Monday, September 27, 2010

Gulianyu, Xiamen



I have spent few days in Gulianyu, Xiamen. It is a small island with lots of historical buildings from 19th century. Some famous houses were the embassies from other countries. To visit the island, only about 30 minutes from the Xiamen pier to the Gulianyu pier by ferry. For the reason of the environmental protection, there are only 4 small motor cars, around 22 electrical vehicles which can carry about 11 peoples. The islanders travel around by foot.
We walked around from the hotel after we arrived and found a cafe owned by a family. Their house is in old style and was built 80 years ago. We ordered some snacks and drinks and sketched a building in the opposite.

The scene is so beautiful and we found we were in another times. One thing I must said that the drinks we had were not good, tastes were very "chemical". The fried pumpkins had no taste at all.


It was about 6 pm when we got the sketch done. We walked around and reached the centre. There were lots of shops, cafe and restaurant.  We tried to get to the electrical car stop to take it. However, it was closed when we got there. We needed to walk to the hotel in another side of the island, it takes about 30 minutes. We were extremely exhausted.

We woke up early next morning and headed to our targeted area for sketching, around Jishan Road. I found a nice old house in flat share. It was a cloudy day and rained in the early morning. The path was wet. A girl left her home and walked on the path. Suddenly, she slipped in front of me. I passed her a tissue paper and checked with her if she got hurt. 

4 Jishan Road


We had a fish ball noodle in soup as our lunch and then I went to Sanqiudian Pier to draw the coast. I was very tired of drawing the buildings. Sitting on the bench near the seaside and watching to the sea is really really relaxing.

There was a girl wanted me to draw a portrait for her when I was drawing the pier.



We then headed back to the hotel. This time we could catch up the electrical car. 

The last day, I did some line drawings on streets. 




The hawker was selling the souvenirs. Looking to the opposite coast of Xiamen with skyscrapers, this small island is really calm and peace, like a garden behind a city.