XIiamen on our own

In Xiamen we decided to be on our own. Last year we visited "Piano Island" (Island of Gulangyu) while here. It's on last years blog. It was cold, grey and foggy/smoggy with the look of rain. What a surprise. :) We took a pass on a redo of the island . The 5 hour bike ride with a Tai Chi lesson and tea was not our cup of tea. Instead we took the shuttle into town. Before we got to shopping area, we had to cross this busy street without a stop light. I was OK, a bit terrified, as none of the cars would slow down or stop. David with his walker was a bit slower..... :) I almost started to declare myself an official crossing guard but David was able to move quicker then I have ever seen him go as he managed the cars and his walker and crossed from one side to the other....safely, Mr Speed. We survived. I am positive I was the only blonde in a sea of black hair. Funny you never think of standing out until you do. Xiamen has a pedestrian walkway about 3 blocks long, Zhongshan Road. It branches out into alleys and smaller streets along its sides. We walked and explored. I had fun taking the smaller alley ways where I found street vendors selling food and stuff.....just stuff...nothing I wanted to buy. I don't think they have many tourists here. There are NO souvenirs...not even a t-shirt. Everything was in Chinese. The only non Chinese were those taking the shuttle in. It was fun and something to do. A friend of mine found a guy selling wonderful pearl necklaces. He had a bucket of shells and opened the shells to show her the pearls. Pearls within a shell are yucky. She bought a pretty hand made necklace from him. Bargained him down to $35. Nice find!