Touch down at Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport at around 11:30am. Weather was cooling at Xiamen with a high of 20°C and a low of 11°C. Xiamen is one of the areas in China where it does not experience snow. Xiamen (Amoy) is a coastal sub-provincial city in south-eastern Fujian province, People’s Republic of China. It looks out to the Taiwan Strait and borders the cities of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou to the north and south respectively. However, we did experience some slight foggy weather in Xiamen the moment we touch down. My mum was rather excited as this the first time she flied to China. It was quite an experience for her though. As for me, I’m keen on the home stay experience over at Quan Zhou, which will be our resting point for the next 8 days in Quan Zhou, China. This resting point would be the residence of my auntie’s childhood friend who has been on the travel between China and Singapore frequently.
A car journey from Gaoqi will usually take about 4 to 5 hours, according to my uncle. This is because, in the past, the road leading into Quan Zhou used to be gravel road, with occasional pit-holes that would cause some slight delay, and the ride in would be bumpy. That was 6 years ago. Now, what is been replaced is tar surfaced road, and have been converted into express way.
Beautiful scenery along the way, and at one point I thought I was in Taiwan! This is because, some of the buildings I saw are those resemble of what you will see in Taiwan. This is especially so to those residential sectors.
The urban planning of these areas, i.e. the country-side would be slightly messy as compared to those in the city. We made a brief stop near the junction of Xi Jie, while my uncle and auntie link up with my grand mum’s younger sister. I took this opening to get out of the vehicle, with my mum tagged closely behind me. And, my! What can I say! The cool air immediately brought me back to my university days in Huddersfield. Though it’s not as cold as Huddersfield, it’s cooling enough as compare to Singapore. My attire starts to draw stares from the locals, as much of the locals are wearing winter wear and here I am, a bald head young lad, wear nothing but a black polo tee standing along the pavement taking clips and images! I mean it’s cooling! I remembered the temperature on that day was around high of 19°C and a low of 11°C. Now temperature at Quan Zhou tends to be lower than that of Xiamen. I guess this is due to the geographical location of Quan Zhou where it has encaged itself among huge mountains, full of granite! Now forget about Bukit Timah in Singapore, only when you encounter Qing Yuan Shan in Quan Zhou, you will start to pay respect to what I meant by mountain!
Lunch was served at 1pm. One of the spread caught my eye was a local delicacy which ginger is the main ingredient along with the duck. This is one of their local delicacies which help you to keep warm in winter. It’s called Jiang Mu Ya. It’s a popular dish in Taiwan as well. It is not a very common dish in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Right after lunch we had to transfer into a smaller vehicle where we will stay at Bei Men Jie for the rest of the 8 days. It’s a 3 storey apartment complete with a roof top garden. I would say it’s not exactly a roof top garden, I would say it’s a yard instead, as my auntie’s friend would be using this area to dry their laundry. This is the place where they would also be washing their laundry.
I witness a very interesting phenomenon, which you will not see in Singapore. That is, most of the residents would make use of these roof top yards to brush their teeth, wash their faces and even have their meals. I reckon that this roof top yard would be the place where I will be at every morning.
Due to the local urban planning directives, much of the building heights for residential are restricted to only 7 storeys the most. And of these 5 storey buildings for residential, most are designed without mechanical vertical access. It is only those with 6 storeys and above is designed with passenger’s lifts. This planning and design guidelines only restricted to certain master-plans of Quan Zhou. Some citizens in Quan Zhou would purchase a plot of land from the local authorities and have them built and designed to their own needs. In the past years, there was no tight control on the building guideline there, and as a result many buildings are erected illegally and thus it is often arduous to define the boundary line of these buildings. And these are often common to residential development. Some of these quandaries have been present ever since the Kuo Ming Tang era, which Sun Yat Sen had briefly declared democracy to China.
Oh, ok let’s come back to the home stay. I regret not taking a snap shot of the dining hall! It’s a 3 storey apartment; every floor is designed with a kitchen, utilities rooms, and bedrooms for living. Commonly, such apartment blocks are shared by 3 different families, as there are quite a few rooms on each floor. However in this case, it’s slightly different. The landlord herself owns the entire plot of land. I particularly like the roof top, as it offers you a view of Qing Yuan Mountain in the background.
Here are the few images that show the surroundings of the place where we stayed for these 8 days.
Here are the few images that show the interiors where we stayed for these 8 days.
