Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Sampling Xiamen

That following morning, the 1st of July, we were picked up (too late) by a taxi driver that spoke no English. As we'd already left a little late, and the drive was taking much longer than expected, I was getting worried. Luckily, the airport came in sight after 50 minutes of back road driving. Francesca and I had a quick snack at the airport and the one hour flight to Xiamen was over in no time. At the airport we needed to check our mail for directions to our first host: Elena. We had someone write down the directions in Mandarin, which helped since none of the drivers read Pinyin. The driver dropped us off a little later near a set of 4 high-rises and tried to find the right one. When we couldn't find the right one we asked in a teashop for help and after one of the girls called Elena for us we finally managed to find her.

We put down our bags and sat down with her, talked about her life in China, her experiences with living here and told her about our travels. Unfortunately she had to leave for work a little later. We decided to head out as well, and grabbed some late lunch at Tuscany where a meatball sandwich and a tricolore napoletana tasted pretty good. The restaurant also looked hip and the menu interesting enough, so we knew we'd always have an option for decent food nearby. We then took a taxi to Gulangyu, an island just off the coast of Xiamen (also an island, but much larger) famous for its old structures. The ferry across was quick and convenient. The sight of a large McDonald's, followed by a KFC and the droves of people initially really put us off Gulangyu.

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However, as we passed the unappealing facade we found a really wonderful little island. Gulangyu's history is as follows from the wiki: "Xiamen became a treat port resulting from China's loss in the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, hence the predominantly Victorian-era style architecture throughout Gulangyu Island, where 13 countries including Great Britain, France and Japan established consulates, churches, and hospitals. Gulangyu was officially designated an International Settlement in 1903. In 1942, Japan occupied the island until the end of the War of Resistance against Japan." Much of this architecture remains, and since it's a car-free island walking through the small streets and alleys is a real treat.

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We arrived a little while before sunset and had some time to see some of the buildings. I led Francesca to the former Japanese Consulate, the Catholic Church, the Haitiantang Building, the Huang Rongyuan Villa and many other cool places. When we were done with our little tour we ended up overlooking the city of Xiamen in the distance, with a large statue of Zheng Chenggong (a national hero) overlooking the city with us. We tried to get closer but found we had to pay for the park and decided to skip it. Instead we explored more of Gulangyu and eventually made our way back to the heart of the island. We found a very cool looking little café, where we enjoyed a Sprite and Cream blend whilst being seated in the low ceiling, but high standard upper section. We then left Tea Time to enjoy Gulangyu at night some more.

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We happened to walk past an interesting gate and walked inside. Once there, we found out it was a tea house, complete with old artifacts. Since we’d seen a place like this before our curiosity had risen and our chance had come to find out what a tea house is all about. We asked one of the girls that worked there to explain to us what was going on, and in broken English we were told about the different teas in China, what they cure and how to prepare/drink it. We also saw this awesome clay doll called ‘Pee-Pee Boy’ which squirts water from its pee-pee if said water is hot enough. Of course we were offered to buy some products, but declined, thanked them and walked off.

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The food stalls on a little square looked nearly appetizing, but since we had no idea what most of it actually was we kept walking. Francesca spotted a fish store, complete with an entire wall with shark’s fins. Xiamen in the distance looked fantastic, and definitely worthy of a few pictures.

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It was now 9:00 PM and we were getting a little hungry. (NOTE FROM FRANCESCA: THERE WAS A KFC THERE!! AND A COOL STALL WHERE YOU COULD HAVE YOUR PHOTO MOLDED ONTO THE FACE OF A STUFFED ANIMAL!!) We popped into Master Chef Kong’s Table for some food, but the few tasty dishes were sold out, so I quickly ate a salad in order to find another place to eat at. Sadly, we found none. We had a last look at some of the neon-covered buildings and grabbed a ferry back to the ‘mainland.’ Here we found a cab to take us back to Elena’s. We satisfied our hunger by getting a Minestrone soup and some garlic bread at Tuscany’s. Sleep that night was sadly a little uncomfortable on Elena’s couch, as there was no A/C and an overactive cat.

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The next morning we decided to leave to meet with another host we’d found in Xiamen. This guy was Chinese, it would be his first time hosting and our first real local Chinese experience. Before we met him we had brunch at Tuscany’s, where we devoured a pumpkin and a tomato soup, as well as some Penne Bolognese, garlic bread and a little fruit. After that we made our way to the Marco Polo hotel, a famous landmark in the city. After waiting for a few minutes we met Cui Shu Xun and we had a short talk as we took a taxi to his place.

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Once we got there he led us to his nice apartment overlooking a part of the city. We sat down with him and talked about our trip and his life. Shu Xun is a throat, nose and ear doctor at a local hospital. He’s worked there for about 5 years now, after graduating after 10 long years of education. He hadn’t spoken English a lot for many years, but he understood a lot if we just spoke a little slower. Shu Xun wanted to know what we wanted to do that day and we told him we’d planned to go see a well-known temple near the Xiamen University. He told us that he’d come with us, which we thought was awesome.

As we walked towards the bus station he treated us to some tasty ice cream. We got to experience the local bus and found ourselves near Nan Pu Tuo Temple a little while later. Nan Pu Tuo is a famous Buddhist temple founded in the Tang era. It had been a while since we’d last seen a Buddhist structure, so it was interesting to see how the Chinese take on Buddhism differed from that of other countries. We were also amused by Chinese non-Buddhist beggars, who cleverly positioned themselves near the entrance to the temple hoping for some Buddhist to ‘make merit’ by giving to the poor.

The three of us walked around, admiring the large statues and fancy rooftops. The huge complex also had a ‘lucky pond’ where Francesca tried to throw one Yuan in a little shrine. Shu Xun showed us several large stones, inscribed with Buddhist and history lessons. A large cave had been filled with loads of statues of different deities, placed by people for good fortune, success in business and other needs. The interesting mix of statues made for some good photos.

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Shu Xun proposed climbing up further to see the city from the hill, which I thought was a great idea. Francesca, however, decided to stay behind as I followed Shu Xun for a ‘3-minute-climb.’ It turned out to take more than 15 minutes of straight uphill under the blazing sun! I got to the viewing platform completely covered in sweat. The view was definitely worth it though. I got to see Xiamen surrounded by mountains, sea in the distance, Gulangyu in its waters and a nice layer of smog making everything look ever so hazy.

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We descended and found Francesca again. She had a big smile on her face and told me why: an older lady and her son had come past her and pointed the camera at her. She thought they wanted a picture of themselves, but instead the son ushered his mother towards Francesca and took pictures of the two of them. Of course this boosted Francesca’s ego!

After finishing the remaining descent we were back on the temple grounds once more. We walked past the sights and had a look at the catfish- and turtle-filled ponds. According to our ‘guide’ Chinese people used to put the fish in for good luck, but since there were now more fish than there was water they’d stopped doing so.

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Our next stop was Xiamen University, where we heard unintelligible English over the speaker, saw loads of kids playing basketball, and even a few that had just graduated. This time both Francesca and I were asked for a picture; I’m sure we’ll end up on quite a few Chinese hearths before this trip is over. We enjoyed the slow sunset and a leisurely stroll on the campus, before Shu Xun invited us for dinner. We told him he should pick the venue, and that we’d eat whatever he’d suggest.

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And thus we went to a tiny dumpling place not far from the university, one that we would have never found or walked into ourselves. For a while we pretended to read the menus, as our pre-packaged cutlery was brought to us. Shu Xun explained a little about table manners in China and we learned we weren’t bad eaters, considering our limited knowledge of Chinese cuisine. We did learn it’s bad manners to hit your bowl with your chopsticks, as it signifies begging. (ANOTHER NOTE FROM FRANCESCA -- I THOUGHT HE SAID 'BAD GIRL' RATHER THAN 'BEGGING' AND BELIEVED HITTING YOUR BOWL MEANT SOMEONE WAS BEING A 'BAD GIRL' UP UNTIL EXACTLY ONE MONTH LATER WHEN HENK CLARIFIED FOR ME) Our host ordered and it only took a few minutes before the first dishes started arriving. Here’s a little list of all the tastiness we ate: jellyfish & cucumber in soy sauce; a broth with tomatoes, cabbage and egg; roasted eggplant with potatoes, green peppers cooked with Chinese pepper powder; dumplings filled with mushroom, celery and leek; and fried pork. Needless to say we were completely stuffed after this great meal.

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Our little party took a taxi back to Shu Xun’s apartment, where dessert comprised of frozen jelly and a slice of delicious cheese cake he had made specifically for us. Wow, what great hospitality! Francesca, normally not a lover of cheese cake, concurred and stated she ‘loved it!’

The 3rd of July was reserved entirely for our day-trip to Yongding County. We’d tried hard to find a cheap way of going there, but really wanted to gain some insight into the area, so we had to settle for a trip with the only company in town that provided an English-speaking guide. They were a little expensive and when our driver showed up in a comfy car, but spoke no English we got a bit worried.

As we sped by Chinese countryside I toyed with our host’s Rubix’ Cube, which I actually got to the point where one side was one color. The hours slowly passed, but around 10:30 AM our driver made a stop and signaled to us to come with him. We followed him, and walked down to this small village, where farmers waved at us and others were working hard with their water buffaloes in front of them.

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We entered the village and the driver seemed to make friendly conversation with the locals. We pointed to our camera and this was greeted with smiles and nods. We got our first taste of the roundhouses that make this area famous in all of China. I’ll give you more details when we reach the ‘real’ ones. Francesca and I stood around for a while, took some more pictures of the scenery and then headed back to the car. I saw another farmer working with his water buffalo and grabbed the camera to take a picture. The second I did this something quite crazy happened: as the farmer simultaneously let go of his buffalo and started running towards us he started pulling out this huge machete, all the while yelling and screaming. We backed off and the driver jumped in between. The peasant yelled in his face, pointed at the camera and seemed to want it. Obviously I wasn’t going to let it go, so I held on to it carefully whilst showing him the pictures. I’m sure he enjoyed our pictures of Mui Wo a lot. He kept yelling as he stepped aside, but he seemed satisfied enough to let us go.

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As we walked back to the car Francesca wondered what the hell had just happened. We figured we may have offended him, or he might have thought we’d captured his spirit on camera, part of some peasant belief. Either way, the driver couldn’t explain and we just sat back quietly, hoping things would be better in the following villages.

Around 11:00 AM we got to the first real views of the real reason we’d come here: the tulou houses of the Hakka people. We did not get to explore one just yet, as we had finally just picked up our guide, Cherry. Cherry thought it would be best to have lunch first. Since it was already 12:15 PM Francesca and I did not complain. A table loaded with rice; a chicken broth soup; lettuce and cabbage; duck; sliced mushroom in pepper sauce; fried potatoes and chilies; some tea and a bottle of Tsingtao Beer stood in front of us, and was demolished accordingly.

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We also finally got to ask Cherry what the peasant earlier had been talking about. She told us, rather matter-of-factly, that the farmer had feared we were going to put his picture on the internet. Furthermore, she said he had wanted to kill us. Way to make us feel better! At least we could laugh about it, and add another epic story to our list of adventures.

Cherry then finally started talking about her people. She shared that the number of Hakka people still living in the roundhouses was dwindling, as there are now only 700 people filling 3000 slots. Most of the locals sought out the cities for better jobs and education. She told us she actually preferred living in her tulou, because she enjoys the relative cold in summer and shared warmth in winter. We learned that the Hakka people still have a strong communal feeling, often cook together and intermarry with the people within their tulou. In fact, the last names of all the people in any tulou are always the same and the 7th generation is allowed to marry someone of the same bloodline. Sounds scary right!

Most Hakka people get by by growing Oolong or black tea, bamboo, oranges, bananas or rice and selling any left-overs. As far as history goes: during the day we learnt that the Hakka people had come to this region roughly 1000 years ago, escaping war in their home province of Henan. They figured they should protect themselves in their new region, and started constructing large round complexes with enormous walls, sometimes measuring up to 1.4 meters thick. Often the walls would have little or no holes, making entrance for any enemies a real problem. The only weak point would be the gate, which could be set on fire. Cleverly, they’d added a hole above the gate to put out fires and shoot at invaders. Inside the walls the mini-village would be three stories high. Each family would own a small ‘slice of the pie,’ with cooking being done on the first floor, and sleeping taking place on the other two.

An amusing side story that we’d heard about before also came up again. The Americans were a little paranoid about China in the 80s and secretly sent in reconnaissance missions to find any possible military or nuclear activity. One time they spotted these groupings of strange round buildings. Furthermore, at set times every day (5:00 AM, 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM) smoke would rise from the structures. Fearful of a possible nuclear facility the Americans sent a couple pretending to be travelers to the area to investigate. The reports that came back read that the kind villagers were producing said smoke because they were communally preparing food every day, creating large quantities of smoke. Not quite nuclear, Reagan!

Interestingly, these events boosted tourism a lot and are quite possibly the reason we ended up there that day. Even though electricity is now available to the tulou-dwellers they still cook on fires 3 times a week. Running water is still a scarce commodity, and any toilet-business is conducted on a little bucket that’s left outside the rooms. You can imagine the stench this leaves…

Anyway, onwards to the first roundhouses: Cherry first showed us the village of Tian Luo Keng, entirely inhabited by the Huang family. We looked at them from a distance and were told they’d been built over a long period of them, the oldest one in the middle having been built in 1622, and the most northern one being a far more recent addition from 1944. We were impressed by the sights and were now eagerly awaiting our first look at a tulou.

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Our chance came around 1:30 PM, when we arrived at the Xia Ban tulou, entirely occupied by the Liu family. We learned that this tulou had been built in the middle of the Yuan dynasty (308-388 AD). It has five floors, 5 stair ways and an observation tower on top. There are a total of 270 rooms in the 18.2 meter high structure. Due to earthquakes most of the initially straight support beams are now standing at inclines up to 15%. Surprisingly, this does not affect the tulou or its inhabitants, who have now lived there for more than 25 generations.

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We entered through the gate and came into another world. The five floors loomed in front of us from every direction. And old people all around! We learnt from Cherry that the average age in the tulou is 86! We were invited into one of the bottom level dwellings, sat down and were given some tea to try, along with lychee. The fresh tea, made by the villagers themselves, tasted pretty good and the lychees were a good addition. Francesca and I learnt that every house has its own well, with a unique flavor. Sadly we didn’t get to try it, but we were assured it tasted fine. An interesting fact we also learnt is that every tulou is built near a mountain and river, with the river for running water and the mountain for support. Up the stairs we went, all the way up to the top floor for a completely different view of the compound. We got a good look at the strange angles of the supportive beams, a look at the rooms on the top floor and in that short time a good idea of what life here must be like.

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Our next ‘commercial’ tulou came in the shape of Ta Xia, home of the Zhang families. Ta Xia looked a little more like an actual village, with a river running through it and many normal houses surrounding the 2 tulous constructed in the bends of the river. Our main goal in Ta Xia was not a tulou though: we headed straight for the Tiger Temple. The Tiger Temple is situated on a slope outside of the village, facing south. It’s called Tiger Temple because it’s supposed to resemble a tiger (with the temple proper being the head and the hill behind its body). Cherry taught us the interesting way you’re supposed to burn incense. You need to burn 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 sticks for better wishes for yourself. After that you bow 3 times for better wishes for your grandfather and grandmother, and 3 more, 3 bows for better wishes for the earth and sky, followed by 3 more, ending with 3 best wishes for Guanyi (goddess) and 3 more bows. After that you plant your sticks for each of them.

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We also had a look at the tiger paintings on the wall, which had an interesting story to go with them. It signified the people from the tulou that left for other parts of the world. These people never forgot about their past and still help their remaining relatives today, building houses and sending money back to their hometown. We also spotted the large stone banners, erected for the most important and rich villagers. I thought they looked impressive, especially with the mountains in the background! We had a quick look at one of the tulous in the village, but Cherry had one more surprise in store for us before we were done with the day.

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We were going to her home tulou! No tourists and lots of stares from the locals. Cherry’s tulou was a lot smaller than the other ones we’d come across, but looked much more lively because it was actually inhabited. Cherry told us there’s still 60 families living there, mostly growing and selling tea. We sat down for a while for some tea and lychees, which was followed by a tour of the 3 levels of Cherry’s tulou. We got to have a look inside Cherry and her boyfriend’s room. It looked rather small, with again no bathroom, no A/C and generally little comfort.

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We continued with a walk through the village to learn about the delicate process of making tea. The villagers all stared at us as we were told how the villagers produce 400,000 kilograms of tea every year. We learned how they pick the tea either by hand for high quality, or with a machine for mass production tea, how it’s then laid out to dry, cooked in fire, compressed with a machine and finally dried again. All of this happens in one day to ensure a high quality product. Often the villagers work all night to get everything done. Wow, what an existence.

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Cherry took us for a walk through the tea fields, which are almost exclusively planted on hill sides. We got a close look at the hard-working villagers, and a wonderful panorama of the surroundings to boot. Sadly, our tulou-day had come to an end. Our driver readied the van, whilst we kindly refused to purchase any tea. A few hours later we finally made it back to Xiamen. Shu Xun listened to our stories with great interest, highly amused by the adventures of the day. He had to go out that evening to play a game with a friend, so we had the place to ourselves. I went out for some food and brought back some pita-bread, steamed buns and chicken to create yet another variation of Francesca’s favorite chicken sandwiches. We shared the last slice of cheese cake, which made Francesca especially sad.

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The 4th of July was to be a special day for Francesca. Independence Day! We’d read in a magazine a few days before that there’d be celebrations in town and we’d found a place that we’d wanted to go to. However, we were also invited by two Americans to have a bite at their place. Lydia and Biju were actually 2 hosts we’d wanted to stay with, but unfortunately had no space at the time. Still, we thought it would be awesome to go meet them.

The day actually started with an awesome brunch, prepared by Shu Xun. He’d made this amazing selection of whole tomato soup, thinly sliced potato, cucumber salad, chicken with mushrooms and veggies. We gorged on the delicious food and talked to Shu Xun about daily life in China. It was really interesting to hear his stories about China, because this was really the first time we had been able to get first-hand information from a local Han Chinese.

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Around 2:30 PM Shu Xun came with us to drop us off at Lydia and Biju’s place. He himself had a date later that afternoon and couldn’t stay. We headed up to their place and met Stella, another backpacker/student from Taiwan and her friend Jessica, as well as Lydia, who was working hard on the 4th of July food. We sat down and talked to Stella at first, sharing a little information about our trip. We then did the same with Lydia and Biju, who’d joined the party as well. Lydia and Biju both came from Texas, but had taken up teaching jobs in China. Lydia struck me as a very composed and relaxed woman, whilst Biju was definitely a hilarious guy with a great sense of humor. We learned that you really need to be able to step back from your work in China, because the people can really get to you. The party was also joined by Chris, another young American who worked in Xiamen for an American company. Later in the evening his friend and roommate Bryce also came for a bite.

We spent the afternoon and part of the evening talking and listening, learning about our companions’ bizarre, funny, and sometimes even shocking stories about China. I also mustn’t forget to mention to praise-worthy job Lydia did on the burgers, sausages and other dishes she’d prepared. Francesca and I were both quite surprised and pleased to get a good burger to munch on on the 4th of July. Around 8:30 PM we finally decided to call it a day, as most of the other guests were also leaving. We said our fond farewells and walked outside with Chris, who was also heading back to his place. We stopped a cab driver, who quickly took us back to Shu Xun’s place. He apparently thought it would be funny to repeat half of the things we said, whilst adding his own limited knowledge of English to his ramblings. We were quite amused by all of it.

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Back at Shu Xun’s place I commenced packing the bags and spent some time talking to our host about the situation in Tibet. He expressed surprise about the Tibetans unwillingness to be a part of China, and rejected the Lonely Planet’s statement that the Tibetans are considered second-class citizens. He was aware he only got one side of the story though, and interested in getting the full picture, so we talked about that for a while, before saying goodnight.

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The next morning we had to get to the airport, because we had a flight to Shanghai to catch. Francesca will tell you all about another set of China-impressions we got there.
posted by Sublime at 11:31 PM

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