9-Day Hakka Village and Xiapu Mudflat Tour
Suggested Itinerary
A warm welcome awaits you at the airport. Your private guide and driver will be ready to help you deal with all hassles from the airport to hotel check-in. Enjoy a comfortable transfer from the airport to your hotel.
You will visit the highlights of Xiamen, including Gulangyu Island, South Putuo Temple, Hulishan Fortress, and Suzhuang Garden. See many colonial buildings with Western/Eastern architecture on Gulangyu Island. Experience Chinese Buddhist culture in South Putuo Temple, a famous Buddhist temple built during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Climb to Wulao Peak for a bird’s eye view of Xiamen’s port.
Good to know:
Hulishan Fortress, a relic of the Qing Dynasty, was constructed in 1891.
Suzhuang Garden, a private villa famous for its traditional Chinese garden, has a splendid view of the sea.
Enjoy a relaxed start. Your private guide and driver will take you to enjoy Hakka culture. You will visit Taxia Village, and see traditional earth buildings at Yuchanglou and Tianluokeng. Taxia Village is a distinctive Hakka village, where you can best learn about the Hakka people’s culture and lifestyle.
Good to know:
Optional choice: From April to November in Taxia Village, you can learn to pick and process tea at a local tea plantation, and take it back home.
See the earthen buildings of Yongding, the symbol of Fujian Province. You will visit the Chuxi Earthen Buildings Cluster, including three massive round buildings and one square building. Then you have the chance to talk with local students at a primary school in Chuxi. Later take a trip to the Hongkeng Earthen Buildings, the biggest concentration of these Hakka marvels.
Good to know:
Earthen buildings are called tulou (土楼 /too-loh/). The Hongkeng Earthen Buildings are known as 'the tulou prince'. because they are the most magnificent cluster.
Take a morning train to Ningde (departure 08:45, arrival 11:00). Your private guide will accompany you on the train. Your driver will be waiting for you at the railway station when you reach Ningde. In the afternoon you will go to Qidu in Ningde, and photograph the mudflats at sunset.
Xiapu is not-so-well-known by travelers, but has fantastic views and is deeply loved by photographers. You will visit Beiqi for sunrise shots, its local fishery, and amazing bamboo standing in the sea. At Dongbi you can take photos of mudflat farming and the sunset.
Good to know:
Famous for China's most beautiful mudflats and its (laver) seaweed, in Xiapu you can capture fabulous photos of local fishermen and its marine culture. The sunrises and sunsets are the classic Xiapu images.
First capture the dawn at Weijiang. Take a boat to see Mantoushan (Steamed Bun Mountain), where you can take pictures of hanging oysters, fishing villages on the sea, and fishing pontoons. There will be another chance to photo the beautiful mudflats and the sunset in the afternoon.
Good to know:
April to June is the best period to take photos of seaweed and the local fishery, because then is the seaweed harvest. This is the theme of many a Chinese ink painting. A typical classic includes thousands of bamboo poles draped with seaweed, egrets, and local people working on the mudflats.
Get up early to catch the sunrise in Huazhu village. Photograph old banyan trees in Yangjiaxi after breakfast, and get some life shots of an old farmer with his buffalo or an old lady carrying water. The whole afternoon is set aside for you to photograph the thousands of bamboo canes in the sea. Keep some battery/memory for the sunset.
Good to know:
October to February is the harvest time of laver. It is the best time to photo the laver, and also croakers, kelp, and oysters.
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