Weekend in Xiamen

Saturday we actually had a lot of activities planned, so we were up and out of the house as soon as the Red Sox game we were listening to ended. A run over to the bank to deposit money into our electrical and water accounts, then over to the other bank to pull out some cash, and a quick jaunt over to Gulang yu so that I can get a watch that Tina bought for me adjusted.

As long as we were on Gulang yu we figured that we may as well stop and enjoy a drink while watching the crowds of tourists wanted the island.

Notice the nice new watch?
Ice delivery

Looking over to Gulang yu

From there we wandered up through Zhongshan lu on our way over to meet up with the Mexican at the Millennium Hotel.

Enjoying Saturday on Zhongshan lu

From there we took the Mexican on a quick tour of the alleys and the wet market - seeing as he had never taken the chance to wander around down there when he lived her before.

Chicken Sales

Tina & Rene waiting as I got my shoes polishedBack Alleys
We finished up over at the newly opened outdoor patio over at the Wyndham hotel for a few drinks while we watched the sunset. The view's not that great from there, but we then went to the buffet for dinner - I will say that this hotel does have the best buffet of all the ones that we've been to.

Next stop was a quick trip over to My Way for a few drinks before we dragged them Mexican over to the night market for a late night snack.Longan for sale

Cooking up squid and corn

Waiting for our food at the night market

More good food and a few drinks before we headed over to The Key to finish our evening. The Key was packed full, most of the laowai's are back and apparently they all missed heading out to the clubs. We didn't stay there too long, only one beer, prior to heading home after a very full day...

A night with the Mexican....

Ah so our good friend Rene, or as we call him "The Crazy Mexican", is back in town for the month with his work and of course we spend our Saturday night out with him. We met him over at Me & You 2, which was much quieter then normal since we were inundated with the wind and rains from typhoon Morakot which had just pummeled Taiwan and was busy moving into China further up the coast. Yeah, beers and pizza in the wind and rain, good times, enough to bring out the devil horns in Jasmine...
From there we wandered over to the Key for more loud music but with dancing and without the rain. It was all good.
And with the dancing I managed to make some new friends which lead to much gambei-ing, your standard "Bottom's up" finish your drink - it's a good think the glasses are so small.
Luckily my new friend kept filling my glass with his beer so that I wasn't downing my vodka tonics again and again. I would have stayed drinking with him and talking to both him and his girl but Tina was nice enough to drag me away...And as an added bonus, due to the fun typhoon weather, the last few nights we have be subjected to some rather spectacular sunsets.

The Return of 老Joe

This weekend one of the guys we know that used to live here in Xiamen came back to visit with his son Brian, and Brian's girlfriend Ashley. The stop in Xiamen was at the end off a trip that took them to Australia and then back up to Beijing, lucky them....

So they flew in on Saturday afternoon and after getting themselves settled at the hotel they gave us a call to meet them over at Me & You 2 for some drinks.

老Joe

Ah, it was good to see Joe again and to catch up with him - it's been a good 4-5 months since he moved back to Canada. We stayed at Me & You 2 for an hour or so before heading over to The Key...

Ashley & Brian

Joe and Tina

Another photo of Ashley & Brian

The Key is always crowded, and sometimes a bit of a pain since they only have bottle service. But we managed to agree on a bottle of Absolute along with some tonics and sprites. The band there is always good, and a few of the people at the table wandered over to the dance floor - eventually there was a conga line that came right up past the table we were sitting at, it was all a good fun night.

Joe dancing with one of the staff

And now they're gone.

So, this past week whilst I was working down in Dongguan, China (not a beautiful place), Tina was filling her time with showing Edlin a great final week in Xiamen.

Friday afternoon Tina gathered a lot of Edlin's friends and gave her a nice farewell lunch.
I flew back up to Xiamen Friday evening, and then Tina, Edlin, Jose, and I met for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant - the Mao Restaurant. Good food, and from there we head where? That's right Temptations. Jose and Edlin had bought a couple cases of wine from them earlier in the year when they thought they would be staying longer, so we offered to try and help them finish some of them. It was fun an relaxing evening, for as we knew the big farewell party would be the next night - Saturday.

So, Saturday was another full day of running around and having fun. Tina took Edlin to get her hair washed....Jose and I toured around the city on the new BRT bus line, wandered the alleys, and stumbled upon a Chinese fashion show.
Then it was off to Portofino for a nice Italian dinner before heading out for the night.
Over at You & Me 2 we had quite the group of friends for their farewell party. Good music, drinks and just laughing over all that they we able to see and enjoy in their time over here. Jose even got up and sang with the band...

From You & Me 2 over to The Key, a newer nightclub that has a pretty good live band. We had some good seats upstairs where we could enjoy ourselves while most of the group headed down to the dance floor...It was a good night, nothing too crazy - we were home and in bed by 02:00, but we think that it was a good sendoff for our friends. They were up and out first thing this morning, returning to the states where they too now need to move from their old home base of St. Louis up to Seattle.

We will miss them, they were good friends and Edlin was invaluable in her knowledge of where to get anything you could ever need in Xiamen. I wouldn't be surprised if Tina ends up having to put a call into her sometime in the near future when she's looking for something.....

Night on the Town!

We planned on Saturday night to dance away the hours in one of the hottest nightclubs in Xiamen. Why? Good question. The Mexican has his best friend and brother-in-law visiting Xiamen and since no one in our group has ever gone to any of the nightclubs here in Xiamen, (nor did they ever want to go to one), we figured this would be a good time. Afterall, The Mexican and family will soon be moving back to the U.S.

We started off at one of our favorite places Me and You 2 and then went out for dinner.

Me and You 2

After dinner, we headed to KK, the first nightclub and we could not figure out for the life of us how anyone likes this. You can tell we're all getting old here or in some cases, especially the guys, they had no desire ever be in one. They much prefer the small, dive bars, and I don't blame them. KK is a typical Chinese nightclub, I was told. Really? I asked. What's the difference? Chinese go to them.

We had a drink and of course we weren't allowed to take any pictures in KK. We tried and someone threw their hand in front of my camera, however, Mark managed to get a couple before a bouncer came over and told him that he couldn't. The pictures were a bit blurred but you get the idea.
Such a rebel, my husband is!

Mark taking a picture before he was ordered to stop.

Afterward we blew that pop stand, we went to the newest club called The Key. This was much better. We ran into Sherry, the lady who has been living in Xiamen for the past 9 years. After hello's and what not, she directed us to some great seats, ordered some appetizers and then left. She was having a great time with all of her friends. The Key has a live band, from the Philippines, who are considered one of the best bands in Xiamen. Usually Filipino bands are loud, but this was very good. They also had a bartender, who entertained us with his ability to juggle a few bottles of liquor and then proceeded to do some fire breathing and fire eating stunts. Look out Tom Cruise, I think you may have some competition.

Tom Cruise wannabe

The Mexican and Laura left first, followed by Jose and Edlin. We then left a short while later, while the visitors stayed on, hoping to catch more of the show.

I think we will pretty much stick with our old haunts.