For Chinese New Year (January 23, 2012), I had about two weeks vacation. First stop on the trip was Xiamen Island. The first day in Xiamen, we actually took a ferry over to a little island, Gulangyu. It was about a 10 minute ferry ride to get over (costing 8 kuai round trip). First stop--lunch. We had all just arrived from the airport, dropped our bags at the hostel (more about that later) and then headed out. We had lunch outside on a 2nd story patio. It was a darling little restaurant. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about my food.
Ashley & Jennifer waiting for food.
So this is what I ordered. This is their margarita pizza. In the menu, it said it had cheese and tomatoes on top. Well, it does... among other things. It wasn't cooked very well (still doughy), so it just wasn't edible. Luckily I didn't have to pay for it.
Jennifer made a much better selection. It was rice with some vegetables and egg on top served super hot in this dutch-oven style bowl.
After lunch, we wandered around the island a bit. It had lots of Victorian-style buildings. Despite the cars in the picture above (they're electric), one thing that makes this island special is that it is so quite. There are very few cars--all electric (no honking!!, less pollution) so it is mainly a pedestrian island.
The island had a really nice downtown area with shops, food, etc. It was decorated for New Year with the red lanterns.
One of the neat things I saw was this sugar art. First you pay, then you spin the little wheel and it tells the artist what to make out of the sugar. It only takes him a minute or so to make it. It was cool to watch.
I'd say the main tourist attraction on the island is Sunlight Rock. It is the tallest point on the island and offers beautiful views of the island and of Xiamen in the distance. It was quite a hike! Over 300 stairs to climb but we made it! The views were breathtaking.
This rock kind of looks like a bird.
Here's a view down onto the residential side of the city. In the background you can see the Xiamen skyscrapers.
View towards the beach. This is the East China Sea.
More beach views.
This is Sunlight Rock. This picture doesn't do it any justice to the size of the rock. We were almost to the top at this point :)
View of Xiamen from Gulang Yu.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the beach. It wasn't super warm (maybe 55-60 degrees) so I just put my feet in the water and that was about it. Then, I camped out on the beach, read a book and wrote out some postcards.
Who knew China was so pretty?
This one is for Allie. The dog reminded me of Buddy. It is funny because dressing your dog in a shirt & pants is completely normal here. And it's not just the small dogs. Sometimes they'll also have on shoes and hats. Pretty funny.
No comments:
Post a Comment