Good-Bye Xiamen

Today, Calliope, TM, and I flew from Xiamen, on the east coast of China, to LiJiang, on the far west of China just before Tibet. Good-bye to Hilda, who will be returning home in about a week. And good-bye to Xiamen. What follows is a miscellaneous smattering of images, an annotated photo album of sorts.

What I call the cotton tree matured while we were in Xiamen. (I don't know the actual name.) For a couple of days there were fluffs falling from the sky and making patterns on the ground.

Summer snow.

An opened cotton fluff seed pod.

There was a two day martial arts competition at the University. There were far more varieties than I knew of. For example, Tai Chi encompasses many different styles. What we call Tai Chi is the slowest style. Some events include swords; some sticks; some spears. Young boys to old men participate. Their outfits were utilitarian and dressy at the same time.

The judges.

Two young contestants.

Waiting their turn outside.

The buddhist temples had lovely dragon ornamentation at the roof ends.

Calliope tutored two cute eight year old girls twice a week while we stayed in Xiamen.

A lovely city park halfway between our apartment and the univesity, Zhong Shan Park, provided something for everyone. In the morning, we'd catch glimpses of older women fan dancing and older men doing tai chi. There were beautifully landscaped walkways. An extensive collection of bonsai plants.

An art museum of naturally formed, carved, and polished stones and tree trunks. A zoo for the kids. An artificial pond with meandering canals and lotus plants for paddle boating. What's that across the pond? It's a dragon sculpture dressed in flowers and plants. Between the shirts with bad English and unnoticed typos, the English menus with undecipherable food options, and the crazy translations on signs that result when translating literally word for word from Chinese to English, there is enough English around Xiamen to keep a smile on my face from one end of town to the other. Here are a couple of store names that got me going. (You might have to click on the photos to look closely at the English.)

The fabric market in Xiamen offered up a large range of fabrics by the meter. A few stalls provided a playground of beads, belts, skirts, and reflective bling for belly dancers. The costume ladies at Sarasota's Sailor Circus would have had a heyday at the stalls full of costume accessories. Calliope and I chose some traditional silk that will be made into traditionally styled Chinese jackets and a dress.

A protected harbor in Xiamen experiences daily tidal water and grounding for the boats moored there. Since large chunks of Xiamen have been leveled to make room for modern skyscrapers, this section of town has maintained its smaller structures and the ambiance of an older Xiamen. As I walked around the area, I saw it at low tide.

Click this photo to see lots of details! Then as the tide came in, so did a fishing boat with its daily haul.

I visited a traditional Chinese medicine clinic. The dried herbs, fungus, and sea-things were organized and stored, each in its place

On one of our trips to Quanzhou, we noticed that they rigged their motorcycles up for sun and rain. They could zip along without injuring the umbrella. This road sign pointed the way to a rest area, gasoline, and food. Note that food is not denoted by chopsticks as you might expect, but by a knife and fork.

On Calliope's birthday, Liz bought her a fabulous cake. It says "Happy Birthday" in Chinese. There is fruit on top, including tomatoes. It did not taste anything like it looked.

There is a boardwalk that runs for miles and wraps around the east coast of Xiamen Island. Along the way, there are lovely rock formations, small parks, comfy bars, a fort, shade sructures, playgorunds, sculptures, and pleasant views out toward Taiwan. At several spots along the beach, you can see huge wastewater pipes draining directly into the sea. No matter how hot it got, none of us even considered going to the beach for the swim.

Xiamen, like most Chinese cities, lit up at night. This shot was taken as we approached Xiamen from Gulang Yu.

Good-Bye Xiamen. You have treated us well!