Blogs from Xiamen, Fujian, China, Asia - page 14

And so we reach December. Time really is flying by, it's hard to believe I've already been in China for almost four months. As I said in my last update I had a week off a while back because of the students' mid-term exams. Hannah, one of the other ELAs from Hangzhou, came down to stay with Alison (another of the ELAs) in Xiamen for a few days so I used it as an excuse to get out and do some of the touristy stuff in Xiamen itself. We went to Gulang Yu, a small ex-colonial island which is only a five minute ferry ride from Xiamen. The island itself is beautiful. It's completely pedestrianised and full of old colonial style buildings. Unfortunately when we were there the weather wasn't spectacular, grey and drizzle, rather British ... read more

Arrived in Gulang Island on Saturday around 5pm but the ferry had taken us to the opposite side of the Island than we had expected and needed to be. Unfortunately there are no roads here just paths so no cars just the odd golf buggy, which made travelling to the other side of the Island interesting, luckily for us the island is only about 7km squared. We finally made it to the other ferry port but by then it had gone dark and although we found the road the hostel was on we could not find the hostel (China has no logic!). So eventually we decided to book into a hotel instead, not the best in the world but it was warm and it had a bed. Sunday consisted of trying to find the hostel in ... read more

First off I'd like to apologise for not updating sooner. I realise that it's been a while since I last posted. I've been kept fairly busy with my daily routine and haven't really been doing anything exciting with my time. A few weeks ago my school celebrated it's 100th anniversary. It's the oldest school in the region and there were a number of events to celebrate. So I dragged myself out of bed early on Saturday (28th Oct) morning and went to watch the main celebrations. The day started with an hour and a half of speeches and at this point I was seriously regretting not staying in bed. After the speeches were over the celebrations really started. There were seriously impressive dance performances, song recitals and martial arts displays. All in all good fun. I ... read more

Hi all. Just to let you know that I had a great birthday last Friday. I went for a really good meal at a local vegetarian restaurant with some of the other ex-pat teachers and some locals I've become friends with. After the meal we all went to a small jazz bar which is fast becoming our local. The owners are friendly and play some great live music. All in all it was a great night. Thanks again to all of you who sent cards, texts or emails. It was great hearing from you. I'll update again soon.... read more

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 ... read more