CHINA 2010 FRIDAY 27th AUGUST

This afternoon, along with Polly, we made another visit to Gulangyu Island, this time I managed to climb to the summit of Sunlight Rock, before taking a short cable car ride across to the Aviary. The weather was perfect for looking at the panoramic view across the straits and down onto the roof tops of the buildings below in a mass of greenness. I rode in a car with Polly whilst Keith was alone in the car in front as the rules only allow 2 passengers per car. As we crossed over the small valley, most of the area being taken over with neat rows of potted plants and a few buildings, one of which had large dark Chinese characters written on the flat roof Polly explained the writing meant ‘gift’. As we approached the roof I was so disappointed to see that this writing had been created using small square containers of plant material which had been allowed to die. Reaching the other side Keith and Polly weren’t keen on going into the tented area where apparently over 200 birds roam free, and I wasn’t too impressed with the smell, so we had a look around a small garden with a centre piece of a large rough shaped rock the pathway eventually leading to what we believe was a lighthouse (whatever it was was manned by a man in uniform and off limits to the public.) Also in this garden was a large sculpture of men at war some injured ones being comforted alongside a very large marble 'steele' (headstone) with many Chinese Characters written in gold. We left the park and made our way down stone steps leading to a small beach. At this point we could either turn right to go through a tunnel or left to follow the coastline. Polly made enquiries about how far we could walk by the sea and not being able to go further we took a narrow road leading off the back of the beach that I suddenly spotted.
A group of men were stood by the roadside leading to a hotel hidden in the landscape, one wanting to have his photo taken with me which amused Polly. I said we were used to it and was thinking about charging 10 yuan a time! Behind railings where I had posed was an orchard where the gardeners were pruning a few avocado trees. Alongside these trees was also a ‘hedge’ of trees with paper bags hanging over the leaves of some of the lower branches. At first I thought they were apple trees but looking higher up the tree saw the fruit was in the early stages of the very small red pear shaped fruit that currently the street sellers are offering not by the kilo but 3 on a kebab stick. We have not tried these yet. The shrubs are really showing their colours now as well as the variety of flowers and with the continuing blue skies everything looks so lovely. We were getting very thirsty but failed to find a beer stop. I would like to have taken Polly to the little ‘Art Cafe’ we discovered last visit but we couldn’t remember the location. We continued to follow Keith who had the map of the Island but believed it too was a work of fiction and came to rely on the cream oval sign posts attached to high walls. Walking by some of the houses we came across one small one in a very dilapidated state but occupied. Washing the likes of which I would have been horrified to display – they need to change their soap powder that is if they used any - was hanging on a rail by the small wall running alongside the road! (We discovered Polly had been across to the island the first weekend she was in Xiamen and was quite happy wandering around on her own taking photos. This we have in common so we both had a lovely afternoon with our cameras.) She was therefore able to tell me that this particular house had been owned by a lady doctor and has been neglected since she died many years ago. Only Gulangyu residents can buy property on the island. We were happy to see that one of the larger grand properties was having some trees, vines and other foliage obscuring a sea view drastically cut and hoped that the building was going to be renovated.
As it approached 6pm Keith and I were feeling a little jaded and as we had reached the commercial area of the island stopped outside what looked like a nice restaurant and suggested we ate, not to mention drink! Polly said we could go to a famous restaurant to which Keith’s response was “and pay famous prices”. So walking up a few steps where tanks and large plastic bowls of seafood were displayed we entered the large building. This was a big improvement on the last place we ate at. Keith and Polly went to choose the seafood whilst I drank 3 small cups of tea, the first time the teapot has been left on the table. The food I suspect had been chosen more by Keith than Polly as we had spicy clams, prawns more like small lobsters and displayed with their bodies cut along the under section from the head too almost the tip of the tail and ‘fanned’ in a line onto the round plate. I wished I had taken a photo before we set about eating them. They were the best yet! The fish which Polly caught with a large net was duly weighed before being taken into the kitchen. Again this was lovely and part of it had been made into a soup which came in a very large container containing tofu and cabbage in the liquid.
It was almost dark as we left the restaurant and before returning to the ferry did a bit of window shopping. We stopped at one cafe so Polly could go and stroke a very large white cat lounging on a table by the door. A notice inside the window above the cat stated ‘the cat’s name was Jacky and it liked being stroked’! I had learnt earlier that in Taiwan Polly has two cats and a dog, the dog looking like a fox but white in colour. She told me the breed name in Chinese and said the English translation was ‘fox’. This will explain the number of photos she has taken of cats although we haven’t seen that many roaming around in Xiamen. It’s rare to see a lone dog on the streets too.
The only thing we bought this visit was two loaves of salty bread!