We decided to try and get the most out of Xiamen by hiring an English speaking guide to take us around to some of the more famous sites around Xiamen. Her English wasn’t great, but she was very nice and helpful. She initially tried to help us get some credit cards registered with WeChat so we could be included with the prevailing currency system in the area, but we had no luck getting them to work later in the day when we had tried to use them.
Our first stop, which we could walk to from our tower apartments, was the South Putuo or Nanputuo Buddhist temple. The South Putuo Temple is located on a small mountain range that rises on the island. There are good views of Xiamen from the peaks. It is also next to Xiamen University.
After visiting the temples and being caught in another monsoonal downpour, we hiked back to the hotel via a back alley, dedicated to cats. It contained a cat museum and all things cats, as well as lots of interesting little restaurants and market stalls. The alley stretched for blocks and took us the whole way back to our hotel. It was definitely a far more interesting way to traverse that part of the city.
In the afternoon we caught a public bus to get through the mountain tunnel to the other side of the small mountain range on the island under the temples to reach the Xiamen Botanical Gardens. The bus we caught was very was modern, clean, and well air-conditioned – but too crowded to offer up any seats. I was actually offered one towards the back of the bus by a young man, but it looked too difficult to get myself back there. Must have been my age,
Xiamen Botanical Garden covers around 4.5 square kilometres and is full of hills ranging from low to high with different garden displays with lakes and babbling brooks throughout. Of course, we decided to set off for the highest peak where a desert cactus display and lookouts could be found. It was quite a climb and a bit of a maze to find – although worth it in the end.
