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what?Dadonghai Bay
The Big East Sea is a horseshoe curve of fine white sand beach on the southern peninsula of Sanya, just across the two bridges from Sanya City. Legend has it that a playful black dragon lived in the sea here (there seem to be dragons connected with every Chinese bay, just as every Chinese bell has a legend of the bellmaker's daughter falling into the vat of molten bronze). As the dragon's rough and tumble was not appreciated by local fishermen, the ing of the sea dragons had to be summoned to put a stop to its antics. Subsequently, grateful fishermen carved the epithet "Happiness is boundless like the great East Sea" on the cliffs at the western end of the bay, and so the bay got its name. Hmmmm. No, I didn't think it quite made sense either.
Dadonghai Bay has two sets of heavily degraded coral reef near the point at eitherside of the bay, and the whole bay is popular with swimmers. The beachfront is heavily developed with a mass of hotels and restaurants of varying quality. The phrase "Talks like Hawaii; looks like Benidorm" was uttered by a colleague. I know what he means.
The beach is good for walking, but the beach gets heavily used by noisy quadbikes and there is even a runway on the beach for a microlight. Peaceful Dadonghai ain't!
A number of restaurants have squeezed into the paces between the mammoth hotel developments, and there are some excellent little barbecue stands serving cold beer and grilled fresh fish. Now THIS is more like it! However, the majority of places cater for the coachload of visiting Chinese and Russian tourists. Sanya is a very popular spot for the chattering classes of Vladivistok, believe it or not.
