- City’s restored Qilou Old Street, full of shophouses with East-meets-West architecture, is home to cafes, restaurants and shops popular with locals and visitors
- Square Out Space, a Mediterranean-style cafe bar and artspace, Taichi Brewery and one-stop food destination, Qilou Snack Street, among favourite haunts
Matt Waters, a 29-year-old teacher, musician and music producer from the United States, orders a coconut from a street hawker in Mandarin: “Wo yao yi ge ye zi, xie xie.”
While he watches as the top of the coconut’s shell is cut off he adds: “Hainan is quite famous for its coconuts … I'm quite looking forward to this one.”
Hainan is unique in the fact that people [from] all across the world [are] coming here and mixing with the local Chinese culture
He then sips the fresh coconut juice as he continues to show South China Morning Post around the historic area known as Qilou Old Street, one of his favourite places in Haikou, the port city and capital of China’s island province of Hainan.
Waters moved to Haikou more than two years ago to help launch a music programme as trombone professor at the city’s Nanhai Conservatory of Music, as well as set up a music production event company, Hainan Music Productions.