Back in November Dad made his grand return to China. I like to think I provided him with a much improved experience of the Orient – no Pingxiang squat toilet accommodation and no missed trains (I did manage to buy tickets for the wrong train, but this is an entirely different matter).
Unfortunately he picked Xiamen’s one week of rain to turn up so the first couple of days were a little gloomy. We managed to climb up the hill behind the Nan Putuo Temple though; a tourist hot spot, campus adjacent with nice views over Xiamen University. Not that we saw any particularly nice views, because it was raining, but it was good to know they were there.
For the weekend we took a train up to Fuzhou, the capital of my current province Fujian. We stayed in a nice hotel because I found a good deal online and Dad was paying. Here I am in the glass lift.
Fuzhou didn’t have an awful lot going for it but there was a nice old part called San Fang Qi Xiang (3 lanes and 7 alleys) which we visited.
Surprisingly, there were 3 lanes and 7 alleys.
Here's a traditional pharmacy. They were pretty annoyed with me taking this picture.
We then spent a while trying to get a photo of me, but Dad really can’t take photos. It got a little ridiculous. This was his best effort.
On the next day we climbed Gu Shan, the Drum Mountain to the east of the city. A good hour and a half of climbing up steps, and then down the otherside.
There was a decent temple at the top though.
However, the most special thing about Fuzhou was that I saw my first pandas. I know that 2 pandas have recently moved to Edinburgh which somewhat decreases the novelty but it was still pretty exciting. On the last morning (since we didn’t have time the day before due to aforementioned and ignored train ticket buying mishap) we went to Fuzhou Panda World where there were both Giant pandas…
And Lesser pandas, which were super cute.
Usually I don’t like zoos but pandas are so lazy I didn’t feel like they minded just sitting there all day eating and occasionally wandering around. One panda just sat there and a worker had to physically put a bowl of food into its hands.
Silly spoilt pandas.
Back in Xiamen I took Dad to Gulangyu, the biggest tourist attraction in Xiamen. I’m sure I mentioned it back in March… I’ve been a couple of times since moving here and mostly been disappointed but we found a great area with few people and some beautiful architecture tucked away.
Here’s Dad on the ferry back.
So it was another swift but packed visit and I got to see a new city and a few pandas. And Dad, of course.
