Xiamen

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After a very comfortable flight we arrived safely in Xiamen and grabbed a bus to the harbour. The hostel we booked was actually located on Gulangyu Island, so we had to take a 5 minute ferry accross to it. The island is less than 2km squared with a population of about 20,000 so it wasn't too difficult to find the hostel. The island is very scenic, all the buildings including our hostel are old colonial buildings, many of which are state protected. Our first evening there we spent wandering through the small streets and lanes of the island. A very relaxing place, unlike anywhere else we have seen in China. The only vehicles allowed on the island's small streets are golf buggies, and there was no sign of any tour groups! After a quiet beer we headed to bed for an early night.

We got an early start the next day as we only had one day to sightsee. We soon realised the island was packed with Chinese tourists over for the day, many who stopped to take pictures of us as we had breakfast in the garden of the hostel!

After breakfast, our first stop was the aquarium where we saw a huge number of unusual fish that we had never heard of and we also got to see a live show involving sealions and dolphins, a very small scale version of SeaWorld. We then made our way over to Sunlight Rock, where we got a cable car across the park before climing the steps to the top of the rock. From the top of the rock there were beautiful views of the island as well as Xiamen, although it was a little packed at the peak with Chinese Tourists as usual.

That evening we got the ferry over to the city and wandered around for awhile and stopped for a bite to eat. There is not much to see in the city and is really just another giant Chinese neon lit city, so we headed back to the island.

Next Stop Hong Kong...

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Photos

Sunlight Rock
The Highest Point On The Island