Wuyi Shan and Xiamen

Nimon Hao,
     So Han and I were off on a whorl wind tour of the Fujian Provence, a mere 18 hour over night train ride to Wuyi shan.

Our travel feast...

Wuyi Shan

The paths up the mountain sides

This is "Hero Hill" one of many in China ... there are a lot of people here, you couldn't have them all go to one hill ... that's just crazy

The view from half way up the hill

Han at the top

"Thread of Sky" Path

The path gets as narrow as 40 cm

Here's how it got it's name... that and a tone of bat guano...

The outside cave wall

One of the many scholar caves in Wuyi Shan

This is called Water Curtain Cave ... but there's a bit of a drought so, not curtain

If you look closely you can see the extent of the curtain right now

Tea ... Famous black tea

This tea plant is one of the original... 300 years old...

Not sure... a pillar of rocks...

The canyon wall

Here's the canyon from the peak

There's a serious zombie problem here ...

... hard to deal with ...

... Chinese zombies ...

... too late ...

We took a bamboo raft ride through the valley

These sorts of rafts have been using the river to transport tea for hundreds of years, you can see the impact of the poles on the river rocks

Here's our guide

The canyon wall from the river

Not graffiti, there are many famous quotes and proverbs carved into the canyon wall

Nice hat...

My travel companion finally decided to shoot back

Fujian Tulos (or Tulous)
     From Wuyi shan to Xiamen  is a 45 minute flight, or a 2.5 hour bus ride... so Han and I took a 12 hour over night train ride... In American we might describe Han as a bit of a penny pincher... we saved 30 RMB by taking the train over the bus...

These round structures were build by Henan immigrants tot he Fujian Province of China, the walls range from 1 to 1.5 meters thick of packed earth.

This is a protected historical site, but it is also still completely inhabited

Because it's a protected site construction is strictly limited to renovations.

The countryside

The mill ... and refinery

Here is the main structure... built with tobacco money

Here's the inside, 45 families still live here.

Here's a close up of the walls

Han trying to make a cigarette...

... poorly ...

Some of the trees have been here for over 1000 years.

The original school house

This is a village, home to over 1000 families

We were part of a tour group for this ... one of countless group photos... there were at least 30 more people in our group.

Out side the refinery... not for oil...

The alcohol here was ... interesting...

Here's the fermentation room.

Xiamen and Gulan yu

Here's the statue of ... a guy ... on Gulan yu Island, a former foreigner stronghold

Here's Taiwan ... well not the main island, but the nearest point of Taiwanese property to mainland China

The three principles for one China ... a very rough translation.

The ferry to Gulan yu

Clear Western architecture

Restaurant and store on the ground floor, home on the top floor

peak-a-boo

That guy is really gonna regret getting buried on this beach.

This island was heavily fought over during both World War II and the Revolution/Civil war

Most of these bunkers have been removed or buried, but a few are still very visible.

Classless international stereotypes...

No trip to Xiamen is complete without seeing the worlds largest military megaphone... used to shout propaganda at the Taiwanese soldiers across the straight

Yeah ... it's big...

Next stop Jimei...

A  warm welcome indeed

Here's the middle school... pretty sweet middle school

Here's the Dragon Boat racing pool

Dragon graffiti

Chén Jiāgēng, the Henry Ford of China and founder of the Jimei University town

An odd entrance to a pet shop... I think I'll pass

Two and a half weeks till I return State side, no more major trips planned, but that doesn't really mean anything so we'll see what may come next.

Zaijian