Sanya China ?

Last year, when we went to Sanya, we stayed in a rather posh resort section of the island. The resorts were few, and set far from each other and the beach. It was quiet and tranquil. The majority of non-Chinese visitors to the resort were not Americans, British or Australians (and certainly not Canadians! we are definitely a small percentage of the overall "foreign" population in this country). The largest number of tourists to Hainan historically has been from Russia. As a bond between one socialist country to another, the Chinese government permitted their Soviet comrades to come to China for the opportunity to warm themselves up, without the usual required visa. This therefore made Sanya a very popular destination.

There is plenty of evidence to support the theory that Russians are still the number one tourist in this town. There are many signs for products (including a Russian vodka called Pectopah) and services all written in cyrillic alphabet. Also, instead of being approached for the sale of fruit, t-shirt, sunglasses and pearls in English, we were always first addressed in Russian. And finally, all non Chinese restaurant menus were written for the Russian clients. Oh, and too, as evidence, there were plenty of what I assume were Russian people on the beach roasting themselves to a bright lobster red. After traveling in many places in the world where we are nearly always approached in English, it was a bit odd.