Blogs from Xiamen, Fujian, China, Asia - page 16

Forget about Hong Kong, this is much better! We arrived to Xiamen early yesterday morning. Right away we left the main island with a boat to a smaller sandy och rocky little island called Gulang Yu. With the pages ripped out from one of the guide books at the shabby hostel i Hong Kong we soon found a little hotel, somewhat rundown, but cheap and spacious. Here we were once again recogniced, looked and starred at as we must have been one of the few if not the only white people on the whole island... Even if that sometimes might get you nervous and irritated, it's definetely to prefer in front of the aloneness and anonymity of Hong Kong. It's hard to separate the components that compose a good time, happiness or what ever you wanna ... read more

Torturous day! Mom and Dad me mad very upset today. We went to Mom’s favorite tailor, Mei, in China. We had a tea time with Mei and her husband. The husband, An, was this arrogant, longwinded, boring guy. During tea time, the husband offered to be my tour guide. He wanted to give me a tour of Gulangru Island, an island off of Xiamen. I wanted to tour this island with mom and dad. Instead, mom and dad insisted that I go with An. This is how the conversation went: An: I can take your son to Gulangru and show him all the historical sites. I will make it worthwhile. He will surely enjoy the tour. I can be big brother for the day and show him the ropes. Mom: Oh, that would be great! Son, ... read more

Getting on the train from Shanghai to Xiamen was fast...too fast. I underestimated the traffic congestion in Shanghai of course, and when the taxi driver heard when my train was leaving (8:40am), he suggested I take a motorcycle taxi instead. I insisted he just try getting there fast, and he did (honking the whole way of course). With 3 minutes to departure time, I ran from the taxi through the security (luckily the usual long lines had not formed at this early hour, although I did push my way through the line like the best of them locals) and ran through the station. In passing I noticed the billboard said my train has stopped boarding. Nonetheless I ran to it as fast as I could, somehow getting the right berth. The gates had already close, but ... read more

Geo: 24.006, 118.088I went over to Xiamen for Autumn festival to visit my friend Tony who had just got a job there. is beautiful, especially the island of Gulangyu. It's almost like being somewhere in Italy, with delightful colonial buildings. The highlight for me was hermit crab picking on the beach. You can see across to Taiwan, it's not easy to get to though for obvious reasons. Xiamen has a real charm and unique almost Mediterranean atmosphere very different to the rest of China.... read more