Family Fun: Xiamen

SEE ASIA AND bEyoND WITH SILKAIR

APR 2014

BLISS OUT IN BORACAY 长滩岛：幸福天堂

JAMU: NATURE’S CURE-ALL 佳木：天然的医者

ENCHANTING MANDALAY 妩媚曼德勒

Family Fun

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Get beached The windy beaches are perfect for flying kites – several national and international kite festivals have been held here over the years. Alternatively, sporty youngsters can try their hand at standup paddle boarding, or you can rent and ride tandem bicycles from stands next to the boardwalk.

Over at Hai Yun Tai (facing page) and Huangcuo beaches, a number of schools train newcomers in the exhilarating sport of kitesurfing. For more contained family fun, head out to the sprawling 21,000 sqm Xiamen Guanyinshan Fantasy Beach Water Park, where your toughest decision is deciding where to head first: the wave pool, water slides or spas and therapy centres.

Its bustling seafront, green spaces and lovely 19th-century architecture, make this coastal city one of China’s prettiest family-friendly destinations. By BIju Sukumaran

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he staccato grunts of uniformed team members resound as their arms pump into motion, synchronising as they establish a rhythm. I’m at the Jimei Dragonboat Race in Xiamen, China, and although they’re out of the water, the Taiwanese team looks good as they finish their warm-up.

Along with several friends, I’ve come to support the mixed foreign and Chinese team – the only such team – as they attempt to give it a go on the Jimei University Lake this afternoon. Families have been streaming into the area, taking the two-hour bus from Xiamen to cheer on their favourites, indulge in street food, and make an outing of the festivities.

As the teams line up in the thin wooden boats, there’s a pause as children are lifted up and snacks are abandoned, while

cameras are poised in anticipation, zooming onto hands clenched around lifted paddles. The loudspeaker crackles, the whistle blows, and the race is off!

Located off the coast of China’s Fujian province, about an hour by ferry from Taiwan, Xiamen, known as Amoy in the 14th century, was a former fort of the port city Quanzhou, the terminus of the Maritime Silk Road. Today, it’s a place of parks, boardwalks and beaches, and is considered one of the most beautiful and liveable of China’s many cities. In the summer, the beach next to Xiamen University is filled with students and families splashing in the waves, throwing Frisbees or wandering the boardwalk where local musicians strum their guitars and serenade the crowds. Truly, Xiamen is a city best enjoyed outdoors.

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Musical Wonderland Imagine a car-free, pedestrianonly island, where pianos outnumber bicycles, and strains of piano concertos whisper from hidden speakers throughout the town. Welcome

to Gulangyu islet. A 10-minute ferry ride from Xiamen, Gulangyu is more famously known as Piano Island, due its close, if quirky, association with the musical instrument. Interesting factoid for the kids: Gulangyu boasts the largest collection of pianos in the world, with a piano museum (above) flaunting about 100 ancient versions of this instrument from around the world. Even the ferry

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on the Market trail For a more local experience, wander through Zhongshan Road, Xiamen’s walking street. A closed-off district close to the university, it’s a riot of mom-and-pop shops and bigger department stores packed with high-end jade and handcrafted curios like masks, regional dried goods and sweets. The nearby night food market is one of the largest in Xiamen selling local delicacies, and assorted seafood and meat, grilled on the spot.

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explore castles in the sky If mystery is what you’re after, check out the rounded communal fortresses – known as tulou – of Xiamen’s Hakka people. Made of rammed earth, the larger examples dominate the landscape a few hours by bus from Xiamen. A story tells of CIA analysts assuming they were missile silos, due to their circular shape and hollow inner courtyard. Whatever the truth may be, this UNESCO World

CorBIS; ShutterStoCk; getty ImageS

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let loose in a 24-hour park Bragging panoramic views of the sea that sweep from the bay and Haicang Bridge (above) on the right, to Gulangyu islet on the left, Haiwan Park, at about 200,100sqm, is Xiamen’s largest urban park that never sleeps. A swathe of hills surrounded by restaurants and bars, it’s one place the whole family can make a day and night of. Enjoy themed gardens like Tree Garden, Coastal Scenery Garden, Water Garden, or investigate the biodiversity at the wetland park. By night, Avenue of the Stars turns into one big disco ground. More than 2,000 LED lights that line its 300m long path, strobe and flash in a razzle-dazzle display of as many as 40 different light patterns.

building and concert hall are both shaped like – you got it – a piano. Gulangyu also used to be home to dozens of European and American embassies, mansions, and churches, as Xiamen was one of five treaty ports after the Opium War. So don’t be surprised by the beautifully kept gardens and many classical European architecture that line the streets like sentinels of the island’s colonial past.

Heritage Site stands out as lone castles, some up to five storeys high, a quaint oddity amidst the small villages and plantations of the province. A trip here is also a great opportunity to explore Fujian’s stunning countryside.

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