Seafood Alley

During my recent visit to Hainan, I went to a really fun kind of restaurant. Technically it wasn't actually one restaurant, but more an indoor market square with lots of small businesses that could each prepare the seafood you had just bought at the market. So, to get started, you would first buy some fresh shrimp, crab, and fish at the market, then give them to a kitchen/restaurant of your choice to prepare. 

Kind of a big place. All the signs hanging from the ceiling indicate the location of different restaurants.

The signs explain how much it costs to prepare the seafood, for example for each fish or pound of squid. 

At the market in the back you buy your seafood. 

Crab.

Lobster.

Sea urchin.

Squid.

There are many sellers to choose from. 

When you are done buying, you move back to the restaurant area, plop down at a table, and give the kind ladies in the kitchen your goods.

This lady is cooking up our shrimp.

Crab on my plate.

Over dinner, our table quickly turned into a battlefield. 

I just got home with my veggies from the store. Who is going to cook those for me today?

In het Nederlands: Tijdens mijn recente bezoek aan China's Hawaii-achtige eiland Hainan--helemaal in het zuiden en dus lekker warm--heb ik een avond ook heerlijk 'seafood' (vis, garnalen, krab, etc.) gegeten. De ruimte waar we aten was een overdekte hal met heel veel eetgelegenheden. Om te eten moest je eerst zelf je vis (of iets anders) kopen, waarna het restaurant het allemaal voor je klaarmaakte. Lekker en gezellig. De prijs op de borden in het restaurant geeft dus aan hoeveel het kost om zo'n vis klaar te laten maken. De vis zelf had je op de markt al betaald. 

Hainan, the "Other Hawaii"

Just a few weekends ago I was lucky to have a chance to visit China's Hainan, a province and island at the very south of the country. So southern in fact, that you have palm trees. So while Beijing was again shrouded in a cold cloud of pollution, I was walking in dense forests and treading on lovely beaches. 

Because Hainan is located at 18 degrees northern latitude, similar to its cousin in the Pacific Ocean, it is often referred to as "China's Hawaii." I am certainly not the first to discover the place: From what I could tell, it's a popular destination for Chinese tourists wanting to have a real beach vacation. Lots of honeymoon couples also head down here to take wedding pictures. And the island's scenery is often used as a stunning backdrop in movies. 

Let's have a look, shall we?

Reference to a famous movie...

And here's the bridge itself!

More famous movie scenes. 

Notice the sign for "18 degrees" behind the gentleman. (Looks like he might have had eighteen degrees enough of something...)

Well, if in Hawaii, dress like the Hawaiians!

Anna at "Xi Dao," or  "West Island,"  a small piece of land just west of Hainan's capital, Sanya. (The letters in red are a bit hard to read, but they say Xi Dao, not Xodaq.)

Got one bigger than you, Hawaii!

There is something peculiar about this picture. I never really did figure out why everyone was swimming in just the tiny space. It might have had something to do with the waves coming from the speed boats.

The city across the water is Sanya, on the island of Hainan itself. (This picture is taken from West Island, just off Hainan.)

A real summer beach vacation in China!

In het Nederlands: Boeren, burgers, buitenlui, jullie razende reporter heeft moeite tijd te vinden regelmatig een bericht te schrijven! Maar hier zijn wat foto's van een kort werk-gerelateerd bezoek aan China's meest zuidelijke en gezellig tropische provincie Hainan. Waar ik was, vlakbij de stad Sanya, zit je ter hoogte van Vietnam. Het was vijf uur vliegen vanaf het koude Beijing en dan zit je nog steeds in China!