Sept 17: Paradise in Horizon

Last year, when "The Bucket List" became a box-office hit, many people started to write their own bucket lists. I did one, too. One of the items on my list is to travel with my parents to a beautiful destination and give them an unforgetable experience.

Thanks to a generous breathing space between my old job and new stint, my dream is coming true. Last night, we flew from Shanghai to San Ya, a coastal city in the southmost province of China - Hai Nan Island.

The flight was only 2 hours and 40 minutes and relatively smooth. Nevertheless, flying is still a novelty for my parents. They have worked very hard all their lives and they belong to a generation that does not know the meaning of "vacation". I can count their trips in my 38 years of life on one hand and still not use all the fingers. They spent their honeymoon in Han Zhou (two hours' train ride from Shanghai). Mom traveled to Europe for work once. In 2004, I invited them to visit me in Canada. That was dad's first ever plane ride, at the ripe age of 61! Last year I sponsored their trip to Hong Kong - it was dad's second plane ride from Hong Kong to Shanghai (they were too frugal and took the train on their way to Hong Kong). So this flight is dad's third big experience. My heart melted when I saw my dad glued his eyes on any objects outside the cabin window for almost the entire trip, trying to spot city lights and marveling at the clouds we flew through. The Shanghai Airline offered good service and surprisingly good food, maybe I was biased because they served Chinese food.

We arrived at San Ya at 8:50 PM. A wave of hot and humid air welcomed us as we exited the aircraft. It felt almost exactly the same as Barbados, only hotter. The airport was quite simple compared to the ultra-modern Pu Dong Airport in Shanghai. It also adopts open concept - fresh air and no air-conditioning. I didn't mind. The air felt soothing on my parched skin from the flight. I have always loved hot weather anyway.

As soon as we walked out of the arrival door, I spotted my name, written in very large characters on a placard held by a man in a colorful Hawaiian shirt. He was our driver. I have arranged to have the hotel send us a car. The driver was very friendly. He has a slight accent similar to Cantonese, which dad and I had no problem understanding (we both speak Cantonese). He took our two bags and led us to a very clean-smelling Volkswagen Passat with leather interior. Our San Ya journey started.

The shadow of palm and coconut trees moved past our window at a comfortable pace. Speed limit is 80 km/h. The moon is still almost perfectly round (2 days after the Chinese moon festival) and bathed everything in a mysterious silvery light. Since the airport is 35 minutes away from the hotel, we had time for a nice conversation with the driver.

Mom started with the question that has plagued her for more than 2 weeks. According to Jucelino Nobrega da Luz, a 47-year-old Brazilian teacher and clairvoyant, China (in particular, San Ya) will be hit with a 9.1 earthquake on Sept 13th, causing a catastrophic tsunami. Ever since I proposed our trip to San Ya, mom has been focusing intently on news report every morning to see if an earthquake had hit San Ya. It didn't help that relatives and friends were calling her up, questioning our decision to travel in such "trying times". I didn't pay too much attention to the prediction and insisted on our original plan. Traveling to San Ya has been a dream for my mom for the longest time. I am not about to let a rumor/prediction jeopardize the precious chance we have. So mom eagerly asked the driver about the prediction.

The driver laughed, "Sure, there are people who believed it. Some of them have fled to the mainland to escape from the disaster. Most of us Hai Nan people are not responding."

"Aren't you worried?" asked mom, not willing to give up.

"Not really. If death is in your destiny, then there is really nowhere to hide. And what's more, just think about it. If a tsunami hits and wipes out all the people in Hai Nan, you will die with another million people by your side. Wouldn't that be cool?"

The driver's unique viewpoint cracked mom up. I was most thankful to the driver because his interpretation enlightened mom a bit, which I wasn't able to do before.

We drove through a few small towns. The island was quiet at that time of the night. There weren't that many cars and almost no pedestrians. We only drove past one location where people were gathered around some dinner tables and chatting. We could see the sillouette of meandering hills against the night sky, beyond the vast rice fields on both sides of the road.

We finally arrived at our destination - the Horizon Resort and Spa. It is located on the best real-estate San Ya - Ya Long Bay. Ya Long Bay boasts beautiful beaches and calm sea, cradled by a ring of hills rising above the sea. There are quite a few hotels to choose from in Ya Long Bay. I chose the Horizon after a lot of research on-line, reading travelers' comments about the many hotels there. I have to say my research paid off.

The hotel was built 10 years ago so it has a longer history than many other hotels in the Bay. In recent years it went through an expansion and is now divided into two zones. Zone two is the new addition and much more modern than Zone one. The two zones have separate entrances. Again the entrance of Zone two has more grandeur than that of Zone one, including the lobby. We checked into our room, a deluxe suite with sea view.

Our suite is located on the top floor (7th) on the northwest wing of the Zone two compond. The rooms are larger than any I have seen in North American hotels. The bedroom has a king-size bed on which you can gaze at the sea while lying down. The living room is attached to a big balcony. The sea is directly in front and to the right of the balcony. Underneath the balcony there is a great view of the beautiful garden in the centre of the hotel. To the left is some high hills enshrouded in clouds. The suite is very well-equipped with all kinds of amenities, including a PC with a thin-screen, unlimited Internet access, washing machine, a kitchen, robes, beach sandals, two big-screen TVs, double sinks, huge tub, rain-forest shower, a walk-in closet and separate AC control in each room. It even has a sewing kit! The sofa in the living room was already turned into a bed upon our arrival - I requested that because I knew we would arrive quite late. Even with the sofa bed, the living room still doesn't look crowded one bit. Both rooms have large windows. The windows in the living room is a full-length one, providing an unobstructed view of the gorgeous bay.

View from our balcony

We were so tired last night from our flight that we simply fell into our comfy bed and slept. This morning I woke up very early. It was only 4:23 AM. I had left the curtain open in the living room and I could see lightnings piercing the early dawn sky. Surprisingly there was no thunder. I got up and walked onto the balcony. The sea was calm. Small waves broke at shore and formed a neat white line, singing a pretty little water song. I dozed off listening to the waves and when I woke up, it was bright daylight and Horizon's charm was in plain view.

As the sun moved higher in the sky, the color of the sea started to change from light grey to light green to emerald to blue. Mom has never seen the sea before and she was mesmerized by the view and kept returning to the balcony to see how the ocean has changed.

The garden underneath our room is lush with palm, banana groves and many other medium-height tropical trees. The growth has been planned and trimmed carefully to cover up the little paths in the garden leading to different destinations in the hotel. In the center of the garden there is a two-level 2000 square-feet swimming pool. The water is not too deep - only 1 meter so non-swimmers can float around without any concerns. There is also a sea-water pool. Water is pumped from the ocean everyday to fill this pool. It is ideal for people who are not great swimmers and afraid of waves.

In the following days, we would find many other pleasant surprised the hotel has to offer apart from those that we could see from our room. Although I am frequent traveler to Barbados and used to believe that the Carribeans is a tropical paradise, I now have to admit that people in San Ya has caught on - Horizon is indeed a paradise.

Mom and dad relaxing on the beach