农村 (Village) Hospitality

The flower's real by the way. 

My couchsurfing host decided to host us in her parent's hometown, in the heart of a Chinese village. One I have yet to experience despite my three years residency in China. Shanghai lacks rural grounds.

 

A 3yuan bus ride from ZhongShan Lu (plus a 15 minute walk to the bus terminal) to where ever the village was located.

The trip ended more than an hour later, in what appeared to be an industrial area. A drastic contrast to Gulangyu and mainland Xiamen. Air pollution in this part of Xiamen was beyond hope. Either you breathe in the air with its pollution or just don't breathe. Which of course is not a wise move.

I wasn't as much bothered by the air than I was about my bursting bladder.

Note: If you have no idea how long a journey is gonna be, either visit the washroom before hand or avoid drinking in gallons.


Finding a washroom was a tedious task in itself. There were no motels or supermarkets or even street stalls with a dubious washroom hidden somewhere behind the shop.

Eventually what I thought was a clinic but turned out to be a mini hospital, allowed me to use their services. Travel, or specifically travelling through south asia has taught me to bring my own roll of toilet paper/wet wipes where I go.


So this time I was spared.


A little info about this hospital: If I ever get employed here would mean that half the time will be spent reading papers and painting nails. Least that was what I witnessed.

Just as I exited the hospital, my host arrived and we headed to her village. Her boss had brought his car, so we reached home real quick.

After some let-take-in-the-sights-of-nature and loads of "黑人" Black girl (I'm brown for the umpteenth time!), I decided to borrow a bicycle so that the villagers can also gasp at the weird looking girl riding a rusty bike, with a faulty right pedal and defunc brake.

This wasn't my makeshift "vespa". Almost there though..

Everytime we rode downhill I was expecting to crash into something at some point. Guess what I actually managed to kill 2 hours with that bike around the village roads plus having a conversation with this guy who came on a motorcycle, slowed down just to ask "你那个国家人" which country are you from？

My host was uber nice. So were her parents. They made sure we were well fed and our needs taken care of.


And we won't even speaking the same language!

Host on her bike

They cooked up an awesome meal using only vegetables and rice from their own farm. Ensure we had hot water for shower, breakfast the next day and a comfortable bed to rest our heads. 

Chinese Cabbages I think.

They even insisted on giving us a lift back to the bus terminal.

The dad's face was just a little too far off.

Eventually they did just that.

It is not down in any map; true places never are. - Hermen Melville

I have a fetish for things that are usually ignored.

Date with Gulangyu continues...

Cafes, Cafes and more Cafes.

And yes of course if you're into seafood (that which I ain't), there's a whole rand of sea creatures from massive lobsters to pearl giving clams.

The pearls were replaced with something say..more edible?

They were on the grill so yeah, no one picked them up to hear for waves

Onto what we really accomplished today. Well...

We traversed some steep slopes, me in my flip flops and on lotsa Chinese women  in their platforms and on rarer occasions, stilettos!

We went all the way up just to climb down again for no apparent reason. The number of times I actually lost myself in this tiny island is beyond me.

On the way down, we visited 'ZhengCheng Gong', some awesome (according to Jan) official's memorial who played a significant role in China-Taiwan politics.

Zhieng xiansheng himself!

His memorial involved intricately designed murals, that I can only describe to the best of my ability for even a quick, discreet shot was conspicuous to the guards eyes. We were told off not once but twice "NO PHOTOS PLEASE".

Sigh!

We exited or you could say we sensed his potential move to chase us out.

While soaking in the sights and learning about new stuff is great and exciting, the stomach should never be neglected. Hunger should be taken care off immediately. Especially for a vegetarian. 

For the most part we tend to skip meals or eat random junk food to satiate our hunger since meat-less dishes can no where be found. And explaining to someone that sea creatures were once alive and so I don't eat them; can be a tedious task, I'd rather chew on my apple.

Fried Tofu with Chilli powder and pepper

Nevertheless there were a few dishes in Gulangyu that were vegan friendly. Breakfast thankfully have always been vegan friendly. Despite the overwhelming availability of seafood, they have yet to be accustomed with tuna bread pao or any other fish for that matter as breakfast. Which of course, worked well for me. 

Dough/Bao fusion with mushrooms and soy meat

I have been filling my tummy with lotsa noodles, bubble tea, vegan snacks and Mochi. Talking about mochi, there was this particular stall run by an old couple and man they make amazing mochi. It WAS THE BEST I have come across. I actually went "hmmm.." which made quite a few uneasy but that's not the point. It was so good I went back to get more. The sugar and the peanut butter combination was done perfectly to complement each other with having to taste uber sweet.

It has been in existence since 1987, as the small cut outs, and news paper articles on the mini mobile stall testified.

We boarded a what-should-have-been a short cable car ride but was instead very long, for it was moving slower than my granny's jog. And when the number of cars increased on a single cable, and the ones before us were yet to reach the end, our car stops mid air.

Yes, for about 10 seconds, we were suspended in mid air.

Jan who is afraid of heights started singing Church songs.

Having been suspended in air, made her feel closer to God I think. 


Hallelujiah!

Gulangyu: Its smaller than Singapore. Ha!

Fly China Fly!

Gulangyu, the island that houses about 200, 000 or less people and perhaps lots more seafood. The island is situated a short distance away from Xiamen mainland. This same distance can be covered with the aide of a 5 minute ferry ride from Xiamen. Interesting thing is, to head over to Gulangyu, the ferry carries no charge. However, on your return journey there is a charge of 8yuan. 

Xiamen Island from Gulangyu

Well...They expect you to return from the tiny island at some point. However, its free of charge, if you take the ferry ride between 10pm till 12mn. 

And thats probably because, they are not responsible for your safety in the dark. 

It was abandoned and I almost entered for a "Haunted Adventure" :D

The place reminded me so much of my previous trip to Yangshuo, Guilin. All for the following reasons of course;

• Tourists (mostly locals from other regions and Chinese from South East Asian Nations
• Narrow streets cluttered with cute little shops and cafes with stuff carrying exorbitant price tags
• Shops open late and close late: Supper is a huge deal!!

Quaint alleyway leading to a vintage stall

Shops lit up the street after 6pm, and street food stalls ranging from mini tables arranged onto the already narrow streets to middle age men or women pushing a mobile stall filled with desserts, fruit juices, fried tofu, ah yes and the famous dead creatures of the sea.

Loads of vintage shops and an odd looking Indian dress stall. Even the name of the stall was written in Chinese with Hindi fonts. How they managed that, I never found out. Unlike famous Bollywood stars covering the walls of the shops, it had a massive poster of a young Chinese lady dressed in anything and everything that screamed Indian giving a simple yet stern smile. She looked good actually.

The stall sold a range of summer dresses and skirts with symbolic patterns of elephants, mangoes all in the colors of orange, yellow, red, etc. Stereotypical or what?!

Lotsa newly weds were on the island having their pictures taken for the backdrop in this place was definitely very different from the rest of China. Most of the buildings here were once owned by the British during their rule on this island. The architecture still remains for it just moderately revamped into cafes, inns and hotels for tourism. Otherwise, many of these buildings, including a massive Trinity Church built by a Phillipino have traits of European architecture in them.

I call this 'Gulangyu Square'. Don't ask for the original name.

Jan and myself checked into a budget stay hotel which was kinda off the main street, away from the sea-views but closer and perhaps amongst the daily lifestyle of the Gulangyu commoner. Yes, our hotel was situated near the wet markets, the mahjong get together venue for over 60 year old men, shops with old style television mend by old couples selling basic necessities, you name it we were right beside it. There weren't exactly touristy spots but neither were entirely uninteresting. 

It provided us a glimpse of the way of life on this side of town, which albeit the language (they speak Hokkien, a Chinese dialect) were very similar to the average Chinese lifestyle.

From walking and more walking, what did I discover? No cars or bicycles are allowed on this island. Yes, they believe in being highly eco-friendly. Even the postcards were made of recycled material.

Their roads have a interesting feel to them.

However, they have recently introduced the tourist buggies which is kinda useful for tourists who have difficulty walking long hours. Otherwise, the cheap, best and possibly the only option to navigate your way around this 2km square island is by Number 11 aka as feet.

Every corner, every little cafe, has a thread with polaroids.

Advantages include loads of good photography moments, on the lookout for unique gifts as souvenirs, or even long summer dresses. Its like a trend here. Every single girl has a long colorful dress and a over the top sometimes simple summer hat even. After a while, one girl turns out to look like the other. After all these things are mass produced and this is a tiny island.

Massive Octopus at the entrance of "Underwater World"

When they run outta seafood for tourists to devour, and a storm is brewing around the island....

I think the "Underwater World" is a perfect back-up plan. :)