Day 7, Xiamen, China

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Geo: 24.45, 118.08

Today we as per usual, got up and pampered ourselves then headed to get breakfast once again, catching up with people we've met along the way. Quite a few people were going on the same tour as ours so there was lots of buses heading out. Today we are doing The Essence of Xiamem, which takes us to a temple, a beach Buddah ( and I don't mean us on the beach!!) then to a pedestrian shopping mall.
Our first stop was at the Temple and the first thing we had to do was to actually cross the road, well that was fun!!! We managed to not be run down by pushbikes, motorbikes, cars, taxis, buses and trucks!! And I forgot all the pedestrians that just barge through anyway!
Once we got to the Temple entrance, our tour leader said we could either do our own thing or he will explain along the way so we decided that would be better. The first area had a few ponds and they had fish and so many turtles of all sizes. The first main Temple had s big Buddah and lots of other ones on the side, I would tell you who they were but the tour leader had good but broken English which made it hard for getting the correct pronunciation!! We meandered our way through other Temples gradually climbing lots of stairs along the way. The last area to go was to s huge big rock with something to do with Buddah written on it, there was more climbing to do to get up to the top but that was as far as our tour leader went. I saw a souvenir shop and went and bought some special biscuits that are only produced for special occasions once a month and they are meant to bring you wealth!!!( yes should have bought lots of these!!)
Next we were back on the bus and headed towards the beach. Again we were having to cross another busy road but made it, dodging cars and buses!! Down on the top of the hill, was a Buddah statue which overlooked the sea so he was the Sea Buddah. We were able to wander for a bit and as we were heading back to the bus, we saw little sand crabs so we squatted and watched them move around, the beach here has a fair amount of rubbish lying near the waters edge, I wouldn't liked to had swum here! Near the exit to where we had to meet, we bought a sugar donut thing but it wasn't soft, it was like a chorro stick but harder. Back on the bus and this time heading for the pedestrian shopping street, yahoo!! We had 1 hour and 10 minutes here to wander around by ourselves, we decided to split up and go our own ways shopping, again, so many shops. so many people!! We bought only a few items here, had no lunch here but when we met up, we had a sundae from McDonalds !! .
Time was up, head count done once again, our group all here, unlike some groups that were missing people!! Back through customs, back through check in and yes, straight to the bar!! After a full on day, we needed it!
Sailing away from here was quite pretty, lots of light on all the buildings and along the harbour, many ships here as Xiamen is a major shipping port between Taiwan an Xiamem.
A lot of the Aussies did the same shore excursion as ours so we all experienced abit of cultural and the beaches and the shops.
Dinner was not far away, as we didn't have any lunch so we getting a little bit peckish, don't know how but you have to have some food with alcohol!! Tonight was again a formal night, this time we dined with Cheryl, her Dad Tom and her twins, William and Kate, lovely family from Melbourne. We had a great meal, lots of drinks and great company, we sat right at the front where everyone came into the dining room, so we all kept chatting to people we knew as they walked in and out, this was a great spot!!
After dinner, there was a production show so we all went to see it, but it had already started but what we saw was good.
Last drinks back at the bar, Tom is 83 and he was getting stuck into the drinks too, nearly time to start detoxing!! We stayed at the schooner bar for a little while, then said goodnight to all our Aussie friends and headed to our room. Once back at our room, I always check our newsletter called Compass for activities for the following day, then mark off what we will do then I sit for an hour or so adding photos and writing stories for the Travelpod, always something to do!!

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