There are no cars or bicycles allowed on the island so it's nice and peaceful. The only vehicles are golf carts - that you can travel in with a guide - and hand carts, rickshaws and sedan chairs. I just walked like everyone else. All kinds of shops aimed at tourists abound with pearls and jewellery shops being the statistical leaders. As well there are guys hanging around who furtively show you small gold Buddhas, stone sculptures and other objects if you stop walking long enough for them to get close. I don't know if they're hot or what but I've heard that trying to take antiquities out of the country is a good way to get fined or imprisoned so I declined to buy.

The island is dominated by two main physical features: the large stone statue of Kochinga at the mouth of the harbour and the Sunlight Garden atop the island's highest peak. Eight kuai (kuai is the colloquial expression for renminbi or yuan) was the cost of entry to the park containing the statue. Inside was a pleasant refuge on the edge of the sea dedicated to the memory of Kochinga, an 17th century warrior-king who tried to set up his own kingdom in Southern Fujian and Taiwan. He is remembered as a national hero for expelling the Dutch colonists from Taiwan after several years of war. His army is said to have numbered over 10,000 and in the park there is a very large (18 tonne) bronze cast of Kochinga and his warriors riding out to battle - an impressive sight. Three PLA (People's Liberation Army) soldiers made me have my picture taken next to each of them next to it - I guess they wanted to see make a record to ensure that their friends would believe it. A short walk up a steep path brought me to the statue of the great man himself; made of granite and over 15 metres high. He's oriented so that he's looking across the straight to Taiwan - maybe waiting to expel the rebel KMT?

On my way out of the grounds I stopped in a room containing a large butterfly collection - probably over a couple of thousand specimens. A couple of the butterfly-moths were larger than my hand and the patterns and colouring ranged from iridescent blacks and blues to bright yellow with large eyespots to camouflaged moths designed to look like a leaf or a twig.

Walking through the centre of the village I soon reached Sunlight Park which contains the peak and viewpoint. Another 5 kuai to get in and I was on my way up to the area where Kochinga and his men had their main encampments. There are bronze statues of warriors that give you an idea of what the people were like and one called "Gambling for biscuits" which portrays four men throwing dice with cookies for betting chips.

Most of the people who live on Gulangyu work in Xiamen and commute using the passenger ferry. The fare is free on the way over to the island and one kuai on the way back (1.5 kuai if you want to be able to sit and enjoy the upper deck). I took the lower deck back into town and made my way back to Xiamen.

I met my friend Mr. Zeng who had said he would show me some fun in the city. First, though, we had to have dinner. think Mr. Zeng was testing me. Dinner turned out to be a bowl of noodles and soup filled with square chunks of congealed cow blood, long pale strings of intestines and little star-shaped pieces of stomach. We had a plate of duck meat on the side. I ate it all, not wanting to appear ungrateful, by suppressing my enculturated response against the strange texture and taste of the food - not to mention the thoughts running through my head. Still, it only cost 10 yuan each and organ meats are supposed to be the most nutritious.

Following dinner we went next door to a Chinese medicine clinic where Mr. Zeng received a back massage to loosen up his aching muscles. In the same treatment room was another guy getting a treatment which consisted of grabbing a handful of his lower abdomen and squeezing it together. Pressure applied to various acupuncture points is said to release pent up energy flows and cure various afflictions. I spoke with an older doctor who came in and spoke English to me; quite a nice man really and he spent some time working with me on my pronunciation of Chinese words.

Mr. Zeng and I scooted over to a local hotel where he knows the manager of the karaoke bar on the top floor of the place. We had a few glasses of tea and then Mr. Zeng forced me to sing Auld Lang Syne with him; I sang the English words, he the Chinese. It sounded hideous but the Chinese politely applauded as they do after every song.

Mr. Zeng went and rounded up a Chinese girl who spoke a little English. After she began to talk to me Mr. Zeng disappeared. The girl - Lily she called herself - was from Harbin, a city in the north, and I couldn't figure out what her occupation was. She claimed to be a student in Harbin. Ok, so why would she be down here in Xiamen? Because the weather is nicer she said. I agreed the weather was very nice in Xiamen but living in Xiamen must make getting to classes in Harbin pretty tough. Things got a little clearer when she asked me for 200 kuai - "small money" she called it - and said she would like to go with me. I told her I was not interested at which point the price dropped to 100 kuai. Again I refused and she became insistent. Fortunately, Mr. Zeng had returned by this time so I told him it was time to leave. When I asked him if she was a prostitute he said no so I'm still uncertain what the whole thing meant.