Tour Guide

The day Siew and I were cooking, I received a call from a lady named Barbara, who has been reading our blog once she discovered her daughter, Amber ,was moving here to Xiamen for a short stint. Barbara had called as we had corresponded via email regarding general information about Xiamen, for when she came over to visit. She and her sister wanted to visit Gu Lang Yu, and as I was giving her some ideas, it occurred to me to help our guests out as Apple Travel wanted to charge approx 100 USD for a tour of the island. Okay, that's a little crazy, so I offered my services.

We met up at the Marco Polo hotel and headed out. Since her sister wasn't well, we decided to give Barbara a cliff's notes version of the tour since she would be coming back with her sister and Amber on another day. We take the ferry over and head to the stores that may have some interest for her. First it was off to Yogi to buy some paintings, where I meet another newbie and give him some tips about Xiamen as well. Then it was off to Pearl World to buy some jade and pearls. This store is always a hit with the women, good pearls for a very good price. As we were looking at pearls we ran into some other expat women, who were also introducing new residents to this little shop. Small island, or rather tiny island off of the small island.

As we were coming to the end of my little tour we talked to the drivers to figure out how the electric cars work, so that they would be able to enjoy a little island tour when they came back to the island. The cost is RMB 40. We also talked to one of the little tour guide and she advised us that the cost of a walking tour was RMB 50 for three people.

The total for a walking tour, and a tour on the electric car was RMB 90, compared to the tour that Apple would have arranged for 100USD per person. Thinking I may have a new career here in Xiamen.