One afternoon a few months back I went on a hike with some ladies I know. Three Western expats, three Asian expats and the teacher/owner of our Chinese language school met for a stroll over a mountain in the middle of the island. If I could read Han zi (Chinese characters) I could tell you the name of this place. Alas, I cannot, so I'll just call it a mountain. Apparently there is a military installation toward the top of the mountain, given its good vantage point and view, I guess. There were many reminders along the road to "enhance vigilance, guard against spy." I don't really understand what that means, but I tried not to look suspicious!
The sunny, clear day offered us a nice view of this lake part-way up the mountain. We have not had much rain for many months and this lake seems to be suffering. It might have been more of a reservoir than a real lake, but it was pretty anyway.
The city of Xiamen has lots of bougainvillea bushes all around but they are usually much less spectacular than the ones I've seen in Hawaii and Mexico, so I was glad to see this one with many flowering branches instead of just a few small blooms.
There were some residential areas along the way, complete with vegetable gardens. The lettuce looked so inviting! They were not rice paddies but the way they were laid out reminded me of the paddies we used to see in Korea. Seeing these gardens made me miss "our" farm back home even more than usual--I'm still paranoid about getting sick and, therefore, don't eat much salad. I plan to make up for it upon my return home!
Teamwork...this couple was not more than 5 feet tall and their bag was almost as big as their bodies! I don't know what was inside it, but it was clearly very heavy. They were making their way down a pretty steep grade and handling it well so I figured they must've had some experience in carrying large loads yoke-style. I'll say it again, these are hardy folks over here!
This cute little cafe celebrated the bikers who supposedly ride down this road. I took this picture for my bike-loving brother. I have no intentions of biking up or down this road, partially because I don't like steep roads, partially because I'm afraid of being hit by one of the millions of crazy drivers we have and partially because I don't have a bike! It's frightening enough to walk along the sidewalk, let alone try to manage riding in the roadway.
This is the view back toward the city. We try to relish the clear days here since we have plenty of over-cast, smoggy days too. Now that it's winter, we have many more cloudy days than sunny...but the steamy hot weather is also gone, so I have to count my blessings.
I tested the zoom lens on my small camera to get a snapshot of the big Buddha carving in the side of the mountain. It is hard to gauge the size in the picture, but it sure looked giant from where we stood across the gorge. Note the tree branch in the foreground for perspective, if that helps. We stopped toward the top of the mountain at a hidden restaurant for lunch. We shared green beans, eggplant, rice and the other ladies had chicken of some sort and had an amazing view. We would've never known this place existed if not for the Chinese teacher who seems to know everything about Xiamen! We were the only customers, possibly because there was a large, black dog that barked menacingly at us when we entered the long driveway. We found out quickly that she had a little of young puppies to guard, but she calmed down after the lady of the place gave her a talking-to. I was glad to find that this restaurant was not so different from the Sichuan place near our home, and not like the one further down the road that offered both cat and dog on the menu! Again, my understanding of Han zi is very poor, so I only know about the meat choices because one of the other ladies read the signs. Must be very careful here in the south of China! All in all, it was a good day and a nice way to spend a few hours.
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