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Xiamen to Anxi (安溪)
Started at 9am for Anxi from Xiamen yesteday 17 Sept 2009. First stop after the bridge was Jimei 集美区then Tong An 同安区
There's even a bridge for bikes..
People in Jimei are so proud of this great contribution from our fellow Malaysian Tan Kah Kee- he sent millions to build this university in Jimen many years back
The ride from Jemei to Tong An was quite boring but as the climb started things began to look better. It was real hot and humid during this time of the year (My estimation was wrong, I thought things would cool down this time of the year) Coupled with the trucks honking like mad, the climb at times was excruciatingly hard!
Stopped by to chat with ah peh, savoured a cup on hot tikuanying tea
After a hard climb came this ugly tunnel and real bad luck struck when I was about to exit the tunnel my front tyre kaput ! Fortunately I had a repair kit with me, managed to patch the puncture and by the tie I finished it was getting dark and I was still 20km anway from Anxi. So I put up a night at a local motel in 龙 门 Long Men. The Next day I stopped by a local bike shop manned by a lady to get the tyre replaced.
Stopped by for lunch at a place 5 km before Anxi, a town full of granite and granite cutting factories everywhere. A common sight of small trucks ferrying huge granites. Real funny this chap in the photo suddenly swearved dangerously to the side, jumped of his truck and ran straight into the bush ! I was having lunch and the cook told me that the driver was doing this illegally and he must have spotted an oncoming Cong An (police)
Anxi is quite scenic. A city of mountains and rivers. Anxi is 102 km from Xiamen via Tong An route.
ps: Bike in my room? yes, I want to be doubly sure that I have a bike to ride home !
Cheers from Anxi, Fujian
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The hotel that i stayed in Anxi was quite good.
It started to rain and by mid noon I had to make a decision to check out or stay on. A quick check of the weather forecast warned that more rain could be on the way the next few days. So I decided to abort my plan to yong chun and made a u turn via a different route going thru Naan and cutting thru nong cun (village) area to Tong An 同安. To prepare for the rain I bought myself a slipper and rain coat - notice the black plastic bag hanging from my handle
Anxi shrouded by mist and clouds. Anxi is the cha du 茶都 (tea capital)
My China made meter says 58.78km, 30 more km to Tong An. At 18.8 kph snail pace? yes, the road leading to the mountain range (pic above) is gently sloping, a slow build up to the tunnel which is the peak.
I would NEVER forget this nerve wrecking experience going thru this tunnel. At a few points in the tunnel I could NOT see a thing, absolutely nothing, pitch dark!! Phew, i was hoping for cars to pass so that thieir front lights could illuminate the place but shit a few did not even turn on their full light ! damn damn reckless Chinese! In fact my pedal hit the side of the wall a few times and I could have ended in disastrous consequences! had cold sweat really !
Reached Tong An at about 5pm, a group of young cyclists rode past me. I immediatly rev up, tailed them all the way to the city, at average speed of 35kph. In the city I went round and round looking for a guesthouse exasperated I stopped by and asked a guy and immediately pointed to me one just two doors away! shortcomings for being a banana lah !y
So much nicer today, temp dropped to around 25. Covered 90km today. Resting in Tong An. Good night!
View xiamen to anxi (dont know how to display live map)
Walked around looking for food, found this small food shop behind the guesthouse where I stayed. I stood outside watching people eating this stuff for a moment, wondering was this whitish jelly inside the cute porcelain bowl. Gung ho to try anything new, I stepped in and asked the cook in Hokkien and he said something like "chai kuey.." then I understood basically what it was; steamed grounded rice with veg, a quail egg and meat, it's kind of hakka food I believe. I had one plus a soup and later ordered another one ! Its funny, you have to eat with just a stick !
Tong An has almost the same scenary as Anxi, Nanan and Yong Chun except the mountains are missing. I am wondering if the often quoted "balik tong san" means "balik tong an" ?
I was taking an evening ride and suddenly I heard a loud bang. 2 motorbikes collided and an old man was lying tossing and grimacing on the road, and everyone just stood by and watched !! I stopped and for a moment wanted to rush to give a hand but on second thought I said to myself "it's your bad luck today old man..", took a shot and indifferently rode away... Don't jump into quick conclusion ok, what went thru my mind when I saw peope acting so indifferently was "maybe this happens so often that nobody really cares anymore" or "its the cong an's (police) job to settle this kind of accident" I said to myself, half consoling, that I do not understand enough the local culture to be able to act sponteneously to help an accident victim in the middle of Tong An city ! In fact suddenly some more sinister went thru my selfish mind "what if im met with accident on the road in China, no one bloody cares too??" Worrisome thoughts...China is such a máo dùn 矛盾, (paradox) !
Tomorrow I will be heading to Jimei and then to Xiamen, back to the grind...
Daniel,
awesome. It's great to see what you did. How much i wished i was there with you. bumping around. this is what it is about when bicycling in a foreign place. This is what i like to do. No detail planning. Just bring along a map and go. you're more than just a bicyclist now, you're an adventurer...ha hahah...!!
Just can we have bigger pictures from you please ?
Not so foreign as they all speak Hokkien. Taking risk? Not that bad except for tunnels and a bit of culture differences...
Was going up the ramp to cross the narrow bridge back to xiamen when a train pull along side. I rev up but was outpaced very quickly..
My friend's travel agency in Xiamen
Started with a red Giant...
Ended with a blue Giant, ever wondered why? Buy you a meal if you can guess correctly !
Cheers and thanks !
that is because China's paint work is so fantastic that they change color after 200km ride !!
I said to dr in his blog a few days back that we have this unending "love hate" relationship with China and the Chinese renmin...
Second day after taking the red bike from my friend's nice apartment, I rode to Xiamen's busy shopping mall in DongShan lu to buy some maps. I went round and round a few times before I finally found a hsinhua book store. As I was about to park my red bike at a parking bay a few doors away I saw a suspicious looking young chap looking at my bike and he whipped up his handphone to make a call. Feeling a bit worried I moved my bike to a safer place a few blocks down, chained it to a water hydrant and happily walked to the store. I spent a mere 20 minutes at the bookstore and you can fill in the rest of the story I am sure lah !!
It is so competitive with so many people vying to survive to make it good in life. This is my feeling when I was at Hohai near tianmen square. I could not believe my eyes and my ears. So many lounges the mere size of a small shoplot in bkt Jambul and everyone of them have a live band or at least a singer with a guitar and they blasted it with loud speakers outside the shop. You can imagine the cacophony of sounds from tens of bands playing and singing at the same time!! Mind you they are all very talented and sings well. Then of course you hv the usual street urchins loitering around. Pity them, there is just too many people trying to cash in and of course a nice red bike is a real temptation.
Anyone interested in a 6 days bike trip from Beijing to Inner Mongolia. If we can assemble 6 bikers we are on. Don worry abt Altantuya. We are still in China I think.
You sure have some scary experiences! Take care and enjoy the rest of your trip.
I would have thought that the guy running into the bush was going to relieve himself. :p
That is the village my late grandpa hailed from. Must be exciting to be that place for me in future. are you planning to go to Yong chun (did I spell it corretly)
Yes, Long (Dragon) Men (door).
I put a night there. It's a small place, much like BM but it's surrounded by mountains !
They speak Hokkien, I could get by with Klang hokkien mixed with mandarin, so can you I am sure.
Hey, October will be great. Cycling when its around 20 degrees would be perfect !
Had a nice bike tour with David, tour guide for Bike Kingdom with the Nine million bicycles in Beijing. Daniel you are daring man to go bumping around like that. I am going for a ride from Beijing to Great Wall (Badaling) abat 87 Km and then go around the wall before hiking on the great wall. George the boss of Bike KIngdom (refer to our Link) is riding with me and he is providing a supporting van as well.