Weekend in Xiamen part 2

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on the island, which was a very good choice. Even though we had been to Xiamen before, we knew nothing about the hotels since the cruise ship was our hotel.

In Fuzhou, you have few options. There are a few western hotels, but they are easily the most expensive. Most of the hotels are Chinese, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but Chinese customers seem to have different ideas about what is clean and comfortable. Chinese hotels also look like they were decorated 50 years ago. I don't care about the latest furniture and whatever this week's trends are, but I think you have to redecorate your hotel every once in a while. If nothing else, newer carpets and beds tend to be cleaner.

Xiamen has more choices. They have plenty of Chinese hotels, of course, but they also have a greater variety of western hotels. It's not just the most expensive western chains. They have cheap western hotels, too.

The Crowne Plaza is neither the most expensive nor cheapest hotel in Xiamen. It is supposedly a 5 star hotel, but Chinese 5 star is usually not the same as actual 5 star. I have seen some Chinese 5 star hotels that Motel 6 would not want to touch. The Crowne Plaza would probably be 3 stars in Paris. It was clean and comfortable, which are the most important things to us, and it was in a great location.

The hotel had all the basics you expect of an international hotel that are sometimes hard to find in China. Everything in the room worked properly and did what it was supposed to do. The hotel even had a swimming pool, which is not as common in China as it should be, but the pool was being renovated while we were there, so we never used it.

The hotel was a few blocks away from Yundang Lake. We could not see the lake from our room because we were facing the opposite direction, but it was an easy walk. We went to the lake during the cruise, but we spent more time there this time. Yundang Lake is not the most exciting piece of real estate in the world, but it is a pleasant place to walk around and a lot cleaner, and a million times safer, than walking on the street.

Since we stayed at a major hotel, it was easy to get a taxi. We were on one of the major streets that cross the island, so taxis and buses were always an option. Buses in China can be difficult to impossible if you don't understand the Chinese system. Most foreigners just use taxis, which can also be difficult if you don't speak any Chinese. In my limited experience, I would say that Xiaman taxi drivers are almost guaranteed to try to rip you off, until you say something to them in Chinese. Once they hear Chinese, they immediately shape up, and perk up. More than a few taxi drivers stopped for us begrudgingly, but were suddenly animated when I spoke even the smallest amount of Chinese. I can't assume anyone's political persuasion, but my impression was that some of these drivers were sick and tired of waiguoren expecting them to speak anything other than Chinese. Since Xiamen is not among the most popular of international destinations, there has never really been any effort to bring in English or Japanese. Hong Kong taxis are the opposite. Most drivers are comfortable, or at least tolerant, of English while some are personally offended by whichever Chinese dialects they have political disagreements.

If you can't speak any Chinese, any decent hotel should be able to write down where you want to go. The Crowne Plaza, like most better hotels, has business cards with a Chinese map on the back. Whenever you go back to the hotel, you can simply hand the driver the card. Whether he approves of funny sounding foreigners or not, he can probably read the Chinese card.