Day 360 - 5 days in Hainan ( losing my wallet edition)

Mar 20 - Mar 24, 2019 - Hainan Formula e business trip

It was a happy event for us. I m a staff working for the club HKT. We have the pleasure to visit Hainan for the formula e race in Sanya. We stayed at Da Dong Bay ( 大东海）Marriot and Formula e was staged at 亚龙湾ya long bay. It is about 40 - 45 minute drive to get there.


As this is supposed to be a business trip, my boss rewarded us the trip because we worked really hard for the Formula E race in Hong Kong ( Mar 10, 2019). We went to do our business and checked our on-site branding for the Sanya Race.

March 20,2019 ( Wednesday)
- flight delay
- arriving at the site of Formula E Hainan

It was a happy event for us. I m a staff working for the club HKT. We have the pleasure to visit Hainan for the formula e race in Sanya. We stayed at Da Dong Bay ( 大东海）Marriot and Formula e was staged at 亚龙湾ya long bay. It is about 40 - 45 minute drive to get there.


As this is supposed to be a business trip, my boss rewarded us the trip because we worked really hard for the Formula E race in Hong Kong ( Mar 10, 2019). We went to do our business and checked our on-site branding for the Sanya Race.


We walked around the whole race track and it was like 30 degrees, extremely hot.
Then we had dinner close by, we didn’t check what is good in the area. We had a seafood pot that wasn’t really, not recommended! We then walked over Wanda Cinema City to Check our the showing time of Captain Marvel. It was 10pm. We thought it would be too late because we like to wake up earlier the next morning. I didn’t want to be too busy as our work life is busy enough.

檳榔谷及亞諾達

3 月21日 禮拜四
玩完檳榔谷及亞諾達
到大菠蘿商場吃9毛9山西麵館
去大東灣派出所報警

March 21,2019 ( Thursday)
- Bin Lang Gu (檳榔谷）- 5 star rated National Attraction
​- Yanoda Rainforest Cultural Tourist Zone - 5 star rated National attraction

The next morning we talked to the manager at the concierge. We wanted a car hire for the day. 8 hours for RMB 350 - RMB 400 ( I can’t remember exactly). The driver was a young dude called Open ( about 26 years old). WeChat ID: CSK525. The car is quite new when we took it ( Mar 2019) and he is a good lad. He gave good recommendations on how we should go around Hainan to avoid the crowd. We were so lucky to have him drove us. We felt comfortable and secure.


We first go to Bing Nang Gu （槟榔谷). It is a 5 star national attraction. It is an ethnic village of local dwellers from the old times. It is worth the visit, the park is beautiful. You will get to see how they weave manually, how they live. Females were required to tattoo their body and face before adulthood or they may not be allowed to be buried with their ancestor, basically it means an outcast.


Walking along the park, you will also see other performances like: walking barefoot on broken glass and hot iron eating. At the end of the tour, there is also a big dance performance. It isn’t the best but it is worth watching because it is a work of art from the clan, you can have a taste of their culture.


I got off the car of “open”, our day hire driver, at the big pineapple shopping mall
(大菠蘿商場). We took a stroll around the mall and found that 99cents Shan’xi noodle shop (9毛9山西麵館) was the busiest of all.


Watching Captain Marvel
Before we decided to go and eat, we were going to watch captain marvel, not sure if you guys know already. If you purchase movie tickets from the app like WeChat app, the price is about 50% cheaper than the at-the-door price.
We asked the theatre manager if we can enjoy the same discount because we are tourist and have no local apps. Not to my surprise, the kind theatre manager really gave us a 50% discount.


It was a great choice we ate spicy lamb, fried vegetable, sour vegetable fish soup ( 酸菜魚）.


Losing my wallet
By the time I was trying to take the bill, I found out I lost my wallet and I didn’t know why, I was surprisingly calm and we went our way to the police office to report my loss (大東海派出所）.


Quote: I was calm but I was not without worry. I worried when I got the exit permit. There might still be some incident in the airport because sometimes, I m not sure if the airport staffs were well informed of these entry permit OR there is an additional document I must provide with the permit. The real worry is only clear until I got my boarding pass and smoothly crossed all customs.

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入境管理支隊辦理 出入境通行證 / 電動方程式大賽

3月22號 禮拜五
8 點集合
出入境管理支隊辦理 出入境通行證
三亞交警支隊車管所拍照
去fe
喝台灣奶茶
五點成功拿證
7pm - meet up Vipasanna mindfulness meditation
海邊吃牛排，聽歌，喝啤酒
Drink coffee with mann coffee

The next morning I hurried to get my visa back to return Hong Kong. We took a taxi to the Immigration Department ( 出入境管理支隊）. I have written a detailed blog ( link) about the incident. If you like to know all the fun and adventure about it, click on to the link.


We arrived at the Application Hall (辦證大廳）at 9 am, the office hour starts at 8am. We went to the reception desk and explained what had happened. I think it isn’t a normal case, they signalled me to go inside the office and speak to the officer at desk number 12. I explained my situation again, the lady told me I hope you didn’t have a bad impression for Hainan. “And you can speak Cantonese to me” she said. I was so happy that I found this helpful lady with those soothing words to comfort me. I think she must be the head of this office. She brought me outside, took a photo, and give me a ticket to wait in line.

After 45 min or so, my number got called ( I remembered I was suspecting if they deliberately keep Hong Kong people wait longer, that’s bullshit, that is not true and you can see sometimes how a nervous mind can be quite screwed up).
I went up to a counter, another officer served me, it seems my case was rare (report loss of a China Visa from a Hong Kong people), she didn’t know what to do, and the lady, the head of the office, came over and helped me again. The form required me a passport photo and how am I supposed to have a passport photo while I m travelling? They told me to go a block away (三亞交警支隊車管所), that’s a place to settle traffic violations and obtain driver licence.
It’s all good until the all-in-one machine can only accept WeChat pay.


Quote: Stay tuned for my next post. I got an idea from this incident. WeChat pay has become so dominant for all payments in China, whole few travellers has access. I m going to develop a business to enable travellers to add value to their WeChat pay account. I believe there is demand and wish me luck on this attempt!


After taking the photos, we went back to the application hall again and finally I have completed the full form. The head of the office lady appeared again, she said we are trying the best to help you, you may return today at 5pm to pick up you entry and exit permit! I was super happy.


Then we go check out the set up of formula e while no one was there. Enova was the exclusive regional partner of Formula e, they own the right to operate under the name of Formula e in the Greater China region. The interest of car brands to participate electric car race is big because electric car is obviously becoming the future. The use of resources in the race can also be transferred bak into the mass production so no investment is wasted. Thirdly, race car fans are likely to be early adopters to electric cars. They can have great influence to their friends and family....sorry, I got in too deep about business and strategies, maybe I should go back and talk more about Hainan.


Because we are 1 day ahead of the event, organzier were still setting up and we are free to do whatever we want. And you can see me taking the center stage ;)


I also took some picture of the jaguar I-pace e-trophy.


Heading back to get my “exit permit”
After taking my picture in front of the podium, we went back to pick up my exit permit. It would be a hell of trouble if I m not “ permitted to exit”!


Anyways, I can’t worry about that now because I don’t know what would happen when I arrive at the airport. I can only part and celebrate when it turns out fine.


It was a tiring day to go the application hall 2 times ( 出入境管理支隊）and I m also mentally exhausted. We didn’t go far and stayed near Da Dong Hai (大東海旅遊區）along the beach. We had a steak and 2 beers and returned to the hotel

Hainan Formula E 2019 March 22
Sanya (HuoCheTou) Seafood Market
Sanya Romance Park
​

電動方程式總決賽
3月23號禮拜六
步行橋
萬人海鮮廣場
Fe at 2 pm
A quick club sandwich at Marriott
看千古情表演
Hainan chicken rice at room service


I took quite sometime to gather myself and keep writing my blog. By the time I reached here. It is already a month time,
today it is apr28, a month after my trip to Hainan on Mar 20 - Mar 24. I m still very happy and excited to be rewarded the trip by the company HKT. I remembered that we didn’t have much to do that day after we arrive on Wednesday ( Mar 29, 2019).


We didn’t want to book a full day car hire service as we planned to stay at Formula E. So we took a taxi and wanted to go to 步行橋. I have a habit of talking to every taxi driver I meet so I can practice my Chinese and get to know the places better.


So I started talking and I remembered he was an honest driver. He started to tell us that we need to visit “千古情” , he told us it is a very good show and it’s worth the visit. He has no financial benefit coming from it so I believed him and we finally went there at night. It is a good show.


萬人海鮮廣場
We kept on chatting to the driver and we asked him like” where local people go eat or something”. He told us local and visitors would go to the seafood market. Since we didn’t got much to do in the morning, we are looking for places to go and I asked the driver and to drive us there to have a look. We didn’t really get off the taxi, we just noted the place, we were thinking about coming over in the evening after Hainan Forumla E 2019. At the end, we didn’t because we were quiet tired.

Photo Credit@peko のsimple life

Side story:
(unlike the taxi driver at night, he kept on pushing us for another show“紅娘子, he even recommended us to watch that “紅娘子” show tonight and watch “千古情” tomorrow.
Why would a taxi driver whose job is to take his customer to places would make such strong recommendations and recommend us to change schedule? It makes me feel very uncomfortable, so I decided to follow my own decision, I called it my instinct ( and also the recommendation of the first driver, whom seemed to be much more trustworthy).

Hainan Formula e 2019
Show YouTube video
It was the purpose of the trip to go to the Formula e event. I was so excited about the trip. It simply means boss appreciated my effort and I m doing a good job. Our job on the surface, is to check the on-site branding is good and all the right brands are displayed. HKT core business is in Hong Kong, our management doesn’t like to travel to China, for me I love it. I really want to perfect my Mandarin and to stay in China.

I can only show you some videos and photos I took at formula e and if it is in your interest. I can also show some photos at formula e Hong Kong.

千古情表演
This show links 5 ancient heros from Hainan into 1 show adding great special visual effects. The most memorable scene being a bunch of mermaids swimming on a large 20 m x 10 m transparent plastic sheet right above your head doing acrobatic moves sliding all around the plastic film. The production is serious while the idea is novel. The whole show is about an hour and it is definitely worth to watch while you visit Hainan.

The winner of Formula E race - techeetah

Romance Park theatrical performance. It is worth to watch!

大小洞天/南山旅遊區/成功回香港
- Sanya DaXiaoDongTian area
- NanShan Temple
- Successfully Return Hong Kong with “Exit & Entry Permit”

3月24日禮拜天
Breakfast 8-11 am
Open at 11 am
大小洞天
食海南菜Lunch
南山旅遊區


On the last day, we decided to go to the places we initially thought it was boring. We go anyways because there is much left to go and we have a full day here on a Sunday.
We called our car-hire service “Open” and he suggested us to first go to DaXiaoDongTian because people like to visit Nashan Temple early in the morning and it would be overcrowded with people. It came out to be true when we arrive at the Nashan Temple it was not as crowded and we did have time to walk around even we arrived there about 3 or 4pm ( I couldn’t remember the exact time anymore), it was great that we found a good driver/guide whom we can trust.
We were also more interested in what natural scenery DaXiaoDongTian has to offer.


DaXiaoDongTian is an amazing place for lots of photos. Many newly wed would go there and take wedding photos. It is Taoist - themed attraction.


We took the attraction bus and arrived the end of the park and then walking back to the starting point.


The end of the park faces towards the sea and rocks piled up along the beaches. It is an excellent place to take pictures, we spent like 30 minutes there just posting.


Next we arrived at the “dongtian”, the meaning of dongtian is a hole that brings you to a place you can never imagine. The attraction got this name “dongtian” from a mythical person who found this place, loved it so much and stayed in the hole to fish there.


We then climbed up the hill to see the legendary “ dragon turtle”, there decorated many red umbrellas and its quite a scene over there. On the way back, there are great photo spots like light tower, tropical trees, garden and beaches where thousands of couple take their wedding photos here.


We stayed there for about 3 hours and we asked our driver “open” to take us to try some local “Hainanese” food!...I remember we ordered a coconut chicken soup, a spicy beef, a vegetable. It wasn’t really good but it was local taste and I loved it.


NanShan Temples
NanShan were all temples, it might also be the fact that we were too tired after DaXiaoDongTian and we don’t want to walk anymore. We went straight for the big Buddha and the 108m Buddha is really amazing. The religious theme attracted believers and tourists to come, it is a good business strategy for long term and repeated business.


Inside the big Buddha, there are multiple ways to make offering. You can be a donor of a small Buddha among the huge walls of thousands of Buddhas or you can be a donor of diamond sutra (金剛經) .


We were too tired and we couldn’t really care anymore and left the Nashan Temple.


We arrived the airport at 6pm and the flight delay again. I got nervous and I was thinking if there could be more trouble when I arrived at the airline counter and they told me “I m no good “ because that document wasn’t good enough.
It all comes to an end when I finally got my ticket and I know I can return safely back to Hong Kong.


The lesson was “ you wallet shall be in a place that you can always feel it and buy your travel insurance!”

3月20日禮拜三
班機延誤- 到fe現場拍照，在海棠美食廣場吃晚飯。去萬達影城看captain marvel 但是10點沒有看

3 月21日 禮拜四
玩完檳榔谷及亞諾達
到大菠蘿商場吃9毛9山西麵館
去大東灣派出所報警

3月22號 禮拜五
11 點集合
出入境管理支隊辦理 出入境通行證
三亞交警支隊車管所拍照
去fe
喝台灣奶茶
五點成功拿證
7pm - meet up Vipasanna mindfulness meditation
海邊吃牛排，聽歌，喝啤酒
Drink coffee with mann coffee

3月23號 禮拜六
步行橋
萬人海鮮廣場
Fe at 2 pm
看千古情表演

3月24日禮拜天
Breakfast 8-11 am
Open at 11 am
大小洞天
南山旅遊區
食海南菜

NanShan Temple

NanShan Temple

NanShan Temple (view from the big buddha)