tulou | Welcome To China

Hukeng to Xiamen bus

Last Updated: August 5, 2010Rodney

I thought I’d have to travel back to Yongding to get a bus to Xiamen but lucky for me there’s a bus running direct from Hukeng.

Just outside the main gate to ‘Yongding Hakka Earth Building Folk Cultural Village is a bus station, well, it’s a small shop on the corner with a few chairs on the footpath, but it’s where the bus going to Xiamen stops and that’s where I’m off to.

Apparently there’s several buses leaving from here to Xiamen throughout the day and considering I didn’t have any accommodation booked in Xiamen I decided to get on the first bus at 7.30 in the morning. read more

Fuyulou Changdi Inn and Hukeng Village

Last Updated: August 5, 2010Rodney

After a full day tour of the tulou buildings it was back to the Fuyulou Changdi Inn just in time for a tea drinking session with the owner and guests. Here they grow there own tea, and it’s good gear, so good, I made sure to take some home. After an hour of solid tea drinking it was time for dinner, and fortunately they have english menu, and even a French menu too!

The food from the in house kitchen is top quality, fresh, tasty and fairly priced. It’s just what I needed after a sleepless night on the train and a long day exploring the tulou buildings throughout the area. Even better, was having the French couple as company for dinner. read more

A Day at the Hakka Tulou Buildings of Fujian Province China

Last Updated: March 4, 2015Rodney

The south east region of Fujian Province in China is a quite picturesque green mountainous landscape that has long been a home to many of one of Chinas minority groups the Hakkas. The Hakkas are probably most well known for cuisine, culture but mostly for their very unique homes of which many still standing today date back over 700 years old.

As rumor has it, in the early days of satellite spying, the US suspected these may have been missile silos and reportedly sent spies to investigate. Lucky spies, as they would have stopped in and got to enjoy the delicious local Hakka cuisine! read more

From Yongding Station to Hukeng Village

Last Updated: July 29, 2010Rodney

Yongding is a rural county within Chinas Fujian Province, the city of Yongding itself is small, minute by Chinese terms in that it probably has a population of less than 10,000, but I’m only guessing. This is the place where I to go on and see the famous tulou buildings.

Once again my efforts in foward planning had rewarded me, here I was, I’d just stepped off a train at a small country town somewhere in China with no idea where to go or what to do next.

Conveniently, the GPS wouldn’t pick up a signal and at 5am in the morning, it was pleasantly pitch black. Hmmm, are there hotels here? How do I find them? Where are these Toulu buildings I came so far to see? As I walked towards the station exit I once again committed to myself ‘i must book things in advance, I must book things in advance, i must book things in advance’…. read more

The K636 Train – Shenzhen to Yongding

Last Updated: October 8, 2010Rodney

I’d been working away in Shenzhen for a while now so it was time for a journey. But where too? I’d been to nearby Hong Kong, Macao and had a quick look at Guangzhou, so where to next? I wanted to find somewhere not to far away, reasonably simple to get to, and somewhere that had something special going for it.

A quick look at the Shenzhen train schedule showed me something interesting, the Shenzhen to Fuzhuo train stops at Yongding, and Yongding is where the very famous Tulou buildings are located. Yongding is also close to Xiamen, a place famous for its clean streets, beaches and it’s nearby island, Gulangyu. So, it’s a done deal, Im off to Yongding. read more