After Hangzhou, our journey took us down South to Xiamen and the neighbouring island of Gulang Yu.
The 7 hour train was relatively painless and we eventually found our hostel after taking an 100¥ taxi and navigating a warren of tiny alleyways. Xiamen Old Town Hostel is tucked away in the market backstreets of the old town in Xiamen, right in the heart of the city and proved a fantastic base for our explorations. The benefits of staying in the midst of a sprawling market are fairly obvious (easy access to food!) but the tangle of streets was confusing and we were told even locals could get lost in them! The threat of getting lost wasn't any deterrent when it came to exploring though. I think I could have spent many more hours ogling the various stalls and discovering an entirely different side to Chinese cuisine.
My favourite thing about Xiamen was, hands down, the food. Being a hot paradise by the sea meant masses of fresh seafood and tropical fruit were readily available, and in true Chinese style everything was so cheap! The staple 炒米饭 and 炒面 (fried rice and noodles) were elevated to a whole new level with the addition of sambal; a sauce made from dried shrimp, chilli, peanuts, and a mystery array of other spices a d bits, and I managed to try some of the tropical fruit that had mystified in Suzhou but were overly expensive (jackfruit: slightly fermented taste). How can life ever be bad chomping on half a pineapple on a stick, or slurping passion fruit through a straw, or drinking straight from a coconut in the sun?
Apart from the food and the market we did manage to get out and see some of the sights. We went to the Nanputuo Temple 南普陀寺, which was my favourite temple of the trip so far.
Nanputuo Si is all carved wood and brightly pained eaves in an idealic mountain surrounding, it's not difficult to see why the spot was chosen for such a spiritual task as seeking enlightenment. We didn't manage to hike to the very top of the temple complex in the humidity and blazing sun, but we did get high enough to be able to enjoy sweeping views over the treetops and Xiamen skyline.
We spent one day on Gulang Yu, the island a 10 minute ferry ride across the bay from Xiamen. The weird thing about Gulang Yu is how unChinese it is. Because its an old colonial island the influence is more Mediterranean than Imperial and it almost felt like stepping out of China for the day. Almost.
We spent the day wandering the tiny island and paddling in the sea, a perfectly relaxing and sunny day (except for thr brief thunder storm!) and must have walked miles.
As a bit of a sun worshipper, the beach had a particular draw to me but, although the pictures look idillyic, I was shocked to see how filthy and beach and sea were - and how unbothered by the filth the Chinese were. But with some strategic dodging we managed to avoid the majority of the rubbish to splash around and cool off a bit with the rest of the revelers.
I really enjoyed Xiamen and Gulang Yu, despite the oppressive heat and permanent sweatiness, and I'm sort of sad to be leaving. Travelling so extensively has the one downside of never really being able to know a city and only ever seeing the superficial highlights of a place. But I know that I am lucky to have the time an opportunity to see so much of such an amazing and varied country as China, so on we move! This time it's a 10 hour day sleeper bus taking us further south to Guangzhou 广州 and some familiar faces from Beijing!
Xiamen & Gulang Yu: 9/10
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