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Published: February 1st 2012
View over Gaobei village
3 biggest Tulous in the viewWhen we visited Shanghai Museum we saw the minority section and we liked it so much. It got us really interested in different tribes and minorities leaving across China and we scanned our guidebook for any information we could find on near by villages. We were lucky enough to just be on the way to Fujian and Guangdong provinces where two of very interesting 'tribes' have their settlements.
Hakka tribes leave across Fujian and Guangdong provinces. There are many clusters of Tulous - structures made of earth, rice and bamboo – that are ancient equivalent of modern apartment blocks. They all belong to UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tulou is usually a large, enclosed and fortified building, between three and five stories high and housing up to 80 families. Smaller interior buildings are often enclosed by these huge peripheral walls which can contain halls, storehouses, wells and living areas.
We visited
Gaobei tulou cluster (65Y/6,5£ entrance fee) and we got there on organised
Chinese Tour – yes that is correct, we opted for a tour for a first time in China. It is quite difficult and pricey to get to Gaobei on your own so we used one of the
tours purely as a mean of transport. I had never thought that we would be the ones who follow red flag in a group of Chinese people;-). We got that organised by our Xiamen hostel and from the beginning it was hectic as hell. We were supposed to be picked up at the hostel and of course that never happened. They did not want to make a 500m detour to pick us up so we had to walk. Maggie – our Chinese hostess – was swearing and shouting, saying „
I hate dealing with Chinese people – no good customer service at all”. This coming from a Chinese person was quite an unexpected comment ;-). We have seen so many tours during our stay in China but being actually part of it was completely different story.
We got dragged to some tea store on the way – pretended WC stop, of course – and were forced to walk around all over the store before we were able to reach the exit. We did not even look at the highly overpriced products on offer but our fellow tourists were buying them like crazy. Did not understand that at all until one
Chinese girl explained to us that these were all presents from holidays. Apparently, there is some kind of expectation between Chinese families and friends that they had to bring presents from holidays and leave the price tag on to show how much they spent on it. Something we would never do in Europe as a thought of present is more important than a price tag. Yet another custom we got to know.
We had a lunch break of exactly 7 minutes – no more, no less and we were not even able to finish our meal. Everybody knew that though as they ate so fast, and got up at the same time. Initially Tomek was so glad to have all the food left to ourselves but we were quickly asked to leave as well ;-( There were two Dutch girls on the same tour, and they seemed to have been even more surprised than us. When we got to the Tulou cluster we decided to go our own way and we were immediately reminded that we should wait for a guide. Politely we reminded them that we do not understand Chinese at all (again and again we have to
remind people of that small but very important fact) and we enjoyed free time on our own.
We started from the viewing point over the village whilst the rest of our tour continued to yet another shop – crazy ;-). Really loved the village! Tulous themselves were nothing that we had seen before. Enormous, ancient constructions that still are homes to many families. There are many of them in the village - all different shapes and sizes. We were really impressed by the biggest one that incorporated 3 small Tulous inside the main building. We saw many photos of people standing at the top, 5
th floor but when we asked we were not allowed to go there. Only later on some Chinese girl told us that only people who buy photos from them are allowed in. Apparently if you pay 20Y you can do that as well ;-) If only we had known that!!!
The Hakka people mostly make money on tours, tea and cigarettes that they make over there. They are very keen on showing you around and seeing what they have on sale, yet there are not pushy at all. The whole trip was great and
so different to what we had seen so far in China. At the end of it we were taken to another sweet shop and then again when already in Xiamen to some shopping mall. We said thank you and we just walked home but they were just shocked when we did that. That is the thing about Chinese tourists. They don't ask questions and they don't complain!!! They don't question the fact that they are taken to all those shopping rip-off's, that they have to eat at the army pace and use toilet at one allocated time ;-) Organised trip was an experience of its own - really recommend it!!!
From Guangzhou we decided to make a day trip to
Kaiping (Guangdong province) to see Dialou watch towers.
Diaolou are fortified multi-storey towers, built by returning
Huagiao – Chinese immigrants from America, Canada, Hong Kong and Malaysia in the 1920s and 1930s. They display a fusion of Chinese and Western decorative forms and were designed to protect against forays by local bandits. Huagiao signed up for work abroad lured by fantastic earning opportunities and ended up working in slavery conditions (slavery was banned at that time). Many of them
died on ships before even getting to their final destinations and others died of tropical diseases or work accidents. Those who survived and made money managed to come back home and established Dialou villages with buildings constituting of what they had seen abroad.
We went to Kaiping on the public bus (55Y/5,5£) and got another public bus to the ancient town of
Chican where we could admire fantastic remains of fusion architecture. There is literally one exemplary street to visit however we walked between other small streets and they were also beautiful. We also had best dumpling soup in China for only 5Y ;-) It does not take a lot of time to walk around and to see proper Diaolou cluster you need to get a taxi (3 km, 25Y) to any of the near by villages. We visited
Zilli village that is a cluster of 15 towers – 3 open to viewing. We were amazed by some of the furniture pieces that were on display. They must have been a luxury for that time. There was also a lot of old wooden suitcases and pictures of huge – Titanic like - cruise ships. I guess Huagiao were considered
adventurers of some sort when coming back from all those distance lands. The towers are beautifully architectured and they stand in the middle of rice fields. Stunning scenery even on a dull day.
Overall the one day trip to Kaiping does not come cheap (all costs considered) but is definitly worth the money, effort and time. Again something different and unexpected in China.
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nickkembel
Nick Kembel
great shot!!
great shot!!