Our First Anniversary + A New City!

Ni Hao! And Happy Anniversary to us! 

I cannot believe it's been an entire year since Alex and I got married but when I stop to think about all we've done this year I guess it feels more like 2! We didn't have a chance to celebrate too much today since we got moved to a new city in China and had to pack our things and drive north on the mainland 3 hours to Fuzhou. This is the capital of the Fujian Province and much bigger than Xiamen was. It's also a bit colder here, 45-60 degrees for the next couple months. I think we explored Xiamen pretty thoroughly so I'm excited to be here where there is much more to see and do. This city dates back to 5000 BC, so I think there will be more interesting culture here with less of a touristy feel than Xiamen had. But, with the touristy feel goes the clean open sidewalks too, so there will be some trade-offs. To celebrate our anniversary we splurged on a fancy hot springs spa in Xiamen last weekend. They had about 30 different hot springs pools of different temperatures and infused with different ingredients like fruits and teas. We also got an essential oil body scrub and traditional Chinese massage. The best part of the whole day was our fish spa experience which you kinda have to see to believe. These little fishes swarm you and snack on the dead top layer of your skin....and it tickles, a lot! It seems pretty gross, I know, but hey its a cool story to tell now :) 

We also visited Gulangyu Island off the south west corner of Xiamen Island. The ferry ride over there was actually a nightmare. The Chinese don't exactly like to wait in lines so waiting for tickets and getting on and off the boat was very frustrating because they all just elbowed and pushed their way through the crowd. To us this seems extremely rude but to them it's totally normal. Not much to see on the island, we went on a polluted day so we didn't hike up to the highest point because there wouldn't have been a view but this is what it looks like- Sunlight Rock. 
The beach was nice though! Hulishan Fortress was my last tourist trap stop before leaving Xiamen. The fortress was built during the Ming dynasty to defend the island and has the largest rear loading, coastal cannon in existence today which looks like this-

We are a little sad to be spending the holidays in China, but that's the deal so we're making the best of it. Nothing would have topped last Christmas anyways :) We even sent out Christmas cards from China! It was a little expensive so only a few people got them but this was our Christmas picture! 

Merry Christmas! 

xoxo, Jenna

Shopping, Gardens, and Temple Seeing in Xiamen

Ni Hao! 

Alex and I have been told not to dilly dally on our touristy things here in Xiamen since we will probably be here closer to one month than three. So last week we did some shopping and sight seeing and tomorrow we're going to attempt to travel over to mainland China for a hot springs spa experience (clapping hands in excitement)! 

The main shopping area is on a famous street called Zhongshan Pedestrian Street. There are tons of department stores, shops, and restaurants along here. There isn't a lot of fun market style shopping that China is known for though, it's very similar to shopping in America. 

 Even though nobody speaks English all the stores are playing Christmas music in English and selling Christmas trees! I had to buy this little mini one to make our hotel feel more like home for the holidays :)

 We explored Wanshi Botanical Gardens over the weekend which was really pretty and huge. I love all the palm trees! 

I enjoy going to the park by the river to read so I can get out of the hotel and a couple days ago I noticed this woman, Judy, taking pictures of me with her phone. At first I was thinking how rude! But when she saw me catch her she smiled and sat down with me, told me all the English words she knew, read a couple pages of my book, and then continued with her selfie taking (with my sunglasses), this time with my knowledge haha. She was such a sweet person and was just really interested in why I was so far away from home. My nonverbal communication could use some work though...my airplane gestures made her think Alex was a fisherman instead of an airplane guy :-/ 

My most recent adventure was to see the Nanputuo Buddhist Temple which was built into the surrounding mountains in the Tang era. I got lucky and witnessed a ceremony of some sort going on.

The Chinese are big on carving stuff into rocks I have gathered. 

 I'm a little sad we won't be here for Chinese New Year which is February 19th. because I've heard these cool lanterns are all over the place and there are tons of parties. 

Thanks for reading my blog :) 

xoxo, Jenna