Koxinga Huizenga

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On my second day in China I woke up at three o'clock in the morning. This means it's noon back home on Sunday. This typically happens when traveling to the Far East from the Far West. A whole day is obliterated in your calendar although you do gain it back on your way home but you end waking up in the middle of the night because your mind and body can't adjust instantly to the fifteen hour time difference. So you suffer for a couple of days until you get adjusted. So I'm up and wide awake and full of exuberance here in Xiamen, China at three thirty in the morning with absolutely nothing to do. So I grab my little notebook and my blue ink Pilot G-2 pen and I write about the things that happened the day before. If you're reading these passages that you see right in front of your very eyes right now then you are undoubtedly one of the very many astute and intelligent followers of my critically acclaimed and award winning travelogue, and you should congratulate yourself for being so and feel good about it, otherwise you would have a better use of your time than to spend it being enlightened by the wisdom displayed in the words and sentences that flow through these passages that you so easily absorb in your mind through the use of your optical senses and your ability to form a cognitive coherence of ideas that are conveyed by the language in an aesthetic and artistic fashion. That may seem like a load of horse manure to the uninitiated, the trollers, and rest of you people out there who are not part of the cult following of this here wonderful travelogue, but in the world of literature it what's called the written arts. And thus I practice this so called art of writing because it's three o'clock in the morning and have absolutely nothing better to do, I'm wide awake, and my creative juices are flowing freely like lava from an erupting volcano from the depths of my very rich imagination. All that creativity in the previous installment of my travelogue that you enjoyed reading so very much that your life, your whole being, is practically all complete and fulfilled that if you died tomorrow, going to heaven afterwards would be somewhat of a letdown because it couldn't possibly compare to the pleasure that you experienced from reading the extraordinarily entertaining narrative of my travelogue. So this is what brought you back to the latest chapter of my critically acclaimed and award winning travelogue; to be enlightened and entertained some more, and be brought to the highest level of pleasure imaginable to human kind. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

After writing for three solid hours of absolute and utter nonsense I dropped like a ton of brick and fell asleep for the next five hours because writing, although pleasurable, can be really exhausting. It can also fill a very huge void of emptiness in my life while traveling and once I get on a roll I go full bore at full speed nonstop until I'm exhausted to the point of collapse. And that's exactly what happened. I woke up at eleven o'clock late in the morning, too late for breakfast but too early for lunch. After a nice long and mildly cold shower I headed out of my hotel and flagged a taxi to take me to the ferry terminal.

Gulang Islet

Gulang Yu. The name of the island is Gulang. Yu means island in Chinese. Lu means road on the other hand. All this is fine and dandy but I haven't the foggiest notion how to figure out these Chinese characters. They're very puzzling to me. And there are thousands of them. The Latin alphabet contains twenty six letters. The Chinese characters have a thousand symbols, I think, although I'm not exactly sure how many because I haven't cared enough to look it up. Other than the hotel staff, no one in this town seems to speak any English. That makes going around town more challenging, but I'm not deterred because the people seem cooperative even if you don't speak their language. If I wanted to go to the harbor I just pull out my handy dandy city map of Xiamen and show the taxi driver where on the map I want to go and he will take me there for a mere ¥20 RMB from downtown Xiamen. But then again there's always the possibility of miscommunication. Once I told a taxi driver to take me to the ferry terminals. I pointed on the map where exactly I wanted to go, with my index finger right on top of the symbol of a ferry terminal. I thought he understood. He didn't. Instead he took me to the Millennium Harbourview Hotel, which is only a five minute walk to the terminals. Not a problem. I just walked from there to the terminals.

The pleasant surprise in Xiamen has been that, unlike many Southeast Asian cities that I've been to, I have not been endlessly hassled by touts and hawkers trying to rip me off. As a matter of fact I have not been ripped off at all. Instead, people have gone out of their way here to help me out. Communication has been difficult because very few people speak English. It's my own dadgum fault of course for not trying to learn Chinese but languages have always been difficult for me. Even the English language I tend to butcher up because I often fall back into slangisms and countryisms, a rhythm that I'm most comfortable with. Unfortunately only people who speak like me, who use the same dadgumit kinda boondock speak, can understand what the heck I'm talking about. The difficulty with being a Stranger in a Strange Land is that the simplest of things can become a real challenge. All I wanted to do was take the ferry to Gulang Yu but it was a little hard to figure out which gate was which. Which gate do I go to? Where's the booth to pay for my fare to Gulang Yu? This very simple thing was becoming hard to figure out. There was no crowd to follow because the last batch of crowd going to the island just left with the ferry a few minutes ago. Then I saw a booth with an attendant where above the little booth hole was a sign in Chinese and ¥15 RMB next to it, so I took a chance and paid the fare at the booth. I crossed the turnstile and handed my ticket to the attendants at the ferry and then crossed the gangplank to the boat that will take us to Gulang Yu. The boat was full of Chinese tourists. Well it turned out that the boat didn't just go straight to Gulang Yu. It went around it. It was a tour boat that took you around the island with a tour guide on a megaphone pointing out spots of interests. Of course, I understood not one word he said.

We landed on Gulang Yu at the height of noon, around 12:30 pm. The Sun was shining brightly without a cloud in the sky. The Chinese women had their umbrellas opened to shield themselves from the Sun's rays. I walked along the Esplanade on the Gulang Yu waterfront near the terminal with my map out and trying to figure out where things are. One of the things that I wanted to do was get to Sunlight Rock, also known as Riguang Rock in Chinese. I know this because that's what it said on the map I was holding. A couple of ladies approached me and spoke to me in Chinese. I think they were trying to sell me something or was offering themselves as tour guides to the island. I just grinned and shook my head, “no” was all I said. Try to figure where that came from. I'll give a hint; Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson.

Take a load off Annie
Take a load for free

Anyway, I turned right inland from the esplanade and started walking up towards a residential neighborhood. The streets turned from a pavement designed for tourist foot traffic into cobblestone alleys made for people who live and work in the area. It is an absolutely charming sight. The houses are like old relics from the colonial days. This great country of China has never been colonized in its entire history by foreigners although the foreigners from Europe have tried there darnedest to do so. All they got were concessions, areas designated for foreigners and their businesses, through some form of connivance and the use of force, of course. That is why the architecture of this island has a great deal of European influences in it. I walked up the steps which leads to a hilly neighborhood with old cobblestone streets and alleys. The houses were all built in the 18th century, or something ridiculous like that. I was looking into my map which did not have a lot details in it nor did it have any useful information, so I had no idea where I was at nor do I know which way to go to the top of Riguang Rock. I saw an old man hanging an old mat to dry by the side of his house. I didn't exactly know if that was his house, I just assumed it because why in the heck would he be hanging a mat out to dry on a fence by the side of a house if it wasn't his house. But then again it could've been someone else's house, who really knows and quite frankly, who really cares. Regardless of whether the old man lived there or not I asked him for directions. I pointed on the map I was holding the placed I wanted to get to, Riguang Rock. He said something in Chinese that sounded agreeable to me although I didn't understand it. He nodded his head up and down which I took to mean, “yes indeed I know exactly where it's at.” He then summoned me to follow him along the winding hilly streets of the neighborhood which leads to an English language elementary school, then some more residential housing where street vendors were selling orange juice and other refreshments, some tiny boutiques, some small restaurants, and more residential buildings. The afternoon heat is intensifying and beads of sweat are starting to seep out of the pores of my skin. The old man was walking along briskly in the winding and snaking road. The wind blows lightly along the treelined streets and cools the air slightly, but not enough to cool me off. The old man walked me close enough to where I can find Riguang Rock on my own. He showed me through the motion of his hand to turn right at the corner and then a motion up on another hilly road to get to the summit of the rock, and that's what I did. Eventually I found the entrance to the temple which leads to the summit of Riguang Rock.

Sunlight Rock

There's sign at the top of Riguang Rock, or Sunlight Rock if you will, that says

You have not been to Xiamen if you haven't made it to the top of Sunlight Rock

, or words to that effect which essentially conveys the idea that getting to the top of this here summit of Sunlight Rock is a pretty significant event, a major milestone if not an outright tremendous accomplishment that you should forever remember for the rest of your life. Well I'm not sure if you really have to be here to in order to tell your friends back home that you've been to Xiamen, but getting to the top of Sunlight Rock is pretty special. It's a nice steep climb through narrow steps and narrow pathways. It's relatively easy but it could get exhausting if you're a fat slob and out of shape. It's relatively easy for many young people, and I'm relatively young, so I didn't have any problems. The best part though is seeing the view from above overlooking Xiamen on the other side of the channel. It's not much of channel, I could swim across in thirty minutes or less. It's that close. I must admit that the harbor area of Xiamen, that whole Lujiang Dao strip, is fairly charming and attractive. The tall buildings doesn't scream out and shout for attention like in some other pretentious little city towns. Instead it fits snugly in with the scenery. On the east side down the distance you can see the highways circling around the coast which leads to some beach areas of Xiamen. The area at the summit is no more than one hundred square feet, if that, so you can't have too many people there at the same time. It's past noon by the time I got to the summit, around lunch time, and the many Chinese tourists are having lunch, so it was relatively uncrowded for the few of us who were at the summit to enjoy the view, soak in some Sun and absorb the cool breeze, and to take lots of pictures.

I went down and hung out for a couple of hours at the Shuzhuang Garden after my hike up the Sunlight Rock. Stalls of eateries were lined up along the promenade near the park or garden, whatever you wanna call it, at Shuzhuang. Supposedly the Shuzhuang Garden was built by a Taiwanese fella back in the late 19th century. Everything here in Gulangyu and to some extent Xiamen was built by foreigners or people from Xiamen who immigrated, who went somewhere else before coming back after making wads of money in a foreign land. It seems like the whole of Xiamen is or was a launching pad for people to go somewhere else, to places like Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, or wherever, make tons of money while there, and then comeback to Xiamen or Gulangyu or wherever to build a temple or an empire or a shopping mall, something that says

hey, I'm just a simple guy from Xiamen, but now look at me now, I'm a mall mogul or temple builder or hotel owner or just an all around swell guy with lots of money and the proclivity to show off just how deep my pocket is. Life has been veddy veddy goood to meeee, ha ha ha.

I met a young Chinese girl who spoke relatively good English at a somewhat fancy restaurant just a few yards away from the Shuzhuang Garden. It was one of those restaurants where they have aquariums and large orange buckets displayed out front with live seafood swimming in fresh water. I was only curious about the seafood and sea shells swimming in the orange bucket when the girl spoke to me in Chinese. I said “Sorry, I don't speak Chinese” although I had no idea that she could understand English. Like an idiot, I simply said the unintelligible knowing full well that she might not understand in the first place, only saying it out of habit. To my surprise she answered back in English.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“California” I said.

“Welcome to China” she said.

“Thank you” I said.

After that we just kind of looked at each other awkwardly and smiled because neither one of us knew what to say next. But I'm not one who just likes to stare at people awkwardly and not say anything, so I tried to get some sort of dialogue going.

“What's the best fish to eat?” I asked.

This was a stupid question but I couldn't come up with something better or more clever. The young lady just smiled and shook her head, meaning she didn't really know. So I looked at the fishes swimming in the aquarium. One fish look like I Grouper type of fish. So I pointed to it and asked if it was indeed a Grouper.

“Is that a Grouper?” I asked.

Again, the young lady didn't know. She understood my question, she just didn't know the answer. I see that she's not a fish expert.

“What kind of fish do you like to eat?” I asked.

She pointed to a reddish fish that looked to me like a Snapper. So I asked her to translate for me and order it deep fried from the restaurant. I had a hard time trying to get her to understand that I wanted it deep fried so I grabbed a menu and showed her a picture of a dish of a deep fried fish, and then I pointed to the Snapper swimming inside the aquarium. I spoke to her in English the whole time but her conversational English was still very limited. She finally understood what I wanted and so she translated it for me to a waitress inside the restaurant who also just happened to be her friend. She explained very carefully what I wanted to eat, even showing her the picture of a deep fried fish in the menu. The waitress led me to a table in the corner of the restaurant with a bay window which had a nice view of one the cobblestone alleys in Gulangyu. I invited my new friend to sit down and have lunch with me but she was too shy. She said she's not hungry. I thanked her very much for helping me out before she left to go home, but not before she helped me order a bottle of Tsingtao beer. My food arrived in fifteen minutes, halfway through my bottle of beer. I ordered one more bottle by simply raising it up a little, indicating that yes indeed I would love another one. The waitress smiled and a few seconds later came back with another bottle of cerveza for me. The snapper was served with some hot sauce and a bowl of rice. It was what I expected; very delicious, very tasty, and very satisfying.

No Fee After 10 PM

After the late lunch I went on a leisurely stroll around the island. Although no motorized vehicle is allowed in the island, they do allow nowadays to have an electric powered trolley that takes you on a tour around the island. But I didn't ride the electric cars. I went on foot. Starting from the terminal I walked to the northern side of the island where hardly any tourists go, but you do see a smattering of strollers, some of whom are island dwellers, most of whom are tourists. On the shore down below you'll see old boats, junks, and abandoned boats. Local folks are out with their fishing poles or casting nets to catch some fish. I didn't see too many big catches, mostly small fishes. You gotta go out to the deep open seas to the catch the big ones. It only takes an hour to walk around the island but I took my time, looking at some interesting sights, spending a lot of time at the Koxinga monument, and taking lots of pictures. By the time I made it around the island it was already late in the evening, around eight o'clock. So I went for another round of cerveza at a seafront little shindig and ordered some more fish, this time a bowl of fish soup with some tasty broth. I had no one to help me with ordering the food this time but I'm getting the hang of it. I just point to what I want, really. I point to a big bottle of Tsingtao beer and the picture of the fish soup on the wall. It was quite a satisfying night and when it was all over, when I finally decided to head back to my hotel after ten o'clock in the evening, the ferry ride back to Xiamen is free. No charge after 10 pm was a sign posted in English at the Gulangyu ferry terminal, one of the few English signs displayed anywhere. Knowing that I kept going back to Gulangyu at night the whole time I was in Xiamen.

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Photos

Koxinga
Koxinga was a Chinese warrior who fought the Dutch. Wayne Huizenga is a Dutch American who used to own the Miami Dophins. Other than the phonetic similarities of their names, the two are totally unrelated

Xiamen
From the summit of Riguang Rock

The coastal highway
A nice looking highway of Xiamen

The Wyndham
A hotel on Lujiang Dao

Gulang View
Near the top

Gulang View II
Close to the summit

The Obligatory Summit Self Pic
Sweain' like a dog

Sea view
Still at Riguang

An institution of some sort in Gulang Yu
I write Gulangyu and Gulang Yu interchangeably

The Rock
Posin' like an idiot tourist

Shuzhuang Garden
A nice picture

Chinese Garden
A lovely little bridge

Royal Garden Blues
By the Dukes of Dixieland

The Streets of Gulangyu
A lovely little street in Gulangyu

Handcart
You often see this in Gulangyu. No motorized Vehicle allowed.

Villa People
A street and a Villa in Gulangyu