Hainan: China's Hawaii

Drink of choice in Hainan

This weekend we had an extra day off to celebrate Tomb Sweeping Day in China. My friends and I decided to book a quick get away to a place called Hainan, an island off the south of China. Hainan is known as "China's Hawaii" and it did not disappoint. 

On Thursday afternoon my friends and I left our school and headed to Pudong international airport to catch our 7:55pm flight...or so we thought. We zoomed through baggage and security lines with no problem only to arrive at our gate and see the words "DELAYED" flashing across our gates screen. We approached the counter and tried our best to communicate in Chinese to see what was going on. The woman at the desk told us the plane was delayed due to weather in Shanghai and we would have to wait an additional 2 hours to board. We were a little bummed out but we decided to make the best of it by grabbing some dinner and a few bottles of wine. When 10pm rolled around we went back to the gate, only to see a large group of angry passengers huddled around our gate. My friend Katie and I pushed our way through to try to see what was going on. Apparently our plane was indefinitely delayed and the airline was shuttling people to a hotel overnight and told us they had no idea when we would take off. I found one staff member who spoke a little English and I asked him "please tell me what you know, when will the plane be here so that we can board?" And he responded "no time." "Soo, never?!" I asked with a half smile on. "Yes." I could tell he didn't fully understand me. He had that blank stare that I often have when people speak too much Chinese to me. I returned to my friends with a confused look on my face. "So looks like we may never be leaving..?" 

After my friends and I decided that we would try out the hotel deal, we were told they weren't bussing anyone from our plane to the hotel because it was full. The airport that was once warm and humid during the day became frigid and I was struggling to stay warm in a longsleeve shirt and shorts. We all fell asleep on the floor, chairs, or any open space we could find. Finally around 4am we were notified that our plane arrived and we could board. I almost squealed with excitement as we ran to the gate. The plane was relatively small and crowded. We were told by a semi-English speaker nearby that we got delayed so long because we were on a budget airline so air traffic control looked at us as a last priority. 

I started to doze off on the plane waiting to take off and by the time I woke it was 6am and we were still on the ground. We were told once again we were indefinitely delayed and people were starting to exit the aircraft. My friends looked at each other with distress...what do we do?? A few of my friends favored the idea of leaving and just heading back to campus. I said I did not want to leave. I felt that we made it this far and I was dying to see the beach. Two of my good friends agreed and we strapped in for the long haul. 

The crew at dinner

Our plane finally took off at 8am, 12 hours after our scheduled departure time. We landed in sunny Hainan around 11am and I instantly knew we made the right decision. The island is sprinkled with big mountain ranges and vast bodies of water. We stepped off the plane and were welcomed with 85 degree weather and sun. After a short 10 minute cab ride we arrived at our resort...the Holiday Inn.
The next few days were bliss. We laid out by the pool with sunshine and piña coladas in hand. We also used plenty of our Chinese as none of the staff spoke English. We headed to the beach most afternoons, and I almost forgot what it felt like to have sand between my toes. 

I am on the plane now heading back to Shanghai. We took off without a hitch and had no delays this time. Now I'll have to rush home to catch up on the Chinese homework I was neglecting while getting a little bronzed on the beach. Time to go back to reality.