Quanzhou Travel Notes | September Travel Notes

There is a long list of destinations in the travel list , but the reality is that there is no time to go far away. The concept of distance is becoming increasingly blurry. Quanzhou, which used to be very far away to me, is now less than thirty minutes away by train.

Originally Sister Kagura planned to come to Xiamen to find me, but in the end the foodie changed her appointment to Quanzhou temporarily and planned to go to Quanzhou West Street to sweep around. Not to mention, I have all the food guides listed for me.

When talking about Quanzhou , there is always a sense of intimacy. Kaiyuan Temple in the busy city, Chengtian Temple on Nanjun Road, Guanyue Temple and Qingjing Ancient Temple on Tumen Street, and the Quanzhou granny who speaks warm and soft Hokkien.

The city of Quanzhou is quaint and lovely, as are the people living there. They are the ones who take the initiative to hand masks to children who forget to wear them on the bus; they are the ones who chat with you; they are the ones who compliment you on how good you look; and they are the ones who are eager to help you.

All the way north , from the sunny days of Xiamen to the cloudy days of Quanzhou. Sister Kagura came from school, but she didn't catch the train she bought, so she had to change her ticket to the next one. I had the honor to say "Welcome to Quanzhou" to her at the exit.

People were coming and going at the station . Although the new coronavirus was no longer rampant, people still did not take off their masks. In early September, some people packed their bags and rushed to a new campus; some people dressed in military uniforms and went away from home, parents and friends to train in the army. There are still people, like us, who look for fun elsewhere.

stickers on the bus

Under the leadership of Kagura , I honestly followed the guide for the first time, and I followed the food guide. The first stop for food was a beef restaurant. The glass sliding door at the entrance of the store had a slogan "Famous in Southeast Asia". It seemed that the store owner was very confident!

Although it was almost two o'clock , the store was still full of people. We both ordered beef soup and dry noodles. The dry noodles didn't look very attractive, but they tasted amazing. They were very different from the noodles we usually eat in Shaxian County (maybe it was because we were hungry).

The third stop for food I checked in Shihua jelly. The Shihua jelly I had here was okay. Shihua jelly was added to the four-fruit soup. I don’t know whether it counts as Shihua jelly or as four-fruit soup. We ordered two portions, and each portion had taro paste added to it. When we were waiting in line, a lady said that we must add taro paste, which is the signature of this restaurant. Tsk, isn’t the signboard Shihua plaster? But taro paste is really delicious, taro paste, taro balls, red beans, roasted grass jelly, watermelon... four-fruit soup, my love! But Kagura insists that Zhangzhou’s four-fruit soup is the most delicious! Let me have the opportunity to go to Zhangzhou to buy it and eat it!

We are like food hunters , following the map on the guide and constantly tasting delicious food. The last time I had such a satisfying meal in a city was when I was in Chaozhou. In Chaozhou, you can eat delicious food just by walking into any restaurant. To this day, I still miss all the restaurants with the word "kueh" there, as well as the rice rolls in the alley.

Along West Street , we checked out handmade mochi, moist pancakes, Tongan fragrant bone chicken legs (with the taste of Xiamen), roasted pork rice dumplings, Teppanyaki (barbecue) and so on. West Street is not just West Street. There are also many delicacies hidden in the alleys on both sides of West Street. All kinds of delicacies are hidden in the alleys, and it seems that they will not give up until you spend a little effort to find them.

When I went to the alley of Xiaoxicheng to buy pancakes, a small incident happened, which really shocked me. When I took pictures of Kagura, I put her mobile phone on the back seat of the scooter. After taking the photo, no one thought to pick up the poor phone. After realizing that I had forgotten my phone, I ran wildly in the alley. Fortunately I still have my phone. Kagura, the person involved, said calmly: "You ran so fast!"

Sitting idle on the deserted platform, listening to the sound of the wind blowing across the rails, watching the rust eat away at the car body bit by bit, and watching the weeds grow inch by inch, everything in the world has nothing to do with them.