Hainan-Sanya-Haikou Expat

Easily believing you would have a mind to end your scenic ride of Hainan's east coast by indulging yourself at a quintessential beach resort for some peace, luxury and romance, its easy to realize that you could not choose better than to head straight for the newly opened Le Meridien Shimei Bay.

With most of the attention here in Sanya, even I admit that heading out of the Sanya area to explore the east coast of Hainan Island is a fabulous idea. At every turn, you'll discover a scenery of pristine beaches, rich rainforest mountains & gardens, sloping valleys and rich green farmlands, not to mention numerous excellent golf courses, all as lovely as I've ever seen. Even in comparison to islands of the Caribbean, Mexico and Southeast Asia, the Hainan island southeast coastal corridor stacks up nicely. That's quite a compliment having spent many days enjoying the tropical islands of Jamaica, the Yucatan/Cancun coast of Mexico, the Virgin Islands, St. Martin, Thailand and other islands. Here on Hainan, the drive from Sanya to Le Meridien at Shi Mei Bay is a fast 115 km, yet we recommend...

Follow up:

...we recommend you consider enjoying a much more pleasant scenic drive along the local #1 highway rather than the new expressway if you're not in too much of a hurry.

A Delightful Resort

Considered one of world's distinctive international resort brands, this just-opened Le Meridien at Shimei Bay is indeed a very special place, offering guests its unique signature while during our stay we noted at every turn, a very friendly well-trained staff eager to insure your happiness, In fact, guests of such a five star luxury resort should expect such high quality, friendly service at all times. Too often, especially in China we are met with a mixed basket of service & competence but this resort's management and staff team has the right approach and attitude and you can feel the difference. Its easy to say a new resort is gorgeous property, but its the people who make it a truly memorable stay, isn't it? I'll be doing a separate interview article next month with the resort's General Manager Terry Ko. He shared with me when he enjoys hi-fiving his staff as they get off the bus arriving at work.

Terry is a veteran hotelier who knows that as a leader he needs to create that friendly atmosphere with the team from the top down. Here's what I'm really trying to say: we saw staff members like Sam at the main restaurant and Leo in the awesome state of the art fitness center along with the lively troupe of waitresses in the second floor formal Chinese restaurant; they were all far beyond being "on duty" They had energy and enthusiasm to be enjoyably involved in their part of your stay to make it a bit sweeter. By the way, Le Meridien's restaurants have a partnership venture with famous French restaurateur Jean George's so beyond the bountiful buffet and service offered, you will find signature French pastries to die for.

Meeting Expectations

Onward to describing the property itself, there's nothing like beachfront luxury. While quite large, the style doesn't lose that all-important intimate feel. The main lobby area design is open and expansive, unlike any we might find elsewhere on the island. Offering the architectural style and friendly feel of inviting streetside cafes & shops, the large courtyard design at the same time leads your eye toward the ocean down a series of garden steps and pools complimented by six private jacuzzi areas, plus two additional bars finally arriving at the virgin beachfront. Sounds divine, yes? It works.

Quite effective in making your mind quickly drop whatever lingering thoughts were still nagging at you upon your arrival. If you are a golfer, Le Meridien is a perfect destination with two excellent courses, Ocean Bay Golf Club and Kang Le Hot Springs & Golf Resort within 10 minutes.

We stayed in a superior level room and found ourselves lacking nothing as we enjoyed the million dollar soft, thick mattress, nice big tub for a hot bath in the open style bathroom, large LCD TV with Bose sound system and all the other amenities and services you would expect and appreciate. Audra Arul, the resort's Director of Sales & Marketing enjoying her first assignment in tropical Hainan, gave us a grand tour of the property so we were able to see first hand the amazing beachfront villas, pool villas around the lagoon pool, superb spa, fitness center, meeting rooms and more. While these features might be as expected, its nice to find when they are well thought out and executed right. Design and planning with specially selected background music demonstrated careful attention to creating a natural, soothing atmosphere all around the lagoon pool area.

And Even More To Appreciate

The resort's main nightclub features an excellent band from the Phillipines who know their profession well and were particularly good at interacting with the guests. Meanwhile I'm even more excited to talk to you about the other music we found here at Le Meridien. We can't complete this story without introducing you to the resort's unique live music acoustic vocal ensemble. Their name is Megalatino and they were brought in all the way from Paraguay, South America.

Their fresh, rhythmic sound is so very special as they fill the lobby and restaurant areas each evening with sweet acoustic styles of merengue, cumbia, rhumba, salsa, chachacha, while favoring a repertoire of international classics from Italy, France, the Americas and Russia. The band's leader Osvaldo is from Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. Diego plays a magnificently crafted harp which is the national instrument of Paraguay. And then we meet Melissa and Laura to complete the quartet.

Upon hearing of the opportunity from another Paraguayan musician working on Hainan, Osvaldo found Diego who found Laura who saw and found Melissa on TV on Paraguay's version of Star Search and the rest is history while our good fortune. Unbelievably, Megalatino's first contract together as a quartet ensemble brings them all the way from Paraguay to our lovely little Chinese island spot; because you truly get the feeling and sense from their performance and energy they are a family ensemble together for a decade or more. They are another delightful addition to the many we discovered at Le Meridien Shi Mei Bay.

Written by Mario Cavolo, founder of SanyaExpat and at
www.mariocavolo.com