Dominic Bryce China Travels: Part 11 - Sunlight rock on Gulangyu island, strange foods and lots of walking!

I hope you like your food fresh

Anyway, still on Gulangyu island (off Xiamen's coast, south-east China), wandering through the town part, I notice some restaurants. The food at these seem particularly fresh, in that it is swimming in buckets outside the entrance.

Now you can't get much fresher than that. After a while here, I decide to carry on, encouraged by the restaurants staff shouting something at me which presumably meant "you picture; you buy".

The interesting foods on offer by no means ended there. In this next picture you can see what else is on offer, whether you need sunglasses, coral, dried snakes, dried sea horses etc.

Walking to Sunlight Rock

More walking later, we stumble upon some very nice houses with ornate wooden carvings and green rooves (and another rock which isn't the 'sunlight rock'). 

Walking past these building's, I emerge in a temple or holy-shrine-type area, overlooked by a female Buddha statue. 

The temple courtyard area would be a very relaxing and picturesque situation to be in at this moment in time, but that feeling is somewhat overridden by the heat and amount of walking involved. It's still very nice though, relaxation is overwhelmed by a determination to make it to the top of whatever we're climbing, to hopefully find the now mystical 'sunlight rock', which must be amazing if all of these rocks were just bog-standard in comparison...

Next we can see the view that the female Buddha statue has had for probably quite a while:

And here we have another view of the skyscrapers in Xiamen, as well as the town on Gulangyu island.

And... At last! I can see where we've heading all of this time, the peak on the island, sunlight rock.

Yes, it is as crowded as it looks, and by now we're pretty high up as you can see by this picture of the peak from the bottom which I posted in the last post:

So, I finally reach the top, after taking a quick picture of what I thought was a funny sign, I took some pictures of the view from all the way on top of sunlight rock, on Gulangyu island:

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Sign text - 

"There is a common saying that "You have not been to Xiamen unless you have climbed Sunlight Rock". The symbol of Xiamen, this 40 meter diameter rock towers over Gulangyu islet, and is popular for its grotesque rocks, natural caves, colorful trees, flowers, and bird's-eye view of both Gulangyu and Xiamen."

Next time - I go back down from the rock, and walk through the town, and see even more strange foods: TBC.

By Dominic Bryce

P.s - At last, Google Blogger allows me to put pictures between text on the iPad app! 

Dominic Bryce China Travels: Part 10 - Gulangyu island - Zheng Chenggong statue and Sunlit Rock

Walking to the massive statue of 'Zheng Chenggong'

I noticed some writing on the tourist board about the Zheng Chenggong fellow before we caught the ferry, I figure he must be a pretty historically cool dude to have a granite statue over 50 feet tall.

Just as I'm beginning to march towards the statues' general direction, I notice one of the many street sellers with a few people around her. I take a look at what she's doing that's so interesting, and it turns out to be engraving people's names onto colourful shaped rocks as personalised necklaces. I then notice my back-of-mind need to acquire gifts or souvenirs of some kind, and the unspent Yuan burning a hole in my pocket. Unfortunately at this point, it's worth mentioning that my Chinese only stretches a very limited amount past a simple "Nihao" (or, "Hello"), so barging past these people and trying to explain I want a name (which I also don't know in Chinese, conveniently) on a necklace seemed somewhat out of the question. So I carry on walking, and proceed to notice a gentleman street-seller with almost exactly the same store, so I decide to wait for my sister-in-law who, being Chinese, I assume might have more success both translating a name for me, and actually talking to the street seller at all. And all goes swimmingly (pictured).

Yes; Zheng Chenggong is a badass

A little later, I reach some kind of garden entrance, and as there are official looking people standing at the gate, I approach confident in the knowledge I am armed with some kind of 'access all areas' ticket (ok maybe not at all as glamorous as that). They stamp the appropriate section of the ticket, relating to what soon turns out to be a garden dedicated to telling people about the awesomeness of Zheng Changong. And I will certainly not be one to argue, as it appears he was a great soldier, particularly judging by what I deemed to be a 'Lord of the Rings' level brass cast (probably) statue of him and his buddies, riding to war. Not only that, but some inscribed rocks are telling me (they seem to be popular, by the way) that he also writes poetry.

A quick browse of his past exploits quickly shows that he is popular and revered in China, Taiwan and Japan. This is weird because apparently Zheng was born in Japan, and there is a well known animosity between these two countries. So why do both appear to regard him as a hero? Well, during his apparently exciting life, some of it was in fact spent defending Chinese shores from Dutch invaders.

Eventually I make it up to the statue, and after marvelling at its size, and compare shoe sizes (pictured), I make my way down to the shore to get a better view (than point-blank) of the statue.

Into the town, towards 'sunlit rock'

Walking around the tourist trail further in to the island itself, it begins to seem more like a town. We go past some music schools and museums, which the island is apparently famous for, and many street sellers and shops. It's then that I begin to notice some culinary delights... Like squid on a stick (pic)! There was a quite impressive stone carved wall of dolphins in water, outside what I assume was another music school (pictured), and by now I'm beginning to notice my feet ache a bit.... That is until I notice these poor guys dragging a big trailer of beer crates up the street I was walking down.

Next I happen across a big rock next to the sea, and wonder whether it's the "Sunlit rock" I noticed while glancing at the tourist board before catching the ferry, but then a quick look behind me shows me otherwise. In the distance I see a small mountain-type-structure rising up, with people at the top of it, so I make this the new destination, assuming it to be Sunlit rock...


Dominic Bryce

Dominic Bryce China Travels: Part 9 - Travelling to Xiamen - Gulangyu Island

Travel to Gulangyu island in Xiamen

After around 2 hours on the train to the station at Xiamen, we get a taxi to close to the ferry port, and have a nice walk on the 'promenade' during which I marvel a bit at the skyscrapers at the sea-facing part of the city (which later play a part in things - pictured).

I see what I assume is the ferry we're planning to take to 'Gulangyu island' and took a couple of pictures of it, because it's quite an oriental wooden old style ship, and is painted nicely. We get to the ticket office, it's quite crowded, and I skim read a couple of tourist signs (which are thankfully in Chinese -and- English; often a rarity, but then I don't suppose many of our tourist information signs are in Chinese) which say what there is of interest on the island. We then go off to catch the ferry, which it turns out is a relatively bog standard looking one after all. As I look behind I don't see my brother anywhere (it soon turns out he'd gone and bought some sunglasses because it's pretty hot, and they turn out to be something like "Pan Bays", with a logo just like mine which say "Ray Ban").

At this point it's worth mentioning that, as I look back at the picture I took of the traditional fancy styled ferry that we didn't infant take, I have accidentally taken a picture of who I assume are some folks who are local (at the very least more local than me). I point this out because it shows them staring at me while I take a picture of the boat, and it is pretty common, say 4 in 5 people are likely stare, depending on which area you're in, and has certainly been a theme of the holiday for me. In reflection, it is an improvement from the first time I went to China, close to 10 years ago, where many of the folk we met were liable to do anything from ask if you're Harry Potter, Prince William etc, ask to have their photo with you, or perhaps even spit.

There is a lot less of that now anyway. In fact, in Xiamen I see the first Europeans of the entire trip, since getting the plane from Beijing to Fuzhou! Anyway back to the ferry: We get 'herded' (for lack of a better word; queuing in China, like driving, seems to lack etiquette) onto the ferry, we then wait in an actual cage on the boat, while people from a boat parked sandwiching ours to the shore are let through corridors within our boat/cages onto the shore (pictured, you can just about see part of the caging, between the crowd of people). Only then are the cages retracted, and we are able to spread out of our sardine can and to squeeze our way upstairs, where we are able to elbow our way into a sort of VIP section which you have to pay for, to avoid the crowds (you even get access to life jackets! Pictured - a view of the island from the VIP section).

Gulanyu island, quintuple-A rated tourist attraction

That's right, tourist attractions in China, it would appear, have a rating system. And by the looks of it, the highest rating of AAAAA is not for the timid. From what I can see, when you jump from AAAA to the fifth A, you may gain a lot of crowded queuing, but is it worth going for it? We'll see...

Anyhow, we begin to follow the route everyone else is following by the sea edge, and take a quick stop for some fishball-dumpling type things on sticks before carrying on (pic). I take a pic of some unusual fruits which are on offer; 10 points if you can tell me all of their names! I notice a guy wading slightly deep who appears to have been crabbing, and also get a picture of Xiamen city with a Chinese style motorboat from the vantage of Gulangyu island. At this point my sister-in-law and brother feel the need to stop off in a cafe for a snack, so after saying hello to a dog who lives in the cafe (pic), I take my brothers beer related inquiries as a hint, and go off to find him a can of something. Five minutes later, and I have acquired a can of Tsingtao beer for a mere ~67p (6 Yuan, pictured), but refrain from any drinking, having taken note of my waist size from previous beer and food related shenanigans, and anticipating a hot and arduous day ahead.

We get moving again, and turn a corner to see a nice little beach with a big set of rocks that everyone is having pictures on, and I get a picture of the scene before running off to help my nice climb a deceptively large sloped rock close to the shore with a cave-like overhanging rock, and have some pictures taken. Then walking over some other rocks, I can't help but notice the gigantic statue figure on the horizon of Gulangyu island, I get a picture of that too, and plan to make my way there.

To be continued...


Dominic Bryce

Some tower blocks I noticed as soon as we got out of the train station, after having avoided the  folks offering tours/taxis.

A small park-type-area by the sea-side road, and another impressive skyscraper.

Ornate ferry, the one which I hoped we were getting to Gulangyu island (we didn't).

Caged in the ferry!

A first peak at the island.

Anyone for fish balls? (Actually, fish dumplings)

Strange fruits! What are they??

Gentleman crabber, with Xiamen backdrop.

Chinese boat, city backdrop!

Little doggy eating scraps at the cafe.

67p can of beer from a street-side shop.

Beach rocks/picture spot, Xiamen city backdrop.

Gulangyu beach rocks, with large Zheng Changong statue in the distance!

Dominic Bryce China Travels: Part 8 - Travelling to Xiamen by train

Train travel pictures

Here are some of the pictures I took through the train windows. I tried to get some of the old style farming practices and such, and avoid asking pictures of the bare or part made areas of urban style development (surprisingly frequent). It later turns out that development is rife, and it might have suited to document the vast developments in progress everywhere I went.


Dominic Bryce

Some traditional boats, with some new developments to the left, over what might possibly be Longjiang river (judging by the shape of the river on the picture and looking at the trains route on google maps!)

Some farming fields, with city tower-blocks on the horizon.

Paddy fields from the train, people at work farming, with city-scape and mountains in the background.

More rice being grown right next to a city.

More folks in traditional hats working the fields near high-rise housing apartments.

Here we can see the kind of place all of the duck eaten come from, like duck eggs, crispy duck, duck feet and much more, mmm!

Banana plantation.

Signs following the highway and train track.

Farm fields and signs along a highway - a sign of the times...

I accidentally took a picture of a bus whilst travelling at 200km/h+.

The tide seems to be out.

Crane boats.

Getting close to Xiamen, and the sea.