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Beijing’s After-Snow---Sigulangyu

Yesterday was the third snowfall since the beginning of winter in Beijing. There has been no such scene for many years. It's sunny today, and the snow on the trees is melting under the sun, and it's falling like crackling rain. Looking at the snowy scene in the sunshine, I feel inexplicably high. It probably has something to do with the fact that my boss is on a business trip and today is Friday. I will fulfill my promise here and talk about my 5-day trip to Gulangyu Island in Xiamen for the readers.

I really struggled a lot before I decided to go to Xiamen. I originally planned to go to Cherating Bay in Malaysia with my husband and children. I have been looking forward to it for a long time, but I couldn’t go because of his work schedule. I also want to go to Sichuan and Jiuzhai by myself, but if I leave my child at home, I will definitely face strong opposition. In the end, I had to call my parents and go to Xiamen, which is suitable for raising children. The cost for four people was huge, enough for me to take a ten-day Nile cruise by myself, but it turned out that it was still worth it because everyone was very happy. After reading a lot of guides in advance, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by that place. When I really got there, I felt - don’t be obsessed with Xiamen, Xiamen is just a legend...

When we set off on November 1st, the airport was basically paralyzed with the first heavy snowfall in Beijing. When we arrived at T3 at noon, many planes that flew around 7 a.m. had not yet taken off. We waited at the airport for two and a half hours, checking the information boards from time to time (there was a lot of information, and the pages turned very slowly, and one cycle took more than ten minutes). Fortunately, our flight was United Airlines. After Xiamen, we flew to Singapore, and there were many domestic flights in the afternoon. All have been cancelled. There was no announcement at all at the airport, and the boarding gate kept changing, sometimes to the first floor, and sometimes to the second floor. There was no warning before, but suddenly it was said that the boarding gate would be closed immediately. We were so scared that we dragged our luggage and children and ran all the way. You know the size of T3. The socks Guigui wore that day were a bit too big. Every time she took three steps, she would squat down and pull her socks off, which almost made me collapse. I finally got on the plane and breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't expect to have to wait, and the wait lasted for two hours. It is said that our plane was blocked by something else, and there was no tow truck to tow it onto the runway. When it got dark, everyone on the plane was so hungry. In order to appease everyone, the stewardess gave out the only food, hot sesame pancakes with ham, which I never wanted to eat again. After being delayed for four and a half hours, we finally flew to Xiamen.

I personally don’t think there are many interesting places in Xiamen. The next day we went to Nanputuo first. The incense was so full that I saw the piety of the old Fujian lady. There was a religious ceremony that day, and the temple was crowded with people. There were flower baskets and various fruits offered by people offering incense everywhere. Many incense groups come from rural areas at first glance. Each old lady carries a red non-woven bag with "Kanghui Tourism" printed on it, which is full of incense and paper. Some bowed before the Buddha in the courtyard for a long time, some touched the carved wooden wall outside the hall and chanted sutras all the time, and some helped each other and squeezed into the main hall where the rituals were performed, wanting to bask in the glory of the gods and Buddhas. ....Compared with them, many people who worship Buddha in Beijing are more like businessmen and lack simple loyalty. I didn’t climb the Wulao Peak behind the temple, so I missed the bird’s-eye view of Xiamen University. Even the legendary release pond where many turtles were raised was not found. I don’t know if such a noisy temple is conducive to spiritual practice. Anyway, I saw a young monk with a delicate face holding a new mobile phone and texting non-stop. I bought the legendary Nanputuo vegetarian cake, which is sold near the gate. But I didn't get a piece of it.

Exiting the door is Xiamen University, because tourists are not allowed to enter due to H1N1. According to the guide, many people even go there to eat in the student cafeteria to feel the romance of this famous university that is suitable for falling in love. The most lyrical sentence I saw about Xiamen University is: The fiery red phoenix flower only blooms twice a year, once for the old students to leave and once for the new students to come... I took a photo at the door. I went to Hangzhou and regretted not going to Zhejiang University. I went to Xiamen. I regret not going to Xiamen University... This is the location of Hunan Satellite TV's famous disgusting TV series "Meteor Shower".

I then went to the Hulishan Fort, which felt pretty good due to the sea and the wind.

This was once a fort built under the leadership of the Westernization Movement during the Guangxu period. At that time, the Qing government was already in internal and external difficulties, but it still spent a lot of money to buy German cannons, and the main cannon here is said to be the only existing one in the world. At that time, it had no effect on foreign aggression, but it came in handy when the Communist Party bombarded Kinmen. There were many historical introductions. We all lamented that the German cameras were so good during the Qing Dynasty, and the photos of the Westerners buying cannons are still very clear. There are also the barracks and headquarters at that time. There are several wax figures placed in a gloomy small room in the headquarters. It is said that the garrison swore to the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi for inspection: Xiamen will always be safe. Equipped with sound clips from the movie, each wax figure would open its mouth and turn its head when speaking, which scared my daughter to death.

We will end our trip to Xiamen city and go back to take a nap. Compared with other strategies, it is too loose and unmotivated. Some of them even made a special trip to a certain elementary school just to eat oyster omelette from a small shop. I don’t have that pursuit, and I didn’t go to the famous seafood food stall Little Glasses, which is sought after by everyone, because I said I had to go very early to reserve a seat. Three restaurants are recommended for me to visit: Zeng Cuo's Jiali Seafood Restaurant is on Huanhai Road, next to Harbor City, and a few minutes' drive from Hulishan Fortress. Absolutely invincible sea view, the beach is under the floor-to-ceiling windows in the lobby, and the sea water is less than three meters away from you. There was a trestle next to it, and there was a handsome guy showing off his body on it. And their seafood is reasonably priced and tastes great. You can also have afternoon tea, 39 per person, order whatever you want. Another one is the sea view hall of Lujiang Hotel. Lujiang Hotel is also an old building, facing Gulangyu Island across the sea. This restaurant requires reservations in advance, but I observed that there are seats available before 6:30. If the weather is nice, you can eat on the large terrace while watching the night view. There are various barbecues and snacks in the evening, and you can also order seafood. I just can’t stand it. How can Xiamen people treat snacks as meals and have afternoon tea at any time? The most grandly launched one is Yazhu Seafood Restaurant on Douxi Road, which I also saw in the guide. The author doesn’t recommend it too much, but I was very surprised when I went there. The store here is very large, and there are basically no tourists. There is an endless stream of locals and it is bustling with people. The dishes all tasted very good. The four of us ordered 7 dishes and snacks, including fish and shrimp, and the checkout was only 160! Falling in love with this place immediately.

We went to the famous Zhongshan Road for leisure in the evening. There was nothing unexpected here. I heard that Huang Zehe’s peanut soup was very sweet, so I gave up because of my dad’s blood sugar. I looked at the street sign very persistently and found the little Eight-grandmother's Burnt Fairy Grass - Well, how should I put it, if you don't read the guide, you won't know to eat this, but after eating it, I found those who wrote the guide It can really turn decay into magic.

The next day, we booked a day trip to Yongding Tulou at the hotel. Considering that Nanjing Tulou can only see the "four dishes and one soup" perspective, we chose to go to Yongding. The earth buildings in Yongding are all descendants of the Hakka people, and those in Nanjing are also locals. These earth buildings were once unknown. In the 1950s, they were discovered by the US military under surveillance. They saw more than 20,000 unknown buildings and thought they were military projects. They followed him for 10 years. It wasn't until after Nixon's visit to China that he sent a reporter to China to see the interior of the earth building with his own eyes in the name of an interview, and he was convinced that it was a private residence. The tour guide said on the way there that there are two routes. If you go to visit Chengqi Tower, the King of Earth Buildings, you can climb the building. If you go to the Prince of Earth Buildings in the Folk Village, you cannot climb the building and can only watch it in the yard. Everyone in the car chose the former. After three hours of bumpy ride, we arrived at Chengqi Building. This building was built in the Qing Dynasty and has a history of more than 400 years, but it looks like it can still live in for 200 years. It is really different from the buildings in Shanghai that collapsed before it was completed. It is said that hundreds of years ago, a large number of people from Henan arrived in the mountains of Fujian. For safety and reproduction, they built this kind of townhouse community that could not only protect against enemies but also be suitable for large families to live in. This building is completely made of brick and wood structure, without a single screw. The bottom is a large stone foundation, and all the bricks are adobe bricks. The outermost ring has floors one to four. The bottom is the kitchen, the second floor is the granary, and the third and fourth floors are residences. One unit from the first to the fourth floor is a family, and each bedroom is about 9 square meters.

The second circle inside is the bathroom of each family, the further circles are the living room and private school, and the middle is the entire core area - the ancestral hall, which is dedicated to Guanyin and is also a place for family members to hold weddings and weddings. This building once belonged to the Jiang family. The old man of the Jiang family and his four sons built the earth building, with 400 rooms in one house and 800 people living there at most. There are still more than 200 people living there. The dogs are very friendly. Children are playing games. Some women are selling tourist souvenirs at their door. An old man is lying on a recliner to advertise: Accommodation is available, 30 yuan per bed, two people per room. . There are two wells in the earth building, as well as water and tap water. It's just not convenient to go to the toilet. They still use the toilet, and the public toilet is outside. But when I think about it, it’s similar to the alley I lived in when I was a kid. Next to it are the earth buildings from the Ming Dynasty and the newly built earth buildings in the 1960s. The 600-year-old Wuyun Tower in the Ming Dynasty had tilted during the 1918 earthquake. It is now full of scaffolding. It is said that the cultural relics protection unit has not yet figured out how to repair it. What's even more surprising is that there are actually two elderly families living here. The local tour guide is also a Hakka woman named Ah Cai. She is very enthusiastic and has a sense of humor. She pointed to the photos of the round earth building and the square earth building and said: What kind of building do you think these look like? Haha, it looks like the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. Ah Cai's husband set up a stall opposite the earth building. All members of our tour group went to his house to drink tea, and thus bought up all their roselles and persimmons (local specialties). At that time, I sighed that it was different to have a professional at home. Yongding Tulou is highly recommended, a very interesting place.