Category: Fujian

Today was Typhoon Maria Day – meaning that everything was closed in anticipation of Typhoon Maria barreling through Wuyishan as a forecasted Category 4 Typhoon. When it hit the coast, it quickly dropped to a Category 3. And by the time it reached us, it had pretty much petered out into some blustery conditions with a bit of rain sprinkling here and there. So everything was cancelled for nothing. We ventured out in the morning to find ourselves back down at the wet market and decided to return home when the wind started picking up. Having decided some tea tasting should be on our travel agenda, we popped into a place that had a host that seemed to know a bit of English. We stayed there for a while trying out many teas and learning the proper tea tasting techniques before busting a move for the hotel – but not before she gave us the hard (but nice) sell to buy some of her inflatedly priced tea.

In the afternoon we called the Typhoon’s bluff and ventured out for a walk. We thought we would cross the bridge and see what we could see of the national park. Having not paid any park fees, we were being somewhat cautious about trespassing, but of what we did discover, we were very impressed with its beauty. There were beautiful old temples and a string of shops in a beautiful setting green lush setting. If it weren’t so ferociously hot, we would have taken a stab at climbing the peak.

I went for an exploratory walk in the morning with my brother and his family passed through a Chinese wet market of interesting/odd foods and ended up visiting tea gardens to see sculptures and learn about the history of tea in China. Wuyishan is famous for its tea and attracts tea connoisseurs from all over China. Every hotel room has tea to sample and all the gear needed for a traditional tea drinking ceremony. We returned to our hotel rooms along with a beautiful river path with views of lush green Wuyishan mountain.

In the afternoon we hired a driver to take us to the Xiamei Cultural Village – an historic town dating back hundreds of years. Was very cool, full of historic alleyways and beautiful ancient architecture.

While waiting for my travelling companions to arrive, I had a bit of a snoop around Wuyishan – up and down the river and around town. The hotel in Wuyishan was in a very trendy neighbourhood with lots of boutique hotels and restaurants. It was a shame all the roads were dug up. The weather is very hot and humid. Typhoon Maria is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so the locals say the excessive heat is associated with that. Nobody in this town seems to speak English, so it is fun and tedious to ask questions and get things done via iPhone apps. I get the impression quite a few local Chinese had studied English in high school but forgot most of it. The mountains across the river are beautiful to look at on evening strolls. I spent most of the day tucked away in my hotel room processing pictures in air-conditioned comfort.

Time for another hop on China’s very fast and smooth bullet trains: this time from Xiamen to Wuyishan. Unlike the previous trains I took, this one topped 300kmh over its 4-hour journey. Wuyishan was very beautiful to arrive in, but getting to my hotel wasn’t easy. The hotel arranged driver failed to show up at the train station due to some language confusion, so I was forced to keep a dozen taxi drivers at bay while communicating with my hotel to try to find out what was wrong. Since nobody at the hotel or around me knew English, it was difficult to finally find a resolution. I was forced to find a willing taxi driver who would charge me for the same price I negotiated with the hotel. I found one willing, and we set off for the hotel.

It turned out that the driver had never heard of the hotel and had no idea how to get there. Once he found out, he wanted more money – but I insisted we stick to what was negotiated. When we arrived (using my Google Maps via VPN connection), we found the entire neighbourhood my hotel was located in dug up into muddy tracks that were inaccessible for the taxi. I had to hoof it through the dirty, muddy streets for the last several blocks – only to find out Google maps hotel location was off by several blocks. By the time I finally found the hotel, I was covered in sweat and not happy. It was extremely hot and humid. The hotel reimbursed me for the taxi charge and apologized repeatedly. I later learned the trick is to photograph your train ticket and send it to your hotel so there are no misunderstandings about where and when you need to be picked up.

I ventured off to a local supermarket to try and find something to nibble on while I waiting for my traveling companions to join me. There was no English spoken on site and my iPhone apps were not doing the best job of translating for me. At least I ended up in a nice hotel room with a beautiful view of Wuyishan mountain.

Back in Xiamen, we made a scheduled trip by ferry to visit Gulangyu Island, a small pedestrian-only UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site (as Kulangsu, a Historic International Settlement), an island in the middle of the estuary of the Chiu-lung River. We caught a taxi to the special tourist ferry terminal for 20 yuan, and could not find a return taxi for less than 50 yuan. Taxis seem to have the upper hand on negotiations here for some reason – definitely a seller’s market.

The island was great and I could have spent a lot more time there. It would have been fun to spend at least a night in one of the many historic accommodation options there. The island was full of endless laneways going off in all directions with plenty to eat and many scenic and historic locations to check out. We went to the famed Organ Museum and hoped it was meant to be the piano museum, housed in a beautiful old mansion up on a hill overlooking the harbour.

The island was once home to many Europeans and Japanese between 1842 to 1912 but is now occupied by around 20,000 people – who entertain 10 million visitors each year – making it one of China’s most visited tourist attractions.

We decided to get outta town and up into the rolling green countryside. We hired a driver and took a looooong drive out to Fujian Chuxi Kejia Tulouqun to see some UNESCO World Heritage Hakka Huts, which are perfectly round and built out of rammed earth to defend against invading armies between the 12th and the 20th centuries. The Hakka Huts could be between three and five stories high and house up to 800 people.

The roads were all brand new and well maintained and our car was comfortable and well air-conditioned. The journey took around four hours in each direction. Along the route were banana plantations, lots of bamboos, grapefruit groves, tea plantations, and rice paddies – mostly in mountainous terrain. There were Western-style rest stops along the way, but most seemed deserted at this very hot time of the year. Then again, the extreme tropical humidity and heat seem to put most visitors off from visiting Fujian this time of year.

Once we got to our destination, a nice old lady met us in the parking area and seemed to want to give us a tour. Being wary of previously bad experience with defacto tour guides in other counties, I was a bit suspicious of her motives. She was trying to get money from us, but not as a tour guide. Rather, she was keen to cook for us in her little round-house restaurant. She even offered to slaughter a chicken for us in front of our very eyes. We felt we had no other choice but to eat there (considering the remoteness of the place), so we let her rustle up a nice meal while we explored the various Hakka huts and climbed up to the observation point overlooking them. Her lunch turned out to be quite nice, but the chicken was a bit too boney as usual.

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.

Xiamen is a beautiful place, on an island overlooking Yundang Bay that has a sizeable nearby island occupied by Taiwanese. Xiamen is hip, modern, and touristy – but devoid of westerners. There are plenty of trendy malls and shopping areas, but they cater for Chinese tourists. It is hot and humid, but a nice breeze continually drifts in off the bay. Xiamen has an interesting history as a British-run treaty port between 1842 to 1912 – formerly under the name Amoy.

In the evening we took a long walk on a footpath along the coast until we reached Zhongshan Road Pedestrian Street, which was closed to all but foot traffic and full of restaurants and trendy shops. Dining can always be challenging because it can be difficult to read the menu and you are never 100% sure what you are eating. Nevertheless, I managed to get some tasty chicken dish with mushrooms and greens on rice. It was good but had a few too many bones to navigate.