Yanni` AmoyAmoy blog

It is raining again, just another day in Vancouver.

I am still complaining about the weather here, I guess 6 years is not long enough to get used to it. But I am sure I got enough of it. When it rains, you just want to run back home and crawl into the blanket.

 

 

 

Yanni whins too much about the rain and it doen`t seem to go away..

:(

:(

:(

 

but luckily I don`t have any symptons of SAD disease

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don`t wanna do too much comparison between Xiamen and Vancouver, They have too different climate. In xiamen, we have showers, typhoons in the summer. And it stays mostly dry in the winnter. I guess compared to other cities in Canada, weather wise, Vancouver still has the mildest weather. Next time you come to visit, do remember to take some rains away. I can`t believe someone there is selling it, IT IS TAP WATER!

" hmmm... I wonder How it tastes like..."

 

 

 

 

 

Check this RIP-OFF and hurry up they have 40 bottles left...lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No offence~ and HAPPY FRIDAY!

People from other parts of China always called my hometown "SLOW" city. Unlike the hot boiling water kind of life style, xiamen keeps it slow and relax through out the history. People walk their dogs and birdies in the morning and come back home. Make a big pot of FUJIAN tea and that will be the whole afternoon. Tea houses are seen everywhere and mostly open till mid night.  Some people think it is a waste of life, but I think it is a piece of treasure land in today`s competitive and pressured world.

 

This is an old park in Xiamen, just like the central park in Newyork.

 

It`s a place for kids and lonely seniors

 

Too much memories flush into my mind, those days when i am still a little girl, running aroud with my grandparents in the park and begging them to buy me a fun ride.

It`s still the fantacy land for kids grown up in XIAMEN, and it is still the way it is years ago, simple and quite.

 

 

 

 

It is quite common you will see people swinging a bird cage cover with dark cloth in the Chinese Park, it`s called birdie walking. Not any kind of bird can be taken to have fun. Those particular bird are called The Thrush  They have very nice and loud voice like Pavarotti. And walking them every morning makes them happy and it is said to be good for their voice too. Plus they also get a chance to compete with other trush in the park too!

 

 

 

 

 

"Life in Xiamen is just like a sip of a cup of tea"

People from other parts of China always called my hometown "SLOW" city. Unlike the hot boiling water kind of life style, xiamen keeps it slow and relax through out the history. People walk their dogs and birdies in the morning and come back home. Make a big pot of FUJIAN tea and that will be the whole afternoon. Tea houses are seen everywhere and mostly open till mid night.  Some people think it is a waste of life, but I think it is a piece of treasure land in today`s competitive and pressured world.

 

This is an old park in Xiamen, just like the central park in Newyork.

 

It`s a place for kids and lonely seniors

 

Too much memories flush into my mind, those days when i am still a little girl, running aroud with my grandparents in the park and begging them to buy me a fun ride.

It`s still the fantacy land for kids grown up in XIAMEN, and it is still the way it is years ago, simple and quite.

 

 

 

 

My mon phoned me yesterday. She told me the bombax flowers are blossoming around the city. Like cherry blossom here in Vancouver, April is the season for bombax flowers in Southern China. It`s a very provocative flower, heavy and STINKY. I do not particularly like them, I`ll show you some pictures and you will know why.

 

 

 I know.....I know.... they r very pretty

Very nice flower, you must think. I like the ethusiastic red and.......the splash of mud left on the road when run over by thousands of car....

" We better hurry clean it up before the morning traffic comes"

 

 

In 2006 I went back to Xiamen for the second time and my mon and dad recommend a new hot spring resort for me. It was built by Taiwanese and it`s defintely the best Hot spring resort I`ve ever been compared to the one in Harrison,BC (well,,thats the only hot spring place I`ve ever been in North America)

 

 

 

It is very elegant and lots of lots of pool to choose from, well, most of the time we were too busy switching pools to pools, they even got the ice pool, some of them are moderate temporature, some of them are unbearly hot. Most of the pools are outdoors and flavoured by different Chinese herb, (yukyukyuk...) they have coffee, red wine even milk flavored too (FOR ALL THE LAOWAI) hhehe..

 

 

The only thing i didnt try which becomes polular later is the Turkey fish pool. That s the pool you go in and catch the fishes with your chopsticks provided by the resort and dip it in the soysause and yumyum...haha... Deh... The  small hotspring fishes are  from Turkey. You go into the pool together with the fishes while the fishes eat away your dead skin…My  friends told me it is ticklish feeling. This time I am going to feed some hungry fishes in the water for real!

 

This Hot Spring resort is about an hour drive from City Xiamen and it`s conveniently situated by the Highway. It costs around $13 CAD for the whole day. There are different massage and SPA area too. The massage is performed with you lying on a big hot giant stone slab which is heated by the hot spring water underneath. Amazingly only costs you another $5-$10CAD extra... ! Click here to see more infomation of the resort RIYUEGU HOT SPRING RESORT

I` ve been always a big fan of sea collection, no matters if it is fish or shell.. Here are some collection by a Canadian Designer. Although I found most of them ain`t cheap  $%@#$%@#% here is the website MASHUMASHU

Yanni is Oceanic, repeat after me!

 

( click on it and save it as your desktop background)

I found an interesting website "whats on xiamen" developed by some "LAOWAI" living and working in XIAMEN one day and I want to share an article written by a local girl in Xiamen.

200651311551252667 Xiamen by the sea - too many delicacies to choose from

Updated: 29 Feb 2008

My mother was stopped by a male visitor one day on Zhongshan Road, the age-old commercial street and city center of Xiamen, Fujian province, who asked her where he could find a genuine local delicacy. After thinking for a while, she answered, "I don't know." Well, I should say that is the worst answer that a native of Xiamen, in East China, can give. But my mother had her reasons to be vague. 200651311545888741 "I didn't know which one to start with," my mom explained. "The other thing is he emphasized 'the most genuine' food, which you couldn't find in decent restaurants, but mostly tiny places that are scattered in inconspicuous streets and alleys. They are seldom on the map. Visitors will easily get lost unless they have a local guide to tour around." She is right. I've heard a lot of people who have been there talking about my hometown - how they enjoy the pleasant climate and crystal clean sea, how enchanting Gulangyu Island is, how jealous they feel of local residents, and how they wish to spend their retirement there. Often, they will end such cliched talk with "and the seafood is yummy". 20065131154212540 I don't think the seafood distinguishes Xiamen much from other coastal cities in the world. Only when you squeeze into those crowded snack eateries for a cup of peanut soup, or start the day with a casual sip of tieguanyin tea and a sweet stuffing cake, can you feel the soul of this small city of peace and leisure. For me, the Spring Festival holiday not only means an evening banquet with relatives, but also a reunion with a lot of distinctive snacks and refreshments. Yet during the vacation, I had the same problem as regular travelers. I stuffed too many fish, crabs and shrimps, leaving not much space for tasty street delicacies. Particularly, I missed one of my favorite snacks that I strongly recommend to future visitors in Xiamen. 20065131155477930 It used to be a common scene that street peddlers carried two baskets on a shoulder pole and hawked tu sun dong. The three characters literally mean soil, bamboo shoot and jelly. Yet the word tu sun has nothing to do with either soil or bamboo shoot. In Xiamen dialect, it refers to a kind of sea worm. People first soak a handful of such tu sun in water so that the worms spit out mud. Then they press the worms to get rid of the remaining mud, and cook them in boiling water for a few minutes. The final step is to pour the soup and worms into several bowls. The soup will become jelly after it cools down. 200651311535594679 Such worm jelly is half crystal colored with white, bamboo-shoot-like worms visible. It may sounds scary but tastes great. And the authentic way to eat it is to dip it into the locally-made sweet pepper sauce, or a mixture of soy and wasabi sauce. If it's summer, you are advised to cool it in the fridge first. The jelly will feel smooth when it fills your mouth, and the worms will be crisp. Source: China Daily

YUM YUM

I never find myself that into Palm trees until I spent a couple years living in Vancouver. It`s nice but it is COOL, even in the Summer. PLUS, summmer is particularly short, and its getting shorter and shorter every year for some reason, isn`t that we have the global warming issues? shouldn`t we at least get more summer days? $@%$@%#$%$%. (dunt click on that,,theres nothin there, but i know somebody would).......

 

 

 

Yes, palm trees in Xiamen are shorter than the ones in Califonia.They are more leafy because we get more rain compared to California. Seeing those palm trees in the picture reminds me a line in the movie " Palm trees after Palm trees, he said, here is where we live."

me and harlan are the same type of person, wherever places full of palm trees and cactus will be our first choice of vocation place. Red stone Arizona or White sand beach Hawaii, you tell me !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CALIFORNIA! one day, Yanni is going to see you there!

 

When you are walking down in the tranditional xiamen fish market, you will feel like you are being stared all the time..There are probably victious running kids screaming "Laowai Laowai" but mostly these...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can see Harlan running fast in the background, escaping the "terrible" Chinese fish market scence and the very FISHY smell~ haha..FISH in our lives.. People in xiamen loves seafood, they are the basic dishes on our table. And the way we make it usually called HOKKEIN STYLE seafood, famous for its freshness!

 

 

                            Har s probably is wondering why Yanni take him to fish shopping first !

-----> Yanni, why dunt you take me to the beach, I want to see the palm treeeeeess!

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe it`s a little bit early to show you what we eat here, but yanni just cant wait to show you the fishes she love.. or her stomach love...

Now you landed in Xiamen International Airport~

 

WIth beautiful Xiamen air attendants dancing and smiling and screaming: HARLAN! HARLAN!

 

 

 

 

 

 

some of them even pass

out... lol 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you are going to ignore the fainting fan and move down by the elevator!

 

 

HERE YOU ARE~ Welcome to XIAMEN!