[#5] 02/06/2002-08/06/2002 Ah Qing was 16 yrs old.
It was really a great experience to tour China again with a big grp of ppl ( ard 80). Well, went with my sec sch's CO to Fujian Province for a concert cum tour lah. Some of my pals didnt go but this time round, my CelloBass gang folks were with me ( my juniors basically). Thanks alot guys, you had made this trip a memorable one! hehe!
Reached Xiamen after my 4 hrs plus flight with Air China. On the whole the flight was alright..the plane was kinda old to me...and the food sux. I could only complain about that lah..though dont have inflight entertainment service, I was not really that bored. haha! Actually i remembered i was praying hard when the plane started to fly, thanks to the 911 incident. hahaha! Xiamen airport was kinda small, but a pleasant one. Didnt have much chance to look around anyway, we hopped into the bus and travelled to Quan Zhou. pathetic 5 hrs..gosh. PY and me kenna seperated frm the CB gang..coz we were the seniors..lolz! ya..the seniors took the small bus with the teachers & parents lah...song bo? lucky we gotta watch videos on the way, or else bored to death. hahaha! think the rest was not so lucky lah! hehehe! China's expressway was really "empty" lah...besides the road u can only see the sceneries..hardly any trees. haha!
stopped by at a little mart to buy stuffs. Haiz..when we reached..the souls from the other 2 buses had already chiong into the mart and grabbed the stuffs! damn it! lolz! alright..the mart was pathetic when i reached lah..nearly emptied by us?! hahaha! nothing much left for us anyway, most of them bought bottles of soft drinks & cup noodles. think the mart had a great day ya? hahaha!
Finally, reached the hotel lah. along the way, Quan Zhou really dont looked like a city to me. Little modernised buildings plus there was only a main road ba? It was located at a mountainous area...the whole scene i got really doesnt fit into the "city" category. We had a very warm welcome at the hotel...got TV crew to film us leh?! lolz...we were superstars ah? The hotel main door had this red cloth hanged up there to welcome us...really shiok sia!!! Felt so dua pai..hehe!
Went to visit a vocational school after that...attracted a big crowd. think we went to see a performance, and some of us were invited up on stage. lolz! the china ppl were very friendly wor? waved to us when we were leaving the place...song! Watched the news on the tv, saw our pals on the tv! hahaha! ok lah..think the whole grp was excited lah..imagined we were on tv?!
Had our little concert the next day, basically the cellos were giving me big probs! haiz..hate tuning them..and scared the strings snapped. haiz...it was really ma fan to carry the instruments here and there...and i was the only senior frm CB..haiz. My only regret was i didnt get the photos for the concert..haiz!
Visited the 海外交通史博物馆，清源山老君岩 & the pagodas ( forgot the name). Then at night, we took 6 hrs train ride to 武夷山. it was one of the 四大名山. hehe! Anyway, our grp booked the first class seats lah..but not all of us can fit in..coz too many ppl. so some of us gotta sacrificed. CB gang did..coz we wanted to sit together...( 1st class gotta in grps of 4) So we sit in the "economy" class lah..err..nt very comfortable..6 together...think got ppl smoked in the train...u shld know who they were right? hahaha! had a cup noodle on the train...and played games lah...terrible 6 hrs..haha!
Finally, we reached le！the first stop was the 九曲溪. geog students! it was really a place to see what we had studied on our bks. Anyway, we took a wooden raft to tour ard the area. The water was so sparkling clear and cool! yes...we could feel the water hor..even saw a small water snake swam across our raft..hahaha! really a nice experience! Next, was to climb 武夷山. Haiz..i hate climbing...once u climbed cannot "go stan"...one way traffic. The tour guide told us that we cld end up climbing with both our hands & legs..tt was true. i really did that at the steep part. it was safer and faster to climb that way..haha! finally reached the top of the mountain, got a temple there lah..cld see the 九曲溪 frm the top...damn beautiful! visited the 朱嘉纪念馆 too.
somewhere during the trip we passed by fuzhou. sadly, i only had lunch there, then we carried on our trip..Fuzhou was the provincal capital of Fujian lah...very modernised too!
Took a domestic flight to Xiamen frm wu yi shan airport ( which was located at somewhere high) very small...and we gotta walked to the plane..dun have tt bridge ( wat was it called?) Anyway, took the New Xiamen airlines...first time travelled in a small plane...lucky the journey was stable..wah seh..when we took off cld see the mountains like beside us wor! haha terrific!
Yeah..back in xiamen! I was taken by surprised that the city was so modernised! haha! sua gu lah! visited 陈嘉庚's tomb...it was really magnificant. Also, saw the 集美学村. Xiamen was actually on an island btw. Visited the crocodile farm and on our way to 南普陀寺，our coaches drove into 厦门大学. one of the top unis in south china.
had a vegetarian lunch @ the temple..met some chinese who smoked in the air-con restaurant..we requested our tour guide to tell them nt to smoke..hahaha! i was watching the world cup match..germany vs saudi arabia! hahaha! Then, we went to shop at the 大学街,most of us bought stuffs frm the cd shop..hehee!
A must-see in xiamen was to go to the 鼓浪屿, an offshore island..took ferry there. Heard that ppl who lived there had piano in their hses..forgot abt the details...haha! Took cable car to reach the top of the island..hehe! can see the xiamen city view...cool! visited the bird park too...
The plane we took was frm another model ba? only got biz & econs class. anyway the seat was so big and comfty...shiok! haha..i think our grp nearly "booked" the whole plane lah..hahaha! food was still kinda sucky to me..and they showed "101 dalmations"..which i had seen upteen times..gosh! luckily i bought cds ah..or else bored to death sia! hehe!
Well, recommend u guys to visit Fujian if u have the chance...southern china food was definitely much better than northern china cuisine. lolz!
