Dear Steemit friends:

Today, we're taking a trip to one of Xiamen's most scenic landscapes - Gulangyu. People often cite huge regret visiting Xiamen and missing out on Gulangyu, don't be one of those people! ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/nLgVBBT.jpg) Gulangyu is a small island just off the coast of the main island of Xiamen. The land area of the island is 2km squared, and the local population is about 20,000. People often call Gulangyu a maritime garden floating on the sea. Aside from electric powered vehicles, there are no other motor vehicles on Gulangyu island, as such, the little island retains a leisurely and peaceful atmosphere, unhindered by outside disturbance. In 2005, the Chinese National Geography magazine cited Gulangyu as one of China's most beautiful city districts, ranking number one. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/o4QK2O2.jpg) This is the view from a restaurant of Gulangyu. You can only come to Gulangyu from Xiamen via boats, and there are only two piers with boats shuttling people between the two islands. In the picture is one of such piers, across the water, you'll see the Xiamen side of the pier. This is the shortest distance between the two islands but the pier on Xiamen now restricts passengers to local Xiamen people. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/lPNGySY.jpg) For tourists such as myself, we have to take a boat from the Dongdu pier which is a little further away. Me and my friends stayed in a hotel some 20 minutes away from the Dongdu pier, and we were some how brave enough to buy boat tickets for 9:30am! ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/UB7fTmG.jpg) As you know, girls take a long time getting ready, as a result we were late leaving for the pier. Adding to our lateness, our taxi was stuck in rush hour traffic. By the time we arrived at the pier, we had 3 minutes left before our boat was due to leave. We ran to the boat like our lives depended on it and some how made it seconds before it was leaving. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/Uc6BK1O.jpg) 20 minutes later, we arrived at Gulangyu ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/jnZi5gX.jpg) Seeing this architecture you can breathe a sigh of relief, thank heavens for arriving without getting lost at sea. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/YtO4JqV.jpg) There are many tourists coming to Gulangyu, it's practically shoulder to shoulder at the landing area. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/Ej4ZZlX.jpg) The island is full of vegetation. The trees everywhere serve like umbrellas shading us from the sun. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/o4x4tFa.jpg) Believe it or not, Chinese girls are afraid of getting a tan. It's a sort of cultural discrepancy. As a result, there are many stalls selling hats and business is thriving! ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/10Pg4ur.jpg) Here is the ticket to Gulangyu, as you can see the area is rated AAAAA. This is the highest grade of any place of interest in China. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/J4rNalY.jpg) The densely packed dots on the back of the ticket are all points of interest. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/p1ZHPpw.jpg) Gulangyu is a very sentimental place. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/CNy5MYf.jpg) Me and my friends decided to eat whilst taking a stroll. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/tlT7H6G.jpg) Here is a local resident carrying some fresh fruits for sale on a shoulder pole. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/u1tEUhg.jpg) Gulangyu is home to many special local tropical fruit produce. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/KezaTD7.jpg) These brightly coloured red fruits caught my attention. These are also special fruits from Gulangyu. The purple coloured fruit is called Passion Fruit, and the red one on the right is called the Wax Apple. They are sold in skewers and taste sour, sweet and crunchy! ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/NDqWRfk.jpg) To drink the juice from the passion fruit, a straw is provided. It tastes a bit sour, usually you would add some sugar or honey. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/ju3Cj9c.jpg) These are freshly peeled papaya fruits, they're served in little cups ready to eat. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/5Sk3W0d.jpg) Red Banana's, a very special colour! ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/GGYN54j.jpg) Various fruit platters. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/ei4Xsm0.jpg) The mango's here taste really sweet. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/4LpGwIB.jpg) I really like this narrow hillside alley, it's has an implicit charm. You can even see some school kids in uniform walking down the steps. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/DGDar8U.jpg) One of the other food highlights is the seafood. Fresh seafood on the shop fronts really draw attention from passerby's. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/IZqfJdI.jpg) 1 ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/WuklhdW.jpg) 2 ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/zLEsj7G.jpg) 3 ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/yiWyMiJ.jpg) 4 ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/YGOh7XB.jpg) These are bamboo shoots soaked with hot chilli peppers. I've introduced these before in a previous post. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/eV26bgp.jpg) The store owners selling sausages will hang their produce on the roofs outside to attract potential customers. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/jnypa46.jpg) This little stall sells tea eggs as well as fried seafood skewers. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/EYwU4VU.jpg) This the work shop of a person selling Cuttlefish balls and Fried Shrimps ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/uQuWfY1.jpg) ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/nLgVBBT.jpg) Some Chilli powder is sprinkled on the cuttlefish balls. It tastes a little spongy but still very fresh. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/iR3ORFM.jpg) Can you guess what this strange machine is? ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/f9qBL0L.jpg) That's right, it's a pearl cleaner. The owner carefully picks out the pearls from the oysters and places them in the machine to clean them. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/4eTYv1r.jpg) After peeling the outer layers off, you're left with the familiar sparkling pearl. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/HRUmNe1.jpg) The man will collect these pearls in the machine ready to wash. As it's washing, there are lots of bubbles. ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/v9Or5Y6.jpg) I hope you enjoyed my visit to Gulangyu, my only regret is that I only stayed for one night. I would recommend to stay a minimum of two nights to fit everything in! ![Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/doRKPeh.jpg) 今天我想带你们去探索一下厦门最著名的风景区——鼓浪屿，人们常说，如果你来到厦门，却没有上鼓浪屿看一看，会是一种遗憾。鼓浪屿是厦门思明区的一个精致的小岛，面积不到2平方千米，人口大概2万。人们常常叫它海上花园，除了环岛电动车岛上没有任何机动车辆，所以小岛有着悠闲安静的气氛，不被外界所打扰。这是从餐厅的天台上看过去的鼓浪屿。从厦门本岛去鼓浪屿需要坐船，全厦门有2个码头可以上鼓浪屿，一个就是照片上这个位置，与鼓浪屿隔海相望的轮渡码头，也是去鼓浪屿最近的码头。可惜这个码头现在只供给户籍是厦门的本地人使用。我们游客需要去远一些的东渡码头，所以我们登岛的路程里还有个小故事。因为我的朋友登岛前一晚买好了第二天早上9点半的船票，但是我们住的酒店距离东渡码头有20分钟车程。所以到达码头的时候，只有3分钟船就要开了。鼓浪屿可爱的小门票，鼓浪屿是国家5A级也就是最高级别的景点。扁担挑着的水果, 岛上卖吃的的大部分是本地的居民。路边红色鲜艳的水果吸引了我，都是鼓浪屿的特色水果。紫色的名字叫百香果。右边红色的是莲雾，是串起来卖的，吃起来又酸又脆。百香果插着吸管是为了直接喝到里面的果汁，不过喝起来有点酸，一般要加白糖或者蜂蜜。路边小摊的木瓜，现削成一块块，放在口杯里吃。狭窄的小山坡里的小巷子好有韵味，还有一群穿校服的小学生。岛上的海鲜也是另一大看点，摆在店铺门口的地上，引起了大家的兴趣。辣椒泡着的土笋冻，我在之前的文章里有介绍过。卖腊肠的店家直接把食物挂在门口的屋檐下，招揽客人。这家店铺卖茶叶蛋，各种炸海鲜。卖手工墨鱼丸和芙蓉虾的小作坊。墨鱼丸上撒了辣椒粉，吃起来很松软新鲜。猜猜这是什么？没错，这是洗珍珠的机器。店主从蚌里取出一颗颗豆子大小的珍珠。拨去外面的皮，就成了晶莹剔透的小珍珠, 之后会把一盆珍珠倒进洗珍珠的机器，机器打出浓浓的泡沫。今天的鼓浪屿之行就走到这里，其实真正会玩得游客一般会选择在岛上住上2晚，这样岛上有趣的地方才能全部走遍。