The Tulou tour, Fujian

We made a trip to Xiamen to spend time with our cousins who moved  there last year. It is such a beautiful and quiet city which is a contrast from how it is in Beijing. We spent time at the beach and going around the city by the local bus.

Since we made it all the way there, we hired a car for a day trip to the Tulous.
We started after breakfast and headed straight to "Tianluokeng the Four dishes and a soup" cluster. The drive is about 3 hours from Xiamen. The unique Tulou architecture is found only in Southern China. The car stopped for us at the top of the hill to get a bird's eye view of the Tulous. You can then take a 10 minute walk down to go in to these houses that are now quite commercial and have shops selling souvenirs, tea etc.

Tianluokeng Cluster

Inside the Tulou

Inside the Tulou

We then passed by Taxia Village which is one of the UNESCO heritage spots as well. The village is very scenic and quiet. You can walk the stretch along the stream here.

Taxia Village

Our last stop was the Chengqilou Tulou at the Gaobei Tulou Cluster which is a 30 minute drive from Taxia Village. This is one of the biggest Tulous and you can enter the upper floors if you pay 5rmb per person.

Chengqilou Tulou

View from the Top

The trip to Fujian is a must do if you are in to history and architecture. The people are very welcoming and friendly. Though we were foreigners they didn't hike up the price of anything unlike at the tourist spots in Beijing. Even souvenir photos are taken for you at just 10RMB per photo.
Since we traveled by car we found the entire trip quite comfortable and fortunately the weather was quite pleasant too!

Tips:
The entrance to The Tianluokeng , Taxia village is 100 RMB per person
The entrance to Chengqilou is 50RMB per person
Car hire charges start from 1400 for a 7 seater for 9 hours.