Journey to Big Golden Lake

Christine's co-workers opted to take a weekend trip to the Big Golden Lake Geopark near the city of Tai Ning for their yearly outing, and they were sweet enough to invite me to tag along. I am so amazed by all the kindness shown to me! Nobody gets a trip to China like the one I am experiencing. Just a little disclaimer on this post... There are so many things I might not have understood correctly! My apologies ahead of time for all mistakes. 

The trip started with a three hour train ride... My first time on a Chinese train.  I got a good lesson in how to navigate to the train, and then the right car and the right seat without reading Chinese. Was a modern, fast train, complete with a woman  who cleans as you ride. As she passed, she stopped, took the trash bag out of my seat pocket, and opened it for me. Wonder if she does that for all foreigners who might trash the train.

Xiamen Is Under Construction!

 I think the hardest thing for me to adjust to in Xiamen is the constant noise of drills, sand blasters, gravel trucks, jig saws or hack saws, jack hammers, and many, many other unidentified but very noisy demolition tools! It seems  everything is being torn down or being rebuilt. This demolition job  spilling into the sidewalk just a block from our apartment is a  new project that wasn't there yesterday!

Our apartment building is just a couple years old, and some of the apartments are being occupied for the first time. Apparently, when you buy a new apartment you just buy the shell, and it's up to you to build the inside the way you want it. So, that's is what's been happening for the last month in the apartment below us. And then there's the apartment above us. We're not sure what they are redoing, but there has been constant drilling and blasting up there for weeks, even though the apartment is occupied.

Whirlwind Days in Shanghai

Shanghai -- by population, the largest city in the world with 23.5 million people for us to rub shoulders with!  We spent Saturday and Sunday exploring, and were were amazingly successful at finding our way and not getting lost in  the crowd.  The center of  Shanghai is everything modern, with exquisite stores and breath taking skyscrapers.The subway seems decades ahead of the Paris metro. Beautiful, fast, clean, and easy for non-Chinese speakers to get around. It's very different than Xiamen, where we still haven't even begun to master the bus system!

We debated whether to go the five-star route for a pricey hotel or risk something a bit more "Chinese." After consulting Trip Advisor and China Tours, we settled on "New Harbor Service Apartments" right in the center of downtown Shanghai, and we were not disappointed. Not five star, but we were pleasantly surprised by the roominess, the cleanliness, the delightful staff, and the fun (but smoggy) view from the 18th floor. But oh how the Chinese LOVE their hard beds! It's pretty much like sleeping on the floor or sleeping on a rock. The majority of tourists in China are Chinese, and that's who hotels cater to, except 5-star hotels that tend to cater to westerners and have soft beds. My solution: I'm want to buy a little air mattress to tuck it in my suitcase!

The skyline, the gardens, the ancient town of Qi Bao right within Shanghai, the Bund. So many favorite moments that I don't want to forget.

We started Saturday morning with a long subway ride to the ancient water town of Qi Bao, which is right on the subway line. This little part of Shanghai is a stark contrast to the very upscale shopping in the center of town. We were delighted to find the same rounded bridges that we'd seen in Zhouzhuang.We loved exploring the streets and waterways.

Zhouzhuang, the Ancient Water Town

For our first venture outside of Xiamen, we flew to Shanghai for a long weekend.  So much to see, so little time to see it! 

We started on Friday with a day in Zhouzhuang, an ancient town an hour and a half outside of Shanghai where rivers and lakes abound. We saved ourselves a few hundred dollars by taking a tour bus from Shanghai with a Chinese guide rather than an English-speaking guide. It made for a fun bus ride with all Chinese tourists. The very enthusiastic guide had a loud microphone that kept us awake for the whole bus ride, although we understood nothing! We had read up on the city before we left home, and there were some signs in English, so once we got to town we could find our way around.

We got off the bus and took this boat across the lake to get to the town. How cute is that? The boat is set up with tables to sit around, and everybody else pulled out their food and had quite a meal. We may have been foodless, but we drank in lots of beauty and enjoyed sights we had never even imagined.
The winding rivers, stone bridges, and willowy trees have a very relaxing beauty. 













Zhouzhuang's history goes back more than 900 years, and many of the houses built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties are still standing with their courtyards and carved stone gateways. The roofing is fascinating! Loved the carving on the walls.

The stone bridges that link the houses on either side of the stream date back to the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties too. Bridge after bridge,  the reflection in the water forms a lovely circle.










Loved these narrow passageways.
Zhouzhuang  is very commercialized, and we had fun at the little shops. We came home with posters, purses, and pillows! The food was very fun to look at, but we passed on these eggs and  few other unidentified items. We did buy some very nice jasmine tea. And Christine and I ate a street food version of the specialty -- "glutinous rice balls." Love how they cook their own meal in the street in front of their store. Every wok has a five-quart bottle of oil beside it, and an extra one in stock!

To round out our day, we treated ourselves to a ride on one of the traditional boats. The charming captain broke out into song as he winged us down the waterway. Our day was over way to quickly -- we could have strolled the streets for hours more! Wondering if I will ever be back to Zhouzhuang!  

Food Trucks, Chinese Style

Street food is extremely popular in Xiamen, and most of it is sold from bikes or scooters. I keep discovering new one-wheel food carts  ingeniously attached to bikes. This smattering of images doesn't even scratch the surface of what's available. I took all the pictures within a mile of our apartment. Vendors who sell snacks for school children park right on my street corner every day. Next to the big shopping mall, there are around 40 food vendors with their bikes and carts smashed one against the other. Some of their dishes look super tasty, but there are also peculiar smells that I haven't yet warmed up to. When walking past one or two of the carts, I have to remember to hold my breath, but I have no idea what the offending smell is! Some agree to have their picture taken and some don't, but all are very smiling and friendly to non-Chinese speaking me!

This is probably the simplest setup  I've seen: a very basic bicycle with a block of styrofoam holding sticks of glazed meat. All this balanced on the handlebars! Bikes like this are very, very common, and they do a great business.

Children beg moms to buy them this treat! It looks like a stack of mini candied apples on a stick, but I'm pretty sure it's little meat balls covered in some kind of red glaze. True confessions: I haven't tasted it yet, and it may never happen.