I went to Xiamen to visit the Tulou that are in the South Eastern of Fujian. First time in Xiamen and was surprised how the food actually suits me! I kinda like Xiamen alot actually! =D
I dragged way too long to edit+post these images that I forgot about the names of the places and how long it took us to go from Xiamen to the first Tulou etc =X
Bear in mind that there are costs associated to visiting the Tulous as they need to upkeep and maintain these old buildings. It is not cheap, neither is it expensive too. Affordable la.
Wiki definition: “The Fujian tulou (Chinese: 福建土楼; literally: “Fujian earthen buildings”) are Chinese rural dwellings unique to the Hakka in the mountainous areas in southeastern Fujian, China. They were mostly built between the 12th and the 20th centuries”
Gear: Nikon DF + 16mm cheap russian fisheye, 28mm f2.8 crc, 14mm F2.8 Sigma with major flaring plus ghosting lens.
Zhongshan Road Street is very popular in the day and night where it is pedestrians friendly and also considered like a shopping street
Tian Wang Tian Temple at South Putuo Temple
I am most fascinated by the huge Buddha word on this wall here, just shines with brilliance in the sunlight
Day 2, we started visiting the Tulous. The first is always fascinating and we spent some time inside.
I bought one of these paperweights for memory sake.
I was attempting to use my fisheye to capture the 360 view of the Tulous. Apparently 16mm isn’t wide enough when my camera is already on the ground.
The stairs were not creaky at all, tells alot about the build of the Chinese architecture!
Tiles to replace those worn out ones of the roof
Currently under construction, otherwise, this may be one of the neatest we saw.
Time to climb up the small hill to have a top down view of the Tulou cluster
We had free tea and music midway
The beautiful view of the Tulou cluster from afar, on top of a hill. Worth the CLIMB!
A square Tulou
The walls are like 1.5m thick and very sturdy despite being made up on MUD
I was getting a picture of the wooden door and the metal plates when this local boy came into the picture to tease me. I liked how the image came out, this shot is a keeper for me!
A smaller Tulou, which allowed my fisheye lens to cover almost all of it.
This is one of the LARGEST (or maybe the largest) Tulou but not well maintained.
The erected concrete pole structure are made after their ancestors, the higher the hole, the higher rank they are it seems. The object right at the top of the pole also determines if they are in a civil or military post.
This place is like a hotel, rented out by the owner. Makes me wonder how to BOOK it online if anyone wants too. LOL
This Tulous is the most happening as there were many of the villagers sitting outside their stalls and chatting away
The key thing to view here, is this scene below called 4 vegetables, 1 soup (Shi Cai Yi Tang) where the square Tulou will represent the bowl of soup
Waiting for sun to set, to see the Tulous light up at dusk
Next day, we took a trip to the island GuLangYu to check it out. Very touristy and no vehicles are allowed on this island. I like that! Unpolluted!
BIGBert 