Exploring Xiamen (Part 2)

February 11 & 12

The weather the next day was dismal, but we made the best of it by going to Riyuegu Hot Springs Park. Honestly, I’m not a big spa person, but this was a unique experience. We bathed in one hot spring at the front of the park for a little while, and we sat in oxygen, bamboo and spice rooms. We were thirsty, so we headed to the area called "Drinks Galore." It was not at all what we expected. Instead of a refreshment bar, we found ourselves in front of hot springs pools, each with different ingredients, so we tried out the pineapple, ginger, coffee and oatmeal straw pools. Each pool supposedly had a different affect on your body. The Bouquet section included my favorite pool of the day, lavender. The Watering Hole had beer, red wine, and white wine hot spring pools. Laura was excited about the beer, but the scent wasn’t as strong as you would expect. We also tried out the pools in the Tea Garden and the Herbal Garden. We enjoyed almost every pool, and by the end we were completely relaxed. Laura then opted for the full-body massage. I had been told by many people to get a foot massage while I'm in China, so I tried it out. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos at the spa. To finish the day we explored another part of town that has an entire street of cafés called Yundang Hu, also known as Coffee Street. It baffles me that they are all able to stay in business. On our way back to the hotel we found ourselves in a Mexican restaurant called Coyote. (I just noticed that this restaurant is also listed on the Xiamen wikipedia page.) It was surprisingly good!

On the last day of the trip we had beautiful weather, so we explored South Potalaka Monastery and Xiamen University. Nanputuo Temple is on a mountain overlooking the water. I know very little about Chinese Buddhism, so it was interesting to watch the different rituals. In one area of the park people threw special yellow paper into a flame. In another area, people were praying in front of an alter. I watched a woman kneeling in prayer who dropped objects that looked like wood on the ground, which would then appear to split open. She then picked up the two pieces again and threw them to the ground. If you know what she was doing, please let me know. We continued our hike up the mountain where we ended with a beautiful view. Before rushing to the airport, we went across the street to check out Xiamen University, which has a very pretty campus.