Category: Explore Hainan

The cave's lava tunnel runs to 780 meters long, 3-4 meters high with a width of around 20 meters. Parts of the tunnel roof have collapsed in places allowing light to stream into the tunnel below like a window, open to the dense woodland above.

What was once an arduous four hour drive along some of the windiest mountain roads in Hainan is now a swift two hour spin along the newly opened central motorway. The motorway passes through some of the most beautiful, mountainous rainforest regions in Hainan all the way to Wuzhishan city and then on to Ledong.

Guilin Yang is one of my favourite haunts at weekends, it's only 20 minutes from Haikou City, has a beautiful unspoiled beach that’s usually empty, has some nice nature walks if you know where to look and by and large has a really relaxed friendly atmosphere.

If you are visiting Haikou, love food markets and want to experience some real Hainan street life then the food court is a must visit. The court is bursting with life and it's where the locals go to eat. Take a stroll down one of Haikou's backstreets and soak up the atmosphere .

Mova shopping mall Haikou is located on Guo xing avenue and is pretty central within Haikou city. It's one of Haikou's newest and largest shopping malls with 12 buildings each named after a zodiac sign and two underground shopping sections. Ultra modern shopping malls are now popping up all around Haikou.

Many things about Hainan are exclusive compared to the rest of China. The noodles, the coconuts, the beaches and of course the beautiful local language of Hainanese. But perhaps the strangest and most thought provoking is the Island’s tradition around Spring Festival called the Junpo festival (军坡节).

One of the things I love about Hainan is that even after living here for almost eight years I can still jump in the car, drive out of Haikou for an hour or so and discover something I have never seen before.

A question I have been asked quite a few times by visitors is “where can I see the Miao Minority”? To which I usually answer, “Everywhere, Haikou, Sanya, Qionghai etc… they’re all around you going about their daily business”.

Hainan Opera (Qiong Opera) is a folk opera art of the Han ethnic group in Hainan Province. As a branch of southern operas, Qiong Opera uses Hainan dialect in its lyrics, Hainan hua,  thus it is popular only in Hainan Island, Guangdong and Guangxi.