Nadia – January 2015
一月的第一个星期我们考试了。考期飞快地过去了，到一月十日我很兴奋因为我有七个星期的假期！当然，我想离开很冷的北京，所以我决定去南方。
我现在在中国东南的厦门，福建省。我对这个地方有兴趣因为我新加坡华裔妈妈的祖先原来是福建人。
我很喜欢这个城市的花花绿绿。北京的冬天非常压抑：建筑、天空、街道、都是灰色的。从这个照片，你可以看到，厦门有非常漂亮的蓝天空，还有很多绿色公园。
厦门最精彩的部分就是鼓浪屿。我很高兴因为现在是冬天，所以没有很多旅客。鼓浪屿是中国的第一个巷口被英国人迫开放更过。那时候大部分的外国人就住在鼓浪屿。有些殖民地建筑保存得很好，但是还有破旧的。
我的当地朋友带我去厦门大学。很多中国电视剧是在厦大拍摄的。从我的照片你可以看得出来导演为什么喜欢这个地方。厦大校园是我见过最漂亮的中国大学！
下个星期我会去云南。我觉得云南是我旅行的高潮。我会去全省，从缅甸和泰族影响的南方热带到藏族影响的北方山地。
Xiamen University – Nadia Kaheil
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
In the first week of January we had our end of term exams. The exams went by quickly and by 10th January I was able to look forward to a 7 week holiday. Of course, I planned to escape the harsh Beijing winter, and so I decided to travel south.
I am currently in Xiamen, Fujian province in southeast China. This region is of particular interest to me because my ancestors on my mother’s Singaporean-Chinese side originally came from this region.
My favourite thing about Xiamen is the amount of colour. Winter in Beijing is very grey: the buildings, the sky, the roads. From the pictures below, you can see that Xiamen has beautiful blue skies, lots of green parks.
The highlight of Xiamen is Gulangyu island. I’m glad I came during winter, it meant there were far less tourists than usual. Gulangyu/Xiamen was one of the first ports that the British forced China to open, and Gulangyu was where all the foreigners lived. Some colonial mansions are very well-preserved, while others have fallen to ruin.
Some local friends I made took me to Xiamen University which is where many local TV dramas have been filmed. From the picture below I think you can guess why. It has to be the most beautiful Chinese university campus I have ever seen!
In a few days I will go onwards to Yunnan, which will really be the highlight of my long trip. I’ll be exploring the whole province from the Burmese-Thai influenced tropical south to the Tibetan-influenced mountainous north.
Nadia Kaheil – January 2015