Yuejia Yibao Hotel Xiamen

Jimei School Village

by jetimblin

Jimei School Village was created in 1993 with the funds of Tan Kah Kee. Tan was an oversees chinese who made his fortune in Singapore and then returned Xiamen. He funded several universities and a large high school at Jimei school village.

This picture was taken from the Ao Park in Jimei where Tan's tomb is. This area had a series of stone engravings and statues which represent stories of China's history and legends.

For more pictures of the park take a look at my travelogue.

Xiamen - a pleasant city

by claude-andre

Xiamen is a big and modern city at the seaside. In the recent past it was a forbidden city because of the tensions between red China and Taiwan. Now the municipality desires to promote tourism and has a true care of ecology.
It has a pleasant colonial old town, a very interesting botanical garden and is home to a very old temple (Nanputuo).

"Xiamen from the Ferry to Gulangyu"

Xiamen is also a modern Chinese town. I'm not very impressed by modernity in China. I prefer old streets that are often very lively.

"The Egret - symbol of Xiamen"

Statue of the Egret on the Lake in Bailuzhou Park. Bailuzhou Park has good restaurants, antiques and curios shops.

Xiamen

by kimberbakos

The new highway between Fuzhou and Xiamen makes it a nce 3 hour drive, so a side trip to Xiamen is a nice addition to a trip to Fuzhou. I would have loved to spend even more than a day here, since Gulangyu Island can be a day's adventure in itself. Our fist stop was the orphange, which isn't of interest to the rest of you travellers, so I will only bore you with one photo. Here is the room the babies are in.

Our next stop was Pizza Hut. The boys were dying for something familiar other than the fries from McDonalds that were a staple of their Fuzhou diet. I could have passed and tried something more adventurous, as you parents can attest to, the kids usually win :) But it was worth the visit here just for the beautiful view of the city and the harbor, especially looking towards Gulangyu Island.

Other than the view from the restaurant, we didn't really see any of the city of Xiamen. After lunch, we went out to Gulangyu Island. The only way to get there is by ferry. It reminded me alot of Macinaw Island in MI. It has that same tourist trap feel in the shopping area, but is beautiful once you make it past all the shops at the front of the island. It is a part of Xiamen that is where all the Europeans used to live, and the architecture reflects that. It is very similar to Shaimen Island in Guangzhou in the building style. Everything there was beautiful, especially some of the gardens that I saw as we walked around the island. The tropical plants like the palm tress have melded with things like flowers and banyan trees in a unique mix that I haven't seen anywhere else.

I had heard so much about the bamboo scafolding that is used on most construction sites in China, but the only place that I saw this was in Xiamen. They were using it on this church, that was being restored.

Sun Rock, on the far side of the island, is the highest point in Xiamen. We were not able to go there, since the hike was too strenuous to do with small kids, and we didn't have enough time. So we had to settle for going to the beach and having the rock in the background of our photos. Down at the beach, we had the chance to spend a great deal of time talking to a lady from Xiamen whose grandkids are in CA. She spoke very good English and we told her about adopting Linnea. Either she didn't understand, or more likely didn't want to, but I had to laugh when she told me in parting "It funny, but you daughter, she look a little Chinese!" I'd say more than a little, wouldn't you?