Yin Tan (Silver Beach)
Yin Tan
About
Beihai's premier attraction, located 10km (6 miles) south of downtown, offers a 24km (16-mile) stretch of dull, gun-metal gray sand, murky water, and thousands of jellyfish the size of small satellites. Supposedly Chinese tourists throng here for volleyball, sunbathing, and sandcastle building, but the only time I saw lots of people on the beach was in Photoshopped posters that adorned the walls of hotel lobbies. Unfortunately, more than half the worlds' supertankers make their way through the Gulf of Tonkin, and excessive tank washing, ballast dumping, and undersea pipelines have all led to a severe deterioration in the water quality both here and in Hainan, with even a number of red tides. The local practice of fishing using TNT blasting and cyanide poisoning, although banned, has not helped either. Still, there are plenty of entrepreneurs who will rent out motorized skiffs, speedboats, horses, and even the obligatory camel. Officially there is an entrance fee, but I was never able to find a ticket booth.
