A visit to Wang Kai's home town

Wang Kai invited me, Ling Ling, and Marianne (artist-in-residence at CEAC) to join him and his girlfriend Li Ling for a two-day trip to his hometown, Gantang Zhen （甘棠镇）, in East-Fujian. The high-speed train from Xiamen to Shanghai brought us to Fu'an in two and half hours, cruising comfortably at 205 km/h.
At the Fu'an train station, a friend was waiting with a mini-bus to drive us the remaining 35 km to Gantang Zhen, upstream along the Baima river, passing several large shipyards.
Gantang Zhen is a small town with several hundred years of history. Once surrounded by a city wall, but at the present only the encircling canal remains.

Wang Kai's family lives just at the outside of this canal, close to one of the bridges into the old town. Many of the traditional stone houses in the old town have been replaced with the typical concrete/brick buildings emerging everywhere in China and other developing countries. Wang Kai's family also just build a large five-storey house for three brothers and their families, each having their own store front and entrance. The building is not nearly finished (like so many buildings), and at present only two floors are in use, the upper floors still an open concrete structure without walls. Even the finished floors look like they have been occupied prior to completion, with a mix of brand new furniture on polished floors, bare concrete, and electrical wiring hanging from unfinished ceilings. It doesn't seem to bother anyone. Interesting detail is that the large modern kitchen (with gas stove, microwave, and a range of electrical appliances) also has a traditional wood-fired stove build into one corner of the stone countertop, with a large build-in wok, as seen in traditional Chinese kitchens in villages in the countryside.

Wang Kai's father had booked a couple of rooms in a decent hotel around the corner, and after we dropped our luggage we went for a quick tour of the old town under Wang Kai's guidance.
It was a beautiful day, and Wang Kai showed us the house where his grandmother used to live, now almost a ruin, but interesting to see. The old town still has many stone and wooden houses, some with clay walls, often having the front door wide open, offering a glimpse inside the people's livelihoods.
We visited a small temple, where Kai showed us how to read your future after shaking a container with numbered wooden sticks until one comes out, which leads to a written prophecy.
The town clearly isn't used to foreign visitors, and we got a lot of stares and sometimes a bit more engaging attention. It reminded me of my earlier travels in more remote areas of China, and the curiousity is still mutual. Needless to say, there where many excellent photo opportunities.

Back in the house, we were treated on a terrific home-cooked dinner, with crab, fish, and lots of interesting local dishes. This was only the first, the next days more lunches and dinners would follow, all equally overwhelming, not to mention the locally produced alcohol, consumed in more than adequate quantities. After dinner we went to play pool in one of the local pool halls, where Kai played since he was a teenager. His skills are impressive, and Li Ling's too.
The next day we visited Wang Kai's former high school, where he met Li Ling, who is from a nearby town. Her mother joined us for one of the dinners, this time on invitation by one of Kai's uncles, in an excellent restaurant. Of course we were invited by all Kai's well-to-do relatives who were eager to show us their houses and children. In the country that gave birth to the one-child policy, I have yet to meet a family who actually has only one child. Laws are very flexible in China, if you can afford it.

We also paid a visit to the Zhongde temple （种德禅寺）, a large complex, still partly under construction, financed by a wealthy local who made his fortune in Singapore. You often see Chinese who make a fortune overseas come back to their hometown to use their wealth to build a lasting memory for the community they were born in.
The last day it was raining lightly, which prompted me to buy a pair of rubber boots, which I have been planning to buy for a while, but never found a pair attractive enough. Here I found a nice pair of slightly transparant brown boots with bright orange soles. Smart looking, and only 20 RMB a pair.

Resurrecting a capsized catamaran

In the last lesson of our introductory sailing course （12 hours, 1980 RMB), our students learn how to resurrect the catamaran sailboat after it capsizes. It has never happened to me unintentionally, but it's good to know what to do if it does.
It's surprisingly easy to bring the boat back up, even when it's totally inverted (also called turtled), unless the mast is in the mud, that makes it a bit more difficult, especially with receding tide. That's why we always practice with high tide. Even then, it sometimes happens that the mast hits the bottom, the sea is not very deep here.
This time it was Audrey from Belgium who went for a second try, after she failed to bring it up a day earlier. I went out in the dingy with another of our students, Boris from Germany, to film the exercise.
The sea was calm, with almost no wind, and a sunny sky, excellent conditions for this exercise. To help the boat capsizing, you just hang out, holding on to the main stay as long as possible, until the boat tilts over far enough that it capsizes. You usually end up under the boat or under the sail, so you have to quickly swim out and get back to the boat to not lose it. If it's very windy or in strong current this is even more important. You can not outswim a capsized boat drifting away in strong wind or tidal current.
Once you have climbed onboard the reversed boat, you can take a rest and make sure all passengers are there and calm down any panic. It can be a scary moment when it happens unexpectedly. Boris can attest to that...
The procedure for resurrection is as follows: first take the halyard(s) out of the pockets in which they are stored, and work them up along the deck around the hull on the wind side (you might have to go underwater for this), and pull it around the hull. The halyards are attached to the lower part of the mast, so by hanging on to the halyards when they are looped around the hull, you create enough momentum to bring the boat back up. The trick is to not let go of the lines too quickly, and walk up the hull as the boat slowly comes back up. It can take quite a while before you reach the tipping point, where the boat resurrects itself in normal upright position.
This time Audrey and Paul managed to do it on the first try. Good job!



Side note: During the Xiamen boat show, I saw a Hobie cat with a floatation bubble at the top of its mast, which will prevent turtling after capsizing, and therefore makes it a lot easier (and much quicker) to bring the boat back up. Smart!

Sailing with dolphins

A sunny Monday morning in December. I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary to happen today. This time of year the beach is pretty quiet on weekdays, but I could convince a Chinese couple from Anhui province, who were playing volleyball for a while using the net we set up, to take a half-hour tour on the catamaran.
We had a good wind, with moderate waves (not as crazy as yesterday, more about that later), so we left the beach behind us rather quickly, and crossed into the shipping lane about 2km off shore. I was just about to turn around, when we spotted a white dolphin at close range, about 20m to our left. Shortly afterwards we saw two more, and then another couple further ahead. I pulled the main sail tighter to gain speed, and for several minutes the five dolphins were leading the way, jumping out of the water right in front of us, and at less than 5m distance to our side. A gorgeous sight! Too bad I didn't bring the weatherproof camera.
It's not uncommon to see dolphins here, but I don't see them more often than once a month on average, and never as close, and in such numbers as today. Really awesome!

Yesterday was quite a different trip. Martijn, Felix, and Zeid accompanied me and Ling Ling for a ride in rough but fair weather, with high waves, and a strong, gusty wind. This is what sailing at sea is all about: getting wet, salty water in your face, waves pouring over the deck, inescapable. The boys didn't let the continuous salty spray discourage them from trying to light a cigarette.
Sailing in this kind of weather is a truly different affair than our usual half-hour tours. You can't let go of the rudder for a second, pulling it hard to maintain course, and always ready to release the main sail to prevent tipping over. Luckily, with five people on board we had enough ballast for a stable ride, but still enough speed to make it a real thrill, even without seeing dolphins.

Let's call it "Something Nice"

In one of the meetings at Wang Kai's studio where we were discussing the upcoming event at Dong Ping Shan, a party on a piece of land in the hills behind Shang Li, not far from Zeng Cuo An, this is what David said when we were thinking about a good name for the event. We decided to leave it at that.
The land is currently in use as a plant nursery, run by an acquaintance of Wang Kai. He has a long term lease on the land, but his business is apparently not very profitable, so he is looking for another use of the land. After a couple of visits with Wang Kai, we (a small group of foreigners with semi-permanent residence in Xiamen) decided to organize monthly events, starting off with a simple party in the outdoors, with some live music, targeting people like us, and others interested in something different than the monthly beach party at Hai Yun Tai, which grew to an uninspired mass market event.

The location at Dong Ping Shan is gorgeous, about two thirds up the 300m or so hill, but difficult to reach without private transportation. No buses go there, and taxis are also not eager to drive up the twisting road with little chance for return passengers. Cycling is almost impossible, which I discovered last year. The remote location makes it even more interesting however, and less likely to create trouble with loud music and other side-effects of night-long parties.
We had organized a nice line-up of bands, a mini-bus driver who would shuttle people up and down the hill all night for a modest fee, and plenty of food and drinks, and Dutch pancakes made on the spot by Cathelijn, Marianne, and me.

We started a 3 in the afternoon, and the last visitors left well after 3 o'clock the next morning, including myself. Some people stayed behind, camping out behind the potted plants and flowering trees, or crashing in the worn out rooms of the two-storey building that served as the backdrop for our improvised stage. Felix had set up his tent on the roof.
The party was a great success, with a good crowd of close to 200 people attending over the course of the night. DJs and musicians took over the stage in succession, and kept people dancing for hours on end. Our pancakes sold out before it was 8 o'clock, giving us plenty opportunity to join in on the dance floor. A campfire was lit at the back of the field, burning up whatever was there to burn up, including a discarded Mahjong table.
The small scale of our mountain party made it special, and certainly an event to be repeated. Hopefully we can keep it small and intimate like this first time.

Business trip to Zhejiang

As part of the search for capital, Paul had asked Ling Ling and me to join him and his partner Linda for a three-day trip to Zhejiang province, to visit a potential partner for the expansion of Paul's scouting and sailing camp activities beyond Xiamen. The prospective partner is mister Z, a businessman from around Hangzhou （杭州）, whose current enterprises range from real-estate to health clubs.
Z had visited Xiamen earlier for a first introduction, and now it was our turn to visit him at his own territory, on his invitation. We drove the 900 km to Shaoxing （绍兴）, 50 km south of Hangzhou, where Z has his headquarters. We took of before dawn to arrive at 3pm, checked in at the 5-star Xianheng hotel （咸亨大酒店）. We were treated to two nights at this place, and a number of excellent lunches and dinners as well.

Z's party consisted of five people, including himself, and we were with four, so we were with nine in total, and shuttled between the various locations in Shaoxing and Hangzhou with a BMW 535GT (Z's personal vehicle, driven by himself at totally irresponsible speed), and a Mercedes-Benz R350, a luxury people mover seating six persons very comfortably. Ling Ling and me were put in the latter, driven by a chauffeur who did his best to keep up with Z in his BMW, who had Paul and Linda as his passengers.
The primary purpose of the trip was to look at locations that Z had selected for future scouting bases. Two of the locations were at the grounds of the Zhejiang College of Sport, an institution which trains Chinese teenagers to take part in future Olympics and world championships. The other two where military training camps, and as such were off-limits to foreigners, so our visits to these places were very short indeed. Bad preparation or maybe ignorance on Z's behalf.
The College of Sport was interesting to visit, including an excellent lunch with a pair of sport coaches, but did not strike us as a great place for scouting camps.

All in all, the trip was a bit odd, and seemingly useless, but there might be still hope, since Z is very interested to invest, and has loads of money, so he might come up with a better place after all.
As a bonus, close to our last visited location on the island Zhoushan （舟山）, which was one of the no-go military training camps, was the shipyard where the replicas of the Chinese junk are build, which we plan to sail in the near future. The builders and two of the smaller vessels were present at the recent Xiamen boat show, so I already had seen the boats in the water. At this shipyard though, they are now building a 30m version, which is a very impressive piece of work. Constructed entirely out of Malaysian hardwood, the hull is still in a dry dock, but almost finished. We were allowd to enter the ship under construction, and got a detailed tour of the yard by the managing director.

Part of the shipyard is a model workshop, where scale models of classic Chinese sailboats are build to order for museums and private collectors. The models are at scale 1:5 to 1:25, so some are quite big (several meters long). The level of detail is impressive, and the builders are very passionate about their work. A beautiful place to visit, both the full-size shipyard and the model workshop.
After this, we were on our way home again, the return trip being slightly longer at about 1000 km. I did a good part of the driving across China's well-maintained toll motorways, even though my European license is not valid here. We made it home just a few minutes after midnight.

Xiamen boat show

This weekend was the Xiamen Boat Show at Wuyuan Bay （五缘湾）, an inlet of the sea at the North-East of Xiamen Island. The event reflects the growing wealth of the Chinese upper middle-class, who are looking for something new and exciting to impress their peers and/or business clients.
Xiamen is an attractive island, surrounded by a multitude of smaller islands and islets, and nice sheltered waters, perfect for sailing and motorboating. There are two marinas, one here at Wuyuan Bay, and another on the East coast, near the Xiamen Convention Center, but both have only a small number of available spots occupied, mostly by motor yachts. Sailboats are still very rare.
The Xiamen Boat Show is not very big, and dwarfed by the Dutch Hiswa show. Interestingly enough, the largest motor yachts on display are build by Dutch wharfs, looking for new export opportunities after the economic crisis hit the European market.

The reason for our visit was the presence of Marine XO, a Chinese company funded by a British boat enthusiast, which specializes in building replicas of classic Chinese sailboats or junks. Both sea-going ships and scale models for museums and private collectors are build by this wharf, based in Zhoushan, Zhejian province. Marine XO brought a 4m and a 6m version of their Chinese junk. The larger one was in the water, fully rigged, the smaller was on display at their booth.
I was introduced to Wayne, the driving force behind Marine XO, and he showed me around on his creation. A beautifully crafted sailboat, build according to original plans, but fitted with modern electronics and a German-build electric motor for precise and easy navigation in harbours.
If all goes according to plan, I will sail these boats in the future, as part of our sailing school operations.

Windsurfing

You're never to old to learn something new, so at 51 I set foot on a windsurf board for the very first time. Today was one of those days with almost no wind. We had one booking for a rental of our catamaran, one of our ex-students, who had completed the sailing course several weeks ago, and who often rents the boat in the weekend to go out with some friends. Some tourists had rented our kayaks and paddle boards, which are easy and fun on a windless day when the sea is flat as a mirror. To our surprise, at some point a  windsurfer approached very slowly. A women in wetsuit landed at our beach, and it soon became clear that she had set off at the nearby beach next to the Music Square, where one of China's two national sailing and windsurfing schools is located (the other one is in Qingdao, Shandong province). She had borrowed the board from the school, where her boyfriend (or husband) is working as a coach. Because there was almost no wind, she was not able to return, and just drifted on the tidal current to the next beach.
We initially tried to bring her back using our sailboat, but that was a bit naive, since our sailboat also needs wind, so we didn't make a lot of progress, and had to give up after 20 minutes. The windsurfer (her name is Mika), called some friends who arrived a bit later with food for everybody, which was very welcome of course, and after our lunch she offered to teach me windsurfing, which I gladly accepted. Paul gave me a short introduction on the beach, and then Mika brought me into the water. A great part of windsurfing depends on your balancing skills, and coordinating the movements of the board, the sail, and your body, while at the same time dealing with wind direction and wind pressure on the sail. A complicated balancing act, and to nobody's surprise (quite an audience of onlookers had formed by this time) I fell in the water several times before I was able to keep standing and at the same time move the sail gently in a direction where it would catch the little wind available and move the board forward. With so little wind, this is actually more difficult, because there is no back pressure to lean against. At last, I managed to move a bit before falling off again, but by that time an inflatable speedboat had arrived from the school to bring Mika and her equipment back. To be continued...

Shipwrecked

Tuesday is my day off, and likewise for the crew of Qingtian Jian （晴天见） also known as the Absinthe bar. I had invited them for a sailing trip last week, but not everybody was free then, so we did it this week.
The weather forecast had predicted a single windy and cloudy day in a week of otherwise fair and calm weather, so I was prepared for a more adventurous trip than usual. I actually thought about cancelling the trip for a moment, but decided to wait and see on the day itself to make the final judgement on whether to go out or not.
It was indeed quite windy, and slightly overcast, but nothing really to worry about. I had been out in rougher weather before, and everybody was eager to go, and didn't mind to get wet. I had reefed the sail to deal with the stronger wind, and with six people on board, we had enough ballast to prevent accidental capsizing in case of sudden gusts.
Sailing in rough weather is more fun than on a calm day, but when we were out for about an hour, and just about to head back, something unexpected happened: the mast came down suddenly. It appeared that one of the steel cables holding up the mast was broken. The mast was lying horizontally on the water surface, supported by the floating main sail, and two of my passengers (the ones sitting at leeward side) where partly covered by the sail. They could quickly manoeuvre themselves out of the way, and luckily nobody was injured, just a little bit shocked by what had happened.
Of course it was my responsibility as the captain to get everybody back to shore safely, so after I had made sure everybody was all-right, I pulled down the sails from the mast, rolled them up and tied them down, and then hoisted the mast onto the deck of our catamaran, which now was reduced to a raft, with only a pair of paddles to help us move forward.



At this moment, we were less than 1km off-shore, but the wind was strong, and the tidal current was carrying us away from the beach where we had departed from. It was immediately clear that we would not be able to get back there, but this was not a huge problem, since we were floating westward parallel to the coast, and by using our paddles, we would be able to make it back to shore at one of the other many beaches. It took quite an effort and two hours of paddling in rough water to finally reach solid ground again.
By the time we pulled the boat onto the beach at Huli Shan, we were exhausted, wet, and cold. We didn't bring any equipment other than a waterproof digital camera, so we could not make a phone call until we asked one of the many curious tourists to lend us their phone for a moment. I don't remember many phone numbers these days (and especially not those long Chinese mobile numbers), but I did memorize the reservation number for our sailing trips, and I knew Ling Ling was carrying that phone at the moment. I asked her to let Paul call me back, and he arrived half an hour later by taxi.

I had sent my crew back home before Paul arrived, and we temporarily fixed the broken line with a piece of rope, and managed to resurrect the mast. Even though it was already dark by then, Paul insisted we would sail the boat back, and so we did.
Going back was a rough ride again. The wind was still strong, and in the darkness we had to cross the busy shipping lane many times to zig-zag our way against the wind back along the coast to our beach. With only two people on board, the boat was much lighter and faster, but I had to hang out all the time to prevent it from tipping over. It took us an hour and half to get back. I was soaked, and cold, but Paul had brought some dry clothes, which was very thoughtful.
Today we replaced most of the standing rigging, because other steel cables also showed signs of wear, and were likely to break rather sooner than later. This boat is four years old, and maintenance has not always been optimal, so it has a lot of weak spots. If all goes well, tomorrow we will be sailing again.

Roof terrace dinner party

My dear friend Lin had asked me a few days ago if she could use our kitchen to cook dinner for a few close friends. It was fine, of course. I didn't know at the time that she was going to invite fifteen people, which was kind of a surprise, but a nice one.
I was out at the beach the whole day, so Lin had picked up the key earlier to let herself in. Her boyfriend Vangelis (from Greece) had been teaching a dance workshop that weekend, so she invited all participants, and also some mutual friends, including Wang Kai, whose birthday happened to be on that same day, his girlfriend Li Ling, and pretty much the whole staff of CEAC, including Ineke Gudmundsson. Also present were three Dutch artists currently in residence at CEAC, and Aaf van Essen, this autumn teaching graphic design at TKK college, the art college of Xiamen University.
Vangelis turned out to be an amazing cook, and he treated us to no less than ten delicious dishes. A lot of wine and beer and fruits where also brought in, so it was a true feast. An excellent first roof terrace dinner party in our new home!

The naked sailor

Tuesday is my day off, and as the sailboat is not used, I am free to take it out for a private trip. Normally my trips with paying tourists are only half an hour or an hour, so I can't go out too far, but this time I took the opportunity to make a longer trip. Yesterday I took Ling Ling out for a three hour trip, beyond the small islands which are governed by Taiwan, but close to the Xiamen shore. It's just four kilometers to the nearest Taiwanese island Dadandao （大胆岛）.
The weather was perfect for touring, good wind, but not too strong, and no big waves. A sunny October day, 27 °C, wind speed 10-15 km/h, from the East. The wind direction made it possible to set a course straight to Dadandao, where we arrived within half an hour. You can not land there, but it's OK to approach the island to within a couple of hundred meters. There were some tour boats hovering in front of the island, to allow the Chinese tourists to take photos of the big propaganda sign, which reads 三民主義統一中國 ("Three Principles of the People unite China"), refering to the political philosophy of Sun Yat Sen, who retreated to Taiwan after losing the battle with the Communist Party.
After a couple of tacks, we passed the island on the eastern side, and then we were truly out in the open sea, or at least in the Taiwan Strait, with much longer wave lengths (20 to 30m) than in the shallow waters around Xiamen. Sailing on the open sea is quite different than closer to the shore. I really enjoyed the long waves, and we even spotted a dolphin nearby! I had seen dolphins on an earlier trip, but only once. It's quite rare to see them. After a good look at the backside of Dadandao, wich is adorned with a large painted Taiwanese flag on a wall of a building, we headed East towards a small rock named Huzaiyu, also belonging to Taiwan, and then set course to Xiǎo Jīnmén (小金门 or Lesser Kinmen), which is much larger and unlike the smaller islands is inhabited.
Leisurely out at sea, I gave the sun the opportunity to reduce the colour contrast between the well-tanned and the still white parts of my body. In other words, I stripped naked. Much to the hilarity of Ling Ling, but she did not follow suit. Shortly after that, the ferry from Jinmen to Xiamen passed by, but at a distance large enough to let me continue sailing naked. It's a great feeling to be scaling the waves in the nude.
We sailed past Lesser Kinmen towards another small rock, named Binglangyu, with is closer to Xiamen, and does not belong to Taiwan. Close to that rock is a large floating fish farm, probably growing shell fish like oysters and clams. An area of several thousand square meters dotted with floating blocks of styrofoam, presumably all holding vertical lines held under water with a rock, to which shells can attach themselves.
Making another turn towards the Xiamen Convention Center, we returned to Xiamen Island's coastline, and another 45 minutes with the wind in the back along the sandy beaches brought us back to the beach where we started out.
A very nice trip, the best so far, and definitely an itinerary to be repeated with more people on board.

The kayak incident

Directly after moving to our new place, we both got ourselves occupied with another week of intensive sailing and other watersport activities during China's second most imported holiday: the Golden Week. It starts on October 1st, China's National Day, and runs for eight days in total, coinciding this year with the Mid-Autumn festival. The latter follows the lunar calendar (on the 15th day of the 8th month). This year, Mid-Autumn Day was on September 30th, but it's usually a bit earlier.
A while ago, Paul had asked us if we would be available this week for assistance, which we were, so while almost everybody else was enjoying a week-long vacation, we got up early every day, to be present at the beach at 8:30 in the morning, and help Paul set up camp and bringing the boats out (one catamaran sailboat, two kayaks, some peddle boards, and a dingy with outboard motor, standing by for emergencies).
This week is the busiest week in whole China for tourism, so we were guaranteed to have a lot of customers for short sailing trips and renting smaller equipment. My job was mainly to act as captain of the sailboat, taking out groups of people (up to seven people, including children) for a half hour trip. The weather was perfect for sailing: blue skies, a good wind (3 to 4 Beaufort), some waves, but not too high. For almost everyone it was the first time on a small boat at sea, but they all loved it. Most people got wet, as expected (we told them in advance), and some got completely soaked, because they chose to sit on the net spanning the two inflatable hulls in the front section of the boat, catching the spray and some larger waves head on.
From time to time, when we had no customers for sailing, or when Paul took the boat out, I helped people using the kayak or peddle board, which both are a bit tricky in the first moment, when going out into the surf. The breaking waves can easily tip the kayak or board over, and do so with incredible force. Yesterday, when the Golden Week was already over, and all tourists had already returned home, I was helping Ling Ling getting into the kayak when such a thing happened: a big wave crashed into the kayak while she was still standing behind it and I was holding the boat for her to step in. The boat was scooped up by the incoming wave, and to prevent it from hitting Ling Ling full on, I tried to throw it even more upwards so it would fly over her, instead of hitting her. It worked, but the boat still hit me on my eyebrow while flying past me, and I was bleeding. This would be the second time in less than two months that I had to go to hospital to get myself stitched up. This time, the cut was not as deep, but it still needed five sutures to close it properly. One day later, it looks like the doctor did a good job, and it will probably hardly leave a mark.

One year anniversary

Immediately after I returned from Hong Kong with my new visa, we moved to our new apartment. Ling Ling had made arrangements with a local tricycle driver to move the heavy stuff (my fridge, some furniture, etc.). We had already moved most of the smaller items during the past two weeks, in between cleaning and painting our new quarters. It's only about 100m away from our old place, so it was little work to move stuff in bits and pieces from the old place to the new.
Today, one day after finally moving in, and spending our first night in our new bed, also happened to be the first anniversary of the day we met, here in Zeng Cuo An. At the time, there was no indication that we would move in to a new place together one year later, but so it happened, and we celebrated the occasion by launching a traditional hot air lantern or kǒng míng dēng （孔明灯） from our roof terrace shortly before midnight. The lantern went straight up, headed first for the mountain, but quickly turned around, floating over the village towards the sea, while gaining altitude and slowly burning up its fuel, eventually fading out of sight and probably plunging into the dark sea.

Hong Kong visa run

My one-month tourist visa, which was a stop-gap measure after my residence permit expired last month, was about to expire, so in order to obtain a new visa with longer validity, I had to make a quick trip to Hong Kong, to visit the office of Forever Bright Trading, a company dedicated to offer its clients Chinese visa in record time. They offer different types of visa, with a validity of up to a year, without the need for any documents or interview, besides your passport and a photo (the latter can also be made on the spot for a modest fee). I choose the six-months business (F) visa, since this gives maximum flexibility at reasonable cost (2000 HK$ or about 200 Euro). The people at Forever Bright Trading are extremely efficient, you can pickup your passport with your new visa within half a day after application. This makes it feasible to arrive in Hong Kong in the morning, and return to mainland China the same evening.
To minimize expenses, I had taken an overnight sleeper bus from Xiamen to Shenzhen (9 hours, 180 RMB), and arrived at the border well before they even opened (which is at 6:30). I was on the train to South Kowloon at 7, and arrived at the visa office at 8 o'clock, and they were already open. Within 5 minutes I was out on the street again, on a already warm and sunny day, with lots of time to kill. I could pickup my passport after 2pm, but by then it would be already too late to be in time for an afternoon bus to Xiamen to arrive before midnight, so I took my time and went sightseeing and did a little bit of shopping before heading back to Shenzhen in the early evening. The next morning at 7 I was back in Xiamen, with a fresh visa valid until March 27, 2013.

My Merry power drill

One of the few frustrations of living in China is that the vast majority of everything I own is not here, but in Amsterdam. More than once I have been forced to buy something new again that I already have lying in a closet, but in another part of the world. This time I needed my drill. I could possibly borrow one, but in the current situation, moving to a new apartment, I foresee many uses for such a tool (and many other tools as well), so a purchase makes sense.
I first went to visit a few hardware stores, and also Walmart and Carrefour, but was not impressed by the offerings (if any). So, I turned to online shopping. I should have done that in the first place, but it's still not the most obvious place to start for me, unlike most Chinese, who are probably the most fervent online shoppers in the world. The biggest online shopping mall in China (and possibly in the world) is taobao.com.
I quickly found what I wanted, basically something very similar to the Bosch power drill I bought many years ago at Gamma in Amsterdam. The big difference with the stuff here is the price. A drill very similar to the Bosch, which I bought for 125 Euro, if I remember correctly, costs only 105 RMB (12.50 Euro) on taobao. Add 15 RMB for shipping and you're done. I switfly went through the ordering procedure using my Chinese bank account, and three days later the drill arrived.
The most hilarious moment was when I umwrapped the package and found myself staring at a sturdy cardboard box with a colour photo of a drill almost indentical as the one back in Amsterdam, labeled Bosch GSB Professional. I opened the box and there it was. A Bosch power drill with one minor difference: the red Bosch label on the side of the machine was replaced by an equally red Merry. That's all!
I first thought this was a typical low-cost Chinese rip-off of a German quality product, but then I realized that it could just be the real thing, but labeled for the Chinese market. Bosch probably assembles its power tools in China, and this Merry drill must have come from exactly the same production line as the Bosch product.

Bamboo

Today we visited a bamboo specialist in nearby Shangli, who makes furniture, ladders, divider walls, or basically anything you want out of bamboo, and bamboo alone. He does not use any glue, nails, or even rope or string. All connections are secured by small bamboo pegs, cut to the right size. Even the little cabin which functions as both office and warehouse is constructed entirely out of bamboo. It is stuffed to the bamboo roof with bamboo stools, bamboo chairs, bamboo baby cots, bamboo coffee tables and just raw material: bamboo sticks. It's a little house of bamboo magic.
The first day we came, the bamboo master was not there, but his wife showed some examples, and outside I spotted a flat bamboo bed, so it seemed. It appeared to be just the horizontal part of a single bed, without legs and headboard. I immediately imagined using it as a low couch, just by adding some legs and putting some pillows on top. I discussed my plan a few days later when the master was in his shop. He let me draw what I wanted, named his price, and it was a deal (150 RMB). He stepped outside to look at the bed for a moment, and then said he would make a new one, but I told him I wanted the old one standing there, he only had to add six legs (just to make sure it doesn't bend too much when more than one person is sitting on it). His wife explained that I preferred the older bamboo, already aged slightly, with a nice patina. On my first visit I had bought a pair of low stools (25 RMB each), obviously made by someone with a love for bamboo and who knows what he's doing. Fit's perfectly in the environment of our new apartment.

Contract signed

When Ling Ling returned from Zhuhai yesterday  morning, we immediately went to see the new apartment again. The landlord seemed happy to see me again, and had even remembered my name. He welcomed us with the words: 马克，你回来了, which means "Marc, you came back!". We went upstairs to show the place to Ling Ling. She liked it. I had already sent some photos while she was in Zhuhai, and we had talked about it online, using QQ.
We discussed some details with the landlord, mostly about the use of the roof terrace, and about kicking out most of the furniture, which was not to our taste. He was reluctant at first to take it away, but agreed to take out the ugly couch, some chairs, and glass tables. What remains are two beds, two wardrobes, two desks, two chairs, and three stools. The apartment lacks any appliances, so we have to bring a fridge (which I have), and have to buy a washing machine (or keep using the laundry service, but it's a bit far from here), and a stove. I have a electric rice cooker and hot plate, but cooking on gas is much better. I'm very much looking forward to be able to cook at home again! We might even put up a barbeque on our terrace.
The terms of the contract are quite simple: lease is for a year, and we pay one month deposit, and a penalty of one month rent if either we or the landlord wishes to terminate the contract within a year (with one month notice).
We still had to inform our current landlord of the plan to move out, just a few weeks after I renewed my contract, but to our relief, they didn't mind at all that we are moving out at the end of the month. So, today I signed the contact, and paid the deposit and first month of rent (1800 RMB each), effective from September 15th. We now have two weeks to prepare the new place before moving in. There is quite a bit of cleaning to do, and we plan to paint all interiour walls, and even the outside wall facing the terrace.

Stitches removed

Exactly two weeks after my right leg's shin got stitched up at the hospital, because of a deep cut caused by hitting some sharp shells on a submerged rock after jumping off a catamaran, I went back to the hospital to get the stitches removed.
It's just a routine procedure of course, but a first for me, and it did hurt more than I expected. When the stitches were placed, I got a local anaesthetic, but the nurse did not seem to be bothered now. The wound had healed quite nicely already, expect for a part where the cut was complicated by a laceration perpendicular to the actual cut. I assume the hole will be filled in by new tissue sooner or later, as my body still seems to be perfectly capable of repairing itself after minor injury.
Hopefully I can go swimming again within a few days.

Found a new apartment

While Ling Ling was away to Zhuhai for a few days, I talked to the owner of the Absinthe bar one evening, and she pointed out a post on one of China's most popular blogging sites douban.com. The post was a few days old and about an apartment in Zeng Cuo An available for sublet. Not that I'm interested so much in a sublet, but I called the blogger the next morning to inquire. He told me the address, and just advised me to go and take a look, the landlord should be there, he said.
I found it after some effort (house numbers have very little relation to geographical location in this village) and talked to the landlord. My Chinese worked out remarkably well, and I could understand that the landlord was not so happy with the plans of his tenant, and had basically kicked him out already. The guy had left town for work somewhere else, but he didn't need to come back as far as the landlord was concerned, unless to pick up some personal belongings. He had broken the terms of his contract.
The landlord showed me the place. It's a 50 square meter apartment, with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom, and a adjacent terrace. It's build on top of a single storey building holding a multitude of rather small rooms, all rented out to a variety of people. The building is in the yard of a old village house, itself two storeys high, where the landlord lives with his family. The atmosphere is very rural, situated at the road to Shangli, all the way in the back of Zeng Cu An, at the foot of the hills rising behind the village. It's actually not far from my present home, but the feeling is quite different. Because of the slight elevation, you actually have some nice views, even from the second floor.
The apartment has windows on all sides, eight in total, with each of the three rooms having two windows on adjacent walls, and also a window for both kitchen and bathroom. Very breezy and light.
The terrace is the best part. It's adjacent to the living room, and reached from the top of the stairs leading to the second floor, a.k.a. rooftop. At the front of the apartment is a small balcony, from which you enter the place. All in all a very interesting place, and I had to persuade the landlord to wait five days until Ling Ling returns, before we can make a decision. I want her to see it before I sign a contract. To enforce the agreement, I gave the landlord 100 RMB, just to make sure he doesn't forget his promise, and gives it away to someone else. That's how much of a Chinese I already have become...

Visa renewal

My residence permit expired last week, August 31st. After I registered as a student at Xiamen University last year in September, I obtained the residence permit from the Public Security Bureau. It's convenient to have a residence permit, since it allows you to leave and re-enter China without limitations. I have used the opportunity only once (to go to Thailand in January), but the fact that you are free to go and come back as you please gives peace of mind.
This semester I won't enroll again though. The main reason is to save money. Xiamen University's tuition fee is quite high (16.000 RMB a year), and by far my biggest expense (second biggest is rent, but that was only 9.600 RMB for the past 12 months). Since I now live with Ling Ling, we are expecting to move to a bigger place, and in general spend more, while she still did not find a suitable job here in Xiamen. Also, my new career as a sailing instructor is slowly taking off, and with a private teacher at my side I won't need daily classes at school anymore :)
However, without enrollment at the university, I can't apply for a residence permit, so I need to stay on a regular tourist visa. For this month, I was able to convert my almost expired residence permit to a one-month tourist visa at the PSB, without much hassle. I did have to go to the downtown office twice though, since the officer on duty requested a proof of sufficient funds, which in China means at least 100 US dollar per day, so $3.000 for a visa valid for a month. I will never spend this much in a month, maybe not even in six months, but I did have more than enough on my Dutch bank account to meet the requirement. The problem was I had to return home to download a bank statement, using my security calculator for logging in, copy it onto a USB stick, and print it out at a copy shop. Nevertheless, it didn't take more than one morning to finish the whole process.
This morning I picked up my passport with the new visa, valid until September 28. Before that date, I have to leave the country to obtain a new visa abroad with a longer validity. A Chinese visa valid for half a year, with multiple entries, is easily obtained in Hong Kong, so that's where I will be going at the end of this month.

Sea, sand, and stitches

This week was the Daring Duck sailing camp. Paul had asked me if I was available for the role of sailing instructor, to introduce a group of 32 teenagers (13 to 15 years old) to the basics of sailing. Ling Ling was also recruited as logistics manager. The kids were selected by their middle school in Wuming, close to Nanning, to participate in the camp, as a reward for outstanding performance. It is not common for Chinese schools to send their students to summer camp, so this was a rare opportunity for them to get away from the exam-driven Chinese education system. I was actually in Wuming last year May, with Xiao An, to visit the wonderful Ling Shui natural pool, and had noticed a large middle school nearby, which is probably the school where these kids are coming from.

The kids arrived by train on Sunday morning, accompanied by three teachers. I was at the beach at 7, to help prepare the camp for their arrival. A little after 9 o'clock the kids arrived, and were given a first glimpse of the catamaran with raised sail, a large tent, several kayaks and paddle boards all spread out on a otherwise empty beach. After the initial excitement of seeing what was awaiting them, they went to their hostel to unload their luggage and have breakfast. Paul had prepared a comprehensive schedule of activities, assisted by a few other laowai, most of whom I had already met earlier. There were also a few Chinese volunteers for translation and general assistance. The group was divided into four teams of eight people, and each started with designing a team flag, and decorating their white caps with coloured markers, basically putting their name (or nickname) on it, in any style they seemed fit.

The first day was pretty windy, and there were some serious waves, so Paul and I had reefed the main sail of the catamaran, and I took each team out for a short but exciting first ride, in sets of four kids at a time. All in all, I took off from the beach eight times that day, and the following days as well, as each day I was supposed to take everybody out for their next lesson. The first tour was just a first experience of being on a small sailboat, which was already quite exciting in this weather, and even a bit scary for some. Most kids had never been on a boat, and some had never seen the sea. All were wearing life vests, of course.
At the end of the third day, by the time I had taught all my students how to handle rudder and jib to make a basic turn (or tack, in jargon), I had to jump off into the surf while landing the boat, but unfortunately misjudged the location of a large rock hidden under the waves, which was covered with razor-sharp shells, and cut both of my legs open. The right leg was cut badly enough to require stitching. As those things go, I didn't even feel anything until I saw the blood streaming down my leg from a gaping hole. I then quickly ran to the tent where Paul used his first-aid experience to bandage me, and soon afterwards I was in a cab to the hospital, with Ling Ling on my side, and one of the students who had stepped into a piece of glass.
At the hospital we were both treated rather quickly, and in my case stitched up (six sutures), then got a tetanus shot and some antibiotics to take home, and we returned to the beach in good spirits and in time for dinner.

Sailing was over for me, but the students were off to Gulangyu island and Xiamen University for a day trip the next day, and there was no wind the following day anyway, so it didn't really matter that much. Instead of sailing, I was assigned to a new task: assisting the kids in building a 5 meter catapult. This was definitely one of the highlights of the camp. A medieval contraption made entirely out of bamboo and rope, except for a plastic pan which was attached to a 5 meter beam and loaded with water-filled balloons to be hurled 20 to 30 meters across the beach to the opposing teams. A great experience in team work, and even more fun on the final day, when the four catapults were lined up on the beach for an epic water balloon bombardment.

No summer camp is complete without a camp fire, and we build a nice one the last evening at the beach. We had a serious sound system powered by a generator, so the mikes were going from hand to hand for some impromptu performances, accompanied by Paul's old-school tunes, or contemporary Chinese pop from the student's mobile phones. Friday afternoon the kids where picked up for their long train ride back to Nanning, after almost a week of seaside adventure and learning. A great experience, also for me. Will be continued...

Sailing

A few weeks ago I met Paul, a Dutchman who has been living in Xiamen for 6 years now. He had bought a inflatable catamaran last winter, and brought it to the beach. It's a small boat, easy to sail by one person, but big enough to carry 4 adults with room to spare. Paul is planning to set up a sailing school in Xiamen, and introduce this type of boat to the local market. The Chinese don't spend a lot of time on the water, even while living on an island, and most are afraid of the sea and can't swim. Selling sailboats to these people can be a tough challenge, but once you convert a few enthousiasts, the rest will quickly follow. That's how things work in China.
Paul doesn't have to convert me however, I have been a fan of sailing for decades. Mostly on the Dutch lakes, renting a boat on a nice summer day. I never owned a boat, too much hassle. So I am very happy to have found a friend who is willing to let me use his boat from time to time, in exchange for a little support for his upcoming business. He already asked me if I would be interested in teaching Chinese teenagers the basics of sailing.
Paul started giving sailing classes this summer, and the interest is slowly growing. Later he will have more boats coming, and plans for a proper sailing school, to be build next to a newly created beach near the Xiamen Convention Centre, are in their final stage. A Chinese investor is on board to supply funds and provide lubrication of local authorities where necessary.
Today was the fourth time I took the catamaran out to sea. It's a Ducky 17 inflatable catamaran, which weights only 85 kg and fits in a couple of bags when disassembled. Small enough to be carried as over-sized luggage on a plane, not much larger than your typical surfboard.
The sea was calm when I took off with Ling Ling this afternoon, but after 15 minutes the gentle breeze developed into a small storm, and it started raining heavily. Visibility was excellent when we left the beach, but rapidly decreased to less than 100m, with no beach in sight, just a lot of water everywhere around us. Luckily the boat proved to be very stable, even with high waves and heavy rain. It was quite a thrill to be sailing in this kind of weather, getting wet all over, but keeping in control of the boat. I have to practice some emergency manoeuvres before starting to take kids out though. Better be safe than sorry.

My new address

Even though I didn't move, I do have a new address. A few days ago, the house where I live was finally assigned a house number: 542. So, I don't have to refer to the number of the house opposite anymore, I now have my own proper address. It will take a while until the postman will know how to find it though, since house numbers are assigned in order of release, and have no relation to geographical location. The house opposite for example is number 293, and my neighbours are at number 457. Go figure..
To let the postman get used to my new address quickly, it would be really helpful to send some mail!

A walk around the park

Since Ling Ling arrived in Xiamen a couple of weeks ago, we have been looking for a new apartment to live together, but both the availability and quality are low, and the rents high, so we decided to stay at my room in Zeng Cuo An for the time being. My room is quite comfortable, but lacks a kitchen and a balcony. Other than that it's conveniently located, and cheap, at 800 RMB a month. The apartments we visited are all further away, and rather grim looking, except maybe for one which was quite nice and bright, but at 2200 RMB a month (excluding service fees) a bit expensive for its size of only 45 square meters.

Today we went out to find the "most beautiful bookstore in China", according to an article I read recently, located in an old villa near Zhongshan park, in the old city center. I have visited the park several times, but have not been there for a long time. It's a typical Chinese city park, with lots of older folks hanging out to play card games, exercise, drink tea, or dance in that typical slow-motion Chinese style.

Most men playing cards use the typical Western playing cards, but we also saw several tables with mostly women playing a game that uses narrow strips of coloured paper printed with some large Chinese characters, and some of these strips folded into small triangles, apparently used as a currency, like casino chips. One of the women told Ling Ling it's actually a paper version of the classic Chinese game Mahjong.

Another common group activity performed in the park is physical exercise, usually guided by a woman acting as the trainer, while tens of others imitate her movements. At the time we passed by, the exercise consisted of rubbing and pulling one's ears, and gently massaging the temples. A curious sight, with a large group of older women loosely arranged around a portable radio or cassette player hung from a tree, emitting oral instructions, which were duly followed.

Leaving the park through it's western entrance, we first went for a quick snack of local seafood, after which we headed for the ONCE bookstore, which is housed in a nice villa surrounded by a small garden with trees and flowers, and some sculptures and benches. The ground floor of the house functions as a bookstore and cafe, in a very casual and homey setting, full of nicknacks and 50's and 60's furniture. Pillow-loaded sofas and comfy chairs invite you to sit down and start reading. There is no pressure at all to actually buy anything, the staff being as relaxed as the general atmosphere. A very pleasant environment, a place you wish you would actually live.

I did buy a book though. An illustrated history of old Xiamen (in Chinese), with lots of interesting photos and maps. It covers the past hundred years or so, and illustrates the enormous change Xiamen went through in that period. Still, in this area there are many streets and buildings which still breath the atmosphere of old Xiamen. As a matter of fact, after leaving the bookstore, we passed the old People's Stadium, a public sports field surrounded by a running track which is popular by local residents and certainly has this old-school China feel to it.

Another day at the beach, another night at the Absinthe bar

Another semester at Xiamen University has come to an end. To celebrate the last weekend with some classmates, we went to the beach at Hai Yun Tai （海韵台） for a long afternoon of swimming and bumming around. I hung my hammock from the branches of a large pine tree at the edge of the beach, providing some shade to the hot sand. For the past several weeks temperatures have been in the thirties, so I have been swimming almost everyday to cool off a bit.
This afternoon I was joined by Paul from Germany, Hannah from the UK, Ding Ding from the US, Jack from Korea, with his girlfriend (also Korean, but not in our class) and one of the Korean mothers in our class, who also brought her ten year old son. An American acquaintance showed up later, with his Chinese girlfriend.
The sea water is now about 26 degrees, very comfortable, and the waves are relatively big at this beach, which is also the favoured spot for kite surfers, so some attention while swimming is required.
After several hours of beach fun, and going home for a quick shower, we met again in the evening in Zeng Cuo An for dinner. The party had shrunk to just four people, but not less animated, and hungry too! We sat down at one of my favourite small restaurants where the always friendly staff served us a fine selection of local seafood, including sauteed clams, steamed fish, and oyster omelette （海蛎煎 - a Xiamen specialty), delicious as always.
The night was still young, so we headed to the ever popular Absinthe bar to help digest our meal with this mysteriously green spirit, dripping through a sugarcube in icy water. The bar has some guitars and ukulele's (the latter for sale), which Paul and Ding Ding skillfully handled to bring us some sweet songs to lull away the night. In my hands, the ukulele produces nothing but some random pling-plong...

Yongding Tulou trip

Ever since I moved to Xiamen, I wanted to make a trip to the famous Tulou villages which are spread over Fujian province. Tulou （土楼） is Chinese for earth building, and it refers to the main construction material of these large multi-storey buildings, usually circular or square in shape, with a large inner courtyard, which often contains several other buildings, sometimes organized in concentric rings. The outer walls are made of compacted earth, usually yellow in colour, and sometimes reinforced with bamboo or wood. The inner balconies are all wooden, and often you will find stone or brick dividing walls as well. Tulous have been build since the 12th century until the present (latest are build in the late 20th century), but the design has hardly changed. Many Tulous have four floors, but three and even five floor Tulous also exist. Their characteristic ring shape might have inspired the late Steve Jobs for the design of Apple's new headquarters.

I made the trip to Gaobei Tulou cluster in Yongding county, in eastern Fujian province, almost 4 hours by bus from Xiamen, together with Miao Qi, my good friend and journalist/photographer. We arrived in Gaobei village just after three o'clock in the afternoon, when the tour groups had already gone, so it was pleasantly quiet. The only problem was that it rained a lot, but we didn't let that spoil our trip. The cloudy weather actually created good conditions for photography, with soft shadows instead of the knock-out contrasts of a sunny day. The first building we explored was also one of the largest and oldest. Chengqilou （承啟樓） was build in 1709, has an outer diameter of 62.6 meters, with four floors, and four concentric rings within the inner courtyard surrounding the ancestral hall. The outer ring alone contains 288 rooms, and its massive earthen walls keep out heat in the summer, and isolate from the cold in winter. The main gate is surrounded by a large granite frame, and interiour stone walls divide the ring in four sections, each with their own wooden staircase.

Next to Chengqilou is the slightly smaller Qiaofulou （侨福楼）, where we spent the night in a simple room on the third (and top) floor (70 RMB for two). Qiaofulou has an open courtyard with some small trees, and a well. On the ground floor, one of the rooms was retro-fitted as a modern bathroom, with hot shower and flushing toilet.
A Tulou can house hundreds of people, but nowadays the number of residents are a bit lower. Still, most buildings are occupied by many families, usually belonging to the same clan. Some Tulous have been occupied by descendants of the same clan for tens of generations. In the evening we visited yet another Tulou, where we chatted with some of the residents. The Tulou community is really like a small village in itself, although many people (especially the younger generation) now also have a modern house in the village outside.

The second day we visited the nearby village Hongkeng, which is stretched along both sides of Nianxi Creek, a picturesque little river, with many Tulous, both circular and square, and a variety of other houses, temples and stone bridges crossing the river in many places, making it easy to zigzag from one Tulou to the next. This village is has developed into a tourist attraction, and features a large visitor center with parking lot for tour buses.Fortunately, this second day we arrived well before the tourist crowd, which only swarms out across the area between noon and three o'clock, being four hours away from the city of Xiamen (and even further from any other place worth mentioning).
The most famous Tulou in this area is  Zhenchenglou （振成楼）, build in 1912 by a wealthy tobacco farmer, and features a large ancestral hall in its courtyard flanked by Western style columns, and decorative iron railings on the second floor balcony. Hongkeng village has a wide variety of Tulous, all open for visitors, which makes it a very interesting cultural site to visit. Some of the buildings are listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites, as is Chengqilou in Gaobei village.

Cycling and dim sum

This week our teacher surprised us with two days off, and one of these days was selected for a morning of cycling along the coast, followed by a lunch at a big seafood restaurant in Zeng Cuo An, right at my doorstep, so to speak. Besides two of our teachers, fifteen of my classmates (basically all who still come to class daily, the other ten or eleven dropped out, more or less) showed up this morning at the bus stop in Zeng Cuo An, and I was notified by one of my classmates that they had arrived, so I could meet them there, instead of having to meet them at our college. Saved me a trip.
We rented tandem bicycles, which is a booming business all along the southern coast of Xiamen island, and took off. I had brought my own bike, of course. I'm still the only one in class with a bicycle, although there is one French student who invested in a fashionable electric scooter. He wasn't here today.
The weather was excellent, and I almost regretted not having brought my swimsuit. I had brought my hammock though, which proved to be a welcome surprise to some of my classmates who were eager to try it out.

After cycling and spending some time on the beach playing frisbee (also brought by me) and generally hanging out, we returned to Zeng Cuo An, where we entered the big (and apparently famous) Jiali （佳丽） seafood restaurant, situated right on the seafront. I have passed its large sea view windows numerous times, but never ventured inside. It looks rather expensive, but they have an all-you-can-eat lunch deal for 58 RMB a head, which is not bad, for the quality of the food and the level of service offered. Instead of a do-it-yourself buffet, you can just order anything you like from the menu, and the staff was surprisingly attentive and well-mannered, despite their young age.
The food (Cantonese style dim sum, similar to my memorable lunch with Ling Ling during my first trip to Zhuhai) was also quite impressive, with a large variety of delicate flavours emerging from the bamboo steamers in which most of the dishes were served. Fresh mango juice  was plentyful, and Fujian tea, of course. The lunch was offered by our college, another nice surprise. With everybody more than satisfied, we all went home for a well-deserved siesta.