Exploring Xiamen (Part 1)

February 9 & 10

The Spring Festival spans 15 days, and we had that entire time off from classes. Laura and I were trying to figure out where to go for part of the holiday, but we knew that everyone was traveling at the time. Beijing and Xi’an were going to be packed, so someone suggested we go to Xiamen, a southern, coastal city.

Our first night we got a little lost walking the streets, and we found ourselves walking down a dark alley. We may have passed by a brothel by mistake. Oops. We also walked around the brightly-lit Zhongshan Road Pedestrian Street, which felt a bit European with the German and British influences. The next day we visited a café called How Coffee (No.32 Hua Xin Road, Siming District) which also felt very European. We walked around a park which happened to have some bonsai trees. That instantly reminded me of Mark and Kim's wedding, thanks to a speech by Kenneth Gilbert. Bonsai!!! The afternoon at Gulangyu Island was a little disappointing. It has the potential to be absolutely gorgeous with its unique architecture, but it hasn’t been maintained, other than the bed & breakfasts. Many buildings across the island were dilapidated, which was a shock since this is a vacation spot for the Chinese. Laura and I wondered why the city hasn't spent money restoring it. Dinner near our hotel was delicious! We were told by a reliable source to check out Xiao Yan Jing seafood (No.7 Middle Hu Bing Road, Siming District). When we walked inside, we quickly realized that we had a major problem. There was no menu. We think you go to the back of the restaurant to pick the seafood and decide how you want it cooked. Along the back wall the list of options was written in Mandarin. We almost considered trying a different restaurant. However, our waitress was clever and quickly found a way for us to order. She pointed to food that passed by us and looked to us if we wanted to order it. We then asked them to pick a vegetable and a plate of noodles for us. This approach was perfect because we ended up eating all the favorite dishes. We had so much fun ordering food, though it seemed almost rude to point at other tables.