Next Venture to Gulangyu Island, off of Xiamen China

​​So as my venture in China continued and we were staying in Putian for another week or more, we took a weekend trip to Xiamen. Xiamen is an island, and it's one that is now becoming one of the popular places to live in China.

But the first trip was a day and night on Gulangyu Island. Gulangyu is a fascinating island. It is a stone​ thrown from downtown Xiamen. So close to the Xiamen but so different.

The big difference is there is no modernization on the Gulangyu like in Xiamen. Yes, there are things brought over to help keep the island up to date, but it's an island that is keeping its old outside visualization alive.

The home, buildings and everything are old, but there is a modernization going on too. Some of the stores and restaurants from the outside hold true to their past life, but when you go in, things are different.

We walked into this one building that is converted into a store. The store had what I think was four floors. No big deal, but when you walked in, you were in a modern day mall, like any other in China. Nothing inside reflected the past. Other than the staircase, nothing told me that this house was hundreds of years old.

To me, that was a bit sad. And the rest of the island was trying to do the same thing. Keep the old look but fake it.

The island is a huge tourist attraction, and you have to take a ferry to get there that on the weekends are running nonstop to the island. To me, the island is a money maker for the ferry and on the island too. But overall I was very disappointed with the island. It reminded me of an amusement park back in the USA. No rides but a lot of walking around and not much to see. You were always waiting to walk around some corner and see a big roller coaster or some rides.

Don't get me wrong, I took photos, and some areas did have interesting stuff, but I had to get creative to find the right shots. I will share a few of them today.

I love old villages, town, and cities. So this fits that qualification, but it was missing something to meet that actual requirement fully.