Hiking in Xiamen

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Today I went for a hike in the mountains with a few of the other ex-pat English (and German) teachers. The mountains are located just behind my school although the route we took was on the other side, closer to the exhibition centre. There were quite a lot of people on the mountain as it’s a national holiday; apparently it’s usually pretty deserted. The scenery was lush and green but unfortunately the reservoir had been partially drained for some construction work, which spoilt the view a little. When we reached our highest point we were rewarded with some quite impressive views (we couldn’t actually go to the summit as it’s a military base - not really surprising as it’s the highest terrain near Taiwan). It was just possible to make out the Taiwanese island of Jinmen in the distance. If it had been a clearer day it would’ve made for a stunning photo but never mind.

On the descent we went through the Taiwanese Folk Village and avoided the entrance fee as we came in the back way. Quite what was Taiwanese of Folk about it no-one seemed to know but it was quite attractive, especially the waterfall (the less said about the fake dinosaur skeleton the better!).

When we reached the bottom we walked along the beach and got some lunch before heading back into town for a massage. We paid ¥60 (about £2) for an hour an forty minutes and had a great, relaxing massage, apparently that’s the holiday price too, normally it’s only half that!

It would probably have been even better if I hadn't got sunburnt on the hike, ow.

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