Xiamen: Part II

Welcome to Part II (and the finale) of my short trip to Xiamen. I'll start where I left off, on the morning of Day 2...

On Thursday, I woke up and looked out my window. And, although it was cloudy, it wasn’t raining yet, so I quickly got my stuff together for a morning on the beach. I got a few quality hours in (one of those hours spent on that self-jumping picture – see previous post) before it began to rain. For lunch, I found a vendor (along the path I ran the night before) and ordered some ramen-like noodles with vegetables and questionable meatballs (I only ate one of those).

My morning at the beach!

Where I got my lunch!

Right before it started to rain...

That afternoon, I decided to check out Xiamen University, which is a pretty famous university in China, known especially for its unique and beautiful campus. I took a bus out the the campus (which is literally right across the street from the ocean – if only I had known about this place before!) and, again, just wandered around it. And the people of China did not lie – it was a beautiful campus, even in the rain. The buildings were a unique mix of Chinese and Western architecture, the campus was scattered with little lakes and ponds, and the grounds were lush with bright green vegetation and ancient-looking trees. Seriously, if I wanted to keep teaching, I would totally apply for a job here. It was gorgeous.

Xiamen University's main gate

One of the gorgeous lakes on XiaDa's campus

For dinner, I went to a restaurant not too far from the school (again, recommended by Wood). This place, however, was a western restaurant (which Wood did not tell me – he just said, “You should go there.”) so I ordered some pasta and a “local” beer (which tasted like slightly beer-flavored water… yum). And, after a little more wandering around the city, I finally made my way back to the hostel for the night.

I'm a little ashamed of this meal...

On Friday morning, it looked a lot like Thursday, so I ran out to the beach one more time. Unfortunately, after about 20 minutes it began to rain. Hard. Like, summer downpour hard. Fortunately, I had an umbrella on me, so I strolled along the ocean anyway, enjoying the nearly empty (and also very wet) coast. When it looked like it wasn’t going to stop raining any time soon, I made my way (sadly) back to the hostel to eat lunch and get some work done (I had some essays to grade for my writing class).

Escaping the rain

For my last afternoon in Xiamen, I headed to the NanPuTo  Buddhist Temple, one of the city’s other famous tourist spots. The temple was… well… a temple. Sort of like the old churches in Europe, the temples of China all start to look the same after a while (a little harsh, I know, but true). NanPuTo temple was situated in the hills of Xiamen, full of colorful statues, the strong scent of incense  and an orange and maroon-adorned monk here and there.

Inside the temple

I actually had the chance to meet a monk, with whom I attempted to have a conversation (in Chinese… so it was a very simple conversation). He was a really friendly guy, and totally patient when I didn’t know how to say something and I had to check my dictionary. He also completely debunked  my stereotype of monk life – I always thought monks would live a simple life, with few material items and little technology. Isn’t being a Buddhist monk all about getting in touch with nature and stuff? So when my new monk friend asked to take a picture with me and pulled out his iPhone5, I was totally surprised. What?!? Monks have iPhones?!? He then proceeded to give me his business card so that I could call or e-mail him anytime… yes, I am now the proud owner of a monk’s business card. Who knew? When I told my students this story, they laughed and laughed and laughed at my ignorance. They then informed me that monks in China are actually pretty wealthy – what?! And when they aren’t spending time at the temples, they are driving luxury cars to their homes to see their wives and children!! Please tell me I am not the only one who is shocked by this…

This guy.
Full of surprises.

Anyway, after my “enlightening” experience at the temple, it was time for one last dinner in Xiamen. This time, I went to a locally famous seafood restaurant (guess who recommended it…) where I had to wait half an hour for a seat – talk about a popular place. It was crazy-full of people! When my number was finally called, I walked inside to find a menu with no pictures and no English… oh crap. However, I reminded myself that I had just waited for half-an-hour… I would not give up so easily after that. So I found a waitress and told her, “Hey! I’m alone and I can’t read the menu – what do you recommend?” She suggested three dishes (she said them in Chinese, and I honestly did not understand her, so I just nodded to each one) and placed my order. I found my seat and waited for my mystery meal… it could have been anything. Fortunately, my fuwuyuan (waitress) played it safe with some green veggies, a plate of clams and a squid, and it was not bad. Plus, it was very reasonably priced.

It finally stopped raining later that night, so I went for one last night run along the beach. After an hour of sweating (oh yeah - enjoy that visual) I made it back to the hostel for my last night of Xiamen sleep.

Pumped for some exercise!

Early Saturday morning, the sun peeking through my windows, I woke up to birds chirping and clear sky. A SUNNY, GORGEOUS, BLUE SKY. Isn't that just how it goes - the day I have to leave is the day it finally stops raining. I did run out to the beach one last time (I couldn't miss that clear sky over the ocean) for about an hour. And, finally (and sadly) I packed up my things, said thank you to Wood for the lovely stay, and found my way to the train station.

Seriously! Can you believe this?!?

And look at that... an empty beach. Gorgeous!

Do I hafta go?

I am so glad I took this trip though - and I know that if I have the time (and money) this summer, I will totally go back to this place. I also learned a lot about traveling alone, which is a topic that deserves its own blog post. So, come back tomorrow for the pros and cons of goin' solo!

Until then, ZaiJian!