MANILA, Philippines—Xiamen, China is not exactly a tourist-friendly city. For starters, most taxi drivers don’t speak English. Even the hotel people speak very little English. Merely asking for an extra pillow is like playing a game of Charades.But if you speak Mandarin, or can communicate through signs and gestures, Xiamen is a very manageable city. One of the first things I noticed about the city was how there were very few people in it. At the Xiamen International Airport, there were no lines, whether in Immigration or at the security checkpoint. Even on the streets outside, not many people were walking around. I would later learn that although Xiamen has the same population as Manila, it has a land area around 40 times bigger. The next day, we did the rounds of Xiamen’s usual tourist spots. First stop was the Nanputuo Temple, with its structures built over 1,000 years ago during the Tang Dynasty. There were giant rocks with Chinese characters engraved on them, and our tour guide told us to throw coins on the engravings. A short walk away was Xiamen University. In the middle of the campus is a lake shrouded in fog, with manicured gardens all around. Hulishan Fortress was a bus ride away. Built of sand, clay, camphor tree sap, liquid brown sugar, and glutinous rice, it is virtually impregnable. Its main attraction is the 87-ton Krupp cannon, the largest in the world. The last stop on our half-day city tour was the Chinese Silk Museum (No. 1 Industry District Qianpu). We were shown how silk was made out of cocoons. We even helped in the making of a silk blanket. After a Chinese lauriat lunch, we headed to Gulangyu (“Drum Wave Islet”). The ferry ride from downtown took a mere ten minutes. I wondered aloud why they just didn’t build a bridge to the island. Katherine, our guide, explained that vehicles are forbidden on this islet. We took a stroll along the paved 4-kilometer ring road. Along the way, there were shops selling dried meat, tea sets and candies, tropical gardens, and colonial villas. The island’s main attraction is the Piano Museum, with its nearly 100 antique pianos. Filipino performers That night, our Xiamen friends took us to Soul Bar along Hubin Dong (East) Road. Most of the performers, like in the other bars we visited in Xiamen, were Filipino. Neus and Felix, our Filipino expatriate friends, introduced us to a curious mix of Chivas Regal and green tea, which they swore was hangover-free. Out of habit, I was looking around for “sisig” when the waiter plopped down bowls of melon, kiwi and dragon fruit. I would later learn that this was the standard bar chow. True enough, I didn’t wake up with a hangover the next morning. We took a van to the Xiamen Haicang Safari Park, around 30 minutes away from downtown. There was no safari car, so we had to walk around the entire area. Zebras, horses, ostriches, kangaroos, and a camel roamed around freely, oblivious to the people gawking at them. Afterwards, we headed to the arena for the animal show. There was a mountain goat that walked on a tightrope. I thought that the goat had it really tough until the trainer required the goat to turn around on the tightrope! I was hoping that things wouldn’t get worse until the trainer screwed on a stand, no bigger than a CD, in the middle of the tightrope, and had the goat stand on it, on all its four legs. What’s more, the goat did a 360-degree turn on the tiny stand! Next was a baby moon bear who jumped rope with his trainer. An adult moon bear was then ushered into the arena. It balanced itself on a seesaw, all the while twirling a baton over its head. After that, the same bear biked around the arena. On cue, at the end of its routine, it rode right out of the arena and into the animals’ waiting area. In the afternoon, we headed to the Riyuegu Hotsprings Resort (1888 Fulian Road, Haicang District). Hot spring water surfaces naturally in the area and is pumped directly to each hot pool. There were around 30 ponds, with essences such as milk, pineapple, ginger, green tea, ginseng, aloe vera, lemongrass, dong quai and coffee. I especially liked the pools in the Watering Hole area, with flavors such as beer, yellow wine, red wine and white wine. Of course, there were pools with lavender, rose and lily. The only thing I didn’t try was the yellow Curry pool, as I had no desire to smell like chicken curry. Our hands-down favorite though was The Fish Spa, which had hundreds of hot spring fishes from Turkey. At first, it was bit creepy when the fish started nibbling away at my legs. I closed my eyes, and then it felt as if there were hundreds of needles pricking my skin. It was just a bit unnerving when I opened my eyes and saw hundreds of fish, some almost as long as my fingers, swarming all over me. Cool gimmick We capped off the evening with dinner at Lucky Full City Seafood Ltd. (Hubin North Road), and drinks at Me and You 2 Bar (Hai Wan Gong Yuan, Houhaiting No. 1). Me and You 2 is right on the western coastline of Xiamen Island. With the strong sea breeze on a winter night, it was literally the “coolest” gimmick ever. To keep guests warm, they put out lamps near the tables and distributed blankets. Of course, mugs of beer didn’t hurt either. For shopping, we prowled Zhong Shan Road, Xiamen’s commercial district. Aside from the usual brand-name shops, there were stalls along the side streets where you could haggle for discounts. Flats were going for as low as 38 yuan (around P200). The stores outside Xiamen University also sold everything from pets to jackets at student-friendly prices. There’s also an SM mall (along Xian Yue Road), in case you’re feeling a bit homesick. Xiamen’s best bargains though, are probably in Electronic City (on South Lakeside Road). Laptops, digital cameras and flash disks sometimes cost just half as much as they do in Manila, making the entire trip worth it if you’re into gadgets. Shopping and eating in Xiamen can be quite affordable, if you know where to look. Also, there’s no need to give tips to waiters and drivers, as our friend Candice often reminded us. All in all, despite the language barrier, a trip to Xiamen can be enjoyable. Just be sure to have the name of the place you want to go written down in Chinese characters, show this to the cab driver, and he’ll bring you straight there. After all, come to think of it, this is what every foreign trip should be—a journey into the strange and unfamiliar. E-mail the author at gmeleen@gmail.com | 
