Visun Royal Yacht Club
三亚的酒吧街。
宣
传材料上说，海南──中国最南端的岛屿省份──是中国的夏威夷。按照这个逻辑，三亚作为海南主要的度假胜地，就应该是相当于发展中的威基基海滩(Waikiki)了。现实情况与宣传册上的描述并完全不相符。随处可见的酒店和公寓大楼的建筑工地让三亚的马路拥挤不堪、灰尘飞扬，而且三亚也缺少美国威基基海滩的那种光鲜亮丽和轻松氛围。
但是，三亚温和的气候、沙滩和无数不清的酒店度假村已经吸引了众多的俄罗斯和中国游客，以及很多来自居住在香港和中国大陆的西方游客人。
三亚并不是一直都抱有这样的雄心壮志。在封建时代，海南岛是失去皇帝恩宠的官员们的流放地，而在1988年被中国政府设立为经济特区以前，这里基本上仍是个依靠农耕和捕鱼为生的闭塞地区。
如今，一些全球最高档的酒店都在三亚落脚。这里还建有一座游艇码头和不少众多豪华公寓，中国的富商名流纷至沓来：三亚在过去10年举办了五次“世界小姐”(Miss World)选美大赛。从中国官方统计数字来看，拥有50多万人口的三亚在2010年接待了大约900万游客，是将近2004年游客数量的将近3倍。
我们的夜晚从远离喧嚣人群的文华东方酒店(Mandarin Oriental hotel)日落吧(Sunset Bar)开始。露天的环境，再加上美丽的大东海(Dadong Bay)海景，日落吧是三亚观赏夜幕降临南中国海的最佳地点。在藤椅里呷一口莫吉托(mojito)鸡尾酒，你可能会有理由相信三亚或许真的可以实现它的雄心壮志。
晚餐时间，考虑到三亚的地理位置，海鲜是当仁不让的选择。海边的餐厅不胜枚举，但是出租车司机推荐我们去了三亚湾路和友谊街交汇处的滨海渔村海鲜店(Binhai Seafood Village)。在这里，顾客可以选择各种形状和大小的蛤蜊、热带鱼类以及不同种类的螃蟹和大虾。各种海味被直接从水箱里抓出来，当着你的面称重，然后按照你的选择进行烹制──清蒸、煎炸、辣烧和配以豆豉酱的香辣口味都是几种很受欢迎的烹饪方法。
你还可以选择吃河豚──它这种鱼价格不菲，重约1.5磅的一条河豚售价超过500元（约合77美元）。而且也还有风险──当地的一名渔夫在去年11月因为食用了没有处理好的河豚而中毒死亡身亡，这对冒险品尝美味的危险性敲响了警钟。作为替代，你可以试试清蒸石斑鱼、蛤蜊煎、蒜茸蒸扇贝、冬粉和椰子饭──在椰子壳里做糯米饭，是当地的一道特色食品。
（如果要吃西餐的话，三亚湾路上的胖老爸休闲餐吧(Fat Daddy's)供应汉堡包、墨西哥玉米薄饼、玉米片和比萨饼，以及用白葡萄酒调制而成的味道不错的桑哥利亚酒(sangria)。）
吃过晚饭，我们去了时代海岸酒吧街(Times Coast Bar Street)，当地人称之为“酒吧街”。道路两旁的俱乐部里播放着Lady Gaga等国际巨星的喧嚣舞曲。无论是星期几，当地人和游客都会来到这里消磨时光。这里的酒吧和俱乐部基本没有什么区别上都是大同小异，尽管不过位于酒吧街入口附近榆亚路上的名舰MJ酒吧更最受西方游客和住在当地的外国人的青睐。
如果想在附近更轻松地喝上一杯，听听更舒缓的音乐，就去彩虹酒吧烧烤店(Rainbow Bar & Grill)。在那里，上世纪80年代的流行音乐唱主角，力加(Anchor)生啤酒则是人们的最爱。这家店坐落在三亚河边，从外面的庭院可以俯瞰很多的木制渔船──让人们想起三亚在成为旅游胜地之前的样子。
三亚的出租车不多──小摩的倒是满大街都是，而且也更有趣。朝着大东海方向开车走上五分钟，就到了海豚体育酒吧烧烤店(Dolphin Sports Bar & Grill)。那里每天晚上都有一支菲律宾的acoustic cover翻唱乐队在表演，还有一块大屏幕常年转播ESPN电视台的比赛节目。
到了宵夜时间，当地的特色是猪肉末、豆芽和小葱炒米线，配上当地产的黄灯笼辣椒酱吃。摊位不同，辣椒酱的辣度也不一样，有时候真的会辣掉人的舌头。在三亚，哪里有生意红火的酒吧，哪里就有卖这些便宜米线的摊位。
但是，不过要吃到三亚最好吃的宵夜，可以在还得去榆海路和榆亚路的交汇处找到交叉路口。一些几个移居海南的中国北方人在这里卖馒头包子和猪肉大葱馅水饺。和其他夜猫子们一起品尝着这些美味，让你想起你会不由得想，虽然这里三亚不是威基基海滩，却它有着自己独特的魅力。
Jason Chow
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
The marketing materials say that Hainan, China's southernmost island and province, is the country's equivalent to Hawaii. Following that logic, Sanya, the island's main resort town, should be a budding Waikiki.
The reality doesn't quite match the hype. A boom in hotel and condo construction has rendered Sanya's thoroughfares overcrowded and dusty, and the town lacks the glamour and relaxing vibe of the American beach destination.
Still, Sanya's mild climate, sandy beaches and numerous hotel-resorts are already a draw for Russian and Chinese tourists, as well as a sizable number of Westerners from Hong Kong and China.
Sanya hasn't always had such lofty ambitions. The island was a penal colony during imperial times for officials who fell out of favor with the emperor and remained mostly an agricultural and fishing backwater until 1988, when the region was designated by the Chinese central government as a special economic zone.
Today, Sanya's accommodations include some of the world's top hotel brands. There's also a yacht marina and luxury condo developments, and a reputation for being a playground for China's rich and famous: Sanya has hosted the Miss World competition five times in the last 10 years. The city of more than half a million received about nine million visitors in 2010, almost three times the amount that came here in 2004, according to the China's official statistics.
Our evening begins away from the crowds, at the Sunset Bar in the Mandarin Oriental hotel. An open-air space with a beautiful sweeping view of Dadong Bay, the Sunset Bar is the best place in town to watch dusk fall over the South China Sea. Sipping a mojito in a rattan chair, it's possible to believe that perhaps Sanya might achieve its luxurious ambitions.
Off to dinner, and given Sanya's oceanic location, seafood is the obvious choice. Beachfront options abound, but a taxi driver recommendation is the Binhai Seafood Village at the corner of Sanya Wan Lu and Youyi Jie. Diners pick from clams of all shapes and sizes, tropical fish and several species of crabs and prawns. The seafood is plucked straight from the tank, weighed in front of you, then cooked according to your choice -- steamed, sauteed, spicy, with black bean sauce being a few of the more popular options.
Among the offerings is puffer fish -- a pricey choice at more than 500 yuan (US$77) for a single fish of about 1.5 pounds. It's also a risky option -- a local fisherman died of poisoning in November from eating an ill-prepared puffer for lunch, a sobering reminder of the perils of food adventurism. Instead, try steamed grouper with ginger and scallions, sauteed conical clams with chilies, steamed scallops with garlic and bean thread noodles and coconut rice -- a local specialty that involves cooking glutinous rice in coconut shells.
(For western food, Fat Daddy's along Sanya Bay serves burgers, quesadillas, nachos and pizza, as well as a decent white wine sangria.)
After dinner, head to Times Coast Bar Street, which is better known by locals as Jiu Ba Jie (literally 'Bar Street'). Clubs lining either side of the road blare out international dance hits from Lady Gaga and her ilk. Inside, locals and tourists grind it out no matter what day of the week. The bars and clubs are basically interchangeable, though MJ, located near the entrance of Jiu Ba Jie and along Yuya Road, is a bigger hit among the Western tourists and expatriate crowd.
For a more relaxed drink with tolerable music in the same vicinity, visit Rainbow Bar & Grill, where '80s hits reign and draft Anchor beer is the drink of choice. Located on the edge of Sanya River, the outdoor patio overlooks a crowd of wooden fishing boats -- a reminder of what Sanya was like before the tourists came.
There's a shortage of cabs in Sanya -- motor rickshaws are both more plentiful and more fun. A five-minute drive toward Dadong Bay, Dolphin Sports Bar & Grill has a nightly Filipino acoustic cover band and a steady feed of ESPN sports programming on its screens.
When it comes to late-night munchies, the local specialty is a dish of wok-fried rice noodles with pork, bean sprouts, scallions, and a dose of the local yellow-pepper chili sauce that varies in strength from stall to stall and can sometimes singe the tongue with it spiciness. Wherever there are busy bars in Sanya, a stall serving these cheap noodles can be found.
But the best late-night treat found in town is at the corner of Yuhai Road and Yuya Road, where a couple of transplanted Northern Chinese are serving up steamed buns and dumplings filled with pork and chives. Chow down on these with other late-night revelers and you're reminded that while Sanya is no Waikiki, it has its own unique charms.
Jason Chow
The reality doesn't quite match the hype. A boom in hotel and condo construction has rendered Sanya's thoroughfares overcrowded and dusty, and the town lacks the glamour and relaxing vibe of the American beach destination.
Still, Sanya's mild climate, sandy beaches and numerous hotel-resorts are already a draw for Russian and Chinese tourists, as well as a sizable number of Westerners from Hong Kong and China.
Sanya hasn't always had such lofty ambitions. The island was a penal colony during imperial times for officials who fell out of favor with the emperor and remained mostly an agricultural and fishing backwater until 1988, when the region was designated by the Chinese central government as a special economic zone.
Today, Sanya's accommodations include some of the world's top hotel brands. There's also a yacht marina and luxury condo developments, and a reputation for being a playground for China's rich and famous: Sanya has hosted the Miss World competition five times in the last 10 years. The city of more than half a million received about nine million visitors in 2010, almost three times the amount that came here in 2004, according to the China's official statistics.
Our evening begins away from the crowds, at the Sunset Bar in the Mandarin Oriental hotel. An open-air space with a beautiful sweeping view of Dadong Bay, the Sunset Bar is the best place in town to watch dusk fall over the South China Sea. Sipping a mojito in a rattan chair, it's possible to believe that perhaps Sanya might achieve its luxurious ambitions.
Off to dinner, and given Sanya's oceanic location, seafood is the obvious choice. Beachfront options abound, but a taxi driver recommendation is the Binhai Seafood Village at the corner of Sanya Wan Lu and Youyi Jie. Diners pick from clams of all shapes and sizes, tropical fish and several species of crabs and prawns. The seafood is plucked straight from the tank, weighed in front of you, then cooked according to your choice -- steamed, sauteed, spicy, with black bean sauce being a few of the more popular options.
Among the offerings is puffer fish -- a pricey choice at more than 500 yuan (US$77) for a single fish of about 1.5 pounds. It's also a risky option -- a local fisherman died of poisoning in November from eating an ill-prepared puffer for lunch, a sobering reminder of the perils of food adventurism. Instead, try steamed grouper with ginger and scallions, sauteed conical clams with chilies, steamed scallops with garlic and bean thread noodles and coconut rice -- a local specialty that involves cooking glutinous rice in coconut shells.
(For western food, Fat Daddy's along Sanya Bay serves burgers, quesadillas, nachos and pizza, as well as a decent white wine sangria.)
After dinner, head to Times Coast Bar Street, which is better known by locals as Jiu Ba Jie (literally 'Bar Street'). Clubs lining either side of the road blare out international dance hits from Lady Gaga and her ilk. Inside, locals and tourists grind it out no matter what day of the week. The bars and clubs are basically interchangeable, though MJ, located near the entrance of Jiu Ba Jie and along Yuya Road, is a bigger hit among the Western tourists and expatriate crowd.
For a more relaxed drink with tolerable music in the same vicinity, visit Rainbow Bar & Grill, where '80s hits reign and draft Anchor beer is the drink of choice. Located on the edge of Sanya River, the outdoor patio overlooks a crowd of wooden fishing boats -- a reminder of what Sanya was like before the tourists came.
There's a shortage of cabs in Sanya -- motor rickshaws are both more plentiful and more fun. A five-minute drive toward Dadong Bay, Dolphin Sports Bar & Grill has a nightly Filipino acoustic cover band and a steady feed of ESPN sports programming on its screens.
When it comes to late-night munchies, the local specialty is a dish of wok-fried rice noodles with pork, bean sprouts, scallions, and a dose of the local yellow-pepper chili sauce that varies in strength from stall to stall and can sometimes singe the tongue with it spiciness. Wherever there are busy bars in Sanya, a stall serving these cheap noodles can be found.
But the best late-night treat found in town is at the corner of Yuhai Road and Yuya Road, where a couple of transplanted Northern Chinese are serving up steamed buns and dumplings filled with pork and chives. Chow down on these with other late-night revelers and you're reminded that while Sanya is no Waikiki, it has its own unique charms.
Jason Chow
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