Zhangpu, China: Our Initial Reaction

Zhangpu, China exceeds our expectations.  Everyday we have new and unique experiences worth their own posts.

Our short-lived view from the Xiamen Sheraton.
Note the soccer field across the street.

At first, we were disappointed by Zhangpu.  We spent our first night in Xiamen, a modern city with parks, soccer fields, shops, restaurants, and bars within walking distance of our hotel.  It looked like a great place to live for a month or two.  Then they moved us to Zhangpu, sending us into a part of China not many westerners visit.

By Chinese standards,  Zhangpu is a town, not a city.  It has a meager population of 800,000+.  It's sprawling and industrial, caught between lush, green hills and the Gulei peninsula where SB works.

Factories and construction projects surround our hotel (Zhou You International Hotel, formerly known as Wan Jia Hotel), which is on the outskirts of town.  The horizon is dotted with new projects surrounded in bamboo scaffolding and cranes.  There are hotels at least a dozen stories high, stadiums, malls, and other facilities all being built for the sake of progress.

Zhou You Internation Hotel.
Home for the next couple weeks.

These construction projects have names that sound like time shares in Las Vegas or Miami - Eastern Metro, European Village, and Eastern Crowne.  It feels like a city ready to explode onto the world stage.

The future looks bright for Zhangpu, and its present state has a lot to offer too.  Multi-colored LED lights accent many of the buildings here.  The lights dance and move creating an alluring effect on the other buildings' often minimalist facades.

Shops surround the first level of every building, also competing for your attention with lights and sound.  The malls are packed with boutiques and technology shops.  There's even a KFC for when we're missing American food, but the menu is not at all the same to the Colonel's home style recipes.

At this point, Zhangpu's best resource for their future is their people.  Many of them aren't familiar with westerner visitors in their town.  Everywhere we go, people stare.  Some will work up the courage to say 'Ni hao' or 'Hello.  How are you?  Nice to meet.'  None have tried to say more.  They are friendly and welcoming despite the language barrier and the shock of laowai (westerners).

One of many KTV buildings in Zhangpu.
KTV has karaoke suites for small groups.

Prices are the best benefit to being f the few westerners visiting Zhangpu.  The cost of living is lower than the U.S.  Multi-course meals cost about 50¥ ($8) each person and the prices go lower if we eat at our favorite street-side BBQ stand.  I have yet to finish a meal in Zhangpu or feel hungry.  I maybe the first person in UOP history to gain weight in China.

Taxis are also reasonably priced.  Metered taxis cost about 10¥ (~$1.80) between the mall and our hotel.  Tuk-tuks can cost anywhere between 5¥ and 20¥ (~$0.80 and $2.20) depending on the number of people or stingy the driver.  Compared to Chicago, that's a steal!

Pricing a side, the interactions with the workers here are comforting.  The drivers are extremely nice and try to understand where we want to go.  Some will even barter prices, but I don't have the heart.  They don't drive erratic or fast.  Every driver on the road is aware of other people, and they use their horn to make their presence known to other drivers.  It's chaos, but it works.

The bartenders at our haunt here are also very understanding.  They let us pick out our own beers, glasses, and drinks. They even bring us food and show us other places to visit in Zhangpu.  Almost everyone acts like an ambassador to their establishment and their town, which bodes well.

The people here make our experience.  I have yet to even mention the crew, new additions to our road family.

Shooting pool with the crew.

That's for another post.  This one was exposition and cursory for what's to come.  Tonight, we're going to one of the many karaoke venues in Zhangpu.  This weekend, we're going on our first outing in Xiamen.

There's plenty more to write and more adventures to come.