Haikou Banana Hostel

Spent a few days in the south of Hainan exploring the area around Sandao town (三道镇, Sān dào zhèn). We found some new bicycle and kayak routes. The Hekou river which feeds into the Chitian reservoir was particularly fun to explore. We found old broken dams and some fun roads that lead the back way into the Yanoda Tropical Rainforest Park.

I took the inflatable kayak out on its second trip. This time it was at Haikou's Nandu River. The weather was perfect and the river was surprisingly tranquil (have a look at the pictures). My aim was to make it across to the island in the centre of the river. It turned out to be very easy. I guess it could be a lot more difficult and dangerous when the river is more fierce. I plan to find a route from the river to the beach near Haidian Dao.

Hongqi 红旗 Village (Red Flag Village)

Location: About 30km south east from Haikou, along the 223 road (the old eastern expressway).

An Hainanese acquaintance offered to show me around the villages of Hongqi. He was sent there during the cultural revolution by Chairman Mao to work on the farms. The name Hongqi  was given to the village by Mao. The original name was Tuqiao 土桥 or Soil Bridge. My guide still knows some of the people in the villages from when he worked there and arranged for some of the village leaders to show us around. Driving from village to village we saw they farmed a variety of crops such as longyen, sugar cane, jack fruit, rubber, banana, and pepper. They also had pigs, water buffalo, goats and chickens. Some villages had plaques devoted to Chairman Mao, inscribed with his quotes. The roads and houses were in pretty good condition and the villages had been beautified to some extent. My guide put forward the idea of foreigners coming to farms to get a real local experience and perhaps even staying a night. The villagers thought this was a good idea and offered there homes for accommodation. So if you are interested in experiencing the farms and some of history of Mao let us know and we will try and help you arrange a visit.


Unfortunately I only had my camera phone so the pictures aren’t too great.

Snorkeling as been on my list of things to do for a while. I was exploring the coast of Hainan on a calm day and found a spot that looked interesting. The water had good visibility and even without any equipment I could see interesting coral and some fish. This is when I realized the relationship between water visibility and the weather. It seems very obvious now, but it did not occur to me before. Visibility is best when there are no waves or wind. Snorkeling weather is roughly the inverse to good surf weather.

In the following few days I purchased some snorkeling equipment locally (not the greatest quality, but it will suffice for now). I also kept abreast with the swell and wind forecasts (there is a link to a good forecasting web-site at the end of this page), waiting for the right conditions.

The right day came and I had a fun day exploring the area with a few friends. Visibility was probably around 2-3 metres. We saw lots of coral and quite a few small fish. Do not try to pick up sea urchins because they can fire their spikes into your hand as a friend learnt the hard way. I think there are probably many decent spots around the island to snorkel. It’s just a matter of going out and finding them. An excellent inexpensive day out.

Swell and wind forecasts:

http://magicseaweed.com/South-East-Asia-MSW-Surf-Charts/71/

Related articles (these articles describe the area we were snorkelling):

• Tonggu Ling and Yue Liang Bay
• Stone Park