Xiamen, China - February 19, 2014

After my full five hours of sleep without a meal...(on a cruise ship that is savage cruelty)...I left my little window bunk and headed up to the Window's Cafe on deck 9 for the early riser's breakfast.

On the Azamara Journey, the forward and aft sections on decks 9 and 10 have inside facilities but you must walk outside to get between fore and aft or, you could comfortably walk to the rear of the ship from the front and use the stairs / elevator on a lower deck.

It's windy and raining and 8 degrees Celsius...which option do I take? The outside jogging track on deck 10 of course! Wheeee! Better than Disneyland! The ship was rocking, my jacket and scarf were fluttering like flags on my body and the deck was slippery. Put this sport in the Olympics, please.

We could call it the "200 m gotta get some breakfast and struggle with door in windy conditions biathlon"

I brought home the gold! My reward was a proper mug of coffee. Not a cup of coffee that you need to refill three times...a proper mug.

Best.Azamara.Perk.Ever.

There were also muffins, croissant and yogurt with fresh fruit & honey to hold me over until the buffet opened at 7:30 am. Formal dining had kippers for breakfast but that only opens at 8:00. Too late for me!

I sat in the Windows Cafe watching the approach to Xiamen. There was a huge amount of boat traffic. Freighters, commercial fishing boats and local fishermen with their coterie of seabirds along side them.

The colour of the sea was something completely unnatural. It was basically brown sludge and disabused me of any plans to snorkel in Chinese waters.

However, the little islands with jagged tops were beautiful. There was no question that this was China. The China of the photographer's dreams.

Some Australians in their 70s noticed that I was alone and invited me to join them for breakfast. We had lots of good conversations. I apologized for my appearance by saying "I've just had my hair done on deck 10."

They liked the joke so we were bosom buddies for the rest of the cruise.

XIAMEN, CHINA

It took a long time to dock but once we disembarked into the ultra-modern Chinese cruise terminal everything ran smoothly. We were whisked through an immigration inspection. Most of the attendants were Chinese women in smart little uniforms including hats. There were security cameras everywhere as well as photographers documenting our arrival with handheld cameras. The English spoken was very good.

At the booth, they take your picture and look at your passport, they stamp a paper copy of the passport and you hand the original back to cruise authorities as you exit.

A shuttle bus was provided to the ferry terminal serving Gulangyu Island but due to the rain, we couldn't see much through the fogged up windows during the 15 minute trip.

The ferry terminal to Gulangyu Island was crowded with fashionably-dressed young couples, wedding parties and holidaying families.

While waiting in line for the ferry, vendors tried to sell us cheap toys and souvenirs. At one point an old beggar man approached with the standard issue tin cup.

Another man rushed over and slapped the cup out of his hand and chased him away. It was a bit shocking the way he was treated.

We paid 15 yuan ($2.50 USD) for the round trip. It only took around 5 minutes to cross. Glad we hadn't opted for the high-speed ferry.

Gulangyu Island is an old colonial outpost that has been transformed into something like the Chinese version of Vieux Québec.

There are churches and villas behind fortification walls. The villas have been transformed into hotels or restored to their original splendour and you must pay a fee to visit.

There are also gardens built around natural stone formations the major one being Sunlight Rock. The brave can climb to the summit of Sunlight Rock.

I had done brave at breakfast so instead, my new friend Gill and I just strolled around looking at the gardens and architecture and chatting about our mutual love of travel, whales and animals in general. We got along very well.

Suddenly, these two twenty-something Chinese girls approached us and with fairly decent English pronunciation asked if we wouldn't mind taking a picture with them. I assumed that they meant take a picture #of# them.

Nope, Gill understood immediately and we posed with one while the other took the snapshot, then switched. Apparently, blonde hair and blue eyes are as deserving a photo opportunity as Sunlight Rock. They were super sweet and thanked us politely.

Then...out of the blue the most alien thing appeared before us.

It was an animal, low to the ground with gigantic feet and the most mournful expression probably due to the fact that its ears were weighing its head down so much that it needed to lean against the gate for support.

Chinese Basset Hound! Gulangyu Island, Xiamen, China

By now we were hungry and we passed kiosk after kiosk of delicious snacks. It was almost impossible to decide what to eat.

There were guava fruit with straws pressed into them for drinking, lychees on skewers, lots of live seafood in aquariums or grilled delicacies.

Some young vendors called us over to their shop and asked us in their best English what we would like to try.

I smiled and answered: Just look at me, I'd like to try EVERYTHING! They were obviously trying to be polite but since I gestured by patting my chubby tummy they took my cue and giggled.

I opted for a bowl of grilled squid with fish balls...no, really...I came all the way to China to eat some gefilte. It was really cheap, delicious and filling.

Grilled Squid and Chinese Gefilte Fish-Gulangyu Island

There were so many things to try but one can only eat so much. I'll have to go back to try the grilled conch. They empty the meat, chop it up and cook it with vegetables and spices then re-stuff it into the shell and grill the whole thing on a BBQ. I will have to learn what that dish is called.

The photo below comes from a July 2012 blog called Thailand beyond solo backpacking. Check it out…there are tons of resources for traveling around SouthEast Asia!

Thanks to benhctan@gmail.com for permission to use his picture

There were many couples in fancy dress posing for wedding pictures with the historical buildings and gardens as a backdrop.

We also visited the shops where there were really cute outfits for sale. The Chinese people were extremely fashion-conscious.

This island resort also had a sea world-type park and probably much more that we never got to see because we were overwhelmed and returned to the ship for a well-deserved nap.