins and Whisper Rock. To play the courses is very expensive and this makes the courses especially Blackstone very exclusive. All the caddies are young women most with university degrees who have been trained to provide advice on club selection and yardage for visiting players.

view of Mission Hills courses from hotel balcony

In addition to the courses and huge clubhouse a new luxury 518 room hotel opened at the end of October 2010. Unique design and amenities ensure the highest level of comfort and there are 12 restaurants, natural springs and spas. . For the golf lover there are at least six more courses in the vicinity of Haikou and out to Hainan Meilan International Airport.

Haikou has a number of excellent hotels some situated on beach locations like Sheraton, Sofitel, Meritus Mandarin and Huandao Tide. I noted a large Shangri la resort under construction. Haikou is a port facing Quiongzhou Channel which divides the island from mainland China (it is about 40km across). The wind is often quite strong along the beach areas and I saw windsurfers being driven quickly across the waves by the breeze. Sailing is another popular pastime. Being a coastal location fresh seafood is a specialty.

A different attraction is Impression Hainan, an artistic interpretation of Hainan life directed by Zhang Yimou who was responsible for the opening and closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics. With over 250 performers this nightly hour long show (cost around $60) on an open air stage with the ocean as backdrop uses dance, costumes, videos etc to capture the essence of Hainan life, its history, ocean, local traditions, even the unique Red Women’s Army from the 1930s. With a floor magically transforming from sand to deep pool the show captures to need for a quieter life getting back to nature.

It is a most impressive show which, for the English speakers in the audience (mainly Chinese) would have been enhanced by some English subtitles.

At the end of my tour of Hainan a seminar was held with senior local tourist official and delegates from the China International Travel Mart who had been touring the island. I was the nominated representative of the Australian group. The development plan for the next five years is most impressive with new hotels, attractions, and transport infrastructure and the anticipated increase in tourist numbers quite staggering. Overseas delegates pointed out that the lack of direct flights, price of hotels and lack of English skills at hotels etc would need to be addressed.

An expressway joins Sanya with Haikou and there are development plans to increase tourist facilities at places along the coastal stretches of the expressway particularly near Qionghai City, Wanning City and Wenchang City which is the centre of China’s space launch facility.

Related posts:

1. Hainan Island Familiarization
2. Sanya And Southern Part of Hainan Island
3. Hainan Island Trip
4. Day 7 – Morning of Monday 22 November 2010
5. Day 8 – Tuesday 23 November 2010