March 28th

Xiamen

When we booked this cruise one of the things I liked about the itinerary is that we were going to stop in Keelung, Taiwan. Then we received an email from Cunard alerting us that the Chinese authorities were not happy about us going to Taiwan, and that we were stopping in Xiamen instead. I must admit I had never heard of Xiamen. When I nonchalantly mentioned to my more traveled friends “oh, and yes we are going to Xiamen too”, they lacked the hoped for response of being very impressed, and all asked “where?”

By the time we arrived in Xiamen the fog had lifted, but it had been replaced by hazy skies. Our guide in Shanghai had told us that she had never seen stars at night until she was a student in Portland, and how amazed she was by the sky at night in Oregon. It is easy to see how they have starless nights.

We entered the Cruise Terminal, which again looked more like an airport terminal than a cruise terminal, and had long corridors and a series of escalators. We could have been arriving at any airport in the world. However, we were in China, and they were playing happy, jaunty music, the sort of thing that makes you want to dance or walk faster and smile at the immigration officer because you are in a happy mood. However, it does not make the immigration officer smile back. After immigration (why we had to go through immigration again when we actually had not LEFT China I don’t know) we had to put our backpacks through an X-ray machine in the customs area, and then we could finally wait in line for our tour group.

Our tour today was “A Glimpse of Gulangyu”. We waited for all 4 groups who were on this tour to arrive. I looked around the terminal. There seemed to be some sort of small convenience store, and a burger restaurant. No evidence of currency exchange or an ATM, but there was a sign about free wifi. Starved of internet time, and feeling very excited, I tried to log on. No luck. You have to have a Chinese phone to access it, so it wasn’t helpful at all.

Finally everyone was there, and we walked in one large mass to the ferry terminal, which was in the same building, and waited again for ages until our ferry arrived, and we could head off to Gulangyu Island.

The Cunard tour groups had the ferry to ourselves, which was good as the other ferries I saw seemed to be severely over loaded, and the sinking of such ferries is the stuff that newspaper headlines love.

In no time we had arrived on Gulangyu Island. The island does not permit cars, but you can be driven around on elongated electric golf carts, so we were soon in one and off to sight see. We drove along the coast road, seemingly trying to mow down pedestrians, and admiring the skyline spectacular of Xiamen.

We drove past old colonial houses and beautiful beaches, eventually ending up at the Schuzhuang Garden. At the garden you go through a moon gate into a real haven of peace with bright flowers, and calm waterways.

We were allowed to explore the gardens for a few minutes by ourselves, and then were herded off to the Piano Museum, where we saw some beautiful old pianos, including a Ronisch baby grand piano, which is very similar to my own piano, and of a similar vintage. I had never seen another one before, so I was very excited.

There was no time to linger in the museum, and we were soon off and walking again, exploring the winding streets with our guide. It was getting hot, and I could see that despite the fact it was all very interesting, it was becoming quite a challenge for some of the less able bodied people on our tour. This did not slow our tour guide down, and we continued with power pacing around the island, with only a brief stop for tea and shopping at a local store.

Finally we headed back to the ferry with only a minor stop to help out one of the ladies in our group who had fallen. There was a long wait in the sun for the ferry, but once on board it was a short ride back to the ship.

The island is very beautiful, and I enjoyed my day there. However, I do think it would have been better if we had just been given a map when we got off the ferry and were told what were the best things to see. That way we could all explore the island at our own pace, and those who couldn’t walk long distances could wander around and see things closer to the ferry. We seemed to spend much of the day either dashing around, or waiting in the heat, and that did spoil it a bit. My suggestion to the tour office was to have a leisurely tour with minimal walking for less mobile passengers, and have another tour for those who would rather explore the island by themselves in depth. It certainly was a wonderful island, and I do wish we had had more time to spend just enjoying it rather than either running around or standing around.

At the end of the tour we decided not to take the free shuttle bus in to town, but to have lunch on the ship, and sit out in the sun by the pool. This was our first warm sunny day, and I wanted to enjoy it to the full. The Lido pool grill was open, so it was burger and fries time for me. For some unknown reason they have Strongbow cider at the Lido pool bar but not in the Golden Lion pub. Anyway, I sat in the sun drinking my cider, and in no time at all I was fast asleep, and getting very sunburned. When I awoke, it was time to soak in the hot tub to recover from all of that rushing around we had done earlier, and to admire the beautiful buildings that surrounded us.

It is amazing; here is this huge city in China that I had never even heard of, and it is a thriving modern metropolis with amazing skyscrapers, rivaling even those in Dubai. I felt so lucky that we had been able to see it.

Synergy played for the sail away celebration, but as our cabin is just under the Lido pool bar, we could hear them perform from our balcony. I sat there sipping my champagne, listening to their music and watching as the sun set, changing the sun drenched, glowing glass skyscraper towers gradually become illuminated, and then exhibit the most amazing light shows I had ever seen. The light displays on the buildings were incredible. I didn’t want to stop watching them in order to go down to dinner. However, with our table near the window in the dining room, we could continue to watch them during dinner, as we sailed away into the night. It must take an enormous amount of electricity to power all of those lights. Maybe that’s why there is so much haze in the skies from burning all of the coal to keep it all going. I’m just so sorry that our photos didn’t show how great the lights on the buildings were.

The show tonight was Pingxin Xu playing his 140-string hammered dulcimer. He played beautifully, and it was the perfect way to end a great day.

China has been interesting. Our two ports have both been wonderful, and I have loved what I have experienced. However, I have definitely felt that I am a foreigner in a foreign land, which should not be surprising, because that’s exactly what I am.