Nanshan & Luhuitou

Visiting Nanshan

I woke at 0600 today and fell asleep till 0750.  I quickly messaged Swee and Chen to make arrangements for breakfast a few doors away, where I had a lean pork and century egg congee.

Apart from the beaches, there’s not much to do in Sanya.  Many of the attractions are out of town and some are pricey tourist traps.

We had settled on going to Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone today.  We knew that it had mixed reviews and had recalled it being expensive.  And we knew that it was a long way out of Sanya.

We flagged down a taxi outside the hotel around 0900.  The ride took us the whole length of Sanya Bay towards the north and west.

Some very posh resorts lined the route and the sea out that way was far nicer than that in town.  The sea appeared bluer but it may have been due to the sunnier weather.  But there were definitely less fishing boats and the ocean liners weren’t visible.  While it is much more appealing for a swim, I doubt, we would grab a taxi out here just to swim.

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After about an hour in the car, we came into a traffic jam to enter into the Nanshan area.   The driver dropped us off and the damage for the ride came to CNY137, about 3x what the hotel receptionist suggested.

We walked through a huge coach park to get to the ticketing area where it was a hefty CNY129 per person but Swee got a senior ticket for half price.  The price is rather astronomical compared to the price of most things in China.

Despite the crowds, there had been no queues for tickets, which suggested that many people buy online or come in groups.  Like most places now, a passport is essential to buy a ticket and gain entry.

The site is spread over a large area and buggy rides are available at extra cost.  We started with a walk slightly downhill that led towards the Kwan Yin Buddha or Goddess of Mercy.

It was a long hot humid walk despite partial shade along the way.  The crowds were horrendous and noisy.  It took us about 40 mins with a drink stop to get to closest viewpoint of Kwan Yin, where many opted to go into the basement to take the bridge to climb up to the top of lotus-base of the Goddess.

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We had had enough by this stage of the heat and crowd, and it was only 1115.  That’s less than an hour since we entered the complex.

I felt the need to see a bit more of the complex to justify the hefty entrance fee.  But to explore further, we would be throwing good time and effort after bad money for something that we wouldn’t enjoy.

It’s such an irony that we had had such a great time in Guangzhou and Haikou doing things that cost absolutely nothing and museums that only cost CNY10.

To me, this relatively modern religious complex cum theme park is a tourist trap. I had been warned but if we hadn’t done it, there would have been little else to do in Sanya.

On the way to the exit, there were two women having a physical catfight.  A man was trying to separate them.  It appeared that they were queueing for the buggy ride and one was trying to cut in.  This was probably the only “cultural” aspect to our visit of Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone.

We left at 1200 with a Didi tout who had brought someone else here.  Back in our area around 1245 I had a simple lunch of chasiu and meat loaf on rice before resting in the room.

I had been quite traumatised by the crowd, noise and heat.  I needed some recovery in bed and nearly fell asleep.

Luhuitou Viewpoint

I mentioned to Swee that I wanted to go to Luhuitou Park’s viewpoint which offered a panorama of the city.  It looked really good on Google Maps but this afternoon driver had kinda dressed it down.

He was keen too and the three of us hopped into a Didi, ordered via the WeChat app, for the first time.  My standalone Didi app didn’t work due to not receiving the SMS verification during set-up.

When we enquired about tickets, they tried to upsell us to the VIP package.  It included a priority queue (not busy at that time), buggy rides and a few other inclusions.

We felt being painted into a corner but when we realised that the normal ticket required online booking with passport details etc, it seemed too much of a hassle.  The price difference seemed reasonable considering the buggy ride up and downhill.

We were whisked up by buggy to near the top of the hill, where we took a short walk to the viewpoint.  We had set a a pickup time for 2h later, so that we could appreciate the view in both light and darkness.

The VIP pack included:

• Professional photography at the viewpoint. I seldom look good in photos but the talented cues of the photographers made me look awesome!  A photo of our group was complimentary but those of individuals were chargeable, to which I declined.  No soft copy option was available.
• Coffee tasting. We were offered mini cups of various instant coffee 3-in-1 mixes plus a sweetened coconut milk powder.  They were all nice enough but we didn’t care to ask about the pricing.

The viewpoint grew increasingly busy towards sunset.  The red dot of the late afternoon sun disappeared into the haze, giving an anti-climatic sunset which we couldn’t actually see.

Above the viewpoint, on the highest point of the hill, was a monument which included a deer turning its head back.  That gives the hill its name.

At 1930, many of the city lights came on, including that on Phoenix Island.  We stayed to enjoy the sight and waited for our buggy ride down, which turned up a little late.

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By the time we took a Didi back to the city below, we were hungry.  We were keen to try the fish restaurant that smelt delicious last night.  Somehow, once immersed in the restaurant, we couldn’t smell or taste the spices anymore.  The meal came with free soft drinks and popcorn.

It was a late finish for us, returning to the room around 2130.