Idyllic island provides nice escape

As one rambles on the jetty that leads to the ferry on Techeng Island, one may notice empty wooden huts on both sides, whose facades are plastered with posters of beautiful young women of many races. They are a reminder of a beauty pageant held here in late 2010.

On the 3.6-square-kilometer islet, one need not look hard for beauty because it abounds in many forms and varieties. On the eastern and northwestern sides are sandy beaches, where the blue sea laps at your feet and small crabs nibble at your toes - before they become food on your table, that is.

On the southern side are strips of mangrove, bending low but holding tenaciously to the gravelly floor, which is flooded when the tide sweeps in. These plants are more than 1,000 years old, a fitting symbol of the resilience of the local people.

The villages on Techeng Island used to suffer shortages of drinking water and lacked modern amenities, such as paved roads. But the visit by President Hu Jintao in 2003 changed that. The injection of public and private investment has dramatically raised living standards of the locals, yet the idyllic scenes endowed by nature have not been altered.

For one thing, modern medical science cannot take credit for the unusual longevity of the island's senior citizens. Many live to be 100 or older, subsisting off what the sea provides because villagers are all fishermen.

In the archaic language of Yue, the people who used to inhabit southern China, "te" means place, and "cheng" auspicious. No one doubts the island is blessed by nature and its fecundity.

Visitors can walk around or take a golf cart-like vehicle that runs on batteries rather than fossil fuel. You can sample fresh seafood at a restaurant or roadside stalls. You can even customize a pearl necklace and watch how the pearls are obtained from shelled mollusks and processed into a string of beautiful gems.

For the night, you can stay at the island resort, which offers three dozen thatch-roofed cottages that blend in well with the environment.

All buildings have the exteriors of farmers' or fishermen's humble abodes of a bygone era. A far cry from villages that have architecture full of modern touches, these are littered with fish ponds and rockeries.

The interiors are mostly wood, and even the furniture is purely hardwood. Most of the five-star facilities complement luxury with traditional dcor. You can even smell the wood or the earthy aroma of plants in most rooms.

There is a courtyard with a large pool in the middle. The dozen rooms that surround it are perfect for a group function. If you do not want to share a hot spring with your friends or colleagues, each room is fitted with a private spa on the secluded patio.

But you have to reserve in advance because the resort tends to be booked solid during the travel season.

A weekend getaway on Techeng Island will make you look like a fisherman and live like a king, or in the Chinese folk tradition, a king disguised as a fisherman. And it is only eight minutes away from downtown Zhanjiang by ferry.

liwenfang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/22/2012 page7)