The R & R That Wasn’t, Part 4 – Yanoda

Up early again on the 11^th April, much to the consternation of #1 son’s missus. She is not really a morning person, but we were off sightseeing yet again. Among the ideas I had given them before coming was Yanoda. This is a rainforest park, on the road between Wuzhishan and Sanya.

Lots more information can be found in the tourist brochure. It doesn’t take too long from where we live and so we arrived there about 10:30 AM.

When you arrive you will be met with a plethora of pricing options. My original plan had been to get us all VIP tickets. However, it seemed that the only advantage of those was that you rode in a golf cart to the ‘start’ instead of in a coach. All the ‘attractions’ are priced individually but we opted for the all-inclusive ticket which was cheaper, even if you didn’t want to visit them all.

So, off we went. Our first port of call was the lookout point. The views are amazing. Here’s a panorama to give you an idea.

On the way to our next port of call, the zipline, we stumbled across our photo opportunity with the birds. We hadn’t known about this and three of us were over the moon. Huan wasn’t so impressed, she’s not as keen on animals and birds as we are. My son, just like me, absolutely loved it. Here’s one of me with a couple of birds. Long time since I’ve had a ‘bird’ on each side of me!! The red one is actually drinking the sweat drops off my forehead. My only disappointment with this is that I had to stop so other people could have a go!

Onwards we went and sure enough, there was the zipline. There was a queue but it moved quickly enough. They ‘size you up’ to decide which line to put you on. I was put on the ‘heaviest’. Next they make sure you are strapped in, if you are wearing a camera, as my son was with his GoPro, they will try to make sure the view is not blocked. Finally they make sure that nothing is likely to drop off, cellphones, cameras etc and then they give you a push. This was me arriving at the other end. I enjoyed it although I would have preferred a little more speed! Make sure you look out for the cameramen otherwise you may not get your face in the piccie!

Once we were down it was time to follow the trail(s) again. We didn’t have much idea where we were going so just followed the crowd. We ended up at the ‘Kinship Gate’ a beautiful little spot. Lots of couples having photographs taken there. Again there were no problems with too many people though, we managed to get the photos we wanted.

It didn’t take long for #1 son to spot another ‘critter’. Sometimes I wish my eyes were a lot younger than the rest of me! This was another lizard. I’m amazed at the variety we see here in Hainan, more then I’ve ever seen anywhere else.

We carried on with our stroll and ended up near a lake, or man made water feature, you can never be sure in China. It was a lovely spot yet again, we could have spent ages there. There were even more parrots to have your photo taken with! Here’s one of Huan and I. We are not great selfie fans, and certainly have no ‘filters’ to make us prettier, but we do take the odd one now and again!

Lunch time was now upon us and so we headed for this:

I’m not actually sure what the health food was, but don’t be put off by the sign. We had ample choice and ample quantity, including chips! (French fries for you ‘simplified English’ speakers).

Onward and upward they say in the movies, but it was onward and downwards for us. One of the attractions we decided to give a miss today was climbing the waterfalls. Instead we went down watching (and teasing) those who were going up.

Somewhere along the way we had missed the parrot shows, which was no great loss. None of us are really fond of seeing animals being exploited too much. We also seemed to have missed some of the other things shown in the brochure. However, we didn’t actually get the brochure until we had finished our journey and then it appeared to be the last English one they had! We found ourselves at a buggy terminal, presumable one of many.

So we headed off back to the main entrance,

We had only spent about four hours inside. Better planning would mean you could spend a lot longer and enjoy what there is to see, and believe me there is a lot. An overnight stay may be the best way to make sure you get to see all. There is a hotel available and they also cater for campers. For us, definitely worth a return visit someday. Lots more photos are available in the Yanoda album here - https://photos.app.goo.gl/gtL99vErwC3uR8am7

Back to Wuzhishan it was for us then, a little lazing around and then out for dinner. This was the restaurant of choice.

There is a wide variety of food here so if you are bringing visitors who are not partial to Chinese food, or who just fancy a change it’s worth trying. Not too expensive either.

Next episode will follow shortly but I need to upload some photos first. See you soon!