Wenchang and Dongjiao Coconut Forest

I did Wenchang (文昌) and the Dongjiao Coconut Forest (东郊椰林) today. First a bus to the Haikou East bus station. Departures were frequent, every 15 minutes, so I got the next one.


It's an hour to Wenchang. It looked like any other small Chinese town, with lots of traffic, honking and beeping. There was lot of construction around the town as usual. I wasted some time looking for the way to Dongjiao, then ask. It turns out to be another bus service, but the final destination is labelled Jianhuashan (建华山).

The bus went across a narrow channel on a ferry. We were dropped off outside the Prima resort. I walked a bit and a woman on the road talked me into having a seafood lunch in one of the restaurants. She probably got a greeter commission for that. I was asked to follow the fisherman to tanks just offshore. I picked a couple of crabs.


The cooking was quite good. I also had some stir fry veges with it. Unfortunately sand flies spoilt the joy. I was scratching the red welts for the next few days. Paradise had a price. No serviettes, tissues or finger bowls were provided. Service here could use improvement.

I had a look at the main beach. It's very pretty and is your stereotypical coconut lined tropical beach.

This dog had fun dragging something out of the water.

This is a viewing platform extending out to sea.

After taking lots of photos, I decided to make blog readers even more envious by having a Magnum ice cream.

This I followed with a coconut drink from some old ladies outside the resort. After finishing the juice I started sawing the shell with my Swiss Army knife to get at the flesh but the bus arrived so I had to abandon that. By the way here you see one of the villas.


It took an hour again to Wenchang, then a wait of about 20 minutes for the next available bus to Haikou. So I got back 1900. There were huge traffic jams on the road and lots of people waiting for the minibuses. We all squeezed in and the crowd was mostly gone by the time I reached the hostel.


I was not very hungry, having had a late lunch, so I walked around looking for something light. I discovered a night hawker market offering all kinds of street food from different Chinese provinces. In the end I had just a cob of corn, then a red bean paste bun.