Xiamen Travel Blogs, Travelogues and Travel Journals

Xiamen is a lovely Place !! It is very different than the rest of China. It is a city, but it is along the beach, and although you will rarely find people actually on the beach during the day ( they are packed at night oddly enough), it still kind of has that beach-y mentality. It is a little more relaxed and calm. UNLESS you are in a cab, then hold on for dear life !! More than a few times I have feared for my life, like yesterday when my cabbie thought it was a great idea to pass a car on t…

So the potato chips in China are full meals ! We have barbeque chips, they have barbequed beef and pork ! Fried Chicken, Cucmber, basically all of your food groups can be found in chip form !! LOL I know people were staring at me in the supermarket as I was taking pictures and I am sure they were thinking, "Where is this girl from where they don't have potato chips!?" All of the food in China definitely put me in culture shock at first. Especially the fact that they keep the heads&n…

Xiamen is a touristy city of Fujian Province famous for its attractive seascape. As one of the major seaports since ancient times, Xiamen boasts a wide gulf with deep water but without freezing and silting. The name of 'Xiamen' was consequently given, which means 'a gate of China'. As one of the forerunners of the special economic zones of China, Xiamen mainly consisting of Xiamen Island, Gulangyu Island, the north bank area of the Jiulong River and Tong'an County, is connected with the mainl…

After I organised this trip, I realised that I could also visit relatives on my father's side in China too.  They lived at Chan Village about half-hour from Zhao An (which itself was four hours away by bus from Xiamen).  By the way, my surname is "Tian" in Mandarin which is quite an uncommon one. My contact for this long day trip was an elderly gentlemen by the name of Poh Tiang. We are related as my great-great-grandfather is also his great-grandfather.  Poh Tiang and his c…

Our cruise from Hong Kong to Xiamen, China

for our flight path's stop-over, we spent a day in XiaMen, China. the city proper is quiote charming and laid-back especially compared to my former new york city and my current residence of Shanghai! the island of Gulang Yu is home to a massive number of old French style colonial homes. many are in shambles & begging for a refurbish. the best part about this island is that there are NO cars allowed!

Postcards I have received from around the world... a work in progress because this is my new (and addicting) hobby! I love sending/receiving postcards from my TB friends...and I've even gotten my family into sending me postcards too! :)

Monday is the day that we finally left Xiamen. Brandon was flying to Beijing where he met up with Stacey to head back to NYC. I was flying to Shanghai to check out the work opportunities there and network, and Adrian was hanging out with friends in HK. Margaret and Michelle were staying in Sichuan for longer and then taking a week to sightsee in Beijing before heading back to NYC. That morning, Lee and Newstar were so nice as to see us off even though it was so early in the morning for them.…

Well, we watched Xiamen by night and have one more analysis (comparison with Shanghai area) to add. Up there, people have no qualms about going out to the malls in their pyjamas (ie those not wearing a suit). Over here, no one does that. The development here is phenomenal. The expressway is built out over the sea, linking parts of the island. I suppose this saves on reclamation but the amount of reclamation is also unbelievable. Reclaimed land and demolition make way for new office and apart…

It's an ominous sign that while waiting in an enormous line for my bus ticket to Shantou in Shenzhen, I somehow lose my passport.  I plan to replace it in Shanghai.  Not much in Shantou, but after a grueling bus ride from hell on some of the worst roads imaginable, I'm happy to be anywhere off the bus.   No sleep at all on the overnight portion.  There is a large make-shift lever attached to the steering wheel that controls the loudest airhorn imaginable.  H…