Precious Memories: Day Tour of Xiamen

2019 Summer Trip to Asia

August 31, 2019 -- Xiamen, Fujian, China

Today we will spend our whole day in Xiamen touring the different sights in the city. Weather turned out to be quite nice after the heavy rain the day before. Now that we have made arrangements for the no shopping deal, we were able to leisurely explore the city without having to watch the restricted time allowed for each destination even though we were basically following the same itinerary. Generally, the guide would drop us off at the different locations and set a time to meet back with him so we could go on our own exploration. I liked that a lot being not having him around every minute of the way. As for our guide, he had much more free time resting in his car instead. A win-win situation for us all!

Xiamen is a coastal city so there are a lot of marine activities in the area.

South Putuo Temple

Our first destination of the day was the South Putuo Temple near the downtown area. This Buddhist temple is a very popular and famous one that was built in the Tang Dynasty. It is right near the Xiamen University campus where we found parking inside a parking structure.

Entrance to the Xiamen University.

Main gate to the South Putuo Temple, free entrance.

Beautiful lotus pond right in front of the temple.

The vegetarian restaurant on site.

Looking out from the temple and the lotus pond, one can see the iconic landmark buildings of Xiamen Shimao twin-tower. I believe that is where the Conrad is also.

The temple with many worshipers,

Many visitors actually climbed up to the top of the hill behind the temple, but not us.

Quite orderly and clean.

I am pretty sure those buildings belong to the Xiamen University.

Zhongshan Road Pedestrian Street

Next, we were taken to the Zhongshan Road Pedestrian Street where we were given an hour or so for lunch and exploration. This was one place where I was looking forward to visit. I have read a lot about this place and really wanted to be there in person. It was not on our itinerary originally but after I requested, the guide gladly put this on the plan. I think the best time to visit should be in the afternoon or evening when all the stores are open. We were there a little early and many of the stores and restaurants were not ready for the day. But at least it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

Loved these sculptures.

Well-kept old fashioned buildings.

A historical hotel at the end of the pedestrian street.

We walked around the whole area, going in and out of souvenir stores checking things out. Had some free samplings of snacks and local delicacies then we went to look for some real food.

Followed what I've read on line, we came to this snack shop called Zehe Huang Peanut Soup Shop which is a popular tourists attraction. Of course, we ordered their peanut soup which was really delicious, but they also have plenty of other snacks available. Our problem was figuring out how the system works here. It turned out that we had to purchase some kind of tokens, then use the tokens to order from the different counters. A little more work than usual.

Their oyster omelettes are so much different from the Taiwanese ones. I totally could not accept this. It was dried with very few egg pieces. At least we tried. We also had a couple of other items but I don't remember what we had now.

Zengcuoan

Zengcuoan used to be an old fishing village that turned into a tourist attraction. We were told that there are plenty of small eateries and restaurants congregated here that visitors will easily find whatever they are craving for.

Again, we were dropped off at the main entrance after the guide took a picture of us here.

He also showed us where the public restrooms were so we won't have a problem in the next couple of hours.

A small temple near the public restrooms.

I can't remember all the places we went in this area. It felt like a maze, with streets going every direction. It was more like a small town filled with restaurants and shops. We just wandered around without anything in particular that we were looking for and it was just incredibly fun. I don't think we eat anything there at all, just enjoying the atmosphere was enough. We were lucky that we were able to find our way back out at the end.

Xiamen Film Production with interesting exhibits inside.

Haha! I thought that was funny. This store bears a name that sounds like the name of the richest businessman in Hong Kong. I am sure they did it on purpose.

After a couple of hours of exploration, we met back with our guide and continued with our city tour.

One Country Two Systems Beach

Driving along the beautiful coastal highway of Huandao Road, we arrived at the famous "One Country Two System Beach" where huge sign posted purposely erected for the people in Kinmen across the sea to see.

The huge characters of "One Country Two Systems".

Very tropical feel.

We spent about an hour here just walking along the beach and enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

The island of Kinmen across the ocean.

Wuyuanwan Wetland Park

This wetland park is located in the northeast of the island of Xiamen, not too far from the Xiamen International Airport. It was very tranquil and green as we spent our afternoon there. This time our guide actually took us around and he was with us the whole time from beginning to the end. I will let the pictures do the talking about this gorgeous park.

This is considered an inlet of the South China Sea.

Ending our walking tour of this huge park.

Then we were taken to a new restaurant near the airport for another delicious meal.

Jimei District

After dinner, we drove across the Xiamen Bridge to Jimei District where we would see the lights of this district. Jimei is the birth place of the philanthropist Chen Jia Geng (Tan Kah Kee), an overseas Chinese businessman, who had contributed almost all his wealth to the development of educational institutions in this city. He is well-respected by the Chinese government and the people. Apparently, every evening, the lights on the campus of this group of institutions will turn on, making this a beautiful scene.