Watching egrets fly and enjoying the harmony between man and nature-Xiamen, with its pleasant climate, unique scenery of "the city is on the sea and the sea is in the city" and elegant and clean environment, has attracted a large number of egrets to inhabit, hence its name Egret Island.
My parents and I visited here for the first time when I was three years old, and then I went to Nanputuo Temple to worship Buddha every year. Shu Ting, a local obscure poetess who became famous in her early years with a poem "To Oak Tree", exudes life breath and affectionate words, which made me yearn for her poetic lifestyle when I was a student.
So not surprisingly, after graduation, I worked and lived here for more than ten years, and then settled down. Naturally, I regarded this place as my second hometown and regarded myself as half of Xiamen people.
Shu Ting's home in Gulangyu, a red building with a history of nearly 100 years, has now become a popular attraction for tourists with Wen Qing complex. This is a sweet distress. I never dare to disturb the poet, but the bougainvillea under the rocks under the sun, the big banyan tree in the corner, and the beach that seems to be full of white roses after the early tide have all become the most beautiful appearance of my hometown in my heart.
A while ago, Extreme Challenge Season 2 broadcast a program recorded in Xiamen, in which stars such as Sun and Huang Lei dressed up and interacted with unsuspecting street citizens under a hidden camera, so there was a scene that made the audience very warm and even tearful. Especially the old man with an empty bottle played by Sun, when he pretended to fall at the bus stop, many people ran to help him. I believe the audience all over the country will join me in silently praising him.
As a city with more foreign population than local population, Xiamen locals have little xenophobia, but welcome everyone who comes here with warm arms. There are examples in Shu Ting's work My Xiamen to prove this point. "Xiamen people are not exclusive, and sometimes they are too much. I am willing to shrink my Minnan dialect. Even the aunt who sells vegetables speaks half-baked Mandarin. New immigrants have no language barriers at all, like a duck to water. "
They are also very comfortable, and they don't contain coke. In the streets here, you will see that Xiamen people often put a small coffee table at the door, filled with tea sets and tea leaves, and you will feel that time has slowed down. Someone passed by, and a warm "come and have a cup of tea" naturally opened a cordial chatterbox.
In fact, in Shu Ting, the personality charm of "Xiamen Lang" can also be seen. As a famous poet, she said that the greatest luck is to "be a seaside person, in my dear hometown of Xiamen". She is by no means a woman who only cares about dancing and writing, but a pragmatic housewife who has been fishing for fresh seafood in the fish market for decades, washing hands and cooking soup for her family. She rarely appears in public, and occasionally attends activities related to poetry in a very low-key manner.
Under his great fame, he always kept indifferent to the truth and made the fireworks on earth poetic. No wonder Xi Murong said that "Shu Ting and Gulangyu are a perfect combination". Shu Ting, who has had many opportunities to emigrate overseas, sticks to the vicissitudes of life in the old house where water and electricity may be cut off when the typhoon comes. What she can't let go of is her identity as "Xiamen Lang", which reveals a true and pure homesickness.
It seems that every place has its own bowl of special noodles, so Satay noodles, as the first side of Xiamen, should do its part. Satay noodles are rich in flavor, salty, spicy and delicious, and rich in auxiliary materials, which can satisfy the stomach of old Xiamen people, but some foreign friends can't stand their tongues. Maybe the sand tea handed down from Nanyang has some personality. Even so, the Wutang Satay noodle, which is famous for its Kashima, still has a long queue every day and still only closes for half a day. The hermit is full of big-name demeanor.
However, I don't even have the patience to wait in line for a bowl of noodles, and I don't recommend going to the fish ball shop in Huangzehe, Zhongshan Road, or the fish ball shop in Longtou Road, Gulangyu Island, where people are crowded and can't tell the truth from the false. It's better to go to Wuzaitian across the street, or the eight cities where food is gathered, and eat all kinds of authentic flavors calmly, such as peanut soup, frozen bamboo shoots, oyster omelet, green onions ... all kinds.
Of course, there are delicious things to take away. I especially recommend Ajizai's pie, which is also an old cake shop that has never stopped queuing for decades. The antique handmade mung bean cakes are very popular. If you go a little later, you will have no hands, and you can only regret it.
In fact, in a superficial tour, it is still difficult to really appreciate the taste of a city and the true meaning behind it. As Shu Ting teased in her pen, "Gulangyu tourists are full every day, and the dishes cooked in the restaurant are all one-off, rough and fast, and the price is suspicious, which cannot represent Xiamen flavor."
What's more, Xiamen people have many narcissistic but incredible ways to eat foreign friends, such as mango and litchi dipping sauce, which is quite wonderful; There is also the practice of "seafood soy sauce water". Simply blindly using soy sauce can actually make Hong Kong seafood delicious.
Therefore, whether Ludao cuisine is really "delicious" depends on doing more homework before departure, following the trend less during the trip, slowing down as much as possible to keep pace with Xiamen people, and then savoring Shu Ting's mixed feelings of "I was absent for two or three days and almost cried when I smelled the smell of wild fish in soy sauce".
Personally, I prefer Xiamen in May and June, where the phoenix flowers are in full bloom and the beauty is outrageous under the green trees. This season is suitable for visiting Xiamen University. At that time, Mr. Lu Xun and Xu Guangping completed the Morning Flowers and the Book of Two Places together. Now, the young students under a safflower tree on the shore of Furong Lake and the interesting graffiti works in Furong Tunnel are still 360-degree beauty without dead ends. It is said that several years ago, Faye Wong gave up an admission notice from the Biology Department of Xiamen University, which is really a pity for her.
The night view of Xiamen is very watery, especially when your night flight is about to board the heron, remember to look down. It is like a bright pearl that suddenly jumps into your eyes in the dark, full of colors and bright lights, which makes your heart suddenly quiet.
In Shu Ting's impression, Gulangyu used to be very quiet, except for the occasional piano jingle in the alley, where students silently sketched with their sketchboards on their backs. However, with the increasing number of tourists, this small island, which has gradually become noisy and greasy, has also given her loyal resident "Xiamen Lang" a sense of escape. Therefore, she had to run around as an NPC representative, poet and islander, hoping to restore the island as much as possible.
Many voices like her have attracted attention. It is really more difficult for foreign tourists to go to Gulangyu now. You need to be patient enough to wait for the ticket or make an appointment in advance. If you can't wait, you must pass by. This move will add a little regret to those who are in a hurry, but it is not a kind of love for that pearl on the sea.
In fact, it doesn't take much effort to travel in Xiamen, because the famous scenic spots on the island, such as Gulangyu Island, Huandao Road, Nanputuo and Xiamen University, as well as Zengcuoan Village, Shapowei and Yuandang Lakeside Coffee Street, which have become rising stars in recent years with a fresh atmosphere of literary petty bourgeoisie, are all concentrated in Laosiming District, not far from Zhongshan Road. One day's sightseeing is enough.
But if you have a heart, then the elegance of the old arcade alone makes people daydream, not to mention the international architecture of Gulangyu Island. In addition, many famous scenic spots outside Xiamen Island, such as Chen Jiageng's former residence and Jimei School Village, will take some time to visit.
Therefore, if time permits, you'd better find a hotel with a good reputation or a special homestay, so that you may find more surprises. For example, the seaside at night, there is no crowd during the day, only the dialogue between waves and rocks, the lingering of sea breeze and seawater, with thousands of different customs.
In this way, you may have more leisure to explore this land where Shu Ting can't tolerate people saying no.
Then, maybe you will fall in love with Shu Ting's Xiamen like me.