*Xiamen, China Sept.5, 2014
Streets of Xiamen, Kulangsu Island and warm beer
I had to attend a business meeting held in Xiamen. You cannot expect there is a direct flight from Tokyo unless you go to a major city in China. Maybe you take another flight from a major city like Shanghai, Beijin, or Hong Kong. I usually choose to fly by Cathay Dragon by way of Hong Kong if there is no direct flight. But there is a direct service to the city, but only from Narita, which is almost two hours away from my town. ANA is an only carrier to serve the route NRT/XMN. I am not a frequent traveler with ANA, which means I could not accumulate enough mileage to get any awards. I woke up early in the morning to ride a limousine bus at YCAT. (Now a days, many international flights are available from Haneda. I’ve never used Narita for almost 10 years since last time I used Narita airport. So I was not so happy with this flight until I was served the inflight meal: A dish of stewed chicken, turmeric rice, salad and a sweet. They were all arranged neatly and tasted good. Plus I had a half-bottle of French red wine. It changed my mood very positive. I am a guy who can eat up anything deliciously. That is my strong suites. But, honestly meals served for mainland China flights even by Cathay dragon are not so good. I was quite happy with the meal.
The weather was warm and the air looks okay. As soon as I got out of the airport building, I took a taxi to the hotel. The streets around the hotel were very clean. It has the warm climate throughout the year. Streets are clean. The life of the city looks good. I went out for walk around after checked in at the hotel. I found a monument of a teapot in the air pouring water. Maybe it has something with the fact tea is their important produce of the province. I found another interesting statue later, a large fat happy face guy raising the hands toward sky near the street. I had no idea what it is.
Xiamen is a city on the coast of Fujian province, just around the corner’s stone to Taiwan off the coast. You can see the island from there if the weather is good. Unfortunately, I could not see it during the stay. I saw a large signboard claiming the Senkaku islands are over there. I was not comfortable watching the board with the idea they might be hostile to us. Actually many from Vietnam coming to the business meeting with me stay in their rooms as they are disputing with China over territory now. But I found they are friendly as far as ordinally people whom I met.
Xiamen was one of the five treaty ports opened for international trade after the Sino-British Nanjing Treaty was exchanged between Qin Dynasty and Britain in 1843. The settlement was formed on the island of Kulangsu off the coast of Xiamen and western powers like Great Britain, The United States, Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands built consulates on the island. Missionaries built schools, which created international atmospheres on both Kulangsu and Xiamen.
During my stay, I took a walk around in the morning as much as I could. I saw people were buying from street vendors selling meal boxes, milk or snacks on the road. I went into back allays to see people’s ordinary life. I found street vendors selling produce, meat, live stocks or Bento meal boxes and hawkers people are eating breakfast, etc. I saw a girl wearing a sailor like cloth with salad bowl haircut on the street. The haircut was very popular back in the 1960’s in Japan. I wondered if it is popular haircut in the city. But I could not see girls in the hairstyle afterwards. I had a chance to eat at a restaurant with other participants from Nagoya one evening. We ordered bottles of beer. They brought us warm beer. I encountered such a case in the past in China. Some say they do not eat cold. Some say refrigeration has not well developed in China yet. I would agree with both arguments. But how will they like to drink beer warm?? I would choose to drink something else if I had no cold beer.
I joined a group outing to Kulangsu island with other participants of the meeting. There are ferry service between the island and Xiamen. It is just ten minutes or so by boat. Ferries come and go frequently. The island is a World UNESCO heritage site. Many people come to see the island. The atmosphere is very different. Buildings are modern European style. The streets were crowded with people. I felt tired walking the crowded streets. I saw a lot of young couples who are marrying soon. They come to take photos for their wedding photo books. Couples were posing in front of camera men at various places. I saw a lot of couples with happy smile. That is what I remember most from this travel.