Mystery Bay

Mystery Bay to the south of the Lingshui Bay development offers a special combination of qualities that make it an ideal place for a hotel resort. In addition to its pristine beaches, the resorts’ secluded bay, enclosed naturally by a steep mountain ridge to the north east and steep cliffs at either end, give it an advantage over other beaches in Hainan. Privacy and seclusion is guaranteed.

The design of the resort hotel responds to this setting with a cinematographic strategy which through its storyboard emphasizes and enhances the special quality of the location. Guests arriving from the bustling development of Lingshui leave the high-rise towers and freeway and drive through smaller settlements, before passing by a golf course set in a beautiful landscape and up a narrow valley into Bai Nui Mountain where they arrive at a tunnel. Emerging into bright sunlight at the other end of the tunnel, they see the sea and a large lake, its far end blurring into the sky like an infinity pool. Letters spelling the name of the hotel appear to float on the reflective surface. The road appears to lead on into the lake, its destination unclear, before spiraling down mysteriously beneath the water’s surface to a place beneath the lake, where the temperature is cooler and the blinding light gives way to an intricate play of shadows and bright spots where the sun shines through windows in the bottom of the lake. Arriving at the hotel, the guests enjoy a 270-degree panoramic view of the ocean from the reception.

After checking in the scene changes: the guest descends into a cool canyon with lush tropical vegetation on the landward side and access to the hotel rooms facing the sea. The temperature is cool, the light comfortably shaded, the air filled with the sounds of tropical birds living in the “canyon”. Entering their room, guests at first see greenish, reflected light, but on opening the coloured glass shutters are greeted with the same 270-degree view of the bay. As all rooms are accessed from one side only, every room has this spectacular view.