We are having our first Xiamen Cuisine in our room, the food was sent by two young girls from the next to the hotel restaurant called “small eyes”. Maybe the restaurant owner has small eyes so he named it such, or his daughter was born with small eyes, either way is the reason, or the wife. We always called in from the room so did not get to ask the owner what is the reason behind the name. The Xiamen Cuisine is made up of fried oyster omelet, stir fried green vegetables, the seaweed soup and fresh water fish.
Since this was our first night, the dishes were very delicious as we were hungry and tired and eating at the comfort of the room makes it all the difference.
The next day, the breakfast was horrible, plain porridge (no grains with a lot of water) the grains were scooped by earlier guests. At 8:00 am it was considered late for the Chinese as the break of the day, they ate at 7:00 am. The famous China luncheon meat, the meat looked pink in color fired with oil and looked oily. The stir fried celery, the hard and not crisp peanuts, hard-boiled eggs, plain mantou (steamed dough), and instant bean curd drink. It does not take much effort to whip up such a horrible breakfast. I really looked forward to lunch as a consolation. Huang met us at 9:00 am in the lobby and in the van we went zooming in the traffic and watched the city came alive, people were going to work in small walking steps not the hurried scene we used to see in Shanghai.
We were going for an island tour to Gulangyu, got its name because of huge reef surrounding it. Then the tide comes in, waves pound on the reef making it sound like the beating of the drum. This island is then known as “Gulang”. Gu meaning drum and lang meaning waves. At the pier, it was like a smaller version of the Bund in Shanghai. The ferry ride across the 1km straits to Gulangyu island. We can catch a glimpse of the Riguangyan (the Sunlight Rock) the peak of the magnificent Dragon Head Hill. Standing tall and majestic, it was once the platform for directing naval exercises by Zheng Cheng
Gong, a national hero in the Ming Dynasty. These islanders, most of them are music lovers, owned large numbers of musical instruments and quite a few professional musicians have emerged from among them, Hence another nicknamed of the island is “Island of Music”. Once embarked we can hear the sound of music coming from the speakers install near the embankment area.
By walking to cover whole of island takes about hours non-stopped walking, not leisurely by brisk walking style. My mum cannot walk for long distance, she need to rest her legs every ten to fifteen minutes, so it probably takes us the whole day to cover half the island. We took the buggy ride with a driver and our guide, Huang. Each of us paid Yuan 60 for this ride. The buggy operated by electric cell for sake of green environment and no honking is allowed. It was a comfortable ride but too windy when the sea breeze blows through our hairs, a wig will be blown away and lost in the nearby beach. We stopped to watch the historical reef that does not make the sound any longer. It is a forgotten reef without any name marked on it. There was a few small fishing trawlers parked near the beach and I guessed that some of the older folks still make their living as fishermen.
Along the park there were sculptures displayed by the art student as there is an art academy school and other academic school for the islanders. We stop at a seafood shop that sells all kinds of dried seafood and it is definitely cheaper back home. The dried stuff was freshly sun dried scallops, small ones. Those big scallops were imported from Japan and back home our price is cheaper. Baskets full of sea cucumber of many varieties, cuttlefishes, and all the treasures of the sea you can find in this shop. As usual we were invited for Chinese tea where a pretty young girl will brew tea and pour them into small white porcelain cup and offered to you. On the table were many small snacks of delicacies that go well with the tea. If you liked it and feel free to buy them back.
That is a good marketing tools – tea with snacks at 10:00 am, it was a good light snack since after that horrible breakfast this morning. Huang told us to take our time and he was so preoccupied with his hand phone, scrolling up and down. I took a peek and saw the screen of all the shares trading on the bourse. So this was the side income beside the main remuneration as a full time guide. He left us alone in the shop and sat drinking small cups after cups of Xiamen Wulong teas. My mum bought 2 kgs of scallops, one kg of sea cucumber and few other things which can filled up one hand carry luggage, there goes one more luggage for checking in. I was against buying preserved snacks of cuttlefish as it tasted quite strange, not forgetting the food poisonous scare of recently, the Chinese dumpling (in Japanese Gyoza). We were quite cautious when it comes to buying some edible stuff for giving to relatives and friends. Before the trip, I reminded myself not to buy any preserved foodstuffs, Chinese snacks, melon seeds etc…just to be on safe side.
My trip to Xiamen for keepsake, I intend to find a skilful craftsman to make eight pieces of signature print on marble for my lovely eight colleagues in the office. I reckon this piece makes such good mementos for the years to come, as remembrance of our friendship. I found the skilful craftsman in Quanzhou and thankful that his carving on marble are excellent and perfectly done. This kind of craft is no longer available in China as it is a dying trade. The three Chinese words carved on marble cost Yuan 90 inclusive of the marble piece. In 1984 the same piece will only cost about Yuan 10 ~ 20 (cheap and good). All prices has rose so high that it is no longer cheap to buy things in China except that our 1 dollar is equivalent to 4.9 Yuan. The exchange makes good for spending.
I was very delightful to find him so willing to carve eight pieces within four hours timing and sent them to our hotel in the evening.
We ended our tour of the island after three hours, spending an hour or so in the seafood shop and the pearl counter. I bought few strands of pearl and ten earrings for my church friends. One strand of pearl I gave to my enemy as love token to love my enemy, she was filled with joy when I gave her and hope she liked it. Anyway she liked it so much that she wore consecutively three days in a row with matching clothes. The strand of pearl on her looked expensive, radiates her face so well.
Huang suggested that we have our lunch at the same restaurant which ate the first day. This time we had the same piping hot soup and some changes in the dishes, it was delicious and good with piping hot rice. I looked across other tables, their dishes is so different from us, big prawns, big scallops on shell and steamed fish. Our dishes were simple fare local cuisine, meat, vegetables and fishes – again the famous fried oyster omelet. It was what you paid was what you get. The Chinese probably think that Singaporean do not like to eat seafood but love simple dishes with less salt, less sugar and less oil. Everywhere we go, the guide will repeatedly told us that they know what we had in our mind when it comes to ordering food. Everything must be less salt, less sugar and less oil. After lunch, we thought of going on our own to take a cruise down the city of Qinmen but my mum was hesitant that the weather may turned very cold. So we went back to the hotel at 6:30pm and as usual the guide suggested dinner in the room.
The dishes were a little different this time around except the fried oyster omelet was still ordered just because we did mention that it was delicious, but not again.
Since this was our first night, the dishes were very delicious as we were hungry and tired and eating at the comfort of the room makes it all the difference.
The next day, the breakfast was horrible, plain porridge (no grains with a lot of water) the grains were scooped by earlier guests. At 8:00 am it was considered late for the Chinese as the break of the day, they ate at 7:00 am. The famous China luncheon meat, the meat looked pink in color fired with oil and looked oily. The stir fried celery, the hard and not crisp peanuts, hard-boiled eggs, plain mantou (steamed dough), and instant bean curd drink. It does not take much effort to whip up such a horrible breakfast. I really looked forward to lunch as a consolation. Huang met us at 9:00 am in the lobby and in the van we went zooming in the traffic and watched the city came alive, people were going to work in small walking steps not the hurried scene we used to see in Shanghai.
We were going for an island tour to Gulangyu, got its name because of huge reef surrounding it. Then the tide comes in, waves pound on the reef making it sound like the beating of the drum. This island is then known as “Gulang”. Gu meaning drum and lang meaning waves. At the pier, it was like a smaller version of the Bund in Shanghai. The ferry ride across the 1km straits to Gulangyu island. We can catch a glimpse of the Riguangyan (the Sunlight Rock) the peak of the magnificent Dragon Head Hill. Standing tall and majestic, it was once the platform for directing naval exercises by Zheng Cheng
Gong, a national hero in the Ming Dynasty. These islanders, most of them are music lovers, owned large numbers of musical instruments and quite a few professional musicians have emerged from among them, Hence another nicknamed of the island is “Island of Music”. Once embarked we can hear the sound of music coming from the speakers install near the embankment area.
By walking to cover whole of island takes about hours non-stopped walking, not leisurely by brisk walking style. My mum cannot walk for long distance, she need to rest her legs every ten to fifteen minutes, so it probably takes us the whole day to cover half the island. We took the buggy ride with a driver and our guide, Huang. Each of us paid Yuan 60 for this ride. The buggy operated by electric cell for sake of green environment and no honking is allowed. It was a comfortable ride but too windy when the sea breeze blows through our hairs, a wig will be blown away and lost in the nearby beach. We stopped to watch the historical reef that does not make the sound any longer. It is a forgotten reef without any name marked on it. There was a few small fishing trawlers parked near the beach and I guessed that some of the older folks still make their living as fishermen.
Along the park there were sculptures displayed by the art student as there is an art academy school and other academic school for the islanders. We stop at a seafood shop that sells all kinds of dried seafood and it is definitely cheaper back home. The dried stuff was freshly sun dried scallops, small ones. Those big scallops were imported from Japan and back home our price is cheaper. Baskets full of sea cucumber of many varieties, cuttlefishes, and all the treasures of the sea you can find in this shop. As usual we were invited for Chinese tea where a pretty young girl will brew tea and pour them into small white porcelain cup and offered to you. On the table were many small snacks of delicacies that go well with the tea. If you liked it and feel free to buy them back.
That is a good marketing tools – tea with snacks at 10:00 am, it was a good light snack since after that horrible breakfast this morning. Huang told us to take our time and he was so preoccupied with his hand phone, scrolling up and down. I took a peek and saw the screen of all the shares trading on the bourse. So this was the side income beside the main remuneration as a full time guide. He left us alone in the shop and sat drinking small cups after cups of Xiamen Wulong teas. My mum bought 2 kgs of scallops, one kg of sea cucumber and few other things which can filled up one hand carry luggage, there goes one more luggage for checking in. I was against buying preserved snacks of cuttlefish as it tasted quite strange, not forgetting the food poisonous scare of recently, the Chinese dumpling (in Japanese Gyoza). We were quite cautious when it comes to buying some edible stuff for giving to relatives and friends. Before the trip, I reminded myself not to buy any preserved foodstuffs, Chinese snacks, melon seeds etc…just to be on safe side.
My trip to Xiamen for keepsake, I intend to find a skilful craftsman to make eight pieces of signature print on marble for my lovely eight colleagues in the office. I reckon this piece makes such good mementos for the years to come, as remembrance of our friendship. I found the skilful craftsman in Quanzhou and thankful that his carving on marble are excellent and perfectly done. This kind of craft is no longer available in China as it is a dying trade. The three Chinese words carved on marble cost Yuan 90 inclusive of the marble piece. In 1984 the same piece will only cost about Yuan 10 ~ 20 (cheap and good). All prices has rose so high that it is no longer cheap to buy things in China except that our 1 dollar is equivalent to 4.9 Yuan. The exchange makes good for spending.
I was very delightful to find him so willing to carve eight pieces within four hours timing and sent them to our hotel in the evening.
We ended our tour of the island after three hours, spending an hour or so in the seafood shop and the pearl counter. I bought few strands of pearl and ten earrings for my church friends. One strand of pearl I gave to my enemy as love token to love my enemy, she was filled with joy when I gave her and hope she liked it. Anyway she liked it so much that she wore consecutively three days in a row with matching clothes. The strand of pearl on her looked expensive, radiates her face so well.
Huang suggested that we have our lunch at the same restaurant which ate the first day. This time we had the same piping hot soup and some changes in the dishes, it was delicious and good with piping hot rice. I looked across other tables, their dishes is so different from us, big prawns, big scallops on shell and steamed fish. Our dishes were simple fare local cuisine, meat, vegetables and fishes – again the famous fried oyster omelet. It was what you paid was what you get. The Chinese probably think that Singaporean do not like to eat seafood but love simple dishes with less salt, less sugar and less oil. Everywhere we go, the guide will repeatedly told us that they know what we had in our mind when it comes to ordering food. Everything must be less salt, less sugar and less oil. After lunch, we thought of going on our own to take a cruise down the city of Qinmen but my mum was hesitant that the weather may turned very cold. So we went back to the hotel at 6:30pm and as usual the guide suggested dinner in the room.
The dishes were a little different this time around except the fried oyster omelet was still ordered just because we did mention that it was delicious, but not again.
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