Fujian Fun

For International Labor Day 2010, we made a trip to three areas of interest in Fujian province.  We chose Fujian for two main reasons: 1) the flight to Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian, was only one hour and fifteen minutes from Guangzhou, and 2)this is not a primary Chinese tourist destination.  Since this holiday was only four days long, and millions upon millions of Chinese travel during these days, we liked our choice.

Fuzhou in Five Hours
Leading up to our trip Adan injured his back playing basketball.  It was nothing serious, but it did leave him needing to see a chiropractor and limited in extensive walking or hiking.  Due to this, we slightly rearranged our itinerary to accommodate.  This meant that in Fuzhou, our first stop, we really did not do a whole lot.

We arrived at the Fuzhou airport Saturday morning at 10:30am.  It was a nice, clean facility with almost  no travelers.  It blow our minds to see such little activity for this major holiday.  However, a big downer to this airport is that it's 50 kilometers from the city center.  We took a shuttle bus for about three dollars a person to the shopping district.  It took us about forty minutes and the drive was rather uneventful.

When we finally did arrive downtown we were surprised by the lack of activity.  The truth of the matter is, Fuzhou city is not a tourist hot spot.  The major attraction near this capital city is Wu Yi Shan.   This gorgeous mountain range is nestled near the Jiangxi province border and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Having this title alone says it all.  But with Adan's bad back, this location was not an option and instead we spent about four hours wandering the streets in Fuzhou.  We did happen to visit a few neat little temples and pagodas at Yu Shan Gong Yuan, Jade Hill Park. 

The major highlight was a German-Chinese buffet, Golden Hans, that served decent food.  The meat was beef, pork, and bratwurst.  The rest of the food was fried rice, mixed vegetables and soups.  The price of the meal was an astonishing 38 RMB (about $5.50)!  Oh, did we mention that it was all you could drink dark and blond ales?

One Night in Quanzhou
Since there was not much to do we hopped on a long distance bus to Quanzhou.  This was our best destination to stop and visit before going to Xiamen.  The drive was roughly three hours long.  We arrived in Quanzhou at about 8:00pm.  We had a difficult time locating a hotel but after some searching we found a good place to crash for the evening.  The rest of the night was spent planning out our next day and buying snacks and drinks.

For our one and only day in Quanzhou we happened to see a lot.  From a historical standpoint, Quanzhou played an important role for hundreds of years.  It was considered to be one of the two most important seaports in the world during the Song and Yuan Dynasties (960-1368).  Marco Polo even considered it the starting point of the Silk Road via the sea due to the immense amount of "Eurasian" influence.


We focused on visiting three historical sites during our visit: Kai Yuan Si, Qing Jing Mosque, Guan Di Miao.  In the morning we decided to make our way to Kai Yuan Si since it was the furthest away from the bus station.  This temple was a pleasant place to visit.  Legend has it that it was built in 686 AD by a mulberry grove farmer.  He was asked by a Buddhist monk to build a place of worship and declined saying, "Only if my mulberry trees bear lotus flowers."  Shortly after, the lotus flowers duly appeared. 

The complex has two amazing twin pagodas that go back well over 900 years!  The architecture here was incredible.  Each hall was designed magnificently.  In fact, the main hall of the temple is so well constructed that it has withstood everything from earthquakes to Red Guards.  The artwork in the facility is also done with much detail and features unique Buddhist drawings and carvings.
 
Our second stop was a quick one.  The Qing Jing Mosque is a rather large complex, but during our visit it was mostly closed for repair.  It was not a big deal.  We have seen Chinese mosques before, and the literature says that the most interesting feature of this site is its entrance.  The granite-built gate tower is said to be an exact copy of the Damascus original.  It is a leaf-shaped archway with a strong Arabian feel to it.  This mosque dating back to 1009 is said to be one of the oldest in all of China.

Just a short distance from the mosque is the Guan Di Miao.  This is a splendid temple that was extremely popular with locals during our visit.  The temple is dedicated to a war hero who is believed to have become a god of healing and war--Guan Yu.  The scene here was prayer and offerings of food, money,  and incense in every direction.

From here, we made our way back to the bus station to purchase tickets to Xiamen, the most important city on our trip.  We left QuanzhouXiamen.

Xiamen's Island Experience
Xiamen is a city with a deep European flavor.  This has much do with its status as a thriving port starting in the seventeenth century and continued until the beginning of World War II.  Xiamen is also famous for being ranked time and time again as one of the most suitable cities for living in China.  We found this to be very true as the streets are clean, people friendly, and the airport is very nice.

Our stay in Xiamen began with lunch at Burger King.  We mention this because it was the first time in mainland China that we saw a Burger King restaurant.  In Hong Kong they are very popular, but not so much in China.  It was very intriguing to us and the idea of a Whopper was too hard to pass up.  It had been probably two months since our last hamburger so we splurged. 

After lunch we made our way over to the Nan Pu Tuo Si, a temple with a history of over 1,000 years situated near the Xiamen University.  This temple is very well laid out.  It begins at the base of a small mountain and ascends up all the way to the top hall by hall.  However, due to Adan's injury we only viewed a little more than fifty percent of the whole complex.  This temple is a great example of how unique Fujian's temple roofs are compared to other provinces and dynasties.  Each one is multi-colored with bright reds, blues, and yellows.  Then there are gaudy dragons, flowers, and even human figures lined up at each point.  One thing we learned about Fujianese is that they are devote Buddhists by the number of famous temples we saw!

From here we made our way to the Zhongshan Bu Xing Jie, the famous walking street of Xiamen.  Vendors told us this shopping zone is famous for being the only smoke-free walking street in China.  Whether this is true or not is suspect, but it was nice anyways.  Pazi found great teas for presents.  Fujian is the tea capital of China so she had to buy some.  Adan bought some local candies, which of course had tea in them.  We spent several hours walking the streets and eventually eating a simple dinner here before retiring to the hotel for a long day to come.

Traveling to the Tu Lou
On this day we took a long three hour trip to visit the Hakka minority group of Fujian.  They are a migrating group, given the name "gypsies of China," that had roots in the Yangzi basin but were driven south during the third century due to war and revolution.  Hakkas' most unique characteristic are their round homes, referred to as tu lou.  These mansions still used today can hold sometimes a hundred families and are used to protect against outside forces.  On our trip we visited two small villages where the most famous round homes exist.

In the city of Yong Ding is where we spent our day.  We visited several Hakka round houses, and similar square houses that serve the same purpose as the more famous round ones.  The experience was fun.  We enjoyed visiting the homes of Hakka families.  The one rule when visiting the tu lou is that you cannot go above the first floor.  Adan really wanted to get nice photo shots from up top, but could not.  We understood the reasoning--this was some one's home and we needed to respect their privacy.  The travel to get to the Hakka villages was brutal, but ultimately worth the effort in our minds.   

Upon returning, we washed up and went for dinner at the Guan Hai Can Ting.  In English this is called the View By the Sea Restaurant.  Our guide book recommended it so we gave it a shot.  In all fairness the restaurant did not disappoint.  The views from the rooftop are exceptional.  They overlook the Gu Lang Yu Island, an area that we would soon explore.  We had mixed reviews on the food.  We were adventurous and tried Xiamen's famous seafood cuisine.  The dishes are unique to say the least.  We started out with shrimp and crab cakes.  These were exceptionally good.  Next we had beef and hot peppers, which was just so-so.  Later we had Xiamen Fried Rolls, a roll of vegetables and pork.  It was good but nothing spectacular.  We also ordered Xiamen pan noodles and fish soup.  Both dishes were okay but nothing to brag about.  With this said, we enjoyed our dinner and it did not break the bank costing us about 250RMB ($36.75).

Good Times at Gu Lang Yu
Our last day in Xiamen was spent at the island of foreign concession called Gu Lang Yu.  Although it is very small (only one square mile in size), the atmosphere here is different than most of China.  For starters, no cars are allowed on the island and this makes it very nice for strolling along.  Additionally, the architecture here is of elegant colonial buildings rooted in European styles.  Churches, consulates, and villas neatly decorate the island cobblestoned streets.  It's a real treat to experience.  Check out the slideshow to see just what we are talking about.

The only down side to this island is the costs associated with it.  The ferry ride over from Xiamen is short and cheap, about one dollar.  However, from here things go up.  Probably the best way to put it is that the costs are double due to convenience.  The historical sites with entrance fees are also quite expensive as they range from 60-140 RMB ($8.82 to 20.60).  This is a lot for a basic Chinese entrance fee.

At about 7:30 we made our way to the airport that is located about thirty minutes from down town.  The airport like the the city of Xiamen was neat and convenient.  We even had a light dinner there because the set up was so nice.  Then at 9:00pm, as we took flight for Guangzhou, we congratulated ourselves for successfully escaping the madness usually associated with Chinese holidays.