There’s more to Haikou than coconut trees and Wenchang chicken, as Yeoh Siew Hoon and her travel buddies find out in the first part of their journey to trace their roots.
The tropical island feel of Haikou (left) and solar powered lamps
When you’ve got a mission such as the one we had set ourselves – visit three villages in 24 hours, actually it was more like 12 hours – you need a good, able and patient guide.
Our driver and guide was Lucas’ grand-nephew, Peng Zhi Hui or, as he is known to family, “Boh Hui”. He’s one of the most soft-spoken, gentle man I’ve met. The three of us – Lucas, Willy and I – must have seemed like manic urban creatures to him but Boh Hui is unflappable.
It must be an island thing. Somehow, the people on Hainan are very different from their brethren on the mainland. They seem more relaxed and friendlier. At the Meritus Haikou where we were staying, the staff are all smiles and eager to serve.
The travelling trio – Siew Hoon, flanked by Willy (left) and Lucas
Willy was most impressed by the fact that the staff in the lounge knew him by name when he had only stepped into the place twice, and indeed we were only staying two nights. “How do they do that?” he asked me.
Travelling with Willy is like travelling with a male Alice in Wonderland. His photographers’ eyes absorb everything and he never stops shooting. He sees things we don’t see and every image must be captured.
In the process, I also watched as perceptions flew off him, layer by layer. He had expected Haikou to be an undeveloped island of coconut palms, I think. What he found was a city that’s clean, green and neat and that has the best landscaping this side of the South China Sea. What blew him away were the solar-powered street lamps along the road to the airport and electric bikes.
“It’s greener than Singapore,” he gasped.
Wenchang chicken – the birds do taste different here
Since the Hainan government announced plans to make the island an international tourism destination by 2020, property prices have skyrocketed and modern condominiums are being built and snapped up by rich mainlanders looking for a place in the sun and where the air is cleaner than any other cities I’ve been in China.
Our first evening, after dinner at the hotel where we had local specialities – Wenchang noodles in spicy sauce and Wenchang chicken (the origin of the Hainanese chicken rice we all know and love in Singapore and Malaysia) – we went out for a drive and stopped at the Evergreen Park.
At night, it’s a theme park and people gather to eat watermelons (they are sweet and juicy here) and play old-fashioned carnival games where you win stuffed toys if you manage to dunk balls into buckets or shoot at targets. Willy demonstrated his hidden talent – he’s a straight shooter – and won us four stuffed toys. I think the stall owner was pleased we left.
Games people play by night (left) and Evergreen Park
We stopped at the main shopping area – “you haven’t been to Haikou till you’ve been to a shopping mall,” we were told. The big stores were closed but out on the streets, the night market is bustling. A nasty smell fills the air – fermented beancurd. We hear the strumming of a guitar. A big crowd is gathered around a busker who’s singing forlorn love songs.
Close to midnight, Lucas suggests a massage. He takes us to a place called Hotel Boost where you can have a massage, get a haircut, play mahjong, sing karaoke and I think also spend the night. It’s not a place where you want to go to the washroom but the massage rooms are fairly decent (in the dark). The foot massage is pretty good.
Food stalls everywhere there is space (left) and busker entertains in the city centre
Karaoke was on the agenda after but I think Boh Hui was the wiser one. “We have breakfast at eight,” he reminded us.
Breakfast was with Roger Fung, general manager of Meritus Haikou. Roger first came to China in 1983 and he’s worked everywhere on the mainland since then. That makes him the longest-serving expatriate hotelier in China, he told us.
He’s been in Haikou 14 months and loves the different feel of the island from other cities on the mainland. “It’s much more relaxed here and people are very hospitable,” he said. He’s excited about plans to make Hainan an “international tourism island” but feels a lot more needs to be done with staff training.
“A lot of places are not ready for international tourists,” he said.
L-R: Lucas, Siew Hoon and Roger Fung, general manager of Meritus Haikou
It is true that to get around you do need to speak Mandarin or, in this case, Hainanese. I found it a novelty to be in a place where everyone speaks the dialect I grew up with and remains the only way I communicate with my mother. Mine is very rusty from under-use and Lucas and Boh Hui laugh at my accent, but it gets me around.
“Do you know any swear words in Hainanese,” asked Willy, who like most young Singaporeans speak Mandarin but no dialect.
At that point, Lucas looked at his watch and swore. “It’s time to go, guys. We have three villages to visit and we need to get to my village by sunset because Willy wants to take sunset photos and we’ve got to get firecrackers and fireworks on the way.”
Lucas is a true native son of Hainan and has a colourful family history. His father was born in Wenchang county. His wife was so beautiful she caught the eye of the local chieftain, who plotted to do away with Lucas’ father. Lucas’ grandmother heard of the plot and hurriedly shipped her son off to Singapore. He left behind his wife and two sons. The wife passed away but the two sons survived, and Lucas met his half-brothers for the first time in 1991.
There’s more to Lucas’ history but I am saving that for a book.
For now, it was time to hit the road – our first stop, Willy’s village in Baolo (pronounced Polo) in Wenchang.
Part 3: The return of Willy to Baolo
• Photos courtesy of Willy Foo
