Chinese boat to Taiwan and Eating frenzy

I have a question. Why would you or your child be willing to spend a whole day with your mom’s cousin’s friends, who are older than your mom and who you have never seen or heard about before? I have three possible answers: 

• a.) It is a cultural thing. 
• b.) Gloria is an amazing young lady (22 years old). 
• c.) We are just a wonderful company. 

Of course, I prefer number three! :-)

Gloria (An architect from Perth, Australia) and her Grandma

Gloria (An architecture student from Perth, Australia) spent the whole day showing us her town that she loves so much. We had a great time with her and learned a lot about China and Xiamen in particular. Xiamen is a major port with a lot of shipping as well as cruise ship industry. It is also the first port in China that ALL Europeans tried to get in to from 1400's onwards. The British succeeded in 1841 and then there was Opium war, British Occupation, the Japanese Occupation, and then the 20 year war with Taiwan. Taiwan is within firing distance to Xiamen. So, here is the funny part:

The way the war was fought was that they agreed that Taiwan will fire on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and China will retaliate on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, (Sunday being the holiday).

Anyways, it was very hot and humid today but we managed to see the garden, university, and the Tomb of Mr. Tan who made lot of money in Singapore, but donated it all for the city and school of Xiamen. People here respect him as the father of this province.

Mr. Tan’s Tomb, University and the Garden

The Buddhist temple is one of the oldest in China and we learned the subtle ways the Emperor can show his power and wealth, even through the Temple. 

Arch of Buddhist Temple - the upward curve and dragon indicate Emperor’s temple

The lunch was a feast. We ask Gloria to order whatever she liked and we had all the local cuisine that we could eat. So many of these Dim Sum’s I had never seen or eaten before.

All stuffed and happy, we took the boat ride to Taiwan.  You can see the Taiwanese islands from Xiamen. The boat tour around the islands was nice and relaxing.

View from boat

Taiwan as seen from the boat.  (everyone was very excited to see it J

A random kid on the boat. I must be oozing Grandma pheromones J

Back on the land, we met up with Greenie and all, in a very upscale café where at least 200 to 300 young, upwardly mobile, Chinese people were relaxing, eating and dating. ALL of them were glued to the cell phones. (I am not exaggerating!) I wonder what will be the social evolution in the next 50 years?

At least 10 weddings at the beach near the Cafe

A note in the bathroom of the fancy café J

Greenie’s cousin had arranged a dinner at the very nice restaurant. We picked the live fish (7.7 pounds) and they cooked it four different ways - we were served with those, and a few more vegetarian dishes. Too much eating is going on here and it seems to me that rich or middle class people in China have a wonderful time.

One last tidbit about life here: Greenie’s cousin said that before 1980, when you looked for a prosperous husband, you looked for three things: 1) a watch 2) a bicycle and 3) a sewing machine (she actually did that). 

Now they look for: 1) A villa 2) A BMW car 3) A Business (not a job and not apartment). China has come a long ways in just 20 years. Maybe too fast for its own good (but then who knows)…Good night.