Category: China

XIAMEN, CHINA

We are on our way to Australia, but found great airfare that was routed through Xiamen, China.  Xiamen is a port city on China’s southeast coast, across a strait from Taiwan.  It encompasses 2 main islands and a region on the mainland.  The island of Gulangyu is a vehicle free island with old colonial villas.  We had planned to go there first, but our plane was delayed and we missed our ferry, so we toured the bigger island.

Our bags were checked all the way through.  We flew all night and arrived at 9:00 am, then had a 12 hour layover.  Rather than sit in the airport, we hired a guide and took a tour of the the beautiful city of Xiamen.

We toured the street market, went to a Buddhist Temple, walked along a coastline park, and sat down for refreshment.

Our guide, named Karen, met us at the airport.

The city is very clean, they have restricted industry in this area.  It felt a little bit like the town of San Diego.

We headed to the street market.  Fish, meats, vegetables, breads, etc. can all be purchased with a scan on your phone.  No money is exchanged.

We stopped at an antique store.

The Nanputuo Temple is situated on a rock hillside.  There are Buddha statues, wood carved doors and pretty gardens to walk through.

  Statues of Buddha.

Wood carved doors.

Karen told us that if you have a small statue of the Buddha, you are not supposed to throw them away.  Instead, you bring them to this temple and they are placed here.

A beautiful temple garden to walk through in the middle of the city.

   There is a coastline park that is beautiful to walk along.  The island offshore actually belongs to Tiawan.  (It is quite far away), but the people of Xiamen often go there to shop.

     

 

After a full day of walking around the city, we stopped for some refreshment.  Karen told us more about her family, country and city.  The younger generation are much different than her parents or grandparents.  They are more independent, want to choose their own mates, their jobs, and where they live.  There is a limit of 2 children allowed and the grandparents are taking care of these children when they retire, so that the parents can work.

We enjoyed our visit, and it broke up our flight journey across the world.