Visas and Kinmen

When we planned to come to China, I was delighted to see that there was a one year, multiple entry visa available that wasn’t there the year before.  We applied for that and heard nothing for quite a long time.  

 Natasha phoned the embassy and asked why we hadn’t heard from them.  They told us that they did not want to give us a one year visa but we could have a six month visa.  I asked therefore for double entry six month visa just in case I had to go back to Coleraine for any reason.  Last time I had a double entry visa, I was able to go out of China any time I wanted and then come back in (but only once).  When we got our visas, we found that what we had was a double entry visa that stated explicitly that we had to be out of China in 90 days, though we could come back.  Well, it wasn’t what I wanted but it was better than a smack round the head with a wet fish.  

So, yesterday we have been in China for 90 days and so we have to go out of the country leaving Naryan behind (he has a student visa) to look after the homestead.  As it happens, when we look out to sea, we see an island seven miles away called Kinmen//Jinmen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinmen ) which is a small island (22x15km) not part of Mainland China.  The explanation for this is complex so I won’t/can’t explain but you can look it up in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China ..  Enough to say that Kinmen is an arsenal and makes the troubles NI look like a picnic.  So Kinmen is not China and going there constitutes being out of China, we decided to visit the island and as I had heard that Kinmen was a place well worth visiting we decided to go for a couple of days.  We can stay in RoC for 30 days without a visa so that’s cool.   

We took a morning ferry to the island and found accommodation in a traditional village 1km from the ferry terminal.  The house was traditional hutong Chinese style with an inner courtyard with rooms coming from that courtyard.  The house was beautiful, cool, stone building with round timbers in the roof.  Yet it was also modernised so had up to date emergency lighting and wifi (not blocked).   The lady came and opened the place up for us and showed us where everything was.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  She then took us to a place where we could get bicycles.  She then had a better idea and went and got a car and took us into the town bus station where we could get one of four guided tours around the island.  This cost about £3 and given that two days was not long enough, we thought this would be our best option. 

There are three main aspects to the tourism on the island.  There is the war, the history and the nature reserves.   The tour started at the bus station because the bus station is an entrance to a network of tunnels that run right through the town, emerging at various gun emplacements around the town.  We walked for about 1km through these narrow tunnels with sounds of shelling being played to us.  Then to a military museum where we had a battle of 1949 presented to us.  Some 10000 Communist troops invaded the island but were defeated.  The last shelling from China took place in 1979.  So many shells landed on Kinmen that the island has its own steel deposits and there is a local industry based on the recycling of the shells into high quality knives.  Finally marshal law finished on the island in 1998 (I think) but the island is still a kind of military base.   Later in the morning we were given bicycles and rode round a nature reserve.

As it happens, the ticket for £3 turned out to be a 24 hour ticket that allowed us to get on any bus on the island, tour bus or regular bus.  So the next morning we thought we would go on another tour on the same ticket.   This tour included the village where we were living and our accommodation was part of the guided tour.  We also went to see some tunnels that were cut under the hill to accommodate about 40 landing craft and keep them safe from shelling.

So what to say about the island.  After Xiamen, it reminded us of Ireland.  There were very few cars.  Why would you need one; there is nowhere to go.  There are scooters but unlike China (PRC) scooters are proper vehicles with licence plates and they have to obey regulations like driving on the right.  On the whole the place was very quiet with few people and very peaceful.  Walking along the main road 5 minutes may pass between seeing a scooter. The village was also silent except for occasional animals – like one of those western movies.  Another spurious comparison with Northern Ireland was when local people asked where we are from, we told them that we are from NI and their response was that we are alike, Kinmen and Northern Ireland.  I don’t know what they have heard about NI that gave them that idea.

Now, to end up with, here is a quiz.  Spot the difference between these two girls.

The girl1 was on the Friday tour and Girl2 was on the Saturday tour.  They were both from Taiwan, both travelling alone, both had exactly the same behaviour and could say the same words in english.  Both spent the entire tour photographing themselves and asking others to photograph them.  They reminded me of the Life of Brian scene chorus “yes, we are all different”

Shopping

Well, Xiamen is a city and I have visited cities before but I have never lived in one.  Cities are quite exciting and that is the way Xiamen is.  There are lots of things to look at and do and thousands of shops that are open from early morning to late at night.  Viny and Natasha like shopping and I go along to make sure they don’t get lost – something they do really well.  The first thing to know is that the more major the street, the less interesting it is.  There are lots of fashion boutiques and big shops.  Not a tig welder in sight.  There are also lots of supermarkets and the ones that are of particular interest are the western ones.  There is a glimmer of hope that they may sell marmite but I have never seen it.  Some sell real cheese but at 4 times the price of UK.   The western supermarkets do sell milk and yoghurt, processed cheese and a thing that they call bread.  It is sweet, more like cake and often is oily and/or has things inside it.  Sometimes you can be really surprised by having something like a piece of meat or something else quite incompatible with the like cakey stuff.  Interestingly, since the diet is not bread-based, there are few things that you would eat with bread.    Then there are also all the other things that make up our diet, like cornflakes and other cereals that are nothing like what we have at home. 

There are a number of western style supermarkets, Tesco, WalMart, TrustMart, RTMart, Rainbow, Carrefour and the big one METRO.  However, they all sell pretty much the same things and at much the same prices. (also some independent ones).  Also there are shopping Malls that have hundreds of independent stalls. 

Some of these supermarkets are pretty darn big.  200m x 150m but as a vegetarian (something you acquire when you see the meat here) there is very little that you would want to buy.  It’s meat with everything.  Even if you go to a restaurant and explain that you do not want any meat, you find bits of pork in your noodles cos they cannot conceive of anyone not wanting meat.  Either that or it was something left over in the bottom of the pan.

The next thing I learned is that there seems no legal requirement for a product to do what it says on the tin.  Or at least not the English bit.  For example, here is a pillow.  It removes liver heat and improves your eyesight.  In the UK there would need to be some sort of justification for this; a sort of first order causality.

Other things, like 100% orange juice one would expect to be 100% orange, but you only have to taste it to know that this is not the case.  Maybe they meant that 100% of the orange was dissolved into a soup of chemicals.  It would be interesting to know what the Chinese says.  This is another issue.  You have a packaging that is opaque and covered in Chinese characters.  What is it?  What kind of food is it?  If I bought it, how should I cook it?  (silly question: you deep fat fry it, like everything else here.)  Then there is the packaging.  On the whole, china is very environmentally aware.  All lights are high efficiency, many of the busses are LPG, all motor bikes are electric – at least in the city.  But many of the foods are double or triple packed.  The biscuits that I am eating at the moment for example; the outer packaging is thick plastic and as strong as polycarbonate.  No hope of getting through that even with your teeth.  The next layer is thinner clear plastic and then inside that, every biscuit is individually wrapped but the wrapping is quite tough. You start by trying to tear it, and then you try with your teeth, then more extreme measures until you eventually succeed and a pile of crumbs falls out.   On the positive side all our rubbish is sorted and recycled.   

Last year I bought a 32Gb pen drive.  I kind of didn’t believe it but it was £4 so I thought, what the heck.  At home, the computer confirmed that it was 32Gb.  I tried reformatting it and 32Gb of it was formatted.  So, the big test.  Stick 32Gb of stuff on it.  After 16Gb it kept going but after that the first 18Gb was garbage.   Well, it was 16Gb of memory, with a controller that told the computer it was 32Gb.  I thought that even as 16Gb it was worth £4.  However, being a messer, I thought I could write to the memory controller and tell it that it was 16Gb.  I did this but it never squeeked again.

The point is that a great deal of effort goes into fraudulent products but some products are both fraudulent and crap  (Viny has authorised the use of this word).  Natasha tried 10 headsets before finding one that worked and a power supply that didn’t work.  They all look like top brands but when you read the small print that says that they are authentic, you see spelling mistakes that tell you that it is a fake.  However, if it is cheap enough and it has a warranty, then why not. 

Here is another interesting thing.  In some mega shops – that is shops that have floor areas of just under a square mile, there are no customers!  One such shop for instance is B&Q though not big by Xiamen standards; it is about twice as big as the one in Coleraine.  There were no customers but many uniformed staff.   It seems like there is no need for the staff to pretend that they are busy.  They just sit round playing cards and chatting.  However, if you divert you eyes from straight ahead to look at some item, the staff rush to you to be of assistance.  They must be bored out of their minds.  Other places like a shop called Oriental Homes has a floor area of maybe 200m x 200m and three stories high.  The bottom floor is things like tools and building materials and the next two floors are exquisite and very expensive furniture.  But there were no customers; the whole place was empty except for us and the staff.   How do they justify their existence? An amazing coincidence though, just as we were leaving, a friend of ours arrived.  This is about 10 miles from where we all live.

Another kind of shopping is the old town.  You can find bits of the old town interleaved with the new town.  In these ancient alleys there are all kinds of shops selling stuff.  Food can be bought either to take away or to eat in.  An egg noodle could be as little as 50p but a proper meal maybe £1 - £1.50.  The shop and the houses are sort of the same thing.  The shop will sort of be in the living room with the granny propped up in the corner and the kids eating their supper watching the telly, and you browsing through the fruit stall.  This is not really that unusual even if the house isn’t a shop.  Many people would have their evening meal on the pavement.

So not much more to say about shopping at the moment.

Getting About

In Xiamen, busses play a large part in your life.  As it happens we live near the coast where the mountain comes closer to the sea than anywhere else.  Whereas this would normally cause a lot of traffic congestion as cars go from the centre of the town to the university area and onward up the coast, here a dual carriageway “bridge” has been built along the shore out at sea so not many cars come down our road.  All the busses do though.  This means that we can walk out of our apartment block and in 200m we are at the bus stop for some 20 busses that can take us almost anywhere in town or up to the north of the island.   The cost of the busses is 1 yuan if you pay cash but 0.9 yuan (about 9p) if you use a swipe card and you can stay on as long as you like.  So, ok, the busses can be a bit ropey but you rarely have to wait longer than five minutes for one and they are air conditioned.  Everyone uses them.  Service people use them to come and fix your electricity or CATV internet connection.  One incident that flummoxed Viny was when she bought a microwave.  She asked the supermarket sales person if they would deliver it. They agreed that they would.  Viny then wanted to give them her address but the man said there was no need.  “Why is there no need?” asks Viny.  “Because I will be on the bus with you.” He says.  They can get a bit crowded at peak times.  As well as the seating of 35 there is no limit to the number who can squeeze in.  Well, the physical limit seems to be about 50 people standing.  There are techniques for dealing with this.  When the front door is jammed solid, ie standing all around the driver, then people cram into the exit door.  The problem then is that those people have not paid so they pass the money forward from person to person till it gets to the front and it is put in the pay box.   

It is interesting that the busses are definitely run as a “service”.  I have not yet seen anyone just miss a bus.  If the driver sees someone who is running for the bus, he will wait for them even though they may be some distance away.  Sometimes the busses start and stop four or five times at a stop to pick up stragglers.

 The other thing which is notable is the etiquette on the bus.  An old person or a person with a child always gets a seat.  From what I can tell, this is the rules which are not enforced but are instantly adhered to when an old person gets on the bus.  Occasional “arguments” occur when a young person gives his seat to someone who doesn’t consider themselves to be old.  

So how do you know where busses go.  Simple - google it. The google map of Xiamen has all the bus stops and what busses stop there. Also a route finder that gives you the route plan. 

Driving generally in Xiamen is pretty scary.  Bus drivers are ok, though I do see some of them getting road rage when stuck behind an idiot driver.  Cars seem to pretty much drive wherever they want, drifting from lane to lane regardless of anyone else. Sometimes they do a U turn in the middle of the road that rarely works out and ends up as a 5 point turn.  Other drivers don’t give them room to complete the turn – the concept of giving way to someone has not been invented yet.  Pedestrian crossings don’t mean much but it does seem harder to get knocked down on one.  One general problem seems to be that pedestrian crossings are often near cross roads with traffic lights so when the green man says go you tend to assume it is safe to cross.  Well there are two problems with that.  One is that there is a traffic turning right rule (remember they drive on the right) which says that cars turning right can go through the red light.  This is quite sensible as they are not getting in anybody’s way.  The other thing is the things that travel on two wheels are not “vehicles” as such so don’t have to obey any traffic rules.  Also as many of them are electric, they are silent so hum past you at high speed out of nowhere.  They can travel on the pavement or on the road and do not have to drive on the right.  They can carry as many people as they can (rarely more than 4) or carry heavy loads of long steel piping looking more like a jousting match or 10 big gas cylinders – a rolling bomb, and of course helmets are never seen.   I have often seen an electric bike driving against the traffic flow on a multilane road, between the lanes.  I see accidents every day but I have only once seen a fatality and he was under a bus.  He wasn’t moving and people standing around did not seem to be attending to him.  I suppose the traffic does not move very fast in the city so accidents are usually not bad.

Starting Life

Saturday, 4^th Sept.

We were introduced to a girl called Jasmine who is a teacher and would teach us chinese. Also help us with lots of other things.

Jasmine came round at 2:30. And we started Chinese lessons by going over the tones. They are different from what I thought - easier. After the hour, Viny says all the western cues for Jasmine to go. “well, we mustn’t keep you” but Jasmine doesn’t understand and wants to help. We need so much help that I cannot understand why Viny is pushing. I suggest that we go for some shopping so we then engaged on an orgy of consumerism. Bought a microwave, water dispenser and an electric hot plate also a load of Chinese nibbles. After getting them back to the apartment, we had a brief recuperation and then went out for a meal. An opportunity for Jasmine to show us what the Chinese eat. But I would give anything for a cheese sandwich.

Had the Chinese lesson a couple of days later then went to Gulangyu Island with Jasmine. Jasmine's family come from the island and she knows lots of people there. Easy to get too. You queue for a boat the same way you queue for a bus. You pay for it with the travel card that works for all transport in Xiamen and it cost eqiv 60p return. The island is beautiful. Full of old buildings of most elegant design and proportions though many of them are derelict there seems to be some process of renovation. Also lots of art work and museums. Would really love to live there. Being Sunday the place is crawling with tourists. Next time I will go weekday. Met a guy called Sam from Florida/Indonesia. He just arrived in Xiamen and is thinking pretty much the same as us. Cool place – may stay.

Then on to buy a printer from the computing place in town. This is a place that has 5 floors. Each floor has about 150 stalls selling almost anything to do with computers. Adjacent to this shop there are many (countless) computing shops of less reliable kind but easier to haggle. A kind of Naryan type place. Anyway after looking at three stalls we bought a HP1050 for 390 yuan from the first one that was originally the most expensive as Jasmine thought that they expected to buy from them. However, Jasmine chastises them for trying to overcharge us. Anyway it cost about the same as in the UK but then it was made in Ireland.

Last week I bought a power supply for my Dell laptop at this place. No problems, just reached under the counter and produced one. The original seemed to be running very hot and I kept turning it off to let it cool. Eventually during a Naryan session it burned out. I think it was that it couldn’t lose heat fast enough. Similar problem with Viny’s hair dryer. It over heated and tripped out after 10 seconds. The max/min digital thermometer also buggered itself.

This new apartment is beginning to grow on me. We are still looking at apartments for Naryan and we are seeing some pretty grotty places so maybe this is not so bad. It is modern, (our apt. Had never been lived in before) but surrounded by “old town”. My first impression of old town was slum and that also did not please me to be living here but now I am spending more time shopping in the street markets and that place is growing on me too. The street markets are a bit like a walk through anatomy class. All sorts of animal are being killed and chopped up. Takes some getting used to. I think my issue is that I want my meat to be happy before it dies. For the moment, I will stick with veg.

One thing about the back streets in the old town is that they are so quiet. Up on the 19^th floor of this apartment block we can see the old town, the dual carriageway along the shore, the sea and the harbour and the park/mountain behind us; but we can also hear everything. There is always a background hum of the town and we can hear the crickets in the trees and dogs barking half a mile away and the tour boats passing and the cars, and the street vendors, and kids playing. Kind of strange.

Sunday, 05 September 2010

Viny went to deliver her open day class at the school that she is courting. Still no internet. The man should come today (if her were going to come in 48 hours) . But I have no money to pay him anyway so I need to go to find a hole in the wall. But if I do that and he comes, then I will miss him. Naryan is in but he may not hear the knock on the door. Quite surprising since he has such acute hearing.

Friday, September 10^th. Decided to find out about this Wuyuan Bay Sailing Club. Took a 22 bus to the exhibition centre and then walked miles looking for a 49 bus. Eventually went to the offices of this extensive development for the obscenely rich to ask where the 49 bus went from. This development has villas with car parking at the front and yacht parking at the back. See google sat image of the development.

I was a sticky mess of sweat and grime and I went into the offices and girls at the desk immediately recognised that I needed a glass of coke. Then one of them went to fetch someone who spoke English. I found there was no 49 bus but I could get a taxi. We also discussed the new development scheduled for completion in one year. It will contain a sailing centre. Umm!

Went out and hailed a taxi. I pointed on the map to where I wanted to go. He suggested that I wanted to go somewhere else. I said “no” and pointed again. He suggested another place I could go. Eventually he phoned a friend who spoke to me in English and she said there was not such place. I said it didn’t matter cos where I wanted to go was this place on the map – whatever it was called. So the taxi took me to the second place he suggested. I told him to just drive and I would direct him. Eventually we got to the place and there was a kind of complex of boat related companies all in various stages of completion. The taxi driver was surprised. Maybe he had never been there before. The taxi fair was 20 yuan – for that much, why didn’t I just take a taxi the whole way.

The club seemed to be being built and I could not find anyone there but workmen. So, I went next door to J boats to find three girls at the bar who didn't know much and they didn’t look like boating types, more like a place of ill repute. One of them went to fetch a girl called Karen. Karen immediately identified me as someone who would charter a multimillion dollar yacht. I was flattered since I looked like something the cat had dragged in. Since I did not have much else to do I agreed to go and look at the yachts and spent the rest of the afternoon making the right noises to all the luxurious bedrooms and fly bridge. She told me that the fees were 200,000 yuan an hour to charter. (the Chinese often get their zeros confused. She may have meant 20,000). I made the right noises there too but she quickly assured me that I would get a discount for a full day. I couldn't understand what the bedrooms were for. Surely you wouldn't pay £2K and hour and then fall asleep. The term “sailing boat” didn’t seem to mean anything to her. She kept repeating “sailing boat” in exactly the same tone as I had said it. (tones mean something in Chinese so they repeat exactly). I drew picture of a yacht with sails and she got the idea. Eventually we took a rib to a 42ft Oceanis but still had to see the bedrooms before sitting on the foredeck with a drink. It didn’t seem like I was going to get sailing.

Settling in

Went to see some other apartments. One on about 10^th floor overlooking the sea. Actually almost all the apartments overlook the sea so mystique is losing significance. This apartment is very nice but a bit holiday-home in style and decor. Comfortable though. Many Europeans in the complex.

Looked at another apartment 100 metres from beach – sort of out the door, down the path and onto the beach. The complex was ubra rich villas but this apartment was grotty and dank. Another apartment looked at was a nice layout inside but the nearby buildings were so close you were looking out of the window into either walls or other peoples apartments. We waited by the bus stop near this apartment. The heat was getting a bit much to bear but nearby there was a big sort of shop/warehouse type building with a big “Kitchenware” sign over the door. We thought we would investigate the air conditioners in this building and maybe even look at kitchenware. At the door a whole load of pretty girls met us but there were no signs of any

kitchenware. We asked and found it was a massage place. How much were the massages? They were about 200RMB. Ummm! A bit expensive for a massage. Maybe they mean Massage.

Need to evaluate my feelings about these apartments. However nice they are, the idea of living in them for a year fills me with dismay. They are small claustrophobic shelves in 35 storey buildings. All are pretty much the same layout. Balcony, sitting room with 1,2 or 3 rooms off that with a tiny kitchen. Door opens onto a corridor or stairs. I want space. The heat is also a factor here. I cannot be outside for more than a couple of hours so these apartments are a bit like prisons.

Eventually we settled on an apartment. Not the nicest we had seen but had certain features that would make life easier. The apartment has windows front and back which means we can get a draught running through. The bedrooms are not just off the living area which seems better to me. There are three bedrooms which gives more room. Outside the front door, the communal area is wide and long with windows. Also a caged area where we can put stuff. The block is about 30 stories high and we are on the 19^th floor. Unlike the previous apartment, we are surrounded by “old town” which makes life more interesting. Also very close to bus stop. On the down side, the landlady seemed nuts. She wouldn’t provide a cooker as cooking polluted the apartment. Actually that is true of Chinese cooking. She wouldn’t provide mattresses cos that meant we would sleep or something. Chinese mattresses are no great luxury anyway. We took it and so for better or worse, we are here for a year.

Next day went to the University to see about registering Naryan as a student. He should have registered a month ago but that sort of got left undone. Anyway, there was no problem if he is going to pay then he is welcome. University is a beautiful place and a refuge from the off campus world of noise. Had lunch in what I suppose is a sort of student union or student residential block. Food was one of the best we have had. Waitress spoke good English. Other things that Naryan has to do is to pay – via an account on the campus banks; have a medical at the Chinese immigration quarantine place and find a place to live. While on campus, I also opened a bank account. I wanted to put money into it via my overloaded credit card but they wanted 3% handling fee for putting money in So I didn’t transfer any. Natasha is looking for jobs for Viny. Viny has some interviews.

Took Naryan for a medical check at the Immigration Quarantine place along the coast northwards. I can tell that Naryan is not looking forward to this. The process required ECG, Xray, vision test, an ultrasound scan (I think they were looking at lungs) and a blood test. This is the real test. The nurse stuck the needle into Naryan’s arm and no blood came out so she wiggled it about a bit. Still nothing so she stuck in another needle which did get blood but it dried up after one phial so she ground it about a bit. Naryan had been stoic up to that point went into a state of collapse. The needles were removed and Naryan lay down but then the blood started flowing making a pool on the floor. We eventually got out of there alive.

Early Days

Next day started slow. Viny, as ever, buzzing around cleaning the apartment. N&N having a set too, as ever. I helped a bit.
One of the local community phoned and arranged to meet up. He arrived very quickly. It turned out that he lived 200 metres away. He invited us all for lunch at the beautiful apartment he was borrowing. Met up with friend of his that is starting a school. Education is a big thing. It seems to be the business to be in here.
In the afternoon, we went to the university to case the joint and meet with an estate agent who would show us some flats. It was soooo hot and humid – I just couldn’t cool down. The first apartment we saw was a bit grotty but had good vibes. Also it was near the beach but that had nothing to do with it – honestly. I could imagine living there. The rest of the apartments we saw that day were awful. (pic of me trying to catch a breeze by the window)
Went home and sat in the shower. The cold water is not cold enough but at least you don’t stick to everything for an hour or so afterwards. Then we went out for a meal. We noticed that most people here don’t have much of a kitchen. It is cheaper to eat out. There are probably at least 1000 eating places within a km of here. How are we ever going to sample them all.

The Journey begins

So, we set off on the morning of the 20th August. Peter (Maria’s Father) dropped us off at the airport then later returned with my coat that I left in his car. The AerLingus flight to Heathrow was uneventful and when we arrived we took a tube to Natasha’s flat in Islington. Natasha and Naryan had taken their 15Kg allocation and also we had sent two 20kg boxes to that address. So these had to be repacked to four 32kg luggage bags. We were a few kg under but the bags were nearly too heavy to manage. Then back to Heathrow terminal 4 and to Kingfisher airlines. Checked in ok and went to plane. (21:00) No rush but no surplus time either. Flight to Delhi was about 10 hours and nothing special. Couldn’t sleep as usual. Arrived in Delhi and went through to transit lounge. Tried to get permission to leave the airport but without success. Didn’t feel too bad about this as we were soooo tired and it was pouring with rain outside.
The transit lounge was full of shops and places to eat. We had no rupees so went to change some money. The money exchange would only change money if we had an Indian passport. Why would an Indian be in the transit lounge?? The lounge had wifi. To activate one puts in ones mobile phone number and it will text you the username // password. But it only works for Indian mobile phones. Why??
Eventually, after 16 hours we are back on the plane to HongKong. Again, nothing very exciting happened but was able to sleep a bit. Arrived in HK about 7:40 on the 23rdAugust. Skyped Douglas and arranged to meet him at HK station. Fast train to HK station. Met Douglas. He took us to HK Yacht Club for a shower and breakfast. After living in same clothes for some 50 hours, shower was orgasmic. Breakfast in salubrious surroundings made us feel human again. Then back to Douglas’ apartment and met Meena also. HK is such a cool place and doubly so when you have friends like Douglas & Meena.
Subway to border at 2:30. Crossed border to Shenzhen, China. Train to Guangzhou and met Chung Jian’s friend in Starbucks at 6:00. He had bought tickets a few days earlier and was holding them for us. We boarded the train in massive thunder storm Never been so close to a lightning bolt again and again. Found our bunks and went to sleep for 12 hours. Woke an hour or so before arriving in Xiamen. Made our way to KFC to gather our senses. Met a guy called Rick who helped us with Mobile sim cards.
First impression of Xiamen was ok. Nothing stunning but hot and humid. Later found out that the back door of KFC let to a Mega shopping arcade all airconditioned. And underground there were shops that stretched as far as the eye could see and a brand new Tesco.
Anyhow, phoned Shan who had promised us a bed for the night and an apartment for as long as we want. Shan picked us up 15mins later and took us to the apartment. 2805 ????? Aparment is good and we will stay for a couple of weeks. After settling in we went out to explore a bit. Shan directed us to Trust Mart supermarket and we went to but essentials for cooking & sleeping. Pleased to find all sorts of western food there. Unlike my previous travels in China where shopping was a voyage of discovery. The weather is like a sauna.
We ate Chinese that night. Slept ok but found it difficult to regulate the air conditioning.