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.
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Our travel feast... |
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Wuyi Shan |
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The paths up the mountain sides |
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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 |
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The view from half way up the hill |
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Han at the top |
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"Thread of Sky" Path |
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The path gets as narrow as 40 cm |
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Here's how it got it's name... that and a tone of bat guano... |
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The outside cave wall |
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One of the many scholar caves in Wuyi Shan |
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This is called Water Curtain Cave ... but there's a bit of a drought so, not curtain |
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If you look closely you can see the extent of the curtain right now |
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Tea ... Famous black tea |
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This tea plant is one of the original... 300 years old... |
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Not sure... a pillar of rocks... |
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The canyon wall |
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Here's the canyon from the peak |
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There's a serious zombie problem here ... |
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... hard to deal with ... |
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... Chinese zombies ... |
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... too late ... |
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We took a bamboo raft ride through the valley |
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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 |
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Here's our guide |
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The canyon wall from the river |
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Not graffiti, there are many famous quotes and proverbs carved into the canyon wall |
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Nice hat... |
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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...
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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. |
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This is a protected historical site, but it is also still completely inhabited |
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Because it's a protected site construction is strictly limited to renovations. |
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The countryside |
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The mill ... and refinery |
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Here is the main structure... built with tobacco money |
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Here's the inside, 45 families still live here. |
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Here's a close up of the walls |
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Han trying to make a cigarette... |
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... poorly ... |
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Some of the trees have been here for over 1000 years. |
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The original school house |
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This is a village, home to over 1000 families |
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We were part of a tour group for this ... one of countless group photos... there were at least 30 more people in our group. |
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Out side the refinery... not for oil... |
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The alcohol here was ... interesting... |
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Here's the fermentation room. |
Xiamen and Gulan yu
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Here's the statue of ... a guy ... on Gulan yu Island, a former foreigner stronghold |
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Here's Taiwan ... well not the main island, but the nearest point of Taiwanese property to mainland China |
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The three principles for one China ... a very rough translation. |
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The ferry to Gulan yu |
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Clear Western architecture |
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Restaurant and store on the ground floor, home on the top floor |
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peak-a-boo |
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That guy is really gonna regret getting buried on this beach. |
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This island was heavily fought over during both World War II and the Revolution/Civil war |
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Most of these bunkers have been removed or buried, but a few are still very visible. |
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Classless international stereotypes... |
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No trip to Xiamen is complete without seeing the worlds largest military megaphone... used to shout propaganda at the Taiwanese soldiers across the straight |
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Yeah ... it's big... |
Next stop Jimei...
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A warm welcome indeed |
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Here's the middle school... pretty sweet middle school |
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Here's the Dragon Boat racing pool |
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Dragon graffiti |
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Chén Jiāgēng, the Henry Ford of China and founder of the Jimei University town |
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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