Luoyang Departure: Xiamen, Gulangyu and Yunshuiyao Tulou, 5 Days 4 Nights

Leave Luoyang in the morning and land at Gaoqi around midday. The jacket comes off at the terminal door, because November here still reaches twenty-three degrees. Check in near Zhongshan Road and walk down to Shapowei, where a few boats still sit in the old typhoon shelter and the warehouses have been turned into shops with people drinking on the steps. In the evening follow the coastal road east, sea on the right, a wet line left on the sand as the tide pulls back. Dinner is a bowl of satay noodles, the broth built on peanut and satay paste, with pork liver and dried tofu added.

Attraction introduction: Xiamen sits in the southeast of Fujian and takes in Xiamen Island, Gulangyu and several districts on the mainland shore. Shapowei is the old harbour shelter of Xiamen port, used by fishing boats since the Ming, and the slipway and a few industrial sheds survive. The coastal road runs about thirty kilometres along the water and is where the city runs and cycles.

Tips: November days are warm and the nights cool, so one jacket is enough and mostly unused. Guests generally find Shapowei busy at dusk and empty before nine in the morning. In practice, keep the first day on the mainland and save Gulangyu for an early start tomorrow, when the ferries are half empty.

The eight o clock ferry from the cruise terminal to Sanqiutian, twenty minutes across. No vehicles on the island, so everything is walked. Head first for Sunlight Rock through stone lanes with bougainvillea spilling over the walls. It is the high point of the island and the steps are narrow; from the top the red roofs run out to the sea, and on a clear day the twin towers stand on the far shore. Down to Shuzhuang Garden, built along the water, where the forty-four-turn bridge folds across the surface and the piano museum sits behind it. Lunch on Longtou Road, fish ball soup then sticky rice cakes then oyster omelette. In the afternoon the pipe organ museum and its enormous instrument, then Gangzaihou beach to sit on the sand while the sun goes into the water. Ferry back at dusk.

Attraction introduction: Gulangyu lies southwest of Xiamen Island across the Lujiang, about 1.9 square kilometres, named for a reef that booms like a drum when the swell hits it. The island keeps a dense collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings from a dozen countries, and was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2017. Sunlight Rock rises to 92.7 metres, the highest point; Shuzhuang Garden was laid out in 1913 and holds the forty-four-turn bridge and the piano museum.

Tips: The island runs on advance booking only, and the 35 yuan ticket covers the return trip and stays valid for twenty days; the official mini programme is the only channel and there are no tickets at the gate. Guests generally find the eight to ten boats the busiest and the island itself filling after ten. In practice, Sunlight Rock and Shuzhuang Garden come to 80 yuan together, so a combination ticket only pays if you plan to see more.

Away at half past seven, the Xiarong expressway and then the Zhangwu, an hour and a half to Shuyang in Nanjing county. Yunshuiyao first: the old road follows the stream, centenarian banyans on both sides dropping aerial roots to the water, and the waterwheel still turning. Hegui Lou stands at the end of the road, a square building raised on marsh, so the courtyard gives underfoot. Two wells inside, one clear and one cloudy, less than three metres apart. Lunch in the village on Hakka food, taro dumplings, stuffed tofu and pork with preserved mustard. In the afternoon Huaiyuan Lou, a double ring, families on the outer circle and the school on the inner, the carved screens layered one behind another, and a complete circle of sky above the courtyard. Leave at half past four and reach Xiamen in the evening.

Attraction introduction: The Nanjing tulou are spread through Shuyang and Meilin townships and form one of the main clusters of Fujian earth buildings, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2008. The Yunshuiyao road follows the Changjiao stream for about ten kilometres. Hegui Lou was built in the tenth year of the Yongzheng era of the Qing and is the tallest square tulou known; Huaiyuan Lou dates from the first year of the Xuantong era and is the classic double-ring round building.

Tips: The Yunshuiyao ticket is 90 yuan and covers the road, Hegui Lou and Huaiyuan Lou; the combined ticket with Tianluokeng is 130 yuan over 48 hours, worth it only if you are doing both. Guests generally find the old road free of tour groups before eleven. In practice, the buildings are too far apart to walk between, so a car is the only workable way.

Nanputuo first thing. The temple is built against the Wulao peaks, the gate opening onto the Hall of Heavenly Kings and the Mahavira Hall, with the sutra library at the back against the rock. Buy the vegetarian cakes inside, warm from the oven. Then Xiamen University, which needs a booking: sit by Furong Lake for a while, and look at the green roofs of the Jiannan halls, built in the era of Tan Kah Kee. Lunch on Daxue Road at student prices and student portions. In the afternoon Zengcuoan, lanes doubling back on themselves with much the same goods on every stall, and the sea at the far end of the village, which is quiet. Back to the coastal road at dusk, down a set of steps and onto the sand to wait for the sun.

Attraction introduction: Nanputuo Temple stands below the Wulao peaks in the south of Xiamen Island and was first built in the Tang; it is one of the important Buddhist temples of southern Fujian, and its vegetarian kitchen and cakes are a local tradition. Xiamen University was founded by Tan Kah Kee in 1921, and the Jiannan halls, Furong Lake and the Shangxian field are its landmarks. Zengcuoan was a fishing village on the shore, now lined with small shops, a few hundred metres from the water.

Tips: Entry to the university is by advance booking on its official account and the quota goes quickly, so book a week ahead. Guests generally find the main lane of Zengcuoan packed after dark and clear two hundred metres in. In practice, Nanputuo and the university sit next to each other and fill a morning; reversing the order thins the crowd.

No alarm. Walk to the eighth market, which is where the city actually shops, busiest in the morning: the fish come off the boats and go straight onto the slabs, and the stalls alongside will cook what you buy. For presents, the pastry and dried pork shops nearby are old establishments and cost half what the airport charges. Bags at half past ten, away at eleven for Gaoqi, half an hour from Zhongshan Road. Midday flight, Luoyang by evening.

Attraction introduction: The eighth market in the old quarter is one of the largest seafood markets in Xiamen, liveliest from dawn to midday, with cooking stalls and noodle shops that have run for decades around it. Xiamen pastries come in mung bean and pork fillings, and dried pork is the usual thing to carry home.

Tips: The floor is wet throughout, so wear shoes with grip and nothing pale on your legs. Guests generally find the cooking stalls quote by weight and method, and it pays to agree both before the fish goes on the scale. In practice, allow two clear hours for the airport; the run from Zhongshan Road is slowest after two in the afternoon.