Taxi....

The other day, whilst I was over in Jimei, I went out to lunch with a friend. She was a 10 minute cab ride away, but where I work there are always taxis floating around and it was no problem to get over to the other side of town. However, once we left there were no taxis around at all and I did need to get back to work - there were the standard guy's on motorcycle guys driving around looking to pick anyone up for a few kuai. I've taken one before near work, but don't really trust them and wouldn't want to take them for as long of a trip as this one, so I was a little shocked when she just waved one of them down...

"Go and get a taxi, I'll give you 1 kuai." she told him and off he went. A few minutes passed and he came back with a taxi following him, ingenious really. And all for 1 kaui, which is about 0.15 USD.

Putting things into perspective..

I was reading an article the other day, and came across an interesting story about the unemployment in China.

According to NPR, approx 23 million migrant workers have not been able to secure work, along with 3 million graduating students, and 9 million urban residents totaling 35 million.

Put this in perspective, the equivalent of the entire population of Canada would be unemployed!

Tina’s ToDo list for visitors!

Our friend Jo was kind enough to do one more blog after arriving back home. Thanks my friend.

Well, we are back in Canada and finally I unpacked my luggage and washing it as I write this blog today. Thanks to Air Canada they did actually track down my bag that did not make it from Xiamen to Beijing to Vancouver. Amazingly one bag did make it to the connector in Vancouver but it didn’t even have my luggage tag attached, I just identified it was my bag – seeing that, I thought there would be no way to get the other one. Luckily I did, just missing my pearl purchases and toiletries, things that make you go hmmmm.... Guess they will resell the goods and use the other for personal use since I did not see many pharmacies around. They did leave the prescription items in tack, how thoughtful.

OK, so I looked through the pictures while we travelled for 30 hours back home...yikes 3 connections gave us lots of time to reflect.

It was so fantastic to see Tina and Mark in all their glory of Asia.

Here’s what you have to do if you visit Xiamen one day!... Our awesome agenda as Tina and Mark keep you entertained in Asia -

· Enjoy Tsing Tao Beer, enjoy another Tsing Tao Beer, then why not have another Tsing Tao Beer

· Try a Koren BBQ dinner or Chinese Mexican fajita or anything that anywhere else tries to make

· Visit the street market -count your chickens, ducks, snakes, snails, crabs- you’ll turn vegetarian

· Walk through the Temple – they even have lots of female monks... Tina!!!

· Stroll the Beach – don’t forget to bring your sun umbrella – the boardwalk goes on for eternity

· Eat a Banana Split – it comes with starfish fruit – wow - everything is fresh and delectable

· Shop at Carrefour Outlet – pretend you are rich – you’ll feel that way anyway - then buy local

· Watch a Sunset at the Waterfront – recommend that you partake in this every day!!!... bliss

· Hear Vietnam tales at Me and You 2 Restaurant and tangle your taste buds at Temptations

· Buy a tailored suit or tuxedo or dress – makes you look like a million bucks at any age

· Get a pair of newly engineered zip pants for airing out your lower extremities...Mark?!?!.. the designer

· Tea tasting with the local gals passes the time with charm while you watch locals stroll the island

· Walking through tunnels and listening to the local instruments of the street people fill the soul

· Hiking up hills and admiring the 1930’s heritage buildings of past wealth and splendour of Japan

· Finding some British architecture that makes you want to mix into this Mecca of home melody

· Viewing the traditional fishing boats that are sun bleached and basked against the city skyline

· Stumbling on bad octopus art that proves even the Asians can have distorted tastes in statues

· Rolex and purse shopping that makes you want to open up your own shop of goodies

· Earning dinner by fishing for shrimp while they pour in new buckets of prawns in the local pool

· Eating enormous fish that’s eyes stare you down while consuming spices of drooling distinction

· Enjoying the city light promenades and boulevards that overlook the glory of economic growth

· Chilling in a luxury condo that features running water, air conditioning and a groovy disco light

· Watching movies/television series as you lounge on smurf couches and consume imported wine

· Reaping the benefits of a cosmopolitan city that embraces tourists and town people alike

· Go back again and again – tourism dollars build goodwill and linked economies forever!

Thank you to our glorious hosts for being part of a memorable vacation that will continue to be top on the list of things to do in life!!! Hope you all can visit Tina and Mark as they explore this small globe.

You two rock as a team – it’s nice to feel your energy and be a part of your bliss for just a passing moment in time – the feelings will never go away. Friendship is only a smile or a laugh a part. =) jg

Huwei Shan.

Most of Sunday was a nice leisurely day, and then about 4pm, Mark decides that he's had enough of the apartment and decided that we needed to go for a stroll somewhere. I was more inclined to stay inside where it was nice and cool as temperatures have been hovering around 105F, and that isn't including the humidity. I lost the argument.

We were indecisive as to where to go. Mark wanted to head down by the university or Gu Lang Yu hoping to get some decent sunset pictures and since I'm usually visiting these areas as part of the Wichmann tour, I offered up another suggestion, which was to go to Huwei Shan. The weather bureau built their meteorological observatory a few years back so one gets a pretty view of Xiamen on a clear day.

As we walked up the hill, we realized just how hot it really was in Xiamen. The shade offered little and we were both soaking wet by the time we reached the top of the hill. We managed to drink a bottle of water in about 10 seconds, took some pictures of the view, and then wandered up to where you can take a lift to get even a better view of the city only to find out we missed it by 15 minutes. It was closed for the day.

Mark suggests we come back another time, and I agreed only when it's cooler.

Egyptian Nights

This last weekend Me&You2 had Egyptian themed nights and of course we wandered over to the bar this weekend to hang out and watch the fun. Ulf had told us that he had some dancers that were going to put on a great show along with Egyptian themed foods and the like.

Well, we didn't see any food - most of the people were eating his Pizza - but that could be more that we didn't really look too much and were more interested in getting a table where we could snap photos without moving, and getting a glass of sangria.

For the dancing segment a girl comes out with a flowing cape type thing and then she just spun around a lot.
She was up there for a while and then a guy came up and danced with her and then they were done and it was back to enjoying the Filipino band that is usually there. After their set the guy came back up in some sort of ethnic dress and proceeded to spin around faster then the girl was able to manage. He didn't have a cape, but he was wearing a skirt that would lift up as he spun around.
Then if gets fun, he flips a switch on the skirt and it lights up, and the upper section is removable so he has fun spinning in around over his head.Something different to watch, an easy Saturday night. After their third set the Filipino band came on to stay and we decided that was a good point to call it a night and head home.