xiamen, my intro to china

Inside Xiamen airport, I saw only one other Westerner, and he was leaving, so that's a bad sign! I bought a map of the city, and tried to ask the ladies at the information desk if they knew where any of the hotels were that I had found on the internet. They barely spoke English, but they pointed me to a hotel across from the airport. The hotel was completely full (but way out of my price range anyway), however the girl at the front desk told me to head to the train station, as there were more places there. She called a cab for me, and after a bit of hassle with the driver (who spoke no English), I made it to Xiamen Zhan (train station). I headed to the info desk there, to see if they could help me, and again was directed to a nearby hotel. To my dismay, the hotel told me there were no rooms available there either! Apparently, I had arrived in the middle of China's National Day celebrations, where the Chinese are on vacation for an entire week! I began to panic, as it was about 10.30pm, I had no bed for the night, and it looked like every hotel in the city would be full of Chinese holiday makers! Thankfully, they discovered they did in fact have one room left, and I snapped it up (even though it was $50- ruined the budget with that one!). It was nice to enjoy a comfy bed & proper shower after my crappy Bangkok hotel. In the morning, I asked if there was anywhere to use the internet, as I was keen to find another cheaper hotel in Xiamen. They led me into their office to use the business computer! After ringing around, and hearing "We are full" too many times, I decided to try and buy a train ticket out of there. To my surprise (and joy), I was able to book a hard sleeper ticket to Beijing for that evening. Afterchecking out of the hotel, I was going to wander around & fill in time before the train left at 10pm. I didn't get far along the streetwhen a young Chinese guy introduced himslef & we got chatting. Martin was from a differnt part of China, and was also visiting Xiamen. We did some sightseeing, heading to Gu Lang Yu, a small island off the coast of Xiamen. We caught the speedboat across the harbour which was fun! The island was very popular with the Chinese tourists, it was pretty busy. We walked around the paved streets (there are no cars or bicycles on the island) and visited a small museum. The beach was packed- a few people swimming close to the shore in the dead flat water, some on paddle boats, and a lot sitting in deck chairs. I am glad I went to Gu Lang Yu, it was much nicer & more interesting than the highrises around my hotel. Martin & I caught the jam-packed ferry back to the mainland, then wandered around the famous walking-street in downtown Xiamen. We were desperate for some dinner, but there was mostly just clothing stores. The few restaurants that we found were far too busy. We ate some food off the street- some yummy meat on a stick (when I asked what it actually was, Martin's answer was simply 'meat') and delicious pastry-custard scrolls. After catching a taxi back to my hotel, we found a tiny local restaurant to eat dinner- was delicious! My first proper Chinese meal! Time was ticking away though, and I ended up running to the station to be sure I wouldn't miss the train (although Martin carried my bag for me so it wasn't too hard!).