Xiamen, China (July 9 to July 14, 2008)

snapfish.com (for future pictures)

Addressed to Sandie Chen of Xiamen, China of Hospitalityclub.org

Thank you for sharing your time with us that one afternoon. I hope your niece's health is better and she is on the road to full recovery. Thank you for the trip to the Computer city. You outwalked us in your heels - way to go, girl! (I was ill at the beginning of this trip, mostly due to stress, and perhaps weariness- somewhere in this site, more of this may be covered.)
We enjoyed our time at the beach and the local scene (this is more my kind of being in touch with the local culture and scene, instead of the canned tourist presentation that tour guides feel obliged to deliver), and the seafood dinner by the sea. Several dishes of fried noodles, garlic shrimp, vegetables (gong cai; kang kong), and oyster omelet cost Y80 (-U$12) - good food, incredible prices. I wish we could find a place you were talking about to stay the night. We asked several people including 2 taxis and we could not find the "German recommended" hotel. On the way out, we took a taxi to go several Km beyond the seafood place (the place you talked to the lady on the cell about our location), before U- turning to go further west(where we started after getting off the bus several stops further and could not find a place to stay).
We went back by taking bus # 809 (?) and found our way to our original hotel Hejia hotel and stayed the night.
Next day, we did some shopping, hair wash and massage (1 hr for Y20= U$3) and more shopping at SM mall (wish we knew this place early in our visit ) great looking place for all kinds of food at food court but no time to sample, and fun shopping.
As for Xiamen city itself, 4 places were worth seeing, and the rest could be skipped. Nanputo Temple, Ganglanyu, 90" cruise and SM shopping mall. The original itineratry would have been interesting with out of town cities of Putian, Quanzhou, Nanin (?). I paid an additional U$70 so so we could go to Na'an, my father's hometown. I made some headways, but it would have been better had we skipped the Jimei, etc. and onlt visited the above 4 sites and Na'an and the rest of the days exploring on our won or with HC member. HC fast tracks my education on the local scene from fellow like-minded travelers who wish to experience new countries at the grassroot level. Thank you, S.
Got only train seats 24 hour ride, and made a concerted effort to to upgrade to beds. What a stampede rush - a killer rush to car #11 , and I thought I was not going to live to tell the tale. BUT survive it to blog the tale! (need more details ) Ended paying a total of Y286 (7 to U$1) for each bed- well worth the sleep. Rumor has it that a one hour airline ticket could be gotten from XMN to SHA for Y300 each, but S called and it was Y800ish. I wanted the one time train experience, and I got to see the country - however, the ENTIRE experience of XMN-SHA is not to be repeated again. (Will detail upgrade experience / FUTURE)
The train was an experience (not sure to care to repeat it), learned more about China Chinese culture, and people in general, and made some friends on the train.
I waited for some Chinese to break the ice, but I finally had to, many hours later. I imagine no one was approaching a female (whose daughter was at #4 middle bunk while I was at # 9 bottom), so I finally asked someone how I could use my cell phone (with a China- Xiamen SIM card - just call 0065-phone number for calling Singapore).
We are here in Shanghai, one day earlier than planned The XMN- SHA flight is an hour but the train was 24 hours because of the mountainous region we traversed.
Shanghai tour met us at the train station, and will be visiting Suzhow, Hangzhou, Wuxi, and of course Shanghai. Original Planned for 6 days, may stay a day or 2 longer for self exploring.
Expected in Beijing on July 24 Th.

Sandie, again, thank you for your generosity and sharing some insights. I'd have enjoyed meeting more than the tour itself.