#itinerantfoodie ✈️🍴

Sanya is an interesting destination. It’s known as oriental Hawaii and a place where lots of Northern Chinese (and Russians) go to escape the harsh winters as the weather is always summer there. For me personally, it’s basically Hawaii on a budget.

And I do mean it’s on a budget. Where else can you stay in a local 5 star resort hotel for less than 50 USD a night (low season / off peak rates). And this includes a buffet breakfast. Usually if you at a 5 star hotel, that is what you are paying just for breakfast.

As far as comfort as concerned, it’s still good (international standards, maybe a 3 star hotel, but price wise still good). Even buying stuff in the hotels is still cheaper than the usual resort prices, however in mainland china, you can probably go even cheaper (think less than 1 USD for a beer)

It’s a good place to relax and go offline (and I do mean it because the China Great Firewall blocks everything you need to go to, or makes things outside China so slow that you don’t even want to bother trying to get stuff done).

The must do things and must try food are as follows:

Wenchang Chicken Rice (鸡饭 or 文昌鸡饭)

Also known as Hainanese Chicken Rice (don’t actually say that when you order it there - It’s like ordering “New York Pizza” in New York City). In Sanya, it’s known as Wenchang Chicken Rice (文昌鸡饭).

Wenchang 文昌 is a town to the north east of Hainan 海南. You can easily take a high speed rail from Sanya there if you wish. But I guess in Wenchang, you’d probably just order “Chicken Rice” 鸡饭.

Coconut Rice

As it’s an island with lots of coconut trees, this is a local delicacy. It’s basically rice that is coconut flavored. Soooo good. And usually it’s served in coconut. The taste gives the rice a very fruity taste to it.