FUJIAN TRIP (Part 3)

Day 6 - Yong Chun - An Xi - 
Quan Zhou

We left early in the morning. We 
were surprised that some of our 
relatives actually came to sent us 
off. How kind of them.  

I don’t remember much about 

this day, I just know that we went 
to this beautiful temple on the hill 
where I got my fortune told, a 
museum with ancient rock figures, 
a 900 year old stone bridge and 
some surprisingly open minded

stone carvings, etc. Pictures 

attached would give you a summary!

Day 7 & Day 8

It was a major shopping day. 
Quite unexpected, actually. I have 
to triple praise the salesgirls though. 
Do you know how convincing their 
sales pitches were to make the 
costumers want to buy their stuff? 
First they showed this AMAZING 
demo of the product, and then they 
gave amazing deals. For example

with one set of knifes, you get a 
chopping board, peeler and 

scissors! Maybe from my point of 

view, that’s a great deal. But for 
the adults, you know, they just want 
a greater deal. I’ve learnt that 
bargaining is the way of getting 
more products with less money. 
The highlight of the day was buying 
knives and bamboo products. I think 
most of us decided to buy because 
it was useful. After all it was for 
daily usage. 

I noticed that our Tour Conductor 
was really happy and smiling after 
we bought bagfuls of stuff. 360

degrees change of attitude. We 
had a final shopping spree in 
Xiamen on the last night as we 
didn’t get to shop on the first night.

We went back to the hotel after 
that and stayed up half the night 
packing and worrying about 
luggage weight. My family was 
just fine. In fact we could check 
in another 10kg!  We went back 
safe and sound without any 
complications.

Highlights.

Shopping was definitely one of 
the highlights. Some of the things 
were more expensive than 
Malaysia but some were super 
cheap. For example, some 
products in the grocery store 

(wet tissues) in Wu Yi Shan were 
much cheaper in China compared 
to Malaysia. Almost half of us 
bought winter jackets, mostly from 
“Hei Qi”, a shop in Yong Chun. 
Most of them were less than a 
100 RMB, which is RM50.  

Four out of the seven nights were 

occupied with shopping too.

Food

Almost every meal had rice, 
Chinese cabbage, and pork belly 
which everyone (except me) loved. 
We wanted to have as many Fujian 
dishes as we could cos it was 
difficult to find in Malaysia. Beer 

and soda were complimentary but 
the soda was often left untouched. 
Beer on the other hand was drank 
by the cousins as if it was plain 
water. The alcohol content in 
China’s beer was much lower than 
Malaysia’s beer. It almost made 
me take up drinking 

(just kidding, still dislike alcohol).

People in China

Smokers could be easily spotted 
everywhere and anywhere. Even our 
distant relatives had that unhealthy 
habit but we couldn’t say anything 
about it. I observed that almost 

80% of the people in Fujian smoked. 
Most of them were guys. Both our 
tour conductors were also smokers. 
This culture could probably occur 
due to the low prices of cigarettes 
and the lack of disturbing images 

on the cigarette packs like in 
Malaysia? Another thing is about 
the sales people in China. They 
were rude. Okay maybe not all 

of them, but we certainly met shop 
assistants with bad attitude. My 
aunt received bad service from the 
shops in Wu Yi Shan and I don,t

think tourists appreciate them.

Toilets

There were surprisingly many public 
toilets in China and they were quite 
spacious. Some of them were clean 
and some of them were…ugh. And 
they all have doors that cover most 
of the cubicle so it was all good. 
We had to go to the toilets at almost 
every destination. Maybe it was the 
cold weather, maybe it was 
because we drank too much water.

Xiamen at night

I would add more details to the trip 
if I could still remember any of them. 
This trip has been memorable, 
interesting and it definitely made our relationship as a big family much 
closer. Through this trip, I also 

got to know my cousins better by 
sharing room with each one of them. 
(except for my couz brother, maybe 
next time) I could go into details but 
I don’t think you will want to read 
about their bathroom habits. 
Cousins, thanks for tolerating me 
those few days. I knew I was 
amazing to share 

room with. Hopefully the upcoming 
trip to NZ/Hokaiddo can happen soon.    

Lastly, I would like to thank the people who made this trip happen! Credits to my big aunt and uncle and everyone.


And here's a quote from the Wu Yi Shan tour conductor,
上车睡觉，
下车尿尿，
景点拍照，
回到家什么都不知道。

mun-lin

18 December 2012    

FUJIAN TRIP (Part 2)

Stone carving inside Xiamen Museum

  (My copy of tour itinerary had been misplaced so starting from here I will have to write from memory. Some places of interest might be jumbled up and not written according to the correct sequence and dates.)

Day 4

We left Wu Yi Shan and went back to 
Xiamen. If I remembered correctly, we 
went to the silk factory first. It was an 
interesting process pulling out the silk 
strand from the cocoon. It was like 
cotton but softer and has 
more connecting “fibres”. 
At the end of the tour, we were 
pestered to buy far too expensive 
products once again. It was rather 
awkward actually as went out not 

buying much. 

We headed for Yong Chun after that. 

I was rather excited and nervous at 
the same time. According to my uncles’ description, the small town was run 
down and horrible with no hot water 
and flush toilet.  But that was 10 years 
ago. What could have happened in 
10 years? 

It was a 2 hours journey and I spent 
the time listening to music on the iPod 
and staring out of windows watching 

Shop selling shoes in Yong Chun

pigs passed by in a big truck. 
We reached Yong Chun at 5 something, 
the moment when it turned dark.

I was AMAZED.

There were shops EVERYWHERE, 
shoe shops, bags and heavy traffic on 
the road with vehicles honking, which 
was a relief to me. 
Noisy vehicles = City centres. 
We were told that we got to stay in 
one of the best hotels around.

Lee Family Ancestral Hall

It was certainly grand but I personally 
thought nothing could beat 
Wu Yi Shan’s transparent bathroom. 
was actually dreading we had to 
sleep at motels which was RMB100 
a night with only one fan and 20 years 
old toilet bowls.

Apparently my dad and uncles were 
pulling my legs with the horror story. 

800 year old Dongguan Bridge

Dinner was mind blowing and the 
best meal so far. Never in my life 
have I ever eaten at such a large 
table that can sit 20 people. I took 
photos of every single dish that 
was served.  We had a good 
dinner, walked and shopped 
around a bit and then retired early 
to energize ourselves for the 
highlight of the next day.

The house great grand father stayed in

Day 5 - VISITNG DAY. 

This was the main point of the whole 
trip, to visit our relatives in Yong 
Chun, or long lost relatives I should 
say. First, we had NO idea about 
the address and second, that place 
might be demolished. It was 10 
years since some of us visited 
their place. 

My big aunt and cousin went off to 
visit their own relatives in Dehua. 
We went to visit a pottery factory 
but sadly it was closed. It was a 
pity cos uncle said that it was a 
main attraction. 

We then decided to visit our 
relatives first, and then visit the 
local attractions later on. First, 
we visited grandma’s 
Lee Ancestors Hall “chi tang”.  
We had to find Ah Gong’s 
relatives after that. 

After turning up at the wrong village 
and a few muddy lanes later, it was 
already 2pm. The day turned dark 
at 5.30 and we had to hurry up. We 
FINALLY got to right kampung 
which had fairly decent roads and 
were easy to walk on. 

 Cigarette smoke engulfed us when 
we walked in, a popular but horrible 
culture in China, I noticed. 

We were warmly welcomed by our 
relatives and it was a happy reunion. 
We visited their houses, which were 
all linked together. The houses 
seem to be undergoing some 
major extensions and renovations. 


Only the Century old house my great 
grandfather stayed before remain 
untouched.

The extensions and renovations had 
a surprisingly modern feel to them. 
For instance, one of the houses we 
went to had marble floor, modern 
toilet, leather sofa sets and plasma 
TV on the second floor. The contrast 
with the ancient ground floor was like 
heaven and earth. 

Behind the houses we could see 
vegetable plots and an orchid farm 
and there was a goat/sheep bleating somewhere nearby. The relatives 
told us that the government intend to 
build a new highway through the 
village in 5 years.  I thought that it 
was a pity since they have been 
staying there for centuries? 

Before we went, we prayed at the 
“chi tang” and took a group photo. 
They gave us a whole lot of 
mandarin oranges too. 


We arranged for a reunion dinner with 
them at our hotel that night. 16 of our 
Chinese 
relatives came and we have a good 
session getting to know them better 
and about life in China in general.

Apparently drunk driving gets you 
in 3 months jail at China. Money 
solves almost anything in Malaysia.

My cousins and I bonded well with 
our Yong Chun cousins. Apparently 
one of them run a shop selling baked 
fish and we invited ourselves to his 
shop for supper. He proved to be 
great host and cooked us such a 
big fish that we needed all the 
people in the shop to help finish 
it. It was an interesting night. 

mun-lin

15 December 2012

  

FUJIAN TRIP (Part 1)

Day 1

At the KLIA Kopi Time 

After one whole night of packing, we were finally ready to go on the Fujian trip. We had to be at the KLIA by 2pm for the late afternoon flight.

Supper in Xiamen

After some delay we landed at Xiamen airport after 9PM. As it was already late, we decided to go out for supper immediately after sorting out our rooms. Our hotel Hua Qiao was right beside Zhong Shan Lu, so I expected some shopping. But by the time we ventured out of the hotel it was already 10PM and all the shops were closed. We ended up going to a small restaurant around the corner and had fried sharks, soup and dumplings. First day was very short. We slept early because we had to wake up early the next day.

Day 2

Morning call was at 6.30AM. We had a quick breakfast and a short half day city tour. One of the stops was the tea shop. I learned a lot about the history, origin and process in tea making and it seemed like I was the only one who was really keen. I expressed an interest in “Pu Er Cha” cos I heard it aids in constipation, which was something I had. After a lengthy talk and sampling various types of tea, all of us quickly left the room for the loo and I was surprised. Clearly, I didn’t know much about buying things. The sales lady was getting desperate as we didn’t return to the room or buy anything. Finally, she chased after us. Some of us reluctantly bought a couple of tea packets but they still looked angry so we left quickly. 

After lunch, we went to the airport to board the plane to Wuyishan. While checking in our luggage, something went wrong with the system. We were all registered as children and there were a lot of confusion. It was my first experience watching the ground crew supervisor running like a mad woman in heels. We ran after her and jumped queues amidst angry glare from other waiting passengers. It was an annoying and harassing experience but hilarious at the same time. 

After arriving at Wuyishan we headed straight to the hotel. There were shops below our hotel but they only sell three kinds of things: Tea leaves, wood carvings and mushrooms. We stayed at the hotel for the remaining afternoon as it was raining.

The performance “ Ying Xiang Da Hong Pao” 印象大红袍is one of the must see highlights in Wuyishan. Our guide told us it has been raining everyday and persuaded us to see the show that night. As there was no other program for the night all of us agreed to go for the show except for my niece because it cost 220 RMB. In the end she did not object after getting sponsors. 

The venue during daytime

The rain did not stop. During dinner, we could hear the drizzle getting heavier.  We were rather worried as it was an open air venue and it was freezing outside. The weather forecast said it was 3 to 8 degree Centigrade outside. We went straight to the venue right after dinner with our cute tour conductor. It was already dark and the road was filled with puddles. My sneakers were 100% soaked 

through. It was then that I made up my mind to 

buy boots, like my cousins’

which were waterproof.

The rain got heavier and the path got slipperier throughout our long walk to the venue. Upon reaching there we had a hard time finding our seats in the dark among the numerous rows and columns of plastic seats. We sat in the darkness and cold wet night waiting for the show to start.  After a seemingly long agonizing wait, the show

finally started.

I was extremely impressed by the whole performance but the enjoyment was somewhat spoiled by the persistent rain that would not give up. The lighting effect was fantastic with lots of laser and high tech projections and the seats revolved 360 degree with the stage surrounding the audience complete with jungle and mountain as a back drop. The local audience behind me were going in their cute accent: “Zha men zai dong mah?” It was so cool! Imagine how much energy was needed to move almost 2 thousand people? Words and pictures can’t 

really do justice to describe the show. You had

to be there to fully appreciate the performance.

 Another thing I really admired was the 

determination and dedication of the 300 or so 

performers. Even though it was raining dogs

and cats and they must be soaked to their

underwear, they remained so professional, 

forever with a wide smile on their faces. 

We returned back to the hotel after an hour and 15 minutes completely soaked. We slept early that night.

Day 3

It proved to be a busy day filled with activities. First, we went to two national parks. The first one was “Long Gui Yuan Jing Qu”, which was a popular spot. Each park required a little walking and climbing, but nothing too tedious. There were many waterfalls and rivers and the cold weather was terrific for walking. At first it was freezing, but once you get used to it you will be okay. After walking for some time, you body will heat up anyway. Golden and orange colour autumn leaves (枫叶) were scattered all

over the ground, not something you get to see

in Malaysia.

 It was beautiful and calm this morning. In fact it was quite sunny. After visiting the two parks, we had lunch and got ready for water rafting, 

or rather bamboo raft drifting. It was MUCH 

different from shooting the rapids we had 

in Taman Negara.

You just have to sit on the wobbly chairs on the raft made out of 16 bamboo sticks while floating down the river and enjoy the beautiful 

scenery. It is apparently one of highlights of 

Wuyishan for all visitors.

There were many vendors selling plastic covers for shoes at (RMB 1) a pair, ponchos and even fish biscuits. The fish biscuits were a con job as no fish could be seen in the cold water.

After the rafting experience, our tour conductor took us to buy tea and mushrooms. I was pretty doubtful about how much we were going to buy judging from yesterday’s experience. To my surprise, the mushrooms won us over and we ended up buying loads of the stuff. Some of us also bought dried fruit from the street vendor outside. We had dinner and after that and it was free time.

Mun-lin

14 Dec 2012